Chapter 2
"Welcome to the TARDIS, Riley Mackenzie. Now where are we off to first?" The Doctor asks, leaping around the console and pressing buttons and cranking things and pulling levers and throwing switches and smacking things with a rubber hammer.
"Hm...How about March 22, 1895. That should be fun. At the Berlin Wintergarten Theater." I say, walking slowly around the console and examining it.
"Ah, yes. The first movie. Brilliant! Off we go now." He slams one more button, then hangs onto the console for dear life as we lurch into motion. I fly off to the side, nearly cracking my head open on the railings by the door. After a moment, we level out, and I pull myself to my feet.
"You could've warned me!" I complain, rubbing the back of my head. The Doctor grins innocently.
"Sorry. Anyways, let's go!" He exclaims, pulling a long overcoat on over his blue suit and pulling the TARDIS door open.
I follow him out the door into old London. He excitedly skips toward the theater, going around the back, avoiding a crowd of two hundred people. I follow him through a narrow alley and through a door in the back, where he flashes a blank piece of paper at two security guards, who nod and let him through, me on his tail. He turns on his heel into what seems to be a sort of auditorium, skidding to a stop in front of a huge white wall, dropping into a chair in the front row, and I sit beside him. A projector turns on and the image shows up on the white wall, the first scene of the movie. Not one minute later, the screen changes to static, with strange colors and patterns lacing through it.
"What's happened?" I ask, turning to the Doctor. His eyebrows crunch together in confusion as he tries to figure it out, looking around at the people in the theater. My eyes drift from his face to the image on the wall. It's mesmerizing. My brain goes blank all the sudden as I stare at the wall.
"Riley! Riley Mackenzie, look at me. Focus on my face, look!" the Doctor's voice is quiet, in the back of my mind, and I vaguely realize that he's in front of me, hands on my shoulders and shaking me a bit. His cool hands cup my face, and I finally snap out of it.
"What?" I shake my head a bit, clearing my mind.
"It's some sort of telepathic field, it's taking over all these people's minds." He looks around and as soon as he moves away, my eyes lock back onto the static.
Freeee meeeeeee…...Freeeeeee meeeeeeee!
A hissing voice fills my head, and I double over covering my ears. Suddenly my back straightens and I turn towards the screen. I try to make myself stop, and turn back to the Doctor, but I seem to have lost control of my body. The Doctor steps in front of me, alarm in his eyes.
"Riley, c'mon. Snap out of it, c'mon now!" Real fear drenches his eyes. "Please, please snap out of it."
"Freeeeeeee meeeeeeeee…" A voice that's not mine comes from my mouth, a metallic voice. "Freeee meeeee!"
"What are you? Tell me, what are you?!" The Doctor demands. "Get out of her, leave her alone." His voice is strangely urgent, almost a hint of desperation in it. "I can help you, just come out of this body. I can help you."
"Whooo are youuuuuuu to be able tooooo help meeeeeee?" The voice says through me.
"I'm the Doctor. Time Lord, have you heard of me?" He says. "Trust me, I can help you. Just leave this body."
"The Doctoooor. This body is strooooong… I think I will keeeeep it." The voice says.
"No no no. Tell me what're you trying to do, who are you?" He says, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me again.
"I am the Altelek. I am here to find liiiiiiiiiiiife! This earth is full of bodieeees for my people…." The voice hisses.
"I can find you a new planet, bodies for your people!" The Doctor pleads.
"I like this earth, thooough. I think I'll staaaaaay." The voice says. I feel myself losing the grip on my own consciousness, my mind giving way to that of the Altelek.