Author's Note: Here's the fourth and final chapter, so now I can work on other projects I have lined up. I hope you enjoy the conclusion and please don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC and is used without permission.
Nightmare Syndrome
By Jack of the Pelt
Chapter Four
Into the Lair of Evil
"Dad!" Rose said, kneeling beside her father's prone body, feeling totally helpless.
Meanwhile, Kalhazad looked around himself in satisfaction. Both the Time Lord and the human adult would be no further trouble. Now all that would remain would be to take the human child to his queen.
He turned to the girl. "You will come with me," he growled at her.
"I'm not afraid of you," she said bravely.
"Yes you are," he said. "I can practically taste your fear. Delicioussss…" He picked her up and placed her over his shoulder. She struggled, but it was no good, as he was far too strong.
"DADDY! HELP ME!" screamed Rose as she was carried off into the surrounding darkness, but Michael didn't react, as he was trapped within his own mind…
***
A few moments later, when Kalhazad was a safe distance away, the Doctor opened one eye. Seeing that there was no one hostile was around, he climbed to his feet and dusted himself down. "Odd," he said to nobody in particular. "That should have rendered me insensible. Oh well, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth."
He looked around and saw that Michael was lying only a few feet away. He walked over to him and knelt down beside him. "Michael, it's time to wake up!" he said as he gently shook him. When he received no reply the Doctor shook him harder. Still nothing. This time the Doctor slapped him across the face, hard. "MICHAEL! Come on, this is no time for a nap!"
"Aaarrrggghh!" cried Michael as he sat bolt upright. He looked around, dazed. "Where… Where am I?" he asked.
"You're still in Highvale, Michael," replied the Doctor, helping him to his feet.
"Oh my god," Michael muttered despondently. "I-I saw my wife die. Over and over again… It was horrible!"
The Doctor patted him on the back. "Don't worry, it's over now." the Doctor said, trying to comfort him.
Michael looked at him sharply. "Hey," he said, "didn't that Kalhazad guy say he did the same thing to you what he did to me?"
The Doctor nodded slowly. "Yes he did," he agreed. "But I didn't see anything disturbing, I only heard that voice again, telling me to stay down until Kalhazad left."
"Who the hell is that voice anyway?" asked Michael.
The Doctor removed his hat and scratched his head. "Hmm, I really don't know," he admitted. "At first I thought it was your daughter, but it seems unlikely now…"
"Where is Rose anyway?" Michael said, suddenly realising his daughter wasn't here, feeling guilty that he hadn't noticed before. "Oh Christ! That monster's taken Rose with him! We've got to follow that thing! Did you see which way he went?!"
"Calm down, Michael," the Doctor told him, holding up a hand. "There's no reason to panic."
But his companion was beside himself. "That's easy for you to say," he almost screamed. "It's not your daughter that monster has!"
"No, but my friends are in danger," replied the Time Lord. "And that voice told me exactly were Kalhazad went."
"Well, what are we standing around here for?" Michael said. "Which way did he go?"
The Doctor pointed in a seemingly random direction and then started to walk that way, Michael close behind.
***
As the Time Lord and his friend went to follow the Velialian, neither of them saw the figure following them at a distance.
"There's no fucking way I'm gonna let that little bitch take my place!" snarled Kevin with venom. "I'll kill her first!"
***
A few minutes later they were by one of the vast chasm near the outskirts of town.
"Down there?" asked Michael, incredulous.
The confirmed this with a nod. "This is were the voice said to go."
"Doctor?" Michael said, staring down into the deep pit, trying to find a way down.
"Yes?" he replied.
"How did you know that the voice wasn't Rose?" he inquired.
"Oh, your daughter didn't sound anything like that voice," he explained. "Our mystery voice sounded much more mature, probably a female in her late teens or early twenties."
"Hey! Look over there!" cried Michael suddenly, pointing. "Isn't that some kind of stairway?"
The Doctor looked in the direction Michael indicated. "Yes, it is!" he said, he then hurried over and began to descend. After he had taken a few steps down he turned to his friend. "Well?" he asked. "Are you coming?"
Michael looked dubiously at the steps, which looked like they had been carved out of the side of the chasm. "Are you sure their safe?" he asked.
"Of course!" the Doctor said brightly. "How do you think the Velialians left their spaceship?"
"'Their spaceship?'" Michael said in disbelief. "Are you trying to tell me these guys are aliens?!"
"Certainly," the Doctor said, his face now deadly serious. "What else did you think they were?"
"Well…" he began, but trailed off, unsure of want to say. Now that he thought about it, the fact that these monsters were aliens made quite a lot of sense. "Okay, I'll take your word for it; you've been right about everything else so far," he finished, shrugging.
"Good, now come on, with don't have a second to spare." With that the Time Lord turned back and continued down the steps, Michael following once again.
***
A short while later they had reached the bottom of the chasm and found themselves in front of what looked like a large gunmetal green tentacle that stretched off into the distance in both directions. Disturbingly enough, it seem to be breathing, and Michael decided that this had to be the thing - or another one, Michael realised with a shudder - he saw moving at the bottom of the chasm they had seen earlier.
"they must have used these to block off the exits from town," the Doctor muttered while he examined the thing. "The Velialians must have wanted to keep everyone inside the town."
Michael didn't want to think about that. "So," he said, changing the subject. "How do we get inside?"
"Well, it's obvious that a doorway into the ship has to at this particular point, or how else would the Velialians get in and out?"
"Yeah, but where?" Michael replied, pointing at the strange surface in front of them. "I can't see any sort of door."
"Sometimes, my good Michael, things aren't as obvious as they seem," The Doctor said. He then stepped forward and then placed the palm of his hand against the surface of the craft, closing his eyes. A few moments later he stepped back and opened his eyes. "There, that should do it."
Michael was puzzled. "Done wha-"
All of a sudden an opening appeared in front of them. Michael looked at the Doctor with a confused expression. The Time Lord gave him a disarming grin.
"I simply asked nicely if the craft could let us in," the Doctor answered his companion's unasked question. "It must have liked my charming nature!"
"Is that what you call it?" Michael asked innocently.
"Hmph," remarked the Doctor as he walked inside the alien ship. Michael followed soon after, unable to keep a smile off his face.
However, neither of them noticed Kevin slip in behind them just before the opening closed.
***
The Doctor and Michael had walked for at least half an hour along a dark, dank corridor, with only the occasional green light to illuminate the passageway. "Why is this corridor so long?" complained Michael.
"It's because the Velialians use these arms to disembark from their ship," answered the Doctor. "They can extend for quite long way; practically from orbit."
"Isn't that a little impractical? I mean, it's a long way to walk."
"Oh, they're probably lowered down use a gravity suppressor."
Michael didn't want to be confused by techno babble, so he didn't bother to ask what one of those was. "Who are these Velalian guys anyway?" he asked instead, wanting to know a great deal. "What do they want with my little girl?"
"Well, they're a very nasty species from the planet Velial, which is very long way from here, incidentally, just about on the other side of the galaxy," the Doctor explained. "They're one of the most powerful psychic races in the universe, which is quite unfortunate."
"Why is that?"
"Because they are totally obsessed with fear, which is the reason why they've been trying to scare us to death. They're also surpposed to have been extinct for at least a thousand years. Hmm…"
"What's the matter?" Michael asked quickly, suddenly worried that the Doctor had something shocking to reveal.
"I've just realised that they must have had some influence on the people who settled here, that's why the lake we're under is called Velial."
"Wait a minute," Michael exclaimed. "We're under the lake?"
"Of course," the Doctor said, surprised that Michael hadn't realised this. "We have been walking quite along way. It must have crashed here centuries ago and the crew put themselves into stasis, emerging every so often to see if they could find a way of repairing this ship. As for what they want with your daughter; I'm not entirely sure, but I do have my suspicions."
"Great," Michael muttered to himself.
"Cheer up, Michael," said the Doctor cheerily. "It 's not that bad, at least we now she in here somewhere."
Michael didn't reply.
They continued walking and a few minutes later they had arrived at a T junction. "At last," Michael said, giving out a sigh of relief. "Which way do we go now?"
The Doctor almost immediately walked down the left junction. "We go this way," he said.
"Why this way?" asked Michael, running to catch him up.
The Doctor pointed a thumb back down the way they had come. "Those pictograms on the wall when we came out of that corridor said that this was the way to the control room."
"Why the hell are we going there?" his companion said, eyes wide. "Won't it be crawling with Velials?"
"Velialians," corrected the Doctor.
"Whatever!"
"I shouldn't think so; only a few of them would be awake to keep power usage at a minimum."
"Why doesn't that reassure me?" he replied, and then he noticed that the Doctor was gone. He turned around, panicking slightly, but he saw that his friend had stopped a few metre down the corridor, examining a pair of large double doors.
"What's that?" asked Michael, walking up to him.
The Doctor looked up at him and tapped a plaque beside the doors. Michael could see that it was covered in strange-looking symbols, which looked very familiar. "This sign reads: 'STASIS CAGES'," he answered. "I think I'll go and have a look and see what we're up against." He then placed his arm against the door and closed his eyes, repeating the same process he had done earlier. As with before it slid open and the Doctor quickly walked inside.
"Hey! Wait!" cried Michael, hurrying in after him, the door sliding shut behind him.
***
"Oh dear," muttered the Doctor, looking around himself in a mixture of awe and horror.
"I think that's putting it lightly," Michael said, even more terrified. "I think holy fucking shit would be more appropriate."
"Quite," murmured the Doctor, more interested by what was surrounding them.
They were now standing on a raised walkway in a vast room with no visible top bottom or sides. What little light there was showed them that the room contained thousands upon thousands of strangely glowing metal cages, just large enough to accommodate a standing man, and inside each one was a strange creature wearing what look a loose fitting black boiler suit. They looked almost human, but their arms were far too long, their skin was a purple-green and they had no visible nose or any hair on their heads. This must be what the Velialians look like without their armour, thought Michael as he stared at the occupant of one of the nearer cages, it's a good job they all seem to be asleep. For the moment, anyway.
"I've just had a horrible thought," said the Doctor suddenly.
"What's that?" asked Michael, still gazing around at the cages above him.
"All those creatures we saw in Highvale were most likely the people that used to live there."
Michael managed to tear his gaze away from the unnerving sight all around him and looked at the Doctor sharply. "How the hell did they do that?"
"Oh, most probably some kind of a short ranged but powerful psychic wave," the Doctor explained casually. "It must have changed them almost instantaneously."
Michael shuddered, but looked to see if there was anything of interest of elsewhere to take his mind off what the Doctor had just said - and spotted a familiar face inside one of the cages. He walked up to it to get a closer look. "Hey, Doctor!" shouted Michael, calling him over. "I think your friend Harry is in here! And Sarah is inside this one!"
The Doctor hurried over and saw his two friends inside the cages. "Quick, we have to get them down!" the Doctor said, worried.
"How?" asked Michael as the Time Lord looked around desperately for something to lower the cages.
"There'll be a control device or three somewhere along this walkway," replied the Doctor.
Glancing around, Michael caught sight of a small metal box attached to one of the railings next to each side of the walkway. He pointed at it and called the Doctor. "What about this?" he asked. "Is this it?"
The Doctor hurried over and examined the device. "Yes," he murmured to himself. "This must be psychically controlled as well…"
Once again he placed his hand on the device and closed his eyes. A few seconds later there was a click followed by a metallic hum as one of the cages - Sarah's - moved over the walkway and was lowered down. Michael hurried over to Sarah's cage and open it, which strangely was only closed by a simple looking latch. As soon as he did so, however, the cage stopped glowing and Sarah eyes snapped open.
"Where - where am I?" the girl said weakly, stumbling into Michael arms.
"Hey, its alright now," said Michael, steadying her. "Me and the Doctor are here, you're safe."
Sarah blinked a few times, and then a horrified expression appeared on her face. "Oh no," she gasped, "Harry! He's dead!"
The Doctor had already lowered Harry's cage and was helping him out. "Harry's right here, Sarah," the Doctor grinned. "Say hello, Harry!"
"Doctor, old chap, is that you?" asked Harry, as dizzy as Sarah was when she had left her cage. "You know I've just had the most damnable dream -"
"Harry?" asked Sarah, shocked to see her friend. "You're alive? B-But I saw your body, you were dead!"
"I think I can explain," announced the Doctor. "Harry's dead body was simply an hallucination."
"A hallucination?" echoed Sarah.
"Yes, a hallucination caused by an alien species, whose ship we are all on board now."
"Oh, great, out of the frying pan into the fire!" complained Sarah, just about back to her old self. She turned to her other friend. "Well, at any rate, I'm glad your alright, Harry."
"You too, old bird," said Harry. A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "You know Sarah, I only walked a few feet down that alleyway before everything went black. I must of passed out." He then turned to Michael. "Did you find your daughter, Michael?"
Michael nodded forlornly. "Yeah, but then these monsters took her away."
"I'm sorry," said Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, the Doctor had strode over to the door. "Come on, we've got no time to lose," said the Doctor. "I'll fill you in on the way. Come along you three."
Michael looked at Sarah and Harry and shrugged. "How do you keep up with this guy?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "I have no idea," she said as all three of them went to follow the Doctor out of the large room.
***
After walking up the corridor for a short while, the Doctor explaining what had happened to him and Michael as they went, they reached a large chamber with an even bigger set of double doors than the ones leading into the Stasis Cage room. Both doors had what looked like a fanged maw consuming a planet within an eight pointed star branded on it's surface.
"The emblem of the Velialian Empire," explained the Doctor. "Did you know that their maxim is 'Fear Is Our Ally'?"
"That's all very well, Doctor," asked Sarah, trying to suppress a shudder. "But how do we get though these doors?"
"It's quite simple really, replied the Doctor, grinning. "All I have to do is -" He went to place his hand on one of the doors, but jumped back when the doors started to slide open with a very loud grinding noise. "Oh, it looks like I don't have to do that anyway," he said, looking a little disappointed.
"Welcome, Time Lord," hissed a voice filled with malice as they walked though the doors. "I have been expecting you."
They were now in a vast room, not big as the cage room, but big none the less. There banks of what looked control panels, multi-coloured lights flickering on them, display screens with what looked like some kind of writing scrolling across them. But what really caught the four companions attention was the large glass cylinder in the centre of the room, filled with some kind of bubbling green fluid. Pipes and cables ran from the roof of the chamber and entered the top of the container, snaking down to a wizened figure floating in the liquid, It's red eyes glowed balefully at them.
"Good evening," greeted the Doctor calmly. "Meiidi of the Dark Dream, I presume? Or should I say Anna Cantrell?"
"Oh, very good, Doctor," replied the creature in the cylinder. "How did you know?"
The Doctor shrugged in response. "It was just a very good guess," he said modestly. "But why else would you have wanted that girl's body for?"
But Sarah was slightly puzzled. She learnt over towards her friend. "What do you mean, Doctor?" she whispered to him.
"He means, child," Meiidi hissed, "that this body used to belong to a girl that my followers found over a century ago."
"That's horrible!" gasped Sarah.
"It is, isn't?" the alien leader hissed with glee. "It took my some time to master this inferior body, but now I have complete control of it."
"I really don't think that's the case, Meiidi," challenged the Doctor. "Who do you think has been helping me and Michael while we were in Highvale? That's why you want Michael daughter for, isn't it? The genetic implant your followers placed in her ancestor, Laura Cantrell, has developed to a point that she will become a perfect host for your mind, am I right?"
"Very clever, Time Lord," Meiidi growled scathingly. "But the Successor isn't the only prize I have received, Behold!" The alien waved a hand. There was a bright flash and now standing beside her container was a tall blue box.
"The TARDIS!" exclaimed Harry.
"You shouldn't leave your time/space machine laying around like that, Doctor," mocked Meiidi. "You never now who might find them."
Michael had finally gotten over his horror at his surroundings and stepped forward defiantly. "Where's my Daughter?!" he demanded.
"Oh, very well," Meiidi sighed. "Kalhazad! Bring the girl!"
There was another grinding noise and Kalhazad stepped though into the chamber, a struggling Rose under one arm. Her eyes fell upon her father, and face lit up. "Dad!" she cried. "You've come to rescue me!"
"Rose!" Michael cried happily, but then he turned to the Drowned Queen, anger in his eyes. "Let her go, you monster!"
"Or you'll do what, human?" Meiidi asked, amused. "Slap my wrists?"
Before Michael could reply, Kevin rushed into the room and pushed the others out of his way, while his gun was pointing towards Medii. "I'M THE SUCESSOR! NOT HER!" he screamed before firing several gunshot, and the front of Meiidi's cylinder shattered. Meiidi emitted a an ear piecing scream as the green fluid spilled over the floor.
Kalhazad reacted almost instantly. "MY QUEEN!!!" he roared angrily. He let go of Rose, who fell to the floor but quickly recovered and hurried into her father's arms, while rushed over towards Kevin, the spear he had threatened the Doctor and Michael with was now in his hands. Before Kevin could react, he was skewered though the stomach and lifted into the air, blood now steaming down the weapon. "DIE, VERMIN!!!" Kalhazad snarled.
But with his last ounce of strength Kevin lifted his gun and pointed it at the glass visor on the Velialian's helmet, and pulled the trigger. At a distance, the shot would have probably have glanced off, but at this range it broke tough the glass and blew Kalhazad's head apart inside his helmet, killing the alien instantly. He collapsed into a heap, both the Velailian and the human now dead.
The Doctor quickly took advantage of the situation. "Quick! Everybody into the TARDIS!" he said as he gave Sarah the key to his craft. "Open the door Sarah!"
"What about you, Doctor?!" she asked him.
"Yeah, aren't you coming?" Michael added, holding onto his daughter.
"I'll be with you shortly!" he told them, pushing them both towards the TARDIS. "I have a few lose ends to deal with!"
"How are we suppose to all fit in there?" asked Michael, incredulous.
"You'd be surprised, old chap," Harry told him.
When they were all safely inside the Doctor examined the room and rubbed his hands together. "Now, I'll have to find the self-destruct system," he murmured to himself. "Where to start…"
"Doctor…" hissed a weak voice.
The Doctor looked up, alarmed. "Oh, no," he muttered. He span around to face the Drowning Queen in the shattered glass tank. "Meiidi! You're still alive!"
"No, I'm not that evil witch," hissed Meiidi's voice, but somehow it sounded different. "My name is Anna Cantrell."
"Anna?" asked the Doctor, surprised. "You're the dominant consciousness now?"
"Yes. Meiidi is weakened," Anna Cantrell explained. "I am now able to access the ships systems."
"Which means you've -"
"Which means I have set the ship to self-destruct! Go Doctor!" cried the part of the Drowned Queen that was still Anna Cantrell "GO NOW!"
The Doctor nodded and hurried over to the TARDIS. He was just about to enter when he turned back to the cylinder. "Thank you, Anna," he said, "thank you for your help, and goodbye!" He then opened the door to his time machine and closed it behind him. A moment later it faded away into the time vortex.
"Goodbye, Doctor," murmured Anna, "and thank you for your help…"
***
Outside, all was calm. The mist had dispersed and the sun had risen. There was no noise save for birdsong and the rustle of the wind thought the trees.
And then the whole surface of the lake exploded, shattering the near silence, water flying in all directions as the Velialian ship destroyed itself.
A few minutes later, everything was back to how it had been a short while ago, the lake undisturbed once again.
***
Once again the TARDIS materialised on the very same spot just outside Highvale and the three time travellers were now saying their farewells to Michael and Rose.
"Goodbye Doctor, Sarah, Harry," said Michael. "Thank you for helping me find Rose."
"Cheerio, old chap," said Harry, shaking Michael's hand. "Nice to have met you."
"See you soon!" said Sarah, waving, as she and Harry walked into the TARDIS.
Once they were inside, the Doctor spoke to Michael. "You shouldn't have anything to worry about from the Velialians," he said to him. "They're all dead now…"
"You make it sound like it was a shame they're extinct," remarked Michael, surprised.
"In a way it was. All that psychic potential, wasted on warfare," the Doctor said sadly. But then his expression changed, and now he was grinning. "Well, I hope we meet again in much more pleasant circumstances, Michael,"
"I hope so too!" Michael laughed.
Sarah's head poked from behind the door. "Come on, Doctor, Hurry up!" she scolded. "We've have to get to Loch Ness!"
The Doctor turned to her. "Coming, Sarah! Coming!" he said, and turned back to Michael and Rose. "Goodbye," he said simply, before turning around and head for his time machine.
"Bye Doctor!" the two of them cried, waving. "Bye, Doctor thank you for helping my dad!" added Rose.
The Doctor waved over his shoulder and then disappeared into the TARDIS. Michael and his daughter both watched as the blue box vanished from sight, the only evidence of it actually existing was the depression on the grass where it had once been only a short while ago.
"Do you think we'll ever see them again, dad?" asked Rose a moment or two later.
"I really don't know, Rose," her father replied. "Nothing is ever certain, after all."
Rose looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I'm certain of one thing, dad," she said.
"What's that then?" Michael asked curiously.
"I don't think I'm going to have nightmares anymore," she replied, smiling up at her father, who smiled back.