Hidden Treasures
On the forest world of Equinor, a large and bulky grey land vehicle chugged along, heading towards the northern quadrant. The vehicle had three occupants and they were all desperate to get hold of the King's Gold, a substance that resembled gold but was slightly sentient, enabling whoever owned the gold to shape it into whatever they wished. Annika Ersting led the expedition, having spent twenty years in the Intergalactic Military Force. Dominic Ostenbritz had also been in the Intergalactic Military Force but as a general, meaning that he was perfect as the military liason of the expedition. Krysten Fittel was Annika's assistant and apprentice, mainly because she was a young student from the Academy who was fascinated in archaeology. All three of them carried blasters of some kind with them as they headed across the vast planet, ready to combat whatever threat attacked them.
Also on Equinor, a few metres away from the expedition team's path to the King's Gold, a tall blue police box began to materialise. Its lamp flashed pleasantly while it wheezed and howled itself into reality, the engines of the ship heaving the dimensionally transcendental craft into the forest. The door opened and a small man carrying a red question mark umbrella stepped out, shutting the door behind him. He had a cream coloured hat on his head and an expression of confusion and intrigue on his face as he slowly wandered around.
"Now where have you brought me this time, old girl?" the Doctor muttered, noticing the large vehicle cutting through the nearby foliage and backing away slightly before adding, "Well, I know that I'm not alone."
Annika had spotted the TARDIS and had insisted that the Equinor Rover, as they had called it, stopped so that she could talk to the strange occupant of the blue box. The hatch at the rear of the vehicle opened with a slow hiss and the three explorers ventured out, aiming their guns at the Doctor.
"Stop, stranger! Don't move!" Dominic cried, priming his ion shotgun as he advanced slowly.
"Guns?!" the Doctor exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you pointing guns at me? This is supposed to be a desolate paradise, the perfect place to get away after intense emotional falling outs. Why do you want to kill me here?"
"We are freelance explorers trying to find the King's Gold. According to our sensors, the gold lies about fifty clicks to the north of this zone. We thought you had come to beat us to the gold."
The Doctor smiled mysteriously, recognising the name Dominic had just said.
"Ah, the King's Gold. The legendary substance which can manipulate itself into whatever you want. You can use it to slaughter millions and use it to become rich. The ultimate test of greed." he said, gazing at Annika and declaring, "I think this expedition is doomed to fail."
"What do you mean?" Annika responded, curious about what he had just said.
"Just irrelevant garbage from a stranger, Annika." Dominic insisted, heading towards the rover, "We'd better leave this guy to lurk around here. We're going to make history."
"Oh, I'm afraid you are." the Doctor replied, ominously, "But for all the wrong reasons."
Annika, Dominic and Krysten had returned to the rover with the Doctor but had decided to put the Doctor in the rover's prison to keep an eye on him. They didn't know why but they had a feeling that he was right about their doom.
"Continue forwards at steady pace." Annika demanded, addressing her demand to the AI who controlled the vehicle. The rover shifted forwards, its electric engines sounding silent and unusual.
"Annika, do you want me to interrogate the prisoner?" Krysten offered, "I know that he may seem dangerous but it'll be good for me to interrogate him. For the experience."
Annika thought about this and nodded.
Krysten stood in front of the Doctor's cell, looking at him through the metal bars. The Doctor was sat in his cell, looking up at her.
"For starters, what's your name?" Krysten wondered, pulling up a stool and sitting down comfortably.
"The Doctor."
"Just 'the Doctor'?"
"Yes. I find that works. Your captain seems very determined to get the King's Gold."
Krysten frowned, finding herself agreeing with the Doctor. Was that allowed? Would Annika like her if she agreed with the prisoner?
"She wouldn't like you." the Doctor suddenly said, "And yes, I am slightly telepathic. The nearby presence of the King's Gold seems to be strengthening my abilities somehow."
"What do you know about the King's Gold?" Krysten whispered, "And is it dangerous?"
The Doctor leant in closely to the cell wall.
"Yes, it is. It was constructed by the Kivochiki, a race determined to expose humanity's flaws. My people, the Time Lords, found the weapon and buried it here to be undisturbed. If the Time Lords are afraid of it, then it is capable of devastating planets."
Krysten backed away nervously.
"How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"If I was some madman, you would have left me by my TARDIS."
After a brisk fifteen minute drive, the rover reached the proposed site of the King's Gold. The Doctor was left inside the cell while Annika and the others ventured out, looking for the entrance in a nearby tree to the chamber which held the gold.
"Over here!" Dominic called to Annika and Krysten, indicating a small black hole in an oak tree. They entered the hole and climbed down to the large cavernous chamber which was littered with challices of every metal and size. Annika and Dominic started to examine each challice, hoping to find the one with the gold inside. Krysten, on the other hand, stayed back, remembering the Doctor's words.
"I've found it." Dominic suddenly said, taking a silver challice and placing one of his fingers into the swirling golden liquid. The sentient gold entered his mind and asked him, "What do you want, stranger?"
Dominic remembered his military days and settled on using the gold as a weapon. The gold seemed reluctant however. It sensed that he was a murderer and felt sympathetic towards the innocent beings he had killed.
"Stranger, you must die. You are not a chosen one. You are a dead man." the King's Gold telepathically demanded, letting go of Dominic's mind suddenly. He looked down at his finger and noticed that the gold was dragging him slowly into the challice, every cell of his being becoming part of the gold. Annika and Krysten watched with horror as Dominic became part of the King's Gold.
"Run, Krysten!" Annika cried, afraid that they may also be harmed.
Krysten hurried back onto the rover and headed straight to the Doctor's cell.
"It's started, hasn't it?" he suspected, "The King's Gold determines if its users are worthy or not. If you've committed a crime, you may become part of the process to eliminate crime in the future."
"And the greediest people are the ones that commit crimes?"
"Exactly. The perfect judicial device."
She glanced at the open entrance to the rover and back at the Doctor rapidly.
"Help us, Doctor. We need to seal the tomb."
"I thought you'd never ask."
The Doctor manoeuvred his hands carefully so that he could reach his sonic screwdriver and unlock his handcuffs and, after that, the cell. He strode to Krysten's side with a smile on his face.
"Right then, Ms..." he said, not knowing her name.
"Krysten."
"Right then, Krysten. Time to do something my people didn't do a long time ago."
Annika had been backed into a corner by the half-gold, half-man monster that had once been Dominic. She had tried firing her blaster at him but the gold had reformed around the wounds.
"Please, stop this!" she screamed, "I'm innocent!"
"You are a murderer." the monster whispered chillingly, "You must be punished."
"I disagree." the Doctor interrupted, entering the tomb with Krysten at his side, "I'm the Doctor and I have a better grasp of morals than you. I am a Time Lord, the Ka Fariq Gatri, the Bringer of Darkness and this madness is not acceptable!"
"The Doctor?" the monster wondered, referring to its databanks, "You are a lonely god. You are a mighty being of great power, so much power. You walk in eternity and your life is unique, more than you will ever know. I am afraid of you."
It backed away slowly as more of it became liquid gold. The Doctor advanced towards it, thwacking challices to the floor with his umbrella.
"Krysten, get your friend out of here and into the rover." he instructed. Krysten obeyed him and escorted Annika back to the rover before heading back down to be at his side.
"You are a murderer, Time Lord." the monster snarled, reaching into the Doctor's mind, "You have burnt so many lives and so many worlds. Death follows you like a close friend."
"And life is constantly at my side, ready to vanquish death when needs be!" he retorted, "I bring hope to distant worlds. Even your adventure into my mind can prove that."
He took out his sonic screwdriver and activated it, igniting the other liquids in the challices. A wall of fire soon separated the Doctor and Krysten from the creature and they took that as their cue to run. As they hurried up the ladder to the entrance in the tree, the tomb crumbled and crackled, crashing into the flames. They entered the rover and shut the rear entrance, demanding that the AI turned the rover round and headed back towards the TARDIS.
A few moments later, the Doctor was stood in front of the TARDIS opposite Krysten and Annika.
"It seems that I may have misjudged you, Doctor. You saved our lives and I'm grateful for that." Annika said regretfully, shaking his hand.
"Yes. Make sure that nobody ever comes here again. That weapon is deadly to all known life, never mind criminals." he replied, opening the door to the TARDIS and adding, "Krysten, this job doesn't suit you, you know."
Krysten nodded and waved goodbye to the Doctor as he entered the blue box. The TARDIS then wheezed and howled away to its next destination, amazing Krysten and Annika as it left.
THE END