Chapter 4: School Hard

The bats screeched down towards them. The Doctor grabbed a chair and swiped at them, but the creatures avoided him and attacked the others.

They ducked, dodged and rolled under tables to get away every time the Krillitanes came at them, but each time it was only by the narrowest of margins. They were beginning to feel like rabbits trying to hide from birds of prey.

Rose crawled through the rows of chairs she'd found herself between. One of the bats had landed and was reaching through to grab her. Rose kicked one of the chairs at it. The creature easily dodged but it bought her a second to scramble out the far side. Unfortunately, she then found two more of those creatures swooping at her from either direction.

But, with impeccable timing, a laser shot across the hall and struck one of the bats. It's body spun through the air, disrupting the second bat's swoop, before crashing into one of the tables.

"K9!" Cried Sarah Jane.

"Suggest you engage running mode mistress." He said, firing several more shots from his nose laser to disrupt the Krillitanes diving for the group as they ran.

"Stay here and distract them." Said the Doctor.

"Affirmative." K9 continued firing. The bats had been taken by surprise once but they'd quickly adapted and circled round K9, dodging all of his shots.

"Defence mode." Said K9. He spun on the spot, firing all around. The Krillitanes couldn't risk getting nearer, but the still couldn't hit them.


The Doctor's party, meanwhile, had fled to his physics lab and locked the doors.

As the Doctor pondered what to do next, Rose turned her attention to one person who'd probably never seen aliens before. "Look, I know all of this may be a lot to take in..." She began.

"It's ok." Said Kenny. "I used to live on the Isle of Mann."

"...Good. Explains it." Rose stammered.


K9 did a quick check of his power reserves and found them to be at barely 15%. But he had to keep firing or the Krillitanes would get to him.

Finch, initially enraged by the brother K9 had shot, was now beginning to get tired of this distraction. "Forget the shooty dog thing." He said. "Concentrate on our prize."

The Krillitanes hastily withdrew from the creature. Looking back, Finch saw that it was just as well for the dog. It's head was drooping down as it announced "Power supply failing. Powering down."


"It's the oil we need!" The Doctor suddenly realised. "They've mutated so many times, they've become allergic to their own oil!"

"And there's barrels of that stuff in the kitchen." Said Rose.

At this point, the handle rattled as Finch tried to get in. When that failed, Wagner tried to batter the door down.

"Right." Said the Doctor. "Mickey..."

"What now? Hold the coats?" Said Mickey

"I need you to get all those children unplugged and out of the school. The rest of you come with me." He watched as Wagner's claws began to protrude through the woodwork of the door. "Bats, bats, how do you fight bats?"

Kenney answered his question by hitting the fire alarm. Outside, the sudden high pitched ring caused all the Krillitanes to double over clutching their ears. The Doctor and his friends used this distraction to run past them once more.

Finch wasn't quite as badly affected, but it still took quite a bit of concentration for him to punch though the plaster wall and rip out a collection of cables, silencing the alarm. "After them." He growled, seething with fury.


Mickey rushed into the largest IT room, shouting "Get out!"

But the children didn't respond, they just kept tapping away at their computers. "Come on!" Mickey looked around for some kind of response. When none came, he waved his hand in front of a girl's face. She carried on typing as though not noticing the object obscuring her view.

Instead, he took a look at the cables leading out the back of the machines, they each ran together in clumps, across the tables, up the walls, across the ceiling, and down to the main hard drive... Which was powered by a single plug socket. He unplugged it and the machines went dead, leaving behind several startled children.

"Everybody out! Move!" He shouted again. This time, the children ran.

Mickey meant to try the same thing in the next classroom, but found that unplugging the hard drive had shut down all the school's computers and students in every classroom were poking their heads out to find out what was going on.

Word rapidly spread that they would need to get out as fast as possible and they began to do so. Fortunately, children are much more efficient than adults at fleeing a perceived danger and they made their way towards the exits with a minimum of fuss. Finding them unlocked thanks to the automated system hardwired into the fire alarm.

The rush of children forced the Krillitanes to morph back into human form as they followed the Doctor's scent towards the kitchens. "Kill the Doctor if you wish." Said Finch. "But bring me his brain."


Having shifted into power-conservation mode, K9 reunited with the Doctor as he rushed down the corridor towards the kitchens. Once there, the Doctor ran his sonic over the lids of the barrels. "They're all deadlocked." He groaned. "I can't open them."
"Defence wouldn't withstand a direct hit from my laser." Said K9. "But my batteries are failing."

"Right." Said the Doctor. "All of you out." His other companions rushed out the back door.

"I must be stationed directly beside the barrel, for maximum impact." Said K9.

"But the oil will ignite when it reacts with their skin!" Said the Doctor, wide eyed. "You'll be caught in the fireball. I can't let' you do that."

"There is no alternative." Said K9.

The Doctor knew he shouldn't be feeling this way. K9 wasn't alive, just a collection of circuits and wires. But the tin dog had his own personality, and that made it feel like he was kissing an old friend goodbye. "Thank you K9. You were a very good dog." He patted his head.

"Affirmative." K9 waggled his ears.

Footsteps came down the hall. Knowing he had to go now or never, the Doctor ran for the outside door and locked it behind him.

Sarah Jane was waiting. "Where's K9? What have you done to him!" She shouted.

"We've got to run!" The Doctor shouted, grabbing her arm in spite of protests.


Finch and the others prowled through the kitchens. The Doctor may have stopped them now, but his brain might give them the power to start their operations up again on another world.

Looking down, Finch was pleased to see the metal dog sat motionless, low on power. "The little dog with the nasty bite." He taunted. "Not so dangerous now, are you?"

"Maximum power." Said K9. He fired one last shot, which shattered the nearest barrel and splattered the creatures with the toxic oil. They each screamed in agony as their skin began to smoulder.

"You bad dog." Finch hissed.

"Affirmative." Said K9.

Together, the Krillitanes went up in one large fireball. As an added bonus, a gas tap on one of the cookers just happened to be loose and the gas promptly ignited, spreading a gas explosion through the pipes. The whole school soon went up in smoke.


As the crowd of children cheered from a safe distance, Melissa realised that Kenny wasn't there and was frightened that he might have got caught in the blast. She was relieved when he came running from round the back of the kitchens. "Did you do that?"

"I... may have helped." He stammered.

"Oh my gosh, Kenny blew up the school everyone!"

To one side, the Doctor and Sarah watched as the children cheered and chanted Kenny's name.

"Sorry... About your friend." Said the Doctor.

"It's fine." She replied. "It was just a silly metal thing. Always breaking down anyway."

It was clear to both of them that she was simply putting on a brave face, but he didn't say anything.


While Sarah had been making some phone calls to her friends at UNIT, the Doctor had retrieved the TARDIS from the wreckage and moved it to a park not far from the school. "Fancy a look inside?" He said.

Sarah had expected to be greeted by the ascetic aesthetic console room she'd been used to, or perhaps that one with all the wood panelling. The aquatic theme came as a complete surprise to her. "You've redecorated!"

"Do you like it?"

"Oh I do. Of course, I did like it the way it was. But this is great."

"Well I love it." Rose grinned.

"Hey you, what's 59 times 358?"

"No idea." Rose shook her head. "It's all gone now. The oil's faded."

"Well you're still clever. More than a match for him." Sarah smiled.

"You and me both." She turned to the Doctor. "Doctor?"

The Doctor looked up from the console. "We're just about to head off. Wondered if you'd like to come with us?"

Sarah thought for a moment. "I can't do this anymore." She sighed. "Besides, I've got a much bigger life ahead of me here. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."

"Can I come?" Said Mickey. The others gave him odd looks. "I don't mean with you, I mean... with you two. 'cos I'm not the tin dog. And I wanna see what's out there. If that's ok?"

"Oh go on Doctor," Sarah grinned, "Sarah Jane Smith. Mickey Smith. You need a smith on board."

"Ok." The Doctor shrugged. "I could do with a laugh."

"Great." Mickey grinned. "Rose, is this ok?"

Rose suddenly found the far wall very interesting to look at. Something told her this could easily get awkward. "Sure." She said. "Why not?"

"I should go." Said Sarah. She ushered Rose aside for a quiet word.

"What do I do?" Said Rose. "Do I keep travelling with him?"

"Yes." Sarah replied. "Some things are worth getting your heart broken for." She decided it was a good idea to hug the girl comfortingly. She was in the same place she'd been in all those years ago. Just like Rose, she'd thought she'd felt like she'd be travelling in the TARDIS forever. But all good things must come to an end. "Find me. If you ever need to."

She made her way towards the door for the second time in her life. The Doctor was outside waiting for her. "It's funny." She said. "But I never thanked you for that time. And like I said, I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Something to tell the grandkids." He grinned.

"Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now."

"Right... Yes, sorry. I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't? There hasn't been anyone? You know..."

"Well, there was this one guy. I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow." She smiled. "Goodbye, Doctor.""

"Oh, it's not goodbye."

"Do say it. Please. This time. Say it."

"Goodbye, my Sarah Jane." He caught her in a hug, lifting her off her feet, before putting her down and stepping back into the TARDIS.

It was odd. Sarah Jane was in the same position she's been in that street in Aberdeen, watching the TARDIS dematerialise as she moved onwards towards regular life. But this time it felt different, because she'd chosen it.

But the Doctor wasn't finished yet. He still had one last parting gift. As the TARDIS dematerialised, it left behind a very familiar shape in its place...

"K9!" Cried Sarah.

"Mistress." The robot dog trundled forward.

"But you were blown up!"

"The master rebuilt me. New and improved with advanced, undetectable hyperlink facilities. The memories of the previous model are stored in my databank."

"Oh, he replaced you with a brand new model." She grinned.

"Affirmative."

"Come on you. Home. We've got work to do."

Sarah Jane's adventures had only just begun.

Next Time: 42