Chapter 4 - Cabin 13
Rose was now alone outside Neo-Wembley as the first few people spilled out of the stadium in tears at an event that had went wrong.
"Doctor!" Rose shouted as more and more people gathered into the street. Some of the people were wailing with grief. "Doctor! Where are you Doctor!?"
She staggered around disorientated with the noise in her head. She couldn't concentrate whatsoever; she had to get out of this place. It was like trying to concentrate in an apocalypse. Some flying police cars and ambulances came whizzing above her and landed inside the stadium. She had to get back to the Powell Sector, back to the TARDIS, back to where hopefully the Doctor had landed.
Suddenly where the Doctor was, suddenly was clear. She could hear the familiar whooping wheezing sound of the TARDIS materialising. It was near. Rose suddenly took a decision and ran towards wherever the sound was, which seemed around the corner, her blonde hair following her in the wind.
She ran, getting increasingly out of breath around the corner and saw the familiar old blue police box. She gave a smile of delight and ran towards it. The Doctor suddenly opened it and said to Rose, with his face full of anger "Get in!"
Rose ran inside the TARDIS at full speed and shut the door behind her with a slam.
"What happened, where did you go!?" Rose asked slightly annoyed "you left me with hundreds of grief-laden people"
"I've been away longer than you think, about an hour; I needed time to think, Rose." The Doctor replied de-materialising the TARDIS into the vortex
"What was there to think about? You knew an assassination would happen!" Rose said still angered
"Somebody has been messing with time, Rose. As you may notice, there are absolutely no cameras in this society!" The Doctor explained "Something has changed history so cameras don't exist, and the assassin got away with it. How many other changes have been made?"
"But Kevin… he said… that there were cameras" Rose said bewildered
"He was talking about cameras for photos. You were at cross purposes with him." The Doctor explained "Film does not exist in this society!"
"How do you know for sure?" Rose asked
"I did a little experiment. I went to the chapter in the history of film in my book. It was all there in full detail. But guess what happened?" The Doctor asked
"What then?" Rose asked rolling her eyes
"I took the book out of the TARDIS and the whole entry on the history of film disappeared. That's because the TARDIS occupies its own dimension. But as soon as you take it out of here, it changes. That means somebody has tampered with time. And I bet you, it was the same person who turned Barcelona to dust. That's just a little instinctive niggle I have"
"So what are we going to do? Go back and stop this time tamperer? Will we go back and see Thomas Edison or something?" Rose guessed out loud
"Oh you're very close Rose, extremely close, not Thomas Edison, but someone else, someone not as well known" The Doctor replied with a nod of his head
"I thought Thomas Edison invented film?" Rose asked
"He improved it, drastically in fact. But this person actually invented it. Without him, Thomas Edison doesn't even take it any further. We have to travel right back to the source, Rose." The Doctor explained further
"And who is this source?" Rose asked now getting where the Doctor was going with this
"According to my book on history, a Frenchman called Louis Le Prince. Ready to travel back to see the first ever film be made? or perhaps not. Who knows how exactly how it's been uninvented." The Doctor explained
He stepped up to the console. Tinkered and fiddled with a few buttons and the TARDIS made its familiar wheezing sound as it re-materialised… somewhere.
"What year does this all happen?" Rose asked in curiosity
"We're in Leeds, one thousand, two hundred and twenty-three years from where we just were. The year 1888." The Doctor explained
The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS and the first thing that was evident was the noise of some sort of engine. The TARDIS was in some type of cabin.
"Where have we landed?" Rose asked in confusion as she followed the Doctor "this doesn't look like Leeds to me"
"This isn't Leeds. We're on a train somewhere." The Doctor said "I wonder why we are here?"
"I think your TARDIS is broken." Rose said with a giggle
"No, I don't think so. The TARDIS knows more than me. It's brought me here for some reason. My best guess is Louis Le Prince is on this train." The Doctor replied
The Doctor opened the door to the cabin. They were on a coal train. The Doctor could tell by the sound of the engine. He walked into an empty cabin opposite and took a look outside. He opened the window and breathed in the countryside area.
"I love the countryside. Looks very French to me. It's autumn too. Autumn 1888 maybe?" The Doctor guessed "Okay Rose, the TARDIS is inside cabin 23. We'll ask inside all the cabins for a Mr. Le Prince. You do the even numbers. I'll do the odd."
The Doctor walked down the row of cabins, numerically. He asked inside each one and one by one got a 'no'. Rose who was opposite him all the time also turned up nothing. The Doctor suddenly walked inside cabin number 13.
"Excuse me; is there a Mr. Le Prince here?" The Doctor asked politely
A man with a thin moustache, sideburns and a white top hat suddenly answered "Who wants to know?" He had a hot cup of tea settled in his hands.
The Doctor couldn't help notice the look of excitement in his eyes.
"I'm The Doctor, are you Louis Le Prince?" The Doctor asked him with a hint of swiftness in his voice
"Yes, I am" the man said "but who knows of me on this train apart from the train conductor?"
"I'm John Smith from the patent office in London" The Doctor lied "we have evidence of someone on this train wanting to steal your films. I wish to keep watch of the films."
"Nonsense" Louis Le Prince replied getting slightly irritated "nobody wants to steal my films. They're locked away safely in the luggage compartment. Now let me drink my tea in peace."
"I'm telling the truth. I have credentials" The Doctor said bringing out his psychic paper
"You're showing me a blank piece of paper. Now leave me alone before I call the train conductor." he replied
Damn, he saw through it.
"Sorry, eh… I forgot my credentials. I'll get Rose" The Doctor said to him
"You do that!" he shouted in irritation
Rose was still counting down the numbers. She was getting fed up by cabin number 3. "Thank god I'm near the end" she muttered to herself
As she neared cabin 1 she could see the man inside tapping the glass, no rhythm, just at random intervals.
"What are you doing?" Rose asked the man through the glass
The man's eyes were completely emotionless. The driver's room was right beside the cabin and there was also a strange banging noise from inside. Rose opened the door of the cabin.
"Are you Louis Le Prince?" Rose asked the man
The man didn't answer and started coming towards her, his arms outstretched.
"What's going on?" Rose asked stepping back as he came further and further towards her
His hand suddenly grabbed for Rose's face. She staggered backwards.
The Doctor rushed down the corridor. Rose must be right at the start of the train. Suddenly a man sauntered out from a cabin with a cup of tea and before The Doctor could even stop he had crashed right into him. The cup smashing to the floor and the boiling hot tea spilt down his suit.
"Sorry!" The Doctor quickly apologised carrying on down the corridor, shuffling past him
"What are you playing at!?" the man yelled at him in anger
"It was an accident. I need to find my friend." The Doctor said halting a few feet away
"At least help wipe me down, you ignoramus!" the man said in anger bringing out a handkerchief "don't you know who I am?"
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked rolling his eyes
"I am the conductor of this train! I decide what goes on here! So help me now!" the train conductor yelled
Suddenly The Doctor heard Rose let out an ear-piercing scream. The Doctor ran down the corridor at the speed of light. He ran past several cabins until he met Rose who was running the other way down the corridor.
"Doctor, he attacked me!" Rose said pointing to the man who was staggering down the corridor after her
"Who is he!?" The Doctor asked
"I'm not even sure if it's human!" Rose yelled back
"What do you want?" The Doctor asked the man in a nineteenth century brown suit and tie who was shuffling down the corridor completely ignoring him.
The Doctor stepped backwards and suddenly ran back the way he came, Rose following him. A few seconds later the train conductor was swiftly walking towards them. He stopped them in between cabin's 7 and 8.
"Okay, you two are causing trouble. At the next station, I'm throwing you both off."
"Listen, we haven't got time!" The Doctor shouted at him grabbing his shoulders "there is something coming!"
"What nonsense, what is coming?" the train conductor asked grabbing the Doctor's hands off his shoulders
"That!" The Doctor pointed at the shuffling man that was now only feet away.
"Why, that's the gentleman in cabin 1." he turned to the man who was getting closer and closer, his hands grabbing for thin air "Is anything the matter?" he completely ignored him and made a grab for him
"What are you…? HELP!" he yelled now terrified
The Doctor grabbed him with force from the man, prising his fingers apart and ran down the corridor at full speed. When they neared cabin number 13, The Doctor turned into the cabin. When Rose and the train conductor were in, he slammed the door and bolted it shut.
"What is the meaning of this?" Louis Le Prince asked standing up in anger
"Can I have a drink of your tea?" The Doctor asked him, now out of breath
The Doctor picked up the cup and began to drink it. He suddenly spat it all out in disgust.
"What is in this tea?" The Doctor asked repulsed "has someone put metal shavings inside it?"
"I don't know, I haven't had a chance to drink it." Louis Le Prince answered "What is the problem anyway? You all look like you've just ran a marathon"
"Listen, Mr. Le Prince. There is something on this train. I don't know what it is, but it has no emotions. It was the gentleman in cabin 1, but it just attacked me, so I think something's happened to him." he suddenly looked to The Doctor "what are you doing?"
The Doctor was scanning his sonic screwdriver over the cup of tea on the varnished table at the side.
"There is something in this tea!" The Doctor "I'm just analysing it. It says it's… no that's impossible, that's far too advanced for 1888."
"Don't you mean 1890?" Louis Le Prince corrected him
The Doctor ignored him "according to my sonic… my device, it says the tea contains… nanotechnology. But that's impossible."
"What is that?" Louis asked confused
"Tiny little robots. They are used for monitoring human statistics mostly. They can be used for…" The Doctor suddenly realised he was speaking to a man from the nineteenth century and said "It's too far advanced, you wouldn't understand"
"Doctor, maybe what's in the tea turns them into… whatever that guy is?" Rose suggested
"Like zombies? Nano-zombies. How many people on this train have had a cup of tea?" The Doctor asked the train conductor now worried
"You're joking me, aren't you?" the train conductor said seriously wiping the sweat from his brow "I'd say everyone has had a cup of tea on this train. It's a custom on holiday journeys like this. We've just came from Dijon for Christ sake. "
"Then they're all gone. All of them." The Doctor muttered quietly and solemnly to them
"This has gone too far. I'm going to inform the driver! Pierre needs to know about this! We must stop this train at the next station" the train conductor said in an authoritarian tone "this has turned into a Jules Verne novel."
"Of course!" the Doctor gave a slight smile of relief "the driver must be still alive, because the train is still running! You're a genius! We'll evacuate all living and destroy all the nano-zombies."
They saw the nano-zombie shuffle past the window down the corridor. In the cabin opposite them a woman in a corset was slapping her carefully manicured fingers against the glass of the door.
"Yes, good old Pierre will save the day!" the train conductor muttered as The Doctor carefully unbolted the door, trying not to make a sound.