Flashbacks: Flashbacks

JTDW

I groan beginning to regain consciousness. Slightly lifting myself off the floor, I look around with a just-woken-up look.

"What happened?" I blearily asked the crouching man beside me.

"It's all right . . . it's the transmat. Does your head in." I look around at my surroundings, blinking. "Get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?" He asked me. I frown as I barely remembered who I was and who I was with.

"Jessa. But . . . where's the Doctor?" The man ignored my question.

"Just remember - do what the Android says. Don't provoke it. The Android's word is law." I gave him a confused look.

"What d'you mean, android?" I look around as a voice calls out.

"Positions, everyone! Thank you!"

"Come on. Hurry up!" He helps me to my feet, "Steady, steady . . ." I hang on to him for support.

"I was travalling. With the Doctor and my brother, Jack. They wouldn't just leave me . . ." I tried to explain to him before getting interrupted by some woman.

"That's enough chat! Positions! Final call!" The woman was standing next to an inactive robot, which was being attended to by technicians. The robot stands on a platform around which are six podiums, there were other people milling around. "Good luck!" The man beside me smiles slightly in anticipation and looks at me.

"But I'm not supposed to be here." I stressed to him.

"Well, it says Jessa on the podium . . ." I look, and sure enough, my name lights up on one of the podiums. I stare. "Come on!" He dashes off and climbs up to stand behind his podium. Slowly, confused but with a dawning revelation, I take my place behind my own podium.

"Hold on . . . I must be going mad." I look around at my surroundings again, the technicians and that woman are still attending to the inactive robot. I lean forward to get a better look at the robot, my eyes widening in shock at what I seeing. "It can't be. This looks like the—"

"Android activated!" The Android springs to life, raising her face up.

"Oh, my Merlin. The Android. The Anne Droid." I whispered to myself, horrified.

"Welcome, to 'The Weakest Link'!" with that the theme music started played.

"17 . . . 16 . . . 15 . . . thank you people, transmitting in 12 . . . 11 . . . 10 . . ." Agitated, I turn to the man that helped me.

"But I need to fine the Doc—" He pushed me back, impatiently.

"Just — shut up and play the game!"

"All right then. What the hell? I'm gonna play to win!" I smile, he looks distractedly at me, clearly thinking I'm slightly mad. 'Well, if people are giving me that look then the Doctor is rubbing off on me a little to much.'

"3, and cue!"

"Let's play 'The Weakest Link'!" Music and lights come on. "Start the clock." That annoying clock music is played. "Agorax - the name of basic food stuff is an anagram of the word 'beard'?"

"Bread." He told her.

"Correct. Fitch - in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?"

"Is it . . . Clavadoe?" she questioned.

"No, Pandoff. Jessa, in maths, what is 258 minus 158?"

"One hundred." I answered a bit pleased with myself but also confused.

"Correct. Rodrick —"

"Bank." He said.

"Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word 'dangle' but not in the word 'gland'?"

"E" He said after a second's thought.

"Correct! Colleen - in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?"

"Default." She answered.

"Correct. Broff - the Great Cobalt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous Old Earth Institute?"

"T—Touchdown." he stuttered.

"No - Torchwood." I laugh at these ridiculous questions. "Agorax - in language, all five examples of which type of letter appear in the word 'facetious'?"

"Vowels."

"Correct. Fitch - in biology, which blood cells contain iron - red or white?"

"Um . . . white." I giggle.

"No, red. Jessa - in the holovid series 'Jupiter Rising', the Grexnik is married to whom?"

"How should I know?" I laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

"No, the correct answer is Lord Drayvole." The Anne Droid goes through a few more questions until it's time for us to vote for the weakest link. "So, Jessa. What do you actually do?"

"I'm an artist but I also travel about a bit. Like a tourist, I suppose." I said light-hearted, even relaxed now. Rodrick, holding up a card saying 'Fitch', glances sideways at me.

"Another way of saying 'unemployed'."

"No." I argued.

"Have you got a job?"

"Well, not really, no." I grumbled to it.

"Then you ARE unemployed! And yet, you've STILL got enough money to buy leather clothes. Why Fitch?"

"She got a few of the questions wrong." I glanced over to Fitch to see tears running down her cheeks. ". . . that's all." I said with a confused tone.

"Oh, you'd know all about that."

"Well yeah, but I can't vote for myself, so it had to be Fitch . . ." Fitch sobs silently. I don't understand, it's starting to make me feeling disturbed and even more confused. "I'm sorry . . . that's the game. That's how it works . . . I had to vote for someone." She ignores me and addresses the Anne Droid. She's terrified.

"Let me try again, it was the lights and everything - I couldn't think." she said desperately.

"In fact, with three answers wrong, Broff was the weakest link in that round, but - it's votes that count."

"I'm sorry. Oh, please . . . oh God, help me!" She looks wildly around at her fellow contestants, pleading for help. I look at her, still completely in the dark on what the hell is going on here. Rodrick looks away. Broff sobs silently into the board he's holding up. I glance back at the Anne Droid.

"Fitch - you are the weakest link. Goodbye!" The Anne Droid's mouth opens, and a gun protrudes from it. 'What the fuck!' I stare at it in shock, Fitch isn't on the list! She isn't on the list! Without a moments hesitation, it fires, a thick and fast bolt of yellow/gold light. It hits Fitch and she's gone. The gun retreats back into the Anne Droid's mouth. I stare, watching the smoke billowing where Fitch once stood. I don't understand, her name didn't show up on my list . . . does that mean she's not dead?

"And we've gone to the adverts. Back in three minutes . . ."

"Wassat? What's just happened?" I asked Rodrick, gesturing to the smoke trying to find out what's going on.

"She was the weakest link - she gets disintegrated." He wipes his board clean. I stare at him, uncomprehending for once. I make a small noise at the back of my throat. He rolls his eyes. "Blasted into atoms."

"I voted for her. This is sick." My words ring around the silent studio. The contestants glance at me. "All of ya, you're just sick! I'm not playing this —"

"I'm not playing!" Brodd whimpers, terrified. "I . . . I can't go it." The Anne Droid turns to him slowly. Broff leaps off his podium and tries to run for it. "I'm not — please, somebody let me —"

"You are the weakest link." She fires. Broff disappears in mid-run. "Goodbye." And the gun retreats back into her mouth. I'm staring, mouth open, shocked and absolutely disgusted. He didn't show up on my list either, none of these people are on my list. Rodrick shuffles, uncomfortable. The Anne Droid turns back to the rest of us.

"Don't try to escape. It's play . . . or die." I looked to him. 'But no one is dying.' We began to play again, round after round until we get to the voting. It was now, Colleen.

"You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" Rodrick averts his eyes, and with a blast of the gun, Colleen is gone.

"Going to break! Two minutes on the clock." I looked at the floor manager tired and fed-up. "Just a reminder - we've got solar flare activity coming up in ten." Rodrick wiped his board clean. I turn to him.

"Colleen was clever, she banked all our money. Why'd you vote for her?" I asked him.

"'Cos I want to keep you in! You're stupid! You don't even know the Princess Vossaheen's surname. When it comes to the final, I want to be up against you. So that you get disintegrated, and I get a stack-load of credits. Courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation . . ."

"What d'you mean? Who's Bad Wolf?" I questioned him. He turns to me as if he can't believe I don't know this.

"They're in charge. They run the Game Station." he told me.

"Why are they called Bad Wolf?" I asked him.

"I dunno, it's just a name. It's like an Old Earth . . . nursery rhyme sort of thing — what does it matter?" he asked me.

"I keep hearing those words everywhere we go. Bad Wolf." I said pensively.

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Gwyneth in Sneed's kitchen.

"The things you've seen . . . the darkness . . . the big bad wolf —"

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Van Statten's base.

"Attention all personnel - Bad Wolf One descending."

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Town hall in Cardiff.

"Blaidd Drwg . . ."

"What's it mean?"

"Bad Wolf."

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At home.

'Bad Wolf' graffiti'd on the side of the TARDIS

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Station Five on Floor 139.

The Face of Boe on the Bad Wolf Channel.

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"Different times . . . different places like it's written all over the universe . . ." I stated haunted.

"What're you going on about?" Rodrick asked impatiently.

"If the Bad Wolf is in charge of this quiz, then maybe, I'm not here by mistake. Someone's been planning this." I told him. Again, we went through rounds of questions until we get to the voting. Agorax screams as the disintegrator beam shoots him until there's nothing left but dust. The gun retreats back into the Anne Droid's mouth and the light behind Agorax's name on his podium goes out.

"That leaves Jessa and Rodrick - you're going head-to-head . . . let's play 'The Weakest Link'."

"Right, that's the end of tactical voting . . . you're on your own now." Rodrick said to me without looking at me.

"Jessa, in geography, the Grand Central Ravine is named after which Ancient Britain City?"

"Is it York?" I answered, unsure.

"No, the correct answer is Sheffield. Rodrick, in literature, the author of 'Lucky' was Jackie who?"

"Stewart." He took a wild guess.

"No, the correct answer is Collins. Jessa, the oldest inhabitant of the Isop Galaxy is the Face of what?"

"Boe! The Face of Boe!" I shouted with excitement. A few silence which the Anne Droid and Rodrick stare at me.

"That is the correct answer. Rodrick, in history, who was the President of the Red Velvets?" Our scores are equal.

"Hoshbin Frane."

"That is the correct answer." Rodrick went one-up. The Anne Droid turns her head sharply to me. "Jessa, in food, the dish Gaffabeque originated on which planet?"

"Um . . . is it . . ." I had no clue what it was. The Anne Droid stares at me. I stare back, at a loss. ". . . Mars?"

"Nope, the correct answer is Lucifer." A nasty pleasure appears in Rodrick's eyes. "Rodrick, which measurement of length is said to have been defined by the Emperor Jate as the distance from his nose to his fingertip?" I glance at Rodrick. He doesn't know.

"Would that be a goffle?" He questioned.

"No. The correct answer is a paab." It turns to me again. "Jessa, in fashion, Stella Pok Baint is famous for what?"

"Shoes." I said, taking a firm but completely random guess.

"No. The correct answer is hats." Rodrick's still one ahead and there's only one question left for each of us. "Rodrick, in physics, who discovered the Fifteen-Dash-Ten Barric Fields?"

"San . . . Hazeldine." He answered.

"No, the correct answer is San Chen." Last question and it's my turn. "Jessa, in history, which Icelandic city hosted Murder Spree Twenty?" I stare at the Anne Droid, who stares right back at me. Rodrick glances at me. A tense silence.

"Reykjavik . . .?" Rodrick looks back at the Anne Droid anxiously. There's a few seconds pause.

"No, the correct answer is Pola Ventura." The game's finished and Rodrick is one point up. A ecstatic smile spreads across Rodrick's face.

"Oh, my God! I've done it!" He looks as me, without a trace of pity - even gloating. "You've lost!"

"I'm not meant to be here. I need to find the Doctor, he's got to here somewhere — he's always here! He wouldn't just leave me!" I exclaimed, terrified, beginning to panic.

"Rodrick, you are the strongest link, you will be transported home with one thousand six hundred credits." The Anne Droid ignores me and speaks over me.

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much." Rodrick told it.

"This game is illegal! I'm telling you to stop!" I said strong but scared, leaning over her podium. Suddenly, the door bangs open. We all look over and watch the Doctor, Jack, and some girl barge in through the door that was so far away.

"Jessamine!" The Doctor yelled.

"Jessa, you leave this life with nothing —"

"Stop this game!" Jack shouted.

"I order you to stop this game!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"We're live on air!" The Doctor runs across the wide expanse of floor as fast as he can. I hop of my podium and begin to run towards him.

"You are the weakest link."

"Look out for the Anne Droid, it's armed!" I warned him, running as fast as I could. There was only a mere feet of space between the Doctor and I before something hit me in the back. I reached out towards the Doctor with a light scream of his name, then everything was gone and darkness washed over me. After a few seconds, I begin to stir. I sit up and see a Dalek. "It can't be . . ." It glides towards me, I scramble to my feet and stumble backwards, gasping. "But you're dead . . . I saw you die!" It backs me against a wall. I try to edge sideways, but stopped by a plunger shooting out. Another Dalek enters an area on the spaceship, where several others are crowded.

"Alert! Alert! We are detected!"

"It it the Doctor! He has located us!" I huddled against the foot of the wall, staring around at them all, my eyes wide. "Open communications channel!" The second Dalek swivels around to face me.

"The female will stand. Stand!" I stand up. The Dalek looks up and an image materializes in mid-air - the Doctor, Jack, two females and a male all staring back at me and the Daleks. The Doctor look is grim as he stares at the three Daleks flanking me with distaste.

"I will talk to the Doctor."

"Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!" he waves at them mockingly, his fake grin fading rapidly.

"The Dalek Stratagem nears completion. The Fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."

"Oh, really? Why's that then?" The Doctor asked.

"We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated." A little shaken up, I look up at the Doctor on the screen.

"No." As one, Jack and the other three people there, jerk their heads in his direction. A small grin begins to appear on my lips.

"Explain yourself." My grin wides as the Dalek clearly had not anticipated this answer.

"I said 'no'." He told them again.

"What is the meaning of this negative?"

"It means 'no'."

"But she will be destroyed." The Doctor stood in his passion.

"No! 'Cos this is what I'm gonna do - I'm gonna rescue her." I listen with pride while the others glance at him in awe. "I'm gonna save Jessamine Tyler from the middle of the Dalek Fleet, and then I'm gonna save the Earth, and then just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last STINKING Dalek outta the sky!" He told them, fiery, like a true hero, my hero.

"But you have no weapons! No defenses! No plan!"

"Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death? Jessamine?" he grinned.

"Yes, Doctor?" I asked with my own smile.

"I'm coming to get you." He clicks something on his side and the communication line closes.

"The Doctor is initiating hostile action!"

"The Stratagem must advance. Begin the invasion of Earth!" The spin around wildly. I gasp but they take no notice of me, and I step of out of their way.

"The Doctor will be exterminated!

"Exterminate!" The entire is filled with thousands of Daleks crying 'exterminate!' as one. I look around in terror at the huge, insane army.