Doctor Who – By the Book
Episode 2 - "Between the Lines"
Chapter 1
"What?!"
"WHAT?!" the Doctor exclaimed in an exasperated fashion. "What do you mean 'fictonauts'? You mean to tell me that you...you actually…what?...let me see!"
With that, the master of the TARDIS brushed everyone aside and began to further inspect the device.
"Quite brilliant, isn't it Doctor?" boasted the young scientist. "We take a concentric light beam and funnel it into this little item. We like to call it the 'Creative Probability Matrix.' After that process, the light is re-engineered once it hits the pages of the book into a hard light representation of the fictional reality present in the book. Now, whether that's a true alternate reality, a sub-space tesseract occupied by these constructed ideas, or something else completely, we have no idea – but it absolutely exists, and we paved the way!"
"Oh it's brilliant alright, but not exactly how you think it is" scolded the Doctor. "What you've actually stumbled upon is a lot more dangerous."
"I beg you pardon! My nephew is respected scientist" insisted the older man. "My nephew is a groundbreaking genius. My nephew is…"
"A completely fortunate idiot" the time lord flatly stated. "What this fool has stumbled upon is a mini version of something known as a paradox machine. I have traveled to the far reaches of time and space and I can promise you that there is no such thing as a functioning 'fictional reality.' Now, my next question, and listen very closely when I ask this, because I tend to be slightly un-patient, is how quickly can you retrieve the scout party? I ask because if we don't shut this thing down now, this reality, real reality, will start to melt away into something unrecognizable."
At this pint, the Doctor flew into action, simultaneously examining the machine and recalibrating it, on the fly.
Stuttering and stumbling to speak, the young scientist finally spoke up. "It's a simple matter, really" he stated, flipping a couple of switches on the device. But suddenly…nothing happened.
"I…I…don't understand" the young man nervously communicated. "What did you do to my creation?"
"Look, the only thing that I'm going to do is what I always do - save the day in a fairly brilliant manner, which I can happily do. What your main worry should be is why is it so shady, on such a sunny afternoon."
As the men began looking around fervently, the elder Wellington exclaimed "He's right, but what does that matter?"
Continuing to work while he spoke, the Doctor began to enlighten the men "My advice to you would be to move into the light and stay there, that is, if you want to actually live. Those shadows are not really shadows, but a lovely little life form known as the Vashta Narada. They tend to consume every last bit of a humanoid's flesh, right down to the bone."
It was somewhat obvious that not all of the men truly believed the time lord's warning. One of the men, arm raised and finger pointed, was probably on the verge of arguing the Doctor's point. Unfortunately for him, those words never came, as he stepped a little too close to the shadows. In few seconds time, where once stood a man, now existed merely a skeleton, modeling a rather expensive business suit.
"Christ!" yelled one man.
"No!" screamed another.
Quite frightened and puzzled, the men crowded closer together.
Finally understanding that all of his wealth could not help him, Mr. Wellington pleaded to the Doctor. "Don't just stand there, fiddling with that blamed contraption! What are you going to do? You've got to save us!"
"Do?" replied the time lord, with a wide, toothy grin. "Like I said, I'm going to do what I always do. Now step back fellas – I'm going in!"