Doctor Who

A Moment of Silence

Episode Two

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"Yasmin Khan is one of the bravest and kindest people you know. She has helped you on several adventures, and is someone you can trust with your life. She is a police officer from Sheffield, and often uses those skills to plan out the best line of attack. She loves her mother and father and sister, but looks up to you as her hero. She's counting on saving her Doctor, and you won't let her down. You never let your friends down, and Yaz is one of the best friends you've ever had. Save her, Doctor. Save your friend."

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"Doctor!" a woman said angrily.

The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS console to see a strange woman standing in front of her. No, not a strange woman, there was a name associated with her.

"Yaz?" the Doctor said hesitantly, before deciding to go with it. "Sorry, forgot that you were there."

"I know," said Yaz. "You've forgotten me the last five times."

"No need to take it personally," the Doctor said, slightly offended.

"No, it's not like that," said Yaz. "I mean you've literally forgotten that I exist. Your memory has been messed with."

"What? No, of course not."

"Who are you talking to Doc?" Graham asked, as he and Ryan entered the console room.

"Yeah, where did she come from?" asked Ryan.

"Wait, you don't know who..." the Doctor began, but couldn't seem to remember the name. She clicked her fingers in frustration, trying to recall it.

"Yaz," said Yaz.

"Yaz, that's right," the Doctor said in relief. "You're telling me you don't recognize her?" Both of the men shrugged in confusion.

"She looks familiar," Graham said. "But I couldn't tell you where from."

"Graham, we've been travelling together for months," replied Yaz. "Tell them Doctor."

"You're right," the Doctor said. "This is serious." She quickly jumped around the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers.

"Are we going back to the church?" Yaz asked.

"What an amazingly good guess," said the Doctor. "We're going back to the last place we were, yes. There's only one place I know where this could have happened. And if I'm right, it won't be long till you stop being remembered for good!"

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The silence of the room was interrupted by the wheezing, groaning noise of a blue box materializing into existence. But as quickly as the noise arrived it was gone again, the silence winning out. The door opened as the four occupants tumbled out.

"Normally I'd take my clothes off," the Doctor said, looking around. "But this is a bit of an urgent situation."

"Take your clothes off?" asked Ryan.

"Yeah, we're in church. It's protocol."

"To take your clothes off when you enter a church?" Graham said.

"Oh come now, the point of travel is to broaden your mind, not have you be stuck with pre-conceived notions based on just your own culture."

"Can we hurry it up Doctor?" Yaz asked.

The Doctor said nothing, instead turning to focus on an item on the ground next to the TARDIS. She was slightly impressed that she didn't land on it. "What's this doing here?" She picked up the cellphone, turning it over in her hands. It certainly looked like an ordinary, twenty-first century smart phone, but how it made its way all the way out here was anyone's guess.

"Hey, that's my phone," Yaz said. "Doctor," she said, more forcefully. The Doctor's head snapped up and back onto Yaz. "That's my phone," she repeated.

"Is it?" the Doctor said. "It's a very nice phone... Wait, no, that's bad."

"The phone?" asked Ryan.

"The fact that I don't remember that it's..." said the Doctor, looking at Yaz but failing to recall a name. She clicked her fingers in frustration as she tried to remember.

"Yaz," said Yaz.

"Yaz's phone, yes. Nor that she herself seems to remember leaving it behind. It's more serious than I thought."

"How can we all forget..." Ryan began, before stopping. "Sorry, what are we talking about?"

"Forgetting someone," the Doctor asked. "Do you remember everyone you've met in your life?"

"Well, no," admitted Ryan. "But I don't see how this is relevant."

"Neither do I," the Doctor said in confusion, scratching her head.

"You'll save me, won't you Doctor?" Yaz asked.

"Of course," the Doctor said. "I'll totally look after you. You can trust me, I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

"Yaz!" Yaz shouted.

"Alright, calm down," the Doctor said. "I must say, the church's really gone downhill if that's how they address visitors. Wait, no, hang on. You don't work here, do you?"

"No, Doctor," Yaz said. "I travel with you in the TARDIS."

"Do you? Wait, I remember now. We came here to figure out why everyone keeps forgetting you. Right, okay." The Doctor fumbled around in her pockets, pulling out a felt tip pen. She wrote 'Yaz' down on her arm, making sure she could see it.

"Okay, so, to be safe, everyone keep an eye on Yaz, keep her in your mind. We can't afford to forget her, not even for a second."

"Who?" asked Graham, before his eyes set on Yaz and he jumped slightly, before relaxing and remembering who she was. She smiled, comforted by her friends concern, but feeling awkward at constantly being looked at. To distract her mind she went over to the Doctor and looked at the phone screen.

"Hold up," she said. "Someone's left me a message."

"I wonder..." the Doctor said, pressing the button.

"Doctor, you need to listen to me," said the voice on the line. Everyone froze, confused by what was happening.

"I don't remember sending this message," the Doctor said, as she looked at the phone.

"You won't remember sending this message," the Doctor's voice replied. "In fact you'll think you're here for the first time. And no matter what I say you won't leave here, so instead we're going to try and get through this as quickly as possible to save Yaz. But we don't have much time. Already I've forgotten some of Yaz's features as I record this, so it must be even worse for you."

"This is too weird," said Ryan.

"You need to make your way down the corridor," the voice said. "First right, second left, fifth right, ninth left. While you do that I'm going to continually describe Yaz to you, so that she sticks in your mind. Yaz, make sure someone is looking at you at all times, it decreases the chances of you being forgotten about. Ryan, Graham, look at Yaz as if her existence depends on it because, well, it does."

"Are you going to follow the recording?" asked Graham.

"I suppose I am," the Doctor said. "If I can't trust myself who can I trust? Come on then fam. And remember, keep an eye on Yaz."

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"So you've come to the first challenge," the recording said. "This took me a while to crack last time, so be thankful when I tell you the code is Nine One Two Six."

The Doctor nodded to herself and type the code in, unlocking the door that had been placed in front of them. So far no one had bothered to greet them or even noticed their presence.

"There's no reason for the church to be this empty," the Doctor said. "We're in the height of the church's popularity. This place should be crawling with people."

"Maybe everyone is at work?" Graham said.

"But where are the priests? They at the very least should have seen to us by now."

"Why did we even come here in the first place?" asked Yaz.

"Why did we even come here in the first place?" asked Ryan.

"Good question Ryan," said the Doctor. "I'm not sure, but I have a sneaky suspicion."

Yaz said nothing, frightened that she'd been ignored yet again. Still, she had to trust the Doctor, she'd never let her down before.

"Keep going," the recording urged. "You don't have time to stand round asking questions."

"Alright then," the Doctor said. "Wow am I really that bossy?"

None of the others replied. Yaz offered a smile, but it was ignored.

"Don't all talk at once," the Doctor said, before letting out her own smile. "Come on then."

They continued on their way down the corridor, the Doctor felt with an uneasy sense of dread.

"Stop immediately," the recording said. They all paused, perplexed at what the Doctor had said. Even the Doctor was confused.

"This entire church has been booby-trapped," the Doctor on the recording explained. "Fortunately I've already survived the traps the first time round, and rather have you repeat the process, we can just jump straight to the end."

"Good old me," the Doctor said. "Always knew I could trust myself"

"You see the tiles in front of you?" the recording said. "Getting across is as easy as pie."

"So we can just walk across?" Ryan asked, getting ready to take a step forward. The Doctor's arm whipped out and stopped him in his tracks.

"I suspect that attempting to cross willy-nilly would be a bad idea," the Doctor said, fishing a coin out of her pocket, before pausing.

"Doc?" asked Graham.

"There's another coin," she said, indicating to the blackened coin on the ground. "Several of them in fact."

"So?" Ryan asked.

"They're Hopies coins," the Doctor continued. "They don't join the church for another three thousand years. No, I must have done all this before."

"Yes, you have," said the recording. "And now you're going to show Ryan what happens if you don't listen to instructions, so I recommend you get it done as quick as possible."

"Alright, alright," the Doctor said testily. She threw a coin onto one of the tiles. Electricity crackled from the room and spread across the tiles, scorching the coin black.

"So then," the Doctor said. "If your curiosity is satisfied, do exactly what I do."

"How do you know what to do?" asked Graham.

"It's as simple as pi," the Doctor said cheerfully, before realizing her friends weren't quite following along. "Pi. The mathematical symbol. Three point one four one five nine two-"

"We get the point," said Yaz frustratedly. The other three jumped in surprise.

"Sorry," the Doctor said. "Do you work here?"

"I'm Yaz," Yaz said through gritted teeth, "and I'm one of your travelling companions."

"Are you?" the Doctor asked, her face blank. Suddenly it hit her, and she looked ashamed. "Sorry, Yaz, I forgot how urgent the situation is. Okay, follow me." Carefully the group made their way across the tiles, following the Doctor's every step, a few of the leaps being particularly scary. Fortunately they all made it across safely to the other side.

"I hope you're hearing this Doctor," the recording said. "Otherwise the rest of my advice will be a waste of time. Keep going, third right, sixth left, third door on the right, and down through the middle."

"You heard me," the Doctor said. "Lets go then."

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"You said this was a church?" Yaz asked. "The booby traps were like curses on a pharaoh's tomb. And that you came here to steal something?"

"Wait, what makes you say that?" the Doctor says. "Why would I come here to steal something?"

"I don't know," said Yaz. "That's the conclusion you came to."

"When did I come to that conclusion?"

"The last time we had this conversation."

"I don't remember having this conversation miss..."

"Yaz, Doctor. Travelling companion. We're here because you keep forgetting that I exist."

"Do I? Sorry, it must be this place... Maybe that's why I came here, to steal whatever was causing this to happen. Or as a way of stopping this from happening."

"Well I believe in you nonetheless," Yaz said, giving the Doctor a smile. The Doctor smiled back and turned away, her face suddenly becoming a mask of confusion. She looked as if she couldn't figure out why she was smiling. Her head turned, seeing Yaz again, still slightly confused.

"Okay, here's where things get difficult," the recording said. "Good news, you're almost there."

"Well that's a relief," Graham said. "I was starting to get turn-around in this maze. How are we going to find our way back to the TARDIS anyway?"

"GPS," replied the Doctor. "I installed a tracker in each of your phones. Should trace the route back for you."

"Wait, when did you put that on our phones?" Ryan asked.

"The moment I had one too many companions get lost," the Doctor said. "You lot, you're honestly like stray cats half the time."

Suddenly the Doctor stopped, looking at the room they arrive in in confusion. It was a large, circular room with several doors.

"Here's the bad news," the recording said. "It took me a while to work out which door was the safe one, but fortunately by looking at the runes I was able to cross-reference them with the church's history and tell you that door number four is the one that won't set you on fire."

"Well that's a relief," the Doctor said. "I suspected this must have taken ages for me to solve. Still, I must say, it's nice to rely on myself."

"Stop praising yourself and keep going," the recording urged. "You're running out of time."

"Off we go then," the Doctor said, the sense of deja vu building up inside of her. She'd definitely been here before, but how? And why? And who was this strange woman walking with them? The Doctor eyed the stranger cautiously. She didn't know who this young woman was, and she had to be sure.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked, as they walked down the corridor.

"Yaz!" the woman yelled. "Yaz Yaz Yaz! I'm Yaz! Why won't you remember?"

The three TARDIS travellers jumped back in shock. Ryan and Graham glanced at the Doctor, who pulled out her sonic screwdriver.

"I don't know how you are," the Doctor said. "But I've never seen you before in my life. Now leave, before I do something we'll both regret."

"But Doctor-" began the woman.

"Now!" the Doctor said. "I never want to see you again!"