14.

The Doctor blinked and slowly opened his eyes. To his enormous surprise and relief, he was still alive. He stared up at the ceiling as he lay there. "Doctor, you can be so thick sometimes!" he muttered. "It's a prison; of course there are bound to be booby traps!" He groaned at the throbbing pain in his arm and head, and pushed himself up onto his elbows from where he had been thrown to the floor. He wiped a hand across his face, took a deep breath, and gently got to his feet. He knew he had been lucky – the charge contained in the force-field surrounding the Chamber was strong enough to be deadly to humans. But fortunately he wasn't human! Shaking his still numb hand and giving the Chamber a thoughtful look, he pulled out a chair and sat next to a computer terminal that was connected to it.

"Okay, let's take this one step at a time!" he mused thoughtfully. With a cautious glance at the robotic drones that glided past him and patrolled the room, the Doctor started to tap carefully at the keyboard of the control terminal. Complex codes and figures began to flash up on a screen above it.

*********************

An outer hatch to the base opened upwards with a hiss of warm air and Denham strode out, not bothering to put up his jacket hood against the biting cold and whirling snow. A few hundred metres away across the ice was his small but powerful spacecraft that he had landed close to the remote base.

Denham, his face set, marched relentlessly across the ice and snow towards his ship, not flinching as the wind whipped through his hair and flakes of snow landed on his face. He reached the hatch of the ship and pressed a button on a remote activator that he produced from his jacket pocket. Slowly, the hatch to the spacecraft opened and a ramp automatically lowered to the ground with a smooth hum of power.

Hardly pausing, Denham raced up the ramp and into his ship. He knew time was short.

Denham strode towards the back of the ship and the passenger area where a figure lay covered in a blanket. He reached down and gently pulled the blanket back.

15.

The Doctor was having some success at cracking the complex codes that governed the Chamber. It was indeed fiendishly difficult overriding the stasis locks, but the Doctor knew a few shortcuts. He punched a few more controls and found that he could bring up a prisoner list.

"This is interesting," he mused as he scrolled through the data. "It's like an episode of 'Crimewatch' in here, but without Nick Ross obviously!"

Each prisoner was being kept in a separate stasis pod, totally unaware of any sensations except the slow passage of time. Low temperatures helped stabilise stasis pods, no doubt the reason why the prison was on the icy world of Callis IV. The Doctor rested his chin on his hands as holographic images became superimposed on the Chamber as he went through the prisoner list.

There were certainly a lot of prisoners here; many humans, a fierce Sycorax warrior in flaming red robes, a pair of slimy green Slitheen with their baby-like black eyes, as well as a small, evil looking Graske.

"Beat you; you were a bit of trouble, and you were just a pain!" mocked the Doctor, but then he gasped and looked closer as another name and image appeared: Joseph Denham.

*********************

The hatch to the storeroom rolled open with a loud clang. The huge bronze android that Denham called Max swivelled its head towards the hatch, ready to apprehend and kill any humans that were trying to escape, but there was no movement at all from within. It paused for a moment and then cautiously the android marched into the room, raising the massive arm that housed the powerful laser weapon.

"Now!" shouted Jack loudly, pressed tightly against the wall and still clutching the wires that had just shorted the door panel.

Bergen, Connor and Katherine pushed the metal shelf at the end of the room as hard as they could. Like dominoes, the shelves began to topple with greater and greater momentum until the shelf nearest the door collided with the android with an enormous force. It knocked the huge machine over with an electronic screech and a tremendous clatter, burying it beneath a mass of metal.

"Run!" yelled Jack, not wanting to wait around to see if the android was destroyed or just damaged. He grabbed Katherine's hand and together with the two soldiers, fled out into the corridor.

16.

The Doctor checked his watch. He had been working on the system for nearly an hour now and had managed to work out the equations that held the stasis pods inside the Chamber. Denham was bound to return soon, but the Doctor was pretty sure however that he could now open one of the stasis pods. On pure instinct, and out of immense curiosity, he pressed the controls to release the prisoner that was labelled as Joseph Denham.

The Doctor tapped his chin in thought as the colour of the Chamber changed from a neutral blue-green to an intense red. He didn't quite know what to expect, but he had a nagging suspicion.

Suddenly, a hatch to the room started to open and the Doctor turned, expecting Denham. It was a complete surprise when Jack, Bergen and Connor came hurtling through, blaster pistols firing.

The robotic drones that worked in the lab swivelled to return fire immediately. The drone closest to the Doctor opened the panel in its chest and a laser beam shot out. The Doctor dived to one side but was hit in the arm and fell to the floor with a cry and grimacing in pain.

But the drones were too slow to withstand the combined assault of Jack, Bergen and Connor however and their keen marksmanship soon destroyed all four of the robots in the room. Katherine, who had waited outside the hatch until the firing had stopped, hurried over to the Doctor and helped him to his feet. The arm of his blue jacket was still smouldering. "Are you alright?" she asked.

The Doctor nodded. "I'll be fine," he said, though he winced in pain. "Where did you get the pistols from?"

"Weapons locker," replied Bergen tersely. He looked around the room, still alert for any danger. "Where's Denham?" he asked the Doctor. "I thought he was here with you!"

"I am Joseph Denham," a husky and cracked voice replied form behind them.

They turned to see that an old man with grey-white hair and dressed in a plain light blue coverall, had stepped from the open stasis pod that had now appeared at the entrance to the Chamber.

17.

The Doctor looked at the old man in interest and still clutching his wounded arm, walked towards him. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Denham," he said carefully.

"He's not Denham!" Bergen interrupted angrily.

"Yes he is Captain Bergen," insisted the Doctor, looking deeply into the old man's eyes. "You're the original aren't you?" he asked quietly.

"You've worked it out?" said the old man with a small smile.

"Doctor, how can this be Denham?" asked Jack incredulously. "We saw him earlier – handsome guy with a smart suit! This fella's nothing like him!"

The Doctor just shushed Jack and turned back to the old man. "I think you have a story to tell," he said gently.

The old man sat heavily in a chair. "I couldn't keep up any more. I was getting older and slower. My competitors were getting younger and faster. I needed some way of staying ahead."

The Doctor nodded understandingly. "So that's why you did it. But why allow yourself to be imprisoned?"

The old man gave a raspy laugh that turned into a desperate coughing fit, but held up his hand as the Doctor went to help him. "Pride Doctor! Better to have my legacy live on!"

"What was it like in there?" asked the Doctor curiously. "I mean it's hardly your usual porridge is it? No blagging biscuits off the other blokes, not sneaky library books with naughty pictures, no football game against the warders?" He paused. "Or was that the film?" His tone became serious. "Really, what was it like?"

Denham paused to consider. "I was awake and alone for every single second! It was a living Hell!"

Suddenly a hatch to the room opened and two figures entered. One was the Denham that they had encountered earlier. He was supporting the other figure who was dressed in a parka and cold weather gear, a hood obscuring the face, and who staggered as if badly injured.

Denham's mouth twitched sardonically as he saw the old man. "You did it Doctor!" he said evenly.

Katherine's eye's widened as she guessed at the truth. "Is that his son?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Not quite."

Denham supported the staggering figure over to the old man and then, as if the eight was too much, collapsed onto his knees. The other figure fell to the ground, the hood falling back to reveal an exact duplicate of Denham but with his head battered and blackened to reveal complex circuitry within.

"They're androids!" whispered the Doctor.

18.

"What's an android?" asked Katherine, bewildered. "Is it a man of metal?"

The Doctor nodded. "That's right; exact replicas in this case."

"In a way though, your young friend was right the first time," said the old man, the original Joseph Denham. "They became my sons in everything but simple biology."

The Doctor looked at the androids with interest and surprise. "Why two copies?"

The old Denham nodded sadly, cradling the damaged android's head in his lap. "This is Joseph Denham II, and my would-be rescuer here is Joseph Denham III. It was my little joke!" He laughed hoarsely, allowing the bittersweet memory of the day both androids had been completed to wash over him. They had stepped naked and empty of sin from the workbenches; just like a newborn babe. He shook the memory from his mind. "What happened?" he asked the still-functioning android Denham.

"The Alliance had found him after a deal went wrong. There was a shuttle crash. I had to pull him out. Will he make it?" the handsome android asked evenly.

Denham was about to answer when suddenly the main hatch to the room rolled open to reveal the huge bronze android that Jack and the others had escaped from. It too had sustained massive damage to its circuitry from the impact of the heavy metal shelves. It was badly dented, one arm was missing and the massive bronze head sparked and buzzed. As soon as it saw Jack, Bergen and the Doctor, it remembered its last orders and raised its arm. A blue energy beam lanced out and struck the wall next to Jack who dived to the ground, pulling out his blaster pistol and aiming it at the damaged robot.

The functioning Denham android got to his feet. "Stop Max!" he ordered. "Cease firing!"

But the android took no heed and continued to blast away at anything that moved. Bergen and Connor took cover behind computer consoles and returned fire with blaster pistols.

Katherine tried to help the wounded Doctor take cover somewhere, but he stumbled and tripped, and they fell to the ground together. Max swung around to cover them with his blaster arm raised and powered.

19.

The older Denham gazed at the huge bronze android in admiration. "You did this?" he whispered to his android 'son' that stood next to him. "Incredible! Inbuilt weaponry and a perfect warrior design!" He got to his feet to get a better view, shuffling towards the robot, but the android mistook this as a hostile action and turned from the sprawled Doctor and Katherine to face the old man, the weapon arm raised to fire.

`"No!" shouted the android Denham, realising what was about to happen, and threw itself in front of its creator just as Max released a deadly energy blast. The blast struck the android Denham fully in the chest and threw him backwards into the old man. The old man collapsed back and struck his head sharply against the corner of a computer console as they both crumpled to the floor.

Bergen, Connor and Jack immediately concentrated their blasters on the head of the malfunctioning android.

The Doctor hauled himself to his feet and quickly dragged Katherine behind the cover of a computer console.

As the laser blasts converged on the head of the huge android, there was a whine of power that gradually rose in pitch until, with a sudden shower of sparks and flames, it erupted with a small explosion and toppled backwards in a heap of molten metal.

The other Denham android tilted its damaged half-human head upwards and with only a tiny amount of power left in its circuits, crawled across the floor to the brother that had sacrificed itself for their creator. The human Joseph Denham lay next to it, unmoving in the growing pool of sticky blood that started to congeal around his head. As the android reached them, its power cells were finally exhausted and it froze in position, an arm stretched pitifully towards the only family it knew.

Katherine turned her head away from the prone bodies in disgust and sorrow. The Doctor put his good arm around her shoulders as they got to their feet and Jack hurried over to help them. "It's over," he said sadly, looking at the terrible carnage around him. "The Denham legacy has been destroyed."

Epilogue

The snow and ice swirled around them as the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and ushered his friends inside and out of the biting cold of Callis IV.

Jack, his coat buttoned up and his hat back on his head, entered the ship without a backwards glance, his face set and grim. He knew that what had happened was for the best, but the victory seemed hollow and pointless.

Katherine however paused in the TARDIS doorway. "Doctor, what will happen next?" she asked, looking up at him sadly, her dark brown eyes filled with terrible memories.

The Doctor let out a long breath and watched the vapours dance before evaporating in the cold air. "Bergen will cover it all up. The prison will remain here; it'll be like nothing ever happened!" he mused.

Katherine nodded slowly and looked out across the icy white horizon for a moment before looking back at the Doctor. "Is it always like this travelling in your blue box?"

The Doctor looked down at her and saw a single tear run slowly down her cheek. "Sometimes it's more peaceful," he said gently. But then he paused too and looked out onto the surface of the planet. "But it can be dangerous." He paused again and put his hand on her arm. "I can take you back, if you like?"

Katherine bit her lip, remembering her peaceful life at the chateau. Marriage to the man she loved more than anything in the world - their long winter nights together in front of roaring log fires and the glorious summer evenings they had walking in the vineyard. Then she shook her head and sighed. "There's nothing there for me; now Remy is dead." She managed a brave smile. "I'll stay with you, if that's alright?"

The Doctor squeezed her arm and nodded. He hated to see his companions like this but knew it was the price to pay sometimes for travelling with him.

Katherine returned the smile and entered the TARDIS. With a last look at the freezing icy landscape around him, and a heavy sigh, the Doctor followed her inside and closed the door behind him.

A strange wheezing, groaning sound filled the air as the TARDIS dematerialised leaving just swirling flakes of snow behind and a square imprint of snow on the icy ground..

Next Time: The Doctor, Jack and Katherine land in London at the start of the Second World War in 'Splinter of Steel'.

Prison of Ice – Confidential

Normally it seems, when you first introduce a companion, the next story is always a trip to the future or the past. Since Katherine de Gallois already came from the past, this story had to be set in the future.

New Doctor Who hadn't done an ice planet yet (well, until Season 4 and 'Planet of the Ood' that is – but this story was written six months before it, so there!), so that's what Callis IV became.

I also knew very early on that I didn't want my stories to be stuffed full of old enemies. I'm fed up with reading a series that has one every week. In my opinion, an old enemy has to warrant an appearance or they become stale and unexciting. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing them on TV, but when the show comes to rely on them every week, it starts to lose the freshness that makes it so appealing in the first place. So I set a rule for myself to only have old enemies in five or six episodes in a season. I had used Carrionites in the previous story, so there was no way an old enemy was going to appear on Callis IV! (Apart from very brief cameos in the Chamber!)

I rather like smooth villains and since I've been watching 'Heroes' I've always thought that Adrian Pasdar would make a terrific villain for Doctor Who. In fact the image of Pasdar in a smart suit started off the thinking that eventually became Denham. When I wrote the name down, I immediately christened him 'Joseph Denham III' thinking that he may have come from a long dynasty of Denhams! Little did I think that this would actually form the major 'twist' in the story!

The twist that Denham was an android also started because I couldn't quite think of who he would be rescuing. For a while it was his brother; then this became his father. I'm quite pleased with the final version though, but had to make sure that I went back and removed some of the more 'emotional' speeches he had to make him more robotic. I also planted a few clues about his invulnerability in the way he crossed the surface of the planet without his coat done up!

Back to recent Earth history next, and an old enemy awaits! Make the most of them mind you – there won't be any for a few weeks after………