Chapter CXVII
Mira
None of them had tried anything stupid. Or tried anything at all, for that matter. The policemen were armed with old looking, but doubtlessly very effective, revolvers. Old from her point of view, but certainly not encouraging any, stupid or not, actions. The Doctor had tried to talk to them, tried to work out why they were arrested, but they had only answered in monosyllables if at all. And there it was again; the feeling that all this was staged, that they didn't give them an answer because there really wasn't one. As if it wasn't part of their script. But then there was Harold who acted like a real person and who was just as confused as the Doctor and she.
Now they were sitting on a small bed – or rather, a bench – in a cell in the local police station. They hadn't been separated which was a good thing. But as long as the officers were there, there wasn't much they could do. They couldn't even talk as the cell was right next to the small office space where the officers were, smoking with their feed on their desks and having small talk.
She was convinced that they were missing something. A small but rather crucial detail. It was save to assume that aliens were behind all this, but what did they plan? Why this town, which, according to the Doctor, didn't exist? And what part did Harold play? And, if everything here was really playing out like a story from Lovecraft, was there also some sort of cult as it was the case so often in his stories? Had they only been arrested because they were outsiders and someone had gotten wind of the fact that they were after the Necronomicon? And why had the book been in Henry's bedroom in Tudor England? Was Harold's book actually the same book as Henry's or just another copy?
Suddenly she had to smile. "Hey," she said and nudged the Doctor, who was sitting next to her. "We met Anne!"
He turned his head, and the confused look on it turned into a wide smile. "I know! And Henry!"
Since they had encountered the HECATE and knowing that her crew had actually managed to relay her message to NATHAN, she could actually enjoy the travels with the Doctor without the constant fear of losing it sooner or later. Her people back home would know where she was and that she was save. And not even the rather disturbing episode on that space station had changed it. She still missed them, but now she had feeling that everything would work out somehow, somewhen. And why not have a little fun until then?
"Who are Anne and Henry?" Harold, who was sitting next to the Doctor, still keeping some distance from her, asked.
"Ah, just friends," she said. Before she could add more the officers nodded at each other as if they had gotten some secret sign, got up, gathered their stuff and left. She looked at the clock on the wall above their desks – it was late afternoon.
She got up and walked over to the cell door, looked around and then turned to Harold and the Doctor.
"They left," Harold said in disbelieve, shaking his head.
"Looks like," she replied. The question was, for how long. And why did all three of them leave?
"Time to get out of here," the Doctor added.
Indeed. She pulled a hairpin out of her hair and then looked at the lock. It wasn't anything fancy, but it would still prove a challenge.
"Why would they just leave us?" she mumbled, fumbling with the hairpin inside the lock. "They're not supposed to do that. Even if they don't think we would get out. What if a fire breaks out? We would burn to death in here. And that's very high on my list of ways I don't want to die."
She was fully aware that her death if, or rather, when it ever came, would most likely be a more or less violent and brutal one. She had opted out of dying peacefully in her sleep of old age a long time ago. Technically though she could still die of old age if she lost her cell activator. But ageing rapidly over the next few days and then turning into dust just didn't sound very peaceful.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor crouched next to her.
"Trying to get out? Do you want to have a go?" she offered him the hairpin.
"Sure," but instead of taking the pin, he shoved his hand in one of the pockets of his coat which she was still wearing.
Of course, she thought. The policemen had searched him and Harold, but not her. Big mistake.
He pulled the sonic screwdriver from the pocket and a moment later the door swung open.
"What was that?" Harold asked, panic in his voice and moving away from them to the back of the cell, his back against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
"Nothing," the Doctor replied. "Well, apart from having a look at this book, but-"
"Don't panic," she interrupted him. "We just want to find out what is going on here. I think we can agree that there's strange things going on in this town."
"But who are you? How did you open the door?" he wanted to know.
"We're from... far away," she replied. "Don't worry. Might just be that we're the only ones in this place you're safe with. Uhm – as long as you don't mind getting into trouble in general. If you do I would recommend leaving and going back to where you came from. Forget about your house here."
"Forget about my house? Never! My ancestors might have been strange folks, but I won't give up on my property! Besides, I want to know what is going on here."
"Well then, let's go!" the Doctor said and was about to open the front door, but she told him to wait.
After rummaging through the desk drawers and cupboards for a few minutes she found what she was looking for. A spare gun and ammunition. She removed any rounds from it and tried to work out how to use it, ignoring the Doctor's slightly disappointed stare as well as the horrified look on Harold's face. Finally she had worked it out – the hammer had to be pulled back manually for every shot. She doubted she would hit anything at a reasonable distance though – and she had to take into account the recoil, which wasn't much of a thing with energy weapons, and even projectile weapons had dampeners in them in the rare cases one would chose to use them. She hoped she wouldn't have to use it as she loaded it again, but by now she had a really bad feeling about their whole situation.
"Now we can go," she said after she had shoved the revolver between the laces on the right side of her bodice, covering it with the wide sleeve and the Doctor's coat.
"You're not keeping that?" the Doctor said, blocking her way, his hands in his pockets, looking down at her.
"I do," she replied, walking past him. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."
"Then at least give it to me, Miss," Harold said with his newly found courage.
"Over my cold, dead body," she replied with lopsided smile. She doubted he had ever shot with anything, let alone at someone, possibly killing them. And as much as she appreciated his change in attitude, it probably wouldn't last very long in the sight of actual danger.
Doctor
He carefully opened the door and peered out. It was quiet and after looking up and down the street a few times he was convinced no-one was here. He stepped out followed by Mira and Harold.
"Where is everyone?" Mira asked quietly as if not daring to disturb the silence.
Yes, where was everyone? His hunch was at the same place where the policemen went.
"It's not the first time they're doing that," Harold said.
He and Mira turned to him at the same time.
"They just suddenly go somewhere, but I am not sure where. They just vanish from the surface of this place. There is an old cave system under the town though. I don't know how many entrances there are, but I think one is in the cellar of my house. At least there is a corridor carved into the rock. I- I only went in there for a few feet as it is dark and I did not have a light and..." He shrugged, his eyes turned down.
"No need to be embarrassed Harold," He said cheerfully. "Finally someone who doesn't just wander off on their own. Come on, let's head back up to your house."
"What if they left guards behind?" he asked.
"Don't worry, I'll know before they see us," Mira replied.
Little later they arrived at the house, finding it empty. Harold let them to the cellar, despite not being quite convinced that the house actually was empty. They equipped themselves with oil lamps and then pushed aside the big shelve that blocked the entrance to the cave system. They were hit by a draft of cold and mouldy air as they stood in front of a tunnel, just not quite wide enough for two people to walk next to each other, which seemed to lead down before vanishing in the dark. Harold looked back and forth between him and Mira, the self confidence he'd just found almost completely gone again.
"Fine, I'll go first, I'm armed," Mira said, but he just stepped in front of her and halfway into the tunnel.
"Hey!" She grabbed his jacket, trying to hold him back.
"Yes, you're armed, and that's exactly why I'm going first," he said, turned around and smiled at her. "There's no way you can safely shoot past me without risking to hit me. And you know that."
They stared at each other for a moment. "You'll let me pass if there's someone in front of us!" she finally said.
He raised an eyebrow at her in reply and then turned around again.
"Harold, whatever happens, don't run off into the dark," he heard her saying behind his back as they finally started to make their way into the tunnels. "Especially if there's other tunnels branching off. Stay behind me and don't go back further than the last bend we passed in case someone fires at us."
"What if someone comes at us from behind?" he asked.
"I'll notice," she just said, and for a moment he wondered what frightened Harold more right now – whatever they would find in those tunnels or Mira.
They were walking for over half an hour and probably two miles. Mira had handed him back his coat after she had almost tripped over it on the uneven ground. The tunnel was still the same they had entered, they hadn't passed any forks. It was still going slightly down – and though he thought he could roughly tell in which direction they were walking, he would have to put a bit more thought into it to be certain as the tunnel has made numerous bends and turns.
Suddenly he felt Mira tugging at his jacket.
"Wait," she whispered. "Can you feel that?"
Her voice sounded strained, as if she was having a hard time focusing. And indeed, there was something on the edge of his mind, not even a whisper, but it was definitely there.
"That's the same presence I felt at the palace. But it's so much stronger here. I think we're getting close."
"You're alright?" he asked, whispering as well.
"I'm fine. Let's just hope they don't decide to use their strength to actually attack us."
They went on for another ten minutes before he could see a faint light in front of them. It looked like the tunnel was suddenly widening, probably forming a cave. He could also hear voices – mumbling and something that sounded like monotone singing, or chanting. He turned the lamp off and looked back at Mira and Harold. Mira had put the lamp out as well, just Harold was standing there, holding on to his lamp for dear life and staring past them at the cave.
"Harold, you're staying here," Mira told him. "The tunnel leads straight back – the moment you hear something strange you run back. Don't stop, don't turn around and don't come looking for us."
"What!?" he said. "I'm not staying here on my own." He turned is head, looking in the direction where they had come from. It was pitch black there.
"Come on then," he said to him. "Just stay behind us. Don't wander off! And light out!"
"But it's dark, how..."
"Oh really?" Mira sighed. "Put your hand on my shoulder. But only until we reach the light there ahead. So you don't get lost in a straight tunnel."
Finally, after Harold has put out his lamp, and to his surprise, placed his hand on Mira's shoulder, they were good to go.
Mira
The sight presenting itself once they've reached the cave could best be described as surreal. What sort of weird film were they stuck in? The cave was huge, rather brightly lit by countless torches and candles and oil lamps. The air was thick with smoke, and yet there seemed to be some ventilation as the smoke was moving to the far side of the cave. The whole town must be gathered here, she thought. She almost expected them to be dressed in black robes, but they were just wearing their normal clothes. It didn't help to make the whole scene less weird. In the middle of the cave, on a pedestal, a man was standing and chanting something in a language she couldn't understand. It took a few moments until she realised she should be able to. Was it the same language the book was written in? Then she saw it. A bit away from the crowd, on a huge book stand carved out of the rock, was the book, sitting right next to some sort of portal. It reminded her a bit of the transmitters in her universe, two columns forming a gate and between them the pitch black transmitter field. But that one was made out of rock and she couldn't see any consoles or some other means of controlling it.
On top of all that the presence she could sense was almost overwhelming now. There was a strong feeling of foreboding, dread and fear filling her mind. She was quite certain it didn't come from the crowd but instead the alien presence was responsible for it. Was it already attacking them? She turned to Harold and saw his eyes wide with fear. He wasn't just scared of what he was seeing. It was an almost creaturely, primal fear in his eyes, as if he could sense the alien presence as well now.
Her eyes went back to the man on the pedestal – and for a moment her brain didn't quite process what she thought she had seen. She blinked once, and then again, but it was gone.
"Did you see that?" she whispered. "Did he just grew tentacles for a second?"
"What?" the Doctor replied, as if he had been totally lost in thought.
It was then when she snapped out of it for a moment, realising that they had to get out of here, fast. And/or stop what was going on here. She had no idea what it was, but she knew it wasn't good.
Just at this moment Harold stormed past her. She tried to grab him but was too slow.
"Harold!" she whispered as loud as she dared, but he didn't stop. Soon it became clear that he must have drawn his own conclusions and made a run for the book – and he almost made it before the first people took notice of him. A commotion started but he managed to grab the book just as the people closest started to go for him. He looked around in panic, just like a trapped animal, realising they had cut of his way back to her and the Doctor. The only other way out was – the portal. He sprinted off, the book pressed to his chest, and, as both of them yelled, "NO!" just to make him stop and distract the people, he reached it and with one last, desperate jump went through it. That was bad on quite a few levels – first, Harold was gone together with the book and could be anywhere, including having left earth, and second, it was now them having the full attention of the crowd.
They had only two options – running back through the tunnels, hoping no-one with guns was following them. But they both knew that the police was amongst the crowd. Or hope to reach the portal before they were stopped and either lynched or captured or someone simply switched it off. She still thought it was some sort of transmitter with a hidden console somewhere – maybe on the other side. Not some magical, old portal leading straight to hell.
The Doctor must have come to the same conclusion as he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him towards the portal. She managed to pull the gun and wanted to shoot in the air so the crowd would stand back, but she reconsidered it in the last moment. She didn't want to risk the bullet getting reflected on the ceiling and then hitting someone. She hoped the sight of the revolver would keep them at distance.
The policemen had much less concerns about firing at them. The bullets went high above their heads as the policemen had to shoot past the heads of people in front of them, but they were already making their way to the front of the crowd. They had almost reached the portal and the Doctor literally dragged her the last meters and then dived through it, pulling her with him.
She landed hard on the other side, rolled over her shoulder, trying not to lose the gun, and got back on her feet.
It took her a few seconds to get her bearings – it was rather dark compared to the brightly lit cave and the air was filled by a foul smell. It remembered her again of stale see water in a hot summer afternoon with things rotting on the beach left behind by the tide. Harold was cowering in a corner next to the portal, hugging the book and trying to hide behind it. Then she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head.
"There we meet again, Doctor," the creature on the other side of the small cavern said in a deep, echoing voice. It took her a moment to work out what exactly she was looking at. She couldn't really say where the creature ended and the darkness of the cavern began, but she could tell it had a lot of tentacles. And yet, somehow that wasn't its real shape. It was a cloak, something it forced them to see, but when she tried to ignore it, to see behind it, there was nothing. Void. And what had it just said? Meet again?
"What?" the Doctor said. "We have met before? I'm afraid I can't quite remember. And I'm sure I would remember that." He pointed towards the moving heap of tentacles.
"Looks can be deceiving. There I thought you of all people would know that. Maybe you're companion can help you out. And I mean her, not the coward in the corner with my book."
"That's not his real shape," she said. It seemed to turn into a conversation, at least for now, and she wouldn't complain.
"Nah," the Doctor said after he had stared at the alien for a moment with furrowed brows. "No idea. Sorry."
"No need to apologise. Yet you were a different man back then, and I still recognise you. How could I ever forget the one creature who had banished me for aeons."
"Ooooooooh, yes, right, now I remember," the Doctor yelled suddenly. "Mind you, you shouldn't be here. There was no way for you to get out. I thought you died."
"You put me into a grave, but I did not die. But, was you know, with strange eons, even death may die."
"Oh please, leave Lovecraft out of this. You've just hijacked his stories to create another one of your cults to finally invade this universe. Again!"
"Who is that?" she asked.
"I don't actually know who he is," the Doctor said. "He never properly introduced himself. Very rude. But I do know what he is. He's some greedy creature trying to invade earth first and then probably the rest of the universe by possessing other peoples bodies. There are more of him, but he's their anchor. He's different. They need him, otherwise they can't go over in this dimension to possess more people."
"So they're from a different universe?"
"Nah, just a different dimension. They can pop up here any time they like. That's it with the whole Lovecraft myth. He took a fancy to it and then created the book out if a part of himself as he in turn also needs an anchor in this dimension. It is the book, isn't it?" he turned to the creature again.
"So – It's time travelling, body snatching aliens from another dimension?" she summarised it.
"Yup. Well, not body snatching really. They're just possessing them." He turned back to the alien. "How did you get out?"
"As I just said, with strange-"
"Oh stop it. I know you can talk like a normal person."
"Over time the walls of my prison – or shall I say, my grave – have weekend. It was a long wait, longer than you're universe exists, but finally I was free again. It took me even longer to get back to my old strength, and now here I am again. And this time you won't stop me. I'm going to send this weak, little minion back through the portal with the book and they will finish what I have started. They will open the rift between our dimensions far enough so all of us can go through."
The book! Obviously the Doctor had the same idea, as they both leaped over to the corner where Harold was still hugging the huge, old book. But they were soon stopped by tentacles, pulling them away again. They were everywhere, over her eyes, ears and even her nose, slowly but surely suffocating her. Then, suddenly, there was a scream. She had heard a lot of screams in her life, but that was one of the worst sounds to ever reach her ears. Or had it been in her head?
The tentacles were suddenly gone, and smoke filled the room. The darkness got a bit brighter. It was Harold. He was standing over the book, his now empty oil lamp lying on the ground next to it, and he was frantically lighting matchsticks and dropping them onto the book which had caught fire. A moment later the whole book was in flames and the scream was getting weaker. She turned her head only to find that the alien had vanished. Before either she or the Doctor could make some witty remark about burning books the ground underneath her feet suddenly began to shake.
"We need to get out!" the Doctor yelled and she surely wouldn't object.
She grabbed Harold and pulled him through the portal, the Doctor close behind her. Not a second too soon – the cavern collapsed behind them, and seemingly, with the burned book and the "anchor alien" vanished, that whole illusion of a city went down with him. At least that was the most plausible explanation for them not being back in the cave, but underneath blue sky, not a hint of rain or fog – or Bleakham for that matter. It was all gone. The houses, the people, everything. Even the road blockage as the TARDIS was not too far from them. Everything - but Harold.
"Where is everyone?" she asked. It had been real people, of that she was sure of.
"Gone," the Doctor replied. "They weren't real people," he explained as he saw the look of confusion on her face. "They needed them to get a food in the door here, so to speak. The more the better. Those people had been taken over, probably a very long time ago. Those aliens keep the bodies alive they've taken over. They could have been dead for years. Now, with them gone back to their own dimension, they probably took all of their creation with them."
"All but him," she replied, pointing at Harold.
"Well, that's weird," the Doctor said, putting out his screw driver and scanning Harold, who didn't even try to look shocked or scared anymore. One could tell that he had enough for more than one lifetime. "Seems he hasn't been here long enough. As if they took Lovecraft a bit too literally. They couldn't omit that one stranger coming into town and messing everything up. That was their undoing in the end."
"See Harold?" she said with a smile and slapped him on the back. "You saved the day after all!"
Harold just stared at her, managing to look slightly shocked over yet another display of unladylike behaviour.
"And now?" he asked, looking around, utterly lost.
"I'm sure we can give you a ride," the Doctor said. "Where do you want to go? Any relatives anywhere? Just pick a place, any place."
"No, there's no-one left," he said quietly. "Any place?"
"Any place," the Doctor repeated. "On Earth obviously."
"Even Europe? Now, with the war over, I thought – I could get some work as a writer or journalist. In England maybe. Having a new start, but..." his voice trailed off.
"But?" she asked.
"I don't have any money. Nothing. All I had was the mansion, and it's gone."
"Ah, never worry about that," the Doctor said cheerfully. "But are you sure about England?" He started walking towards the TARDIS.
"Why, what is wrong with it?"
"Nothing, nothing really," the Doctor mumbled.
"If you want to live the rest of your life in peace then there's probably better places than England. Or Europe in general." she said, mentally preparing for Harold's reaction as the Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS.
Denise3, bored411, OneWhoReadsToMuch, NicoleR85: Thanks for leaving a review :-)
There'll most likely be a short in-between chapter and then the next season is going to start.
