CHAPTER FIFTEEN - CONTINUATION
Iris spent the next thirty minutes on her bus, closely monitoring her consoles investigating if there were any remants of this Reckoning the man and woman were just talking about. Though she suspected the threat was no longer there, she just wanted to make sure for certain.
"Well," Iris finally said as she returned from her TARDIS. "I still don't detect anything out of the ordinary, I think we're okay."
"You needn't worry Iris." The man commented gazing in her direction. "Anna-Marie said that whatever it was that caused the Reckoning, came and went a year ago."
"At least a year Powell," Anna-Marie added, "perhaps more."
Powell looked at Anna-Marie and slowly nodded at her words. "In the first days after the Reckoning there was nothing but panic and confusion. It's hard to be exactly precise as you can understand."
"So you all just woke up one day and didn't know who you were." Ace mused. "How does that work?"
Powell looked back at Ace and softly chuckled before speaking. "My first memory after the Reckoning was of running in the streets, as though for my very life. Anna-Marie was running right there beside me."
"But what would cause memory loss on such a wide population of people at the same time?" Iris wondered as she started walking slowing around.
"Invastion?" Ace suggested.
"Invasion chuck," Iris replied, "if this place had been invaded why would they let the inhabitants roam freely. No, definitely not an invasion."
"What about a biological weapon. Did you remember if you had any enemies who wanted to take you over living on your planet?"
Powerll and Anna-Marie looked at eachother and pondered the question for a short bit.
"No," Powell ansered, "there were no enemies amongst us. The leader of our village was both wise in intellect and fierce in battle. From what I learnt after the Reckoning we believed nobody challenged us."
"Where did you learn this Powell?" Ace asked getting more interested.
"Through the books that we held in our libraries and homes," Anna-Marie.
"Really?" Iris smiled. "I would like to see some of these books. It might help me understand this situation better and explain why we have arrived here and at this time."
"There are no more books in public circulation I'm afraid." Anna-Marie suddenly said with a deep breath. "About six months previously, our leader condemned the writings of this land to be a damaging influence, and ordered all books to be rounded up and locked within the Great Chambers and the town's center."
"Oh, no, no, no, no." Iris cried to nobody in particular. "This is sounding most bad indeed luv."
"He surmised they could hold the very writings that brought fourth the Reckoning." Powell quickly commented after seeing Iris' exasperated response.
"I really find that hard to believe," Iris muttered sternly. "Books are for entertaining, for pleasure. Not subterfuge and memory loss."
"We also believe this," Anna-Marie commented with a nod of affirmation.
Suddenly Powell and Anna-Marie turned their heads sharply back towards the doorway as the dull sound of a bell could be heard from all around.
"Quickly, we must hurry from this place." Anna-Marie quickly uttered.
"Why?" Iris, "What's happing now?"
"Quickly," Powell agreed, "we must hurry from here. Here we have to be within the confines of our homes before a certin time."
"You mean you have a curfew?" Ace asked looking at them both. "Well that just sucks."
"Indeed," Anna-Marie commented. "Now, please before we are discovered."
They quickly led Ace and Iris towards the entrance of the building, the sunlight now faded away to a dark and sullen evening with a sky streaked with a fierce red that etched it's way towards every horizion. After checking that the streets were clear, Powell motioned to the rest and they quickly darted out into the streets.
As they passed down the endless and winding streets of the town they had landed in, they had paid special notice to the cleanliness of the place. Not one stray piece of litter broke the surface of the level pathways and not one brown leaf disturbed the clean and unfettered parks. The buildings were the next prominent feature. The brickwork looked as though it had been scrubbed brilliantly or as if the buildings were only recently constructed with a distinct shade of an almost Victoriana age to them but with a modern day finish.
They soon arrive to a large red door which is surrounded by a variety of colourful flowers.
"Here," Powell comments, "this is where myself and Anna-Marie reside." He took a small key from his pocket and unlocked the door before pushing it open to allow Ace and Iris inside.
They breathed a sigh of relief and got settled into their new environments thanks to their new friends. They were given refreshments and food to eat which both Iris and Ace ate thankfully while Powell brought them up to speed on events that plagued their planet since the first day after the Reckoning.
After a short while Iris and Ace were shown down a set of stairs to a large basement, secured by a large and heavy oak door. Powell opened it slowly and reached inside finding a light switch. As he turned the lights on, he opened the door fully showing off the room in it's entirety to his two guests.
Ace and Iris looked on in awe and wonderment at the vast collection of books that were on what seemed like every wall of the basement. In the middle stood a large oak table which was home to several dozen more volumes, some of them opened out to specific pages.
"You say all the books were confiscated?" Iris asked as she saw the extent of Powell's and Anna-Marie's basement.
"Yes," Powell answered as they stepped in and closed the door behind them. "These were the volumes that both myself and Anna-Marie recovered along with several other people in the town without the Magistrate's knowledge."
"It's that serious a crime to have books in your possession?" Ace asked in complete shock.
"Sadly, yes." Anna-Marie answered with a sad face. "I've spent every waking hour in here, reading, searching, dispensing whatever useful information I find, but I'd be lying if I said that I understood a vast majority of it."
"Maybe we could fill in the preverbial blanks for you chuck," Iris commented with a smile as she made a bee-line for the nearest stack of books.
"I'd like to know a little more about the current situation in your town if that is okay?" Ace asked looking at Anna-Marie.
"Of course," Anna-Marie replied gesturing Ace to take a seat at the table. "What would you like to know about?"
"Well how did the current government come into power?" Ace asked accepting the seat.
"Well," Anna-Marie started, "it was several days after the Reckoning had passed that people started noticing things weren't working just right in the Great Chambers of the government. The governing body was quickly identified, but seeing as they didn't remember how they ran things before the Reckoning, they carried on how they felt they used to. The resulting pandemonium was felt throughout the town. The people of the governing body were disagreeing and disputing nearly everything the Govenor of the town had decreed and he was on the verge of calling his own militarian sub-body to take care of the rebellious factions as opposed to hearing their voices and coming to a sensible agreement."
"Gosh," Ace muttered with a deep breath, "It sounds like the town's people were on the verge of rioting."
"Sadly, we did." Anna-Marie answered. "On the thirty-first day after the Reckoning the people of the town had enough of the rulings of the Govenor and in the town center they clashed with the soldiers the Govenor had passed to police the town of the more liberal minded people."
"So," Iris said getting interested in the conversation. "What happened next?"
"There was a government overthrow by the people." Anna-Marie replied looking at Iris. "A man called Braithwaite stepped forward and led the people. He completely overthrew and Governor, and afterwards the towns people were more than willing to vote him as new Govenor of our town."
"Why would you give a complete stranger such total and unconditional power like that?" Iris asked getting more and more interested.
"Many of our people don't believe in supersticions and such like," Powell said as he went to a nearby selection of books. "A few of us did however, and when we were looking through the books just before the overthrow we came across this volume."
Powell reached out and lifted a large leatherbound volume from one of the shelves and brought it back to the table.
"In it, well, I can only describe it as a prophecy. There is a passage in here that stated that a visitor will come to our town from a far off place and restore order to us when we have reached our darkest hour."
"Sounds pretty vague to me Powell," Ace mused as she looked at the man from across the table. "Why would you assume that passage was talking about this Braithwaite character?"
"Well," Anna-Marie, "it is true. Prophecies are ninety percent cryptic and ten perfent intuitive. However, it seemed like he came at the right time, as we were at our darkest hour."
"So?" Iris asked with a deep breath, "How has Govenor Braithwaite managed to please the town's people?"
"Well crime related incidents have dropped to near zero," Powell stated with a smile.
"But that's mainly due to the curfew right?" Ace asked.
"Well, yes," Anna-Marie quickly answered, "a percentage of the incidents were taking place after dark, but still we had daylight crimes as well."
"Just not that many." Iris added almost as a statement, as opposed to a question.
"Well no," Powell admitted, "not really."
"So," Ace continued, "If there's a curfew in place. Who checks up on that? I mean surely you didn't overthrow one Govenor who had a militarian police for another?"
"No," Anna-Marie quickly stated. "What the Govenor has a few, what he calls sentinels to patrol the streets."
"What happens if you are caught after curfew?" Iris asked.
"Then you are taking to a holding facility until morning and released," Powell replied. "It's not intended for punishment unless they suspect there is alterior motive. Then the decision is down to the Govenor as to what happens next."
"I'm confused," Ace admitted with a loud huff. "This Govenor Braithwaite is such a good man, why did he condemn and outlaw the written language? And what about finding a cure to reverse the effects of the Reckoning? Has any research taken place?"
Anna-Marie and Powell looked at each other a little hesitantly as they try to think of a suitable answer.
"Well," Powell said after a few moments silence. "The Govenor has kept the research for the cure of the Reckoning a secret while testing is taking place."
"He doesn't want to raise false hopes in the event he cannot find a cure," Anna-Marie added quickly.
"I don't know about you chuck," Iris said looking at Ace, "but I feel it maybe worth while having a conversation with this Govenor Braithwaite."
"Until then, you are more than welcomed to sleep in the room we have shown," Powell spoke with a sincere smile.
"Sounds like a good idea to me luv," Iris agreed with a smile of her own.
"Good," Anna-Marie said, "then I shall bid you both a good night. I shall see you in the morning."
With a nod and a smile, both Powell and Anna-Marie headed off to the ground floor of the building.
Ace remained seated at the table idly thumbing through the pages of a nearby book as Iris walked along studying the different volumes. After a few seconds of silence, Iris turned back to her companion and saw her with her eyebrows knitted together in deep thought and a slightly distant look in her eye.
"Ace, what's up chuck?" Iris asked from where she stood.
"I don't know," Ace replied looking back. "I can't put my finger on it, but something just don't seem right."
Ace looked at Iris, and in that moment she saw a little glimmer in the corner of her eyes.
"Oh Ace," Iris sighed, "don't tell me you're going off to skulk. At this time of night?"
"I could probably get more information that way." Ace replied standing up.
"Yes, or you could probably get caught by one of them sentinels." Iris countered. "If you're going, then so am I."
"No Iris," Ace quickly spoke taking a look out of the door and up the stairs. "It would probably be best if you stayed here and try to find anything more about this Reckoning. You're right, it wasn't a prelude to an invasion, but I can't help to feel it was a prelude to something more incidious."
"Oh all right," Iris agreed under protest. "But you'd better be back soon chuck, you need your sleep like everyone else."
"Thanks Iris," Ace said with a smile on her face.
"And Ace." Iris called out causing Ace to pop her head back into the room. "Be very careful out there."
"I will Iris," Ace spoke, "I promise."
A brilliant white full moon shone bright down through the clear night sky as Ace left Powell's place of residence and through the streets. She wasn't really sure what she was going to find, especially at that time of night, but to be honest she didn't really care. It was just an added bonus that she managed to get out to stretch her legs, and she could always cope if she found herself in a tight situation.
Ace reached the end of the street and looked around the corner. All the streets look the same to her yet with a certain familiarity that she couldn't put her finger on. She looked back briefly before carrying on down into the moonlit night.
Iris too was doing a little investigating of her own. She had stopped looking at the collection of books Powell and Anna-Marie had on the shelves. It had been a little while and Iris had come to the conclusion that most of the books had said pretty much the same thing, only worded differently. She could help but to feel a lot of the books were just written for propaganda purposes, in a way to influence and brainwash the locals, but to what end she couldn't tell.
Looking round the room more closely, Iris found a small wooden door that had been hidden by several large objects. The door had a locking mechanism built into it, but she could clearly see that the door itself had been opened and closed several times. Something interesting was behind that door, and Iris in typical form, wanted a look-see.
It wasn't much longer before Ace had found herself back to the building where the TARDIS was situated. She hadn't found anything of consequence with the exception that the town was as clean and spotless as they first thought. With a sigh Ace leant back against the a nearby wall and softly yawned. She could have gone back to Iris and see if she had dug up and information, but it would have been more convenient to just get back into the TARDIS, catch some sleep and catch up with her in the morning.
She soon found the entrance to the building and opened one of the large wooden doors, which swung open with ease. As soon as she walked back inside, the now familiar smell of must overwhelmed her senses and she had to stand still for a moment or two to get her bearings in the lack of light.
"Hmm just ahead if I remember," Ace mused to herself as she slowly made her way through the abstract maze of boxes and containers to the middle of the building.
After what seemed like a couple more minutes searching through the darkness ace soon saw the familiar outline of Iris bus and smiled to herself, in a couple more minutes she'd be relaxing in a nice warm and comfortable bed.
Ace smiled as she reached the doors of the TARDIS and gently traced her fingers over the cool exterior of the machine. As she did, her fingers caught something small and light, which she caught before it had a chance to fall to the floor. Not being to make it out properly Ace reached into her back pocket with her left hand and produced a small lighter which she kept for emergencies like this. Flicking a light she looked at what she had caught in her right hand, it was a small square piece of paper with handwriting on it.
"LOOK"
"Look?" Ace muttered in confusion, "At what?"
Before she could start to ponder the meaning of the question, she snapped her head quickly as from somewhere in the building she heard the sound of something falling onto the floor, she wasn't alone.
"Who's there!" Ace called out into the darkness. "I'm armed and not afraid to take action."
"Halt where you are," a metallic voice suddenly cut through the silence. "You are in violation of curfew, and in accordance with the law must be taken in."
The owner of the voice slowly and quietly appeared from the far end of the bus and started it's way towards Ace. She wasn't able to see enough of what it was, but Ace knew it wasn't going to be friendly so she slowly started walking backwards away from it.
"Halt!" another metallic voice suddenly announced itself, this time from behind Ace.
Ace turned around just in time to see it appear from behind the TARDIS and turn towards her.
"You are in voiletion," the second one repeated, "You will accompany us. This is not a request and resistance will be met with terminal actions."
"Ahh crap!" Ace muttered under her breath as she suddenly found herself caught between a rock and a hard place.
Iris spent the next thirty minutes on her bus, closely monitoring her consoles investigating if there were any remants of this Reckoning the man and woman were just talking about. Though she suspected the threat was no longer there, she just wanted to make sure for certain.
"Well," Iris finally said as she returned from her TARDIS. "I still don't detect anything out of the ordinary, I think we're okay."
"You needn't worry Iris." The man commented gazing in her direction. "Anna-Marie said that whatever it was that caused the Reckoning, came and went a year ago."
"At least a year Powell," Anna-Marie added, "perhaps more."
Powell looked at Anna-Marie and slowly nodded at her words. "In the first days after the Reckoning there was nothing but panic and confusion. It's hard to be exactly precise as you can understand."
"So you all just woke up one day and didn't know who you were." Ace mused. "How does that work?"
Powell looked back at Ace and softly chuckled before speaking. "My first memory after the Reckoning was of running in the streets, as though for my very life. Anna-Marie was running right there beside me."
"But what would cause memory loss on such a wide population of people at the same time?" Iris wondered as she started walking slowing around.
"Invastion?" Ace suggested.
"Invasion chuck," Iris replied, "if this place had been invaded why would they let the inhabitants roam freely. No, definitely not an invasion."
"What about a biological weapon. Did you remember if you had any enemies who wanted to take you over living on your planet?"
Powerll and Anna-Marie looked at eachother and pondered the question for a short bit.
"No," Powell ansered, "there were no enemies amongst us. The leader of our village was both wise in intellect and fierce in battle. From what I learnt after the Reckoning we believed nobody challenged us."
"Where did you learn this Powell?" Ace asked getting more interested.
"Through the books that we held in our libraries and homes," Anna-Marie.
"Really?" Iris smiled. "I would like to see some of these books. It might help me understand this situation better and explain why we have arrived here and at this time."
"There are no more books in public circulation I'm afraid." Anna-Marie suddenly said with a deep breath. "About six months previously, our leader condemned the writings of this land to be a damaging influence, and ordered all books to be rounded up and locked within the Great Chambers and the town's center."
"Oh, no, no, no, no." Iris cried to nobody in particular. "This is sounding most bad indeed luv."
"He surmised they could hold the very writings that brought fourth the Reckoning." Powell quickly commented after seeing Iris' exasperated response.
"I really find that hard to believe," Iris muttered sternly. "Books are for entertaining, for pleasure. Not subterfuge and memory loss."
"We also believe this," Anna-Marie commented with a nod of affirmation.
Suddenly Powell and Anna-Marie turned their heads sharply back towards the doorway as the dull sound of a bell could be heard from all around.
"Quickly, we must hurry from this place." Anna-Marie quickly uttered.
"Why?" Iris, "What's happing now?"
"Quickly," Powell agreed, "we must hurry from here. Here we have to be within the confines of our homes before a certin time."
"You mean you have a curfew?" Ace asked looking at them both. "Well that just sucks."
"Indeed," Anna-Marie commented. "Now, please before we are discovered."
They quickly led Ace and Iris towards the entrance of the building, the sunlight now faded away to a dark and sullen evening with a sky streaked with a fierce red that etched it's way towards every horizion. After checking that the streets were clear, Powell motioned to the rest and they quickly darted out into the streets.
As they passed down the endless and winding streets of the town they had landed in, they had paid special notice to the cleanliness of the place. Not one stray piece of litter broke the surface of the level pathways and not one brown leaf disturbed the clean and unfettered parks. The buildings were the next prominent feature. The brickwork looked as though it had been scrubbed brilliantly or as if the buildings were only recently constructed with a distinct shade of an almost Victoriana age to them but with a modern day finish.
They soon arrive to a large red door which is surrounded by a variety of colourful flowers.
"Here," Powell comments, "this is where myself and Anna-Marie reside." He took a small key from his pocket and unlocked the door before pushing it open to allow Ace and Iris inside.
They breathed a sigh of relief and got settled into their new environments thanks to their new friends. They were given refreshments and food to eat which both Iris and Ace ate thankfully while Powell brought them up to speed on events that plagued their planet since the first day after the Reckoning.
After a short while Iris and Ace were shown down a set of stairs to a large basement, secured by a large and heavy oak door. Powell opened it slowly and reached inside finding a light switch. As he turned the lights on, he opened the door fully showing off the room in it's entirety to his two guests.
Ace and Iris looked on in awe and wonderment at the vast collection of books that were on what seemed like every wall of the basement. In the middle stood a large oak table which was home to several dozen more volumes, some of them opened out to specific pages.
"You say all the books were confiscated?" Iris asked as she saw the extent of Powell's and Anna-Marie's basement.
"Yes," Powell answered as they stepped in and closed the door behind them. "These were the volumes that both myself and Anna-Marie recovered along with several other people in the town without the Magistrate's knowledge."
"It's that serious a crime to have books in your possession?" Ace asked in complete shock.
"Sadly, yes." Anna-Marie answered with a sad face. "I've spent every waking hour in here, reading, searching, dispensing whatever useful information I find, but I'd be lying if I said that I understood a vast majority of it."
"Maybe we could fill in the preverbial blanks for you chuck," Iris commented with a smile as she made a bee-line for the nearest stack of books.
"I'd like to know a little more about the current situation in your town if that is okay?" Ace asked looking at Anna-Marie.
"Of course," Anna-Marie replied gesturing Ace to take a seat at the table. "What would you like to know about?"
"Well how did the current government come into power?" Ace asked accepting the seat.
"Well," Anna-Marie started, "it was several days after the Reckoning had passed that people started noticing things weren't working just right in the Great Chambers of the government. The governing body was quickly identified, but seeing as they didn't remember how they ran things before the Reckoning, they carried on how they felt they used to. The resulting pandemonium was felt throughout the town. The people of the governing body were disagreeing and disputing nearly everything the Govenor of the town had decreed and he was on the verge of calling his own militarian sub-body to take care of the rebellious factions as opposed to hearing their voices and coming to a sensible agreement."
"Gosh," Ace muttered with a deep breath, "It sounds like the town's people were on the verge of rioting."
"Sadly, we did." Anna-Marie answered. "On the thirty-first day after the Reckoning the people of the town had enough of the rulings of the Govenor and in the town center they clashed with the soldiers the Govenor had passed to police the town of the more liberal minded people."
"So," Iris said getting interested in the conversation. "What happened next?"
"There was a government overthrow by the people." Anna-Marie replied looking at Iris. "A man called Braithwaite stepped forward and led the people. He completely overthrew and Governor, and afterwards the towns people were more than willing to vote him as new Govenor of our town."
"Why would you give a complete stranger such total and unconditional power like that?" Iris asked getting more and more interested.
"Many of our people don't believe in supersticions and such like," Powell said as he went to a nearby selection of books. "A few of us did however, and when we were looking through the books just before the overthrow we came across this volume."
Powell reached out and lifted a large leatherbound volume from one of the shelves and brought it back to the table.
"In it, well, I can only describe it as a prophecy. There is a passage in here that stated that a visitor will come to our town from a far off place and restore order to us when we have reached our darkest hour."
"Sounds pretty vague to me Powell," Ace mused as she looked at the man from across the table. "Why would you assume that passage was talking about this Braithwaite character?"
"Well," Anna-Marie, "it is true. Prophecies are ninety percent cryptic and ten perfent intuitive. However, it seemed like he came at the right time, as we were at our darkest hour."
"So?" Iris asked with a deep breath, "How has Govenor Braithwaite managed to please the town's people?"
"Well crime related incidents have dropped to near zero," Powell stated with a smile.
"But that's mainly due to the curfew right?" Ace asked.
"Well, yes," Anna-Marie quickly answered, "a percentage of the incidents were taking place after dark, but still we had daylight crimes as well."
"Just not that many." Iris added almost as a statement, as opposed to a question.
"Well no," Powell admitted, "not really."
"So," Ace continued, "If there's a curfew in place. Who checks up on that? I mean surely you didn't overthrow one Govenor who had a militarian police for another?"
"No," Anna-Marie quickly stated. "What the Govenor has a few, what he calls sentinels to patrol the streets."
"What happens if you are caught after curfew?" Iris asked.
"Then you are taking to a holding facility until morning and released," Powell replied. "It's not intended for punishment unless they suspect there is alterior motive. Then the decision is down to the Govenor as to what happens next."
"I'm confused," Ace admitted with a loud huff. "This Govenor Braithwaite is such a good man, why did he condemn and outlaw the written language? And what about finding a cure to reverse the effects of the Reckoning? Has any research taken place?"
Anna-Marie and Powell looked at each other a little hesitantly as they try to think of a suitable answer.
"Well," Powell said after a few moments silence. "The Govenor has kept the research for the cure of the Reckoning a secret while testing is taking place."
"He doesn't want to raise false hopes in the event he cannot find a cure," Anna-Marie added quickly.
"I don't know about you chuck," Iris said looking at Ace, "but I feel it maybe worth while having a conversation with this Govenor Braithwaite."
"Until then, you are more than welcomed to sleep in the room we have shown," Powell spoke with a sincere smile.
"Sounds like a good idea to me luv," Iris agreed with a smile of her own.
"Good," Anna-Marie said, "then I shall bid you both a good night. I shall see you in the morning."
With a nod and a smile, both Powell and Anna-Marie headed off to the ground floor of the building.
Ace remained seated at the table idly thumbing through the pages of a nearby book as Iris walked along studying the different volumes. After a few seconds of silence, Iris turned back to her companion and saw her with her eyebrows knitted together in deep thought and a slightly distant look in her eye.
"Ace, what's up chuck?" Iris asked from where she stood.
"I don't know," Ace replied looking back. "I can't put my finger on it, but something just don't seem right."
Ace looked at Iris, and in that moment she saw a little glimmer in the corner of her eyes.
"Oh Ace," Iris sighed, "don't tell me you're going off to skulk. At this time of night?"
"I could probably get more information that way." Ace replied standing up.
"Yes, or you could probably get caught by one of them sentinels." Iris countered. "If you're going, then so am I."
"No Iris," Ace quickly spoke taking a look out of the door and up the stairs. "It would probably be best if you stayed here and try to find anything more about this Reckoning. You're right, it wasn't a prelude to an invasion, but I can't help to feel it was a prelude to something more incidious."
"Oh all right," Iris agreed under protest. "But you'd better be back soon chuck, you need your sleep like everyone else."
"Thanks Iris," Ace said with a smile on her face.
"And Ace." Iris called out causing Ace to pop her head back into the room. "Be very careful out there."
"I will Iris," Ace spoke, "I promise."
A brilliant white full moon shone bright down through the clear night sky as Ace left Powell's place of residence and through the streets. She wasn't really sure what she was going to find, especially at that time of night, but to be honest she didn't really care. It was just an added bonus that she managed to get out to stretch her legs, and she could always cope if she found herself in a tight situation.
Ace reached the end of the street and looked around the corner. All the streets look the same to her yet with a certain familiarity that she couldn't put her finger on. She looked back briefly before carrying on down into the moonlit night.
Iris too was doing a little investigating of her own. She had stopped looking at the collection of books Powell and Anna-Marie had on the shelves. It had been a little while and Iris had come to the conclusion that most of the books had said pretty much the same thing, only worded differently. She could help but to feel a lot of the books were just written for propaganda purposes, in a way to influence and brainwash the locals, but to what end she couldn't tell.
Looking round the room more closely, Iris found a small wooden door that had been hidden by several large objects. The door had a locking mechanism built into it, but she could clearly see that the door itself had been opened and closed several times. Something interesting was behind that door, and Iris in typical form, wanted a look-see.
It wasn't much longer before Ace had found herself back to the building where the TARDIS was situated. She hadn't found anything of consequence with the exception that the town was as clean and spotless as they first thought. With a sigh Ace leant back against the a nearby wall and softly yawned. She could have gone back to Iris and see if she had dug up and information, but it would have been more convenient to just get back into the TARDIS, catch some sleep and catch up with her in the morning.
She soon found the entrance to the building and opened one of the large wooden doors, which swung open with ease. As soon as she walked back inside, the now familiar smell of must overwhelmed her senses and she had to stand still for a moment or two to get her bearings in the lack of light.
"Hmm just ahead if I remember," Ace mused to herself as she slowly made her way through the abstract maze of boxes and containers to the middle of the building.
After what seemed like a couple more minutes searching through the darkness ace soon saw the familiar outline of Iris bus and smiled to herself, in a couple more minutes she'd be relaxing in a nice warm and comfortable bed.
Ace smiled as she reached the doors of the TARDIS and gently traced her fingers over the cool exterior of the machine. As she did, her fingers caught something small and light, which she caught before it had a chance to fall to the floor. Not being to make it out properly Ace reached into her back pocket with her left hand and produced a small lighter which she kept for emergencies like this. Flicking a light she looked at what she had caught in her right hand, it was a small square piece of paper with handwriting on it.
"LOOK"
"Look?" Ace muttered in confusion, "At what?"
Before she could start to ponder the meaning of the question, she snapped her head quickly as from somewhere in the building she heard the sound of something falling onto the floor, she wasn't alone.
"Who's there!" Ace called out into the darkness. "I'm armed and not afraid to take action."
"Halt where you are," a metallic voice suddenly cut through the silence. "You are in violation of curfew, and in accordance with the law must be taken in."
The owner of the voice slowly and quietly appeared from the far end of the bus and started it's way towards Ace. She wasn't able to see enough of what it was, but Ace knew it wasn't going to be friendly so she slowly started walking backwards away from it.
"Halt!" another metallic voice suddenly announced itself, this time from behind Ace.
Ace turned around just in time to see it appear from behind the TARDIS and turn towards her.
"You are in voiletion," the second one repeated, "You will accompany us. This is not a request and resistance will be met with terminal actions."
"Ahh crap!" Ace muttered under her breath as she suddenly found herself caught between a rock and a hard place.
