A blonde man stood in a disused building sight and saw a faint shape in the distance. He ran towards it, up the hill, until he reached the top. In the distance were a series of run down outbuildings. However, that was not what the man was looking at. Rather, his focus was on a blue box that looked fairly out of place in the area. The man stared at the box and slowly stepped towards it, as if entranced.
He hesitantly placed a hand on the door.
''Doctor!''' a voice shouted, ''Doctor, the trap!''
The man ran to where the sound came from, entering one of the buildings, which seemed to be some kind of warehouse. He heard shouts from above him.
''Where's he gone?'' a man asked in a posh accent, ''Can you see him?''
''There he is!'' a younger man shouted in a ''street'' accent, ''There!''
''Where?'' the posh man asked.
''There!'' a female voice insisted.
The man followed the sound of the commotion, reaching the start of a long corridor, where he heard a strange growling noise. He cautiously moved towards the door at the end of the corridor to reveal a ferocious, snarling monster.
''That's what it did. It went RRROOOOAAAAAAAAARRR!'' the same man recalled into a camera later on, ''And if you think that was the most exciting day of my life - wait 'til you hear the rest. Oh boy...'' he smirked, ''So there I was, with that thing going RAAAAH!''
The monster advanced menacingly on him when a man in an entirely black suit stepped out behind him, dangling a large pork chop. ''Here, boy!'' he called to the creature, ''Look at the lovely food!'' The creature was distracted, so the suited man turned to the blonde man, ''Get out of here, now!'' he ordered. The man hesitated, ''GO!'' the suited man shouted, and the man wasted no time in complying.
As he walked away, a young man charged forward with a blue bucket, hurling the contents of said bucket over the creature. There were two young women behind him.
''Wrong one!'' the suited man shouted at him.
''You said blue!'' the young man argued.
''I said not blue, you fool!'' the suited man spat, ''Now you've made it worse!'' The creature roared and charged after the three teens. ''Hold on!'' the suited man called, shutting the door to go after them.
The man witnessed the four being chased through the various doors by the creature. First it was chasing the man, then it was chasing the teens, then they were chasing it with a red bucket... it was all very confusing. A second later, the suited man stepped out of one of the doors.
''Hold on,'' he began, ''Don't I know you?''
The blonde man took this as his cue to leave. As he fell back against the wall, he heard the sound of engines starting up, and sighed.
''You can't imagine it, the Doctor's machine, the most beautiful sound in the world,'' the man narrated to the camera, ''Yet that wasn't the first time I met the Doctor - and it certainly wasn't the last. Ohhh no. I just put that bit at the beginning because it's a brilliant opening. But... erm... this is the story of me, and my encounters with alien life-forms. But be warned, because it is gonna get scarrrrry.'' He leaned menacingly towards the camera. ''I- I need a remote control zoom, I'm having to do that with the lean. The scarrrrry. But look, don't worry, 'cos it's not just me sitting here talking. Ohhh no.''
''That's Ursula on camera,'' the man said as he stood in an ordinary suburban street.
''Hello!'' a female voice called, holding a hand out in front of the camera.
''My good friend, Ursula Blake, and my brand-new camera.'' He turned towards a beige coloured house, ''That was my family home, down there,'' he recalled, ''I did try, but there's two women live there now and they're a bit... severe. So... never mind. But that - is where it all started. That's when I first met the Doctor.''
He considered for a moment, thinking of the day he got out of bed to see a man in a black suit standing in his living room.
''What was it... erm... I must have been 3 or 4 years old,'' he remembered, ''Middle of the night, went downstairs, and there was this... man.''
'So what happened?'' Ursula wondered, ''Elton, tell me. Why was he there?''
''I don't know,'' Elton admitted, ''I... I still don't know. All those years ago...''
He gestured at the camera, and the filming stopped.
''OK, first thing's first, my name is Elton,'' Elton introduced in his room, ''Er... not to be confused with...'' he thought of Elton John, ''I left school, got a job, Transport Manager, Rated Logistics, modest little haulage company, perfectly normal life, and then... it all went mad. Two years ago, I was in town, I was stocking up. You know, nothing special, all the usual stuff, when all of a sudden...''
He remembered the day when plastic mannequins had somehow come to life and started attacking people...
''Shop window dummies! Come to life!'' He remembered almost being run over in the scramble to escape, ''I survived... obviously...''
He recalled another incident, ''Twelve months later, I'm back in town. I'm up west, looking for a new suit, something nice and smart, when I hear this plane overhead.''
And it was like no plane Elton had ever seen. A huge spaceship flew overhead, smashing through Big Ben and landing in the Thames.
And another.
''But it wasn't over yet, 'cos then... Christmas Day... I'm in bed fast asleep, nice and cosy, quarter to eight in the morning, when all of a sudden...'' He remembered being asleep in the early morning, only for the windows to shatter loudly, waking Elton. ''And I was stuck in bed, right, 'cos there was glass everywhere!'' he recalled, ''And I was barefoot! I had to invent a rudimentary pulley system, just to reach my boots! And by the time I'd done that...''
He looked out of the window to see a vast spaceship covering the whole of London.
''And that's when it all started happening,'' Elton narrated, ''That's how I met Ursula... That's how I met Victor Kennedy... That's how I met Joshua Greaver... And that's how I finally met the Doctor... and realised the truth.''
''Um, I should say, this isn't my whole life,'' Elton revealed, ''It's not all... spaceships and stuff, 'cos I'm into all sorts of things. Er... I like football... I like a drink... I like Spain, and if there's one thing I really love, Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra - 'cos you can't beat a bit of ELO.''
''So, great big spaceship hanging over London,'' Elton remembered, ''Imagine the theories. The Internet was on meltdown. But I kept on digging. Something was going on. Ohhh yes. And then one day, on some obscure little blog by someone called Ursula Blake, it was like a chance in a million.'' The website displayed a picture of suited man, ''It was him! It was that man again but the photo was new, it was taken on Christmas Day but Christmas just gone. And he looked exactly the same.''
Elton and Ursula were sitting on a park bench, talking happily.
''His name is the Doctor,'' Ursula revealed.
''Doctor what?'' Elton asked.
''That's all anyone knows,'' Ursula answered, ''On Christmas Day I was taking photos all over the place. I went mad with it all - spaceships and lasers and everything. We all went to Trafalgar Square that night, 'cos everyone was celebrating... just being alive. And I snapped him in passing, that's all. He was just some bloke. I didn't realise he was significant, until Mr Skinner pointed it out.''
''Who's Mr Skinner?'' Elton wondered.
''Oh, there's a few of us,'' Ursula told him, ''The Inner Sanctum, all studying this Doctor.''
''I've seen him,'' Elton revealed, ''The Doctor - I swear to you, I saw him when I was a kid. He was in my house, and he was downstairs.''
'Don't tell me,'' Ursula supposed, ''He looked exactly the same then as he does now.''
''Yes! Yes!'' Elton cheered, ''Oh my God. You believe me!''
''You're not the only one, you know...'' Ursula revealed.
''So that's how I met Ursula,'' Elton recalled, '''All thanks to the Doctor. Turns out we read all the same sites and she only lived half a mile away. She was like a proper mate. Poor Ursula...'' He paused, ''But like she said, there was this little community, the select few, all with their stories of the Doctor. This little gang used to meet up, underneath the old library on Macateer Street. Mr Skinner, first name Colin, but we always called him Mr Skinner. I don't know why, we... just did.'' He remembered Mr Skinner talking about the Doctor being a series of archetypes rather than one man. ''Then there was Bridget. She lived way up North, but she travelled down without fail, just for the meetings.'' He recalled Bridget talking about the blue box which seemed to follow the Doctor through history. ''Then, there was Bliss,'' Elton remembered, ''She was ever so sweet, Bliss. Bless Bliss, we used to say.'' He recalled Bliss showing them some artistic representations of the Doctor.
The group were gathered round the table.
''We should have a name,'' Ursula proposed, ''You know, as a group.''
''Names are very important,'' Bliss agreed.
''What we need is a good, strong name, like a team,'' Elton suggested, ''Something like... London Investigation 'n' Detective Agency. 'LINDA' for short.''
''Say it again,'' Mr Skinner frowned.
''London Investigation 'n' Detective Agency.''
'''N'?''
''Fish 'n' Chips,'' Elton explained, ''Rock 'n' Roll... Chaka Demus 'n' Pliers!''
Everyone nodded in agreement.
''Oooh, I like it,'' Bridget stated, ''It's not too solemn.''
''I like the 'n','' Bliss agreed.
''We're the men from LINDA!'' Mr Skinner cheered.
''And the women!'' Bridget pointed out cheekily.
''Linda United!'' Mr Skinner continued.
''Did you think of that on the spot?'' Ursula asked.
''No, I've been wanting to use it for years,'' Elton replied with a smirk.
''I give you... LINDA!'' Mr Skinner raised his glass, and everyone toasted the new name happily.
''So we'd all meet up, every week, and we'd talk about the Doctor for a bit,'' Elton narrated, ''But after a while... Bridget started cooking.'' He remembered the delicious food Bridget used to bring along. ''The next thing you know, Mr Skinner started his readings, 'cos he was writing his own novel.'' He remembered Mr Skinner reading excerpts from his book. ''As time went on, we got to know each other better and better...'' he tensed, remembering how Bridget had originally gotten involved with the group through her searches for her lost daughter. ''Then it turned out that Bridget could play the piano, and I confessed my love of ELO. Next thing you know...''
LINDA had become a band.
''Musical LINDA!'' Elton smiled, ''Just for fun. And that's when it all changed, that Tuesday night in March. That's when HE arrived. That's when we met Victor Kennedy. The golden age - was gone.''
The group were singing, just having fun, when the lights and power cut out. The lift descended slowly, revealing a man they couldn't really see in the darkness. He stepped out of the lift and entered as the group stood, confused.
''Lights!'' the man called, and the lights flickered on to reveal a well dressed, overweight man, ''So, we meet at last... "LINDA".''
''Pleased to meet you, sir,'' Mr Skinner smiled, extending his hand, ''I'm sorry, was the music too loud?''
''No no no no, I don't shake hands,'' the man dismissed, ''Back, back. I suffer from a skin complaint. Eczeema.''
''Oh, you mean "eczema"?'' Elton corrected.
''Oh, this is worse, much worse,'' the man said, ''I blister to the touch. Back, back. All of you, further, further. Thank you.''
''Sorry, don't mind me asking, but who are you?'' Elton asked.
The man, Victor Kennedy, gave a nasty grin, ''I am your salvation.'' He pulled a laptop from his briefcase and set it town on the desk. He motioned from them to sit and played some footage. It showed a suited man getting inside a blue box, along with a pretty, blonde haired young woman, a slightly taller, equally attractive blonde with glasses, and a handsome, well built young man.
''That's the Doctor!'' Ursula realised.
''It's really him!'' Elton murmured.
''You've forgotten your purpose in life,'' Victor sneered, ''You, with your band... and your cakes... and your blubbing and all the while he still exists. The Doctor.''
''Look at him, just look!'' Bridget commented.
''Move back, move back, all of you!'' Victor shouted, ''Oh, wait for this, the picture cuts out, but the sound still continues. Listen. Listen to the sound of the universe... yes...''
The sound of engines whirring into life was soon heard, but it was unlike any engines any of them had ever seen.
Hi All! I'm SO sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been abroad, and then some family issues came up, so I've been busy helping sort it all out. I can't promise I'll update daily like before but I will try to update as frequently as possible.