Vanishing Point
Part Two: Many Happy Returns
Featuring the Doctor, Linda Fox, Samuel Jacobs and Kerring Harrison
Vexmore Road, Dorking.
"What the hell are you doing here?" the Doctor growled, annoyed to see him.
"You're wondering how I escaped?"
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm wondering."
"Well, you remember the last time you saw me..."
The Doctor and Kerring watched, as Torchwood tower got destroyed. The tower then fell, crashing onto the street below.
"You idiot! This planet has no protection thanks to your meddling!" the Doctor shouted at the Axon.
"You failed to surrender yourself and the planet, so I have allowed your planet to fall. It will teach the peoples of this world a lesson."
Kerring pulled his blaster from his holster, and aimed it at the Axon.
"I'll teach you a lesson!" he shouted, before firing at the Axon, a red laser beam hitting the humanoid. It fell back, green blood bleeding from the wound.
"This world will burn. Whether we will or won't conquer it." the Axon said, before it died. The Doctor walked off, activated his sonic screwdriver at the door, and sealed Kerring inside.
"Doctor, why did you do that?" Kerring asked, annoyed.
"You did something I could never do."
"And what would that be?"
"Kill an alien that could have had a second chance."
"Well you can talk. You killed your friend, Bella. She was an alien to you, wasn't she?"
"She was my friend. She didn't need a second chance." the Doctor said, walking back towards the TARDIS.
"Yes. When the Axons almost invaded Earth, and I saved two different universes."
"Well, I piloted the Axon ship away from Earth, and, after a lot of searching, I found an opening into the Void."
"And you flew an Axon ship through the Void? That must have torn it apart. You couldn't have survived that."
"Well, it did rip apart, but I managed to land it on Earth, in the Pacific Ocean. I've spent the last eight months trying to find you, and here I am."
"That's another thing - why do you want me?"
"Doctor, I encountered a lifeform in the Void. That lifeform was a Prophet, and that Prophet told me that something's coming to Earth. This Earth. I came to tell you
that there might be an invasion on the way."
The Doctor was clearly confused by Kerring's explanation.
"A life form? In the Void? That's impossible."
"Oh, what I mean is that a life form which was travelling through the void encountered me."
"A Prophet was looking for you?"
"Yes. He knew who I was, and he wanted me to find you."
"And did he say who was about to invade?"
"Yes. He said that there would be a great silence, and Earth would surrender to the invaders."
After hearing this, the Doctor grabbed Kerring, and dragged him inside the TARDIS, closing the door behind him.
Inside the TARDIS, Linda and Sam watched, as the Doctor pulled Kerring to the console, and glared at him.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Linda asked, concerned about the Doctor's change in mood.
"Linda, I know that this may be hard, but could you try to find out who was responsible for the kidnapping of almost everyone on Earth?"
Linda stared, surprised, at the Doctor.
"And what will you be doing?"
"I've just got an invasion to deal with, and I can't do two things at once."
However, this response made her even more surprised.
"An invasion? Why can't we help?"
The Doctor glared at her and Sam, who gave him a look of innocence in return.
"Because what's coming is an army of the most cunning creatures in existence. They can hide in plain sight, and you won't even notice them. They can make you
forget that they were ever there, and, if you're exposed to their memory-altering too much, your memory will be weak. You will become weak. Death by memories."
"Surely everyone disappearing and this invasion are linked. Whoever's behind the kidnapping is whoever's about to invade."
The Doctor smiled.
"She's good." Kerring commented.
"Oh, and also, who's the Han Solo cosplayer?" Linda enquired.
"This, Linda, Sam, is Kerring Harrison. An old acquaintance of mine. And, from what he's told me, Earth is about to be invaded by the Silence."
"And you know about the Silence?"
"I've encountered them before, with my old friend Delia Osmond. They are the most cunning creatures in the universe, and if they invade Earth, then the universe is
going to fall."
Once the Doctor had explained their current situation, Linda and Sam retreated to a corner of the cavernous console room, as Sam desperately needed a private conversation with Linda.
"What's wrong, Sam?" she quizzed.
"It's just that I don't want to be a part of this. I was quite happily sitting in a meeting about half an hour ago, and now I have to help Professor X and Han Solo over
there," Sam explained, indicating the Doctor and Kerring, "I just feel that this is too dangerous for me. I want to leave."
"You don't have to be a part of this if you don't want to."
Sam nodded, and hugged Linda.
"Thanks, Linda."
Sam then walked out of the TARDIS, waving goodbye to Linda on his way out. This new development made the Doctor confused.
"Where's Sam going?" the Doctor questioned Linda.
"Doctor, Sam's leaving. He just thinks that this is all out of his comfort zone, and that he'd rather sit in a meeting and be bored than to save the universe."
The Doctor nodded.
"I see."
A few kilometres away from the TARDIS, Sam was walking towards Dorking station, when he saw something that was distinctly alien: the creature had a large bulbous forehead, with two black sockets for eyes, and appeared to have no mouth. It was dressed in a black suit and tie, which he thought was odd, as he didn't expect an alien to be dressed as the stereotypical English gentleman.
"Who are you?" the alien said, its words sounding harsh, but, strangely, it spoke without moving its mouth.
"I'm Sam Jacobs. Please, don't hurt me. I'm nobody." he pleaded.
"You are an associate of the Doctor. You are not nobody. You must be destroyed."
And at that moment, the alien lifted up its hand, long bony fingers protruding from it, and aimed at Sam. He knew what was going to happen: just before the alien fired, he sprinted away, back towards the TARDIS.
Meanwhile, inside the TARDIS, the Doctor, Linda and Kerring were thinking. They were thinking of a way of defeating the Silence when Sam suddenly burst through the doors.
"Er, have you heard of knocking?" the Doctor argued, but noticed that Sam was afraid, and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just felt that I needed to come back here. But why?"
Sam paused, before realising why he had returned so quickly.
"One of the creatures, they were about to fire at me. I came back here to tell you that they're on Earth. It's not an invasion, it's a victory."
"You managed to remember an encounter with a Silent? How?"
"It's just logic. I felt that I needed to return here, so I thought why, and thought that the only reason I would return here would be if I would be in danger, which I
was."
"Show me. Show me the Silent."
The Doctor and Sam then walked out of the TARDIS, leaving Linda and Kerring alone.
Linda looked at Kerring, nervous about what to do next.
"So, what do we do?" she queried.
"We wait until the Doctor comes back. Or we go outside and try to find the Silent ourselves, and we use the memory trick that Sam invented."
"Option two." she decided, before strolling out of the TARDIS, closely followed by Kerring. Outside the TARDIS, Linda glanced up and down the road - no sign of the Silent. She didn't even know what it looked like, never mind where it was.
"Stay close to me." Kerring ordered, grabbing his blaster pistol from its holster.
The two of them advanced down the road, away from the direction that the Doctor and Sam had gone, towards the train station. Kerring was out in front, swinging his blaster from side to side, whilst Linda was directly behind him.
"You do realise we're doing this in broad daylight?" she informed him, sceptically.
"Don't worry: everyone will probably have a job, and they'll be at it now. We're fine."
"You'd be surprised."
Linda turned round to see if the Doctor had returned yet, but instead saw an alien creature wearing a black suit and tie. Now that's odd, she thought.
However, Kerring's reaction was very different.
"Linda, get behind me, now!" he yelled, as Linda took cover behind Kerring. The Silent advanced towards them, with an emotionless expression on its face.
"You are known associates of the Doctor." the Silent stated, its voice harsh, speaking without any form of a mouth on its pale head.
"That's correct. What do you want? Do you want the Doctor?" Kerring asked, readying his blaster, in case he needed it.
At the other end of the road, the Doctor and Sam were returning from their failed quest to find the Silent that had been seen earlier.
"Come on, let's get back to the TARDIS. We'll be able to think of a plan then." the Doctor said, before noticing the Silent ahead of them. He raced towards it, wielding his sonic screwdriver defensively. When he reached the alien, he then noticed Kerring and Linda, who were stood about two metres away from the creature.
"Listen," the Doctor pleaded to the Silent, "these two don't have to die. I'm the Doctor, I've had to face unspeakable sorrows, kill me instead!"
"No." the Silent replied, before raising its arm, ready to fire a bolt of white lightning at Kerring.
"Please, don't do this. I am begging you, do not kill that man there."
"Your pleas mean nothing to me."
As soon as it had finished speaking, Kerring aimed his gun at the Silent.
"I think a gun does though, doesn't it?" Kerring questioned, making the Silent think for a moment.
Once it had thought of what to do, the Silent slammed its arm down, knocking the gun out of Kerring's hand, making him fall to the ground. He then got up, and stood, defensively, in front of Linda.
"I know what you're going to do, but just make one promise for me: don't kill her. Let her live. Please?"
He turned round to face Linda, and smiled at her.
"Go. Get back to the Doctor, and leave in the TARDIS. You need to find the Silent ship as fast as you can, and defeat these demons." he ordered, making her sprint towards the Doctor and Sam.
"Kerring, what's going on?" the Doctor asked, confused.
"Oh Doctor, do me a favour: save Earth. Don't stand around me and watch. You've got a job to do, so do it."
"What do you-"
Just before the Doctor could finish his sentence, a bolt of white lightning shot out of the Silent's arm, hitting Kerring hard. The bolt continued to strike Kerring, turning him into dust.
After seeing what had happened, the Doctor paced towards where Kerring's blaster lay, picked it up, and shot the Silence repeatedly as he strolled back towards it.
"You have just unleashed a force that is uncontrollable, and unforgivable. You have killed an old friend of mine, and I will take you and your entire kind to their doom." the Doctor raged, watching the Silent die.
Once the Silent had died, the Doctor placed the blaster into his jacket pocket, and walked to where the pile of dust that had once been Kerring lay. He placed a hand into the dust, and lifted it, allowing the grains to flow through his fingers.
To Be Continued...