Chapter 4: Which do you prefer?
The creature listened to everything that was being said, and at the same time trying to delve into the memories of the body it was in. It was very confusing at times, some bits seemed a bit too strange for reality and some didn't even feature the person at all. Then it got control of the body again.
Rose was having a look at Mike's DVDs when he grabbed her by the neck, pulling her down to the floor. The Doctor immediately started trying to prise Mike's hands off; Anna just stood and watched, the quick action was a bit of a shock to her. Then she had an idea, she turned on the television and the DVD player and stuck a CD in it, selecting the second track on the disc. As the song started playing Rose felt the grip slacken as Mike started to hum along with the music that was playing, but he didn't let go.
The creature was confused, all it could here was this music, it made its mind hurt. It couldn't concentrate on keeping control because of those words coming at it, all it could here was Do, do, do the funky gibbon. We are here to show you how…
The Doctor finally managed to get Mike off Rose and they both backed away from him, Mike was now singing along. Then he stopped and relaxed. He seemed to have got control back again.
"Well that was close," he said standing up, "Anna you can turn it off now."
"No don't I like this song," the Doctor said as he started to dance along with it.
Later on the Doctor, Rose, Mike and Anna were back in the TARDIS. The Doctor was setting some of the controls. He'd done another scan of Mike's mind with the sonic screwdriver which was now plugged into the console again. The Doctor hadn't said a word about what he was doing at all, so Mike thought he'd better ask.
"Well I'm going to play back the last few minutes of that other mind's memory before it ended up in you," the Doctor explained, "So we can see what happened to it, and maybe where it was."
"Then what are we going to do?" Rose asked.
"Go there of course the," the Doctor said as an image appeared on the TARDIS screen.
The screen showed a point of few shot of a vast jungle, then it went up a tree. Looking down there was a soldier on the ground, carrying an advanced weapon. The soldier was leapt upon and killed. Then the shot looked up to see another soldier, aiming and firing his gun. Then it became completely blank with only a small area of light in the distance, these came closer and were revealed to be two round holes looking out onto a busy road. The Doctor turned it off.
"Is that any help?" Mike asked.
"Well it tells us that its physically dead," the Doctor said.
"What do you mean by physically?" Anna asked.
"Well we know that its mind is inside Mike," the Doctor explained, "So mentally its still alive. But that showed us it getting killed, so evidence suggests that its body, or its physical form, was killed."
"Right I suppose that explains it," Rose said, "Do you know where it died though?"
"No," the Doctor, "There are thousands of planets like that."
"Is there anyway we can find out where it is?" Mike asked.
The Doctor said nothing, instead he started to rewind the memory up to a point which showed the interior of a ship. The image was looking round where it was, there was a large window in front of it which showed a planet in the path of the shape. More movement showed a screen giving the current coordinates of the ship.
"That's it," the Doctor said freezing the image, then he started setting some of the TARDIS controls again, setting the coordinates shown on the screen.
Mike and Anna watched as the TARDIS sprang into life, the groaning sound of its engines filled the room as the column which stretched from the console to the ceiling started to show signs of movement inside it. Then it all stopped. The Doctor switched the screen to exterior scan, it showed a vast expanse of space. They could see a sun and stretching into the distance was a series of planets. The nearest one they recognised, the one that had been shown on the screen in the other mind's memory. The Doctor started setting coordinates again and the noise and motion started again. When it stopped the Doctor opened the doors and stepped outside. Mike followed him, and then Rose and Anna came out.
"Well here we are," the Doctor said, "What do you think?"
"Dunno," Anna replied, "Though I wouldn't set Groundforce on this place unless you wanted to give them heart attacks."
"I suppose not," the Doctor said, "Well come on then."
"Where are we going?" Rose asked.
"To find whatever it was that owned Mike's extra mind," the Doctor replied.
The Doctor and Rose walked off into the foliage, Anna and Mike stayed where they were. Mike looked round at the TARDIS, just sitting where it was, showing no sign that it was a piece of advanced technology.
"Which would you prefer then?" Anna asked, "That think of Thunderbird 2?"
They both laughed and ran after the Doctor and Rose.
"Captain, I've received a report from Colonel Jilkins that the creature is dead," one of the personal on the bridge of the battle cruiser said.
The Captain signed with relief, at least there was one less murdering psychopath in the universe.
"Very good Officer," the Captain replied, "Tell the Colonel that however killed it will get a promotion. Anything else?"
"Yes sir," the Officer replied, "Colonel Jilkins also reported hearing the sound of what seemed to be the engines of a ship."
The Captain took this in slowly, deciding on a course of action.
"Tell him to find its source, and if the occupants prove to be hostile, kill them," he said, then he got up and left the bridge.