The Caves of Armesh
Featuring the Alternate 4th Doctor
Armesh. A planet with a horrible secret. Many things have happened on Armesh since the main city, Armesh Delta, was built. Several wars have come and gone and the nature has evolved so beautifully.
Armesh. An excellent place for a holiday.
Near to one of the many caves of Armesh, a tall blue police box began to materialise into existence. One of the doors then opened and a tall-ish old, bald man poked his head out.
"Armesh, an excellent place for a holiday!" he cried happily, heading back inside the TARDIS and glancing at the two mutated humans in the corner, "You two, stay in here. The TARDIS needs to try and come up with an antidote. Come on, Lucy. Let's see what's outside."
Lucy and the Doctor then left the TARDIS, leaving Steven and Jacob alone.
The Doctor had decided to lead Lucy into a nearby cavern, where small yellow lights flickered all around them.
"Is it often like this? Travelling in space and time?" Lucy wondered, reaching out to touch the flickering lights.
"Yes. There are pretty sights all over the cosmos, but there are also monsters. A lot of monsters."
"Halt. You are intruders. You must not move."
A large glowing humanoid advanced towards them, dressed in a white silk dress and wearing a very flamboyant hat.
"Who are you? I am the Doctor and this is Lucy, my friend." the Doctor explained.
"You have brought a threat we cannot overcome, Doctor. You must leave now. Curiosity will lead to infection. And infection will lead to destruction."
The Doctor spun round and realised what the strange being meant.
Jacob and Steven were going to escape.
That was exactly what happened. The two mutated humans were wondering about on Armesh's surface and had noticed Armesh Delta up ahead.
"We must make contact." Steven said, with a voice that seemed extraordinarily supernatural.
"Agreed. This world will fall to the Kumashi."
They walked onwards, linking hands.
The TARDIS had been left open and a trail of disgusting green slime had been left where Steven and Jacob previously had been.
"They're gone." the Doctor announced to Lucy, following the trail out of the TARDIS and towards Armesh Delta. Before going off too far, he closed the TARDIS door with the snap of his fingers and walked off. Lucy followed him, being careful not to touch the slime.
In Armesh Delta, Josiah had ended his weekly workshift and had decided to go out for a drive in his hovercar. He thought that, today, he would go out to the wastelands and see if there were any skimp-rats worth keeping as a pet.
He accelerated across the bustling skyline of Armesh Delta and, in a matter of moments, found himself above the wastelands, where two strange creatures were walking: they were both fat, bald, bright green humanoids with large black eyes. Because he was a very kind person, he decided to pop down to the surface and see if he could help in some way.
"Are you two okay? Do you want any help?" Josiah asked, pulling up and getting out of his hovercar.
"We want you."
One of the creatures rapidly walked up to Josiah and turned into a thick green fluid, which rose up and into his mind via his nose. Josiah felt himself being taken over by some extra-terrestrial intelligence.
He felt fine. Josiah looked at Jacob and smiled.
"This form is a lot better than that big, green thing." Josiah commented, indicating Jacob's alien-like body, "I almost feel sorry for our Chromazoid cousins. Now then, the invasion shall commence. This way."
Josiah then walked off, towards the water supply.
The Doctor and Lucy had now spotted Jacob and Josiah and had managed to sneak onboard the hovercar that Josiah had left behind.
"Could this sentient being want to invade Armesh?" Lucy theorised, holding on as the Doctor piloted the car towards the water supply.
"Perhaps. It could want to have an entire planet to live on. It's like a child: thinking, learning, discovering. Now it's wanting to do what every child wants to do."
"And what's that?"
"Rule a planet. It looks like they're heading to a water supply, so why..."
He trailed off as he realised the answer to his own question.
"What is it?"
"They're going to infect every person in Armesh Delta. An infection in the water."
Josiah and Steven had now reached the water supply: it was a river running through a large filter and the water on the other side of the filter was easily accessible. Especially to a sentient liquid alien. Green fluid dribbled out of Josiah's nostrils and into the filtered water, expanding and turning the water bright green. Steven then also became a pool of bright green fluid and dribbled into the filtered water, heading straight for Armesh Delta.
The Doctor and Lucy arrived only a few moments later, to find Josiah looking very shocked and confused.
"Wh-where am I?" Josiah wondered, collapsing into the river and dissolving into bright green sludge.
"The first victim." the Doctor muttered, turning to Lucy, "We need to find a way to stop this."
"Agreed. How do we get rid of alien lifeforms from a river? Because I don't know how."
The Doctor's expression turned grim.
"I know. There's only one way."
"Why do you look so sad then?"
"Because it involves me killing everyone in that city."
In Armesh Delta, things weren't going well. DCI Hamish Armstrong had just taken a swig of water from the office tap when he began to transform into the large, fat, bald monster with large black eyes.
Similar transformations were occurring all over Armesh Delta and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. Even the plants and animals were succombing to the infection. Dogs became fat, bright green dogs with large black eyes. Tulips became fatter and less colourful.
The Doctor, meanwhile, had found a nuclear power plant which had a self destruct feature. Planning to get away as fast as possible, he'd parked the TARDIS only a few feet away from where he and Lucy were stood, over the self-destruct control.
"Do you want to do this?" Lucy asked, "I can always press that button."
"Throughout my lives I have always had blood on my hands and guilt on my mind. It's always been because of the push of a button or the flick of a switch."
He slammed the button hard with his fist. He then walked off, back to the TARDIS. Lucy rushed in after him, shortly before the blue box dematerialised.
THE END