The unquiet dead
The Doctor, Rose and Alyssa all held onto the console as the tardis flew around in a jerky manner and the Doctor was trying to get Rose to hold one of the leavers down.
" I'm holding this one down" she implied before the doctor told her to hold both of them down.
" It's not going to work" Rose said as she attempted to stretch across the console to reach the other lever.
"Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?" the Doctor asked the two of them.
"What happens in 1860?" Alyssa asked, raising an eyebrow as she still clung onto the console.
" I don't know, let's find out" the Doctor replied before setting the coordinates "hold on, here we go." The tardis then began to fly faster before it came to an arrupt stop and the three of them where thrown to the ground, giggling.
" Blimey!" Rose giggled as they pulled themselves off the ground.
"Holy moly" Alyssa pointed out " that was a bumpy ride."
"You're telling me" the Doctor said as he dusted off his Jacket "you two alright?"
"yeah I think so, still in one piece" Alyssa replied, checking herself over as the Doctor looked at the little tv screen on the console " so where are we anyway?"
" I did it. Give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860" the Doctor cheered as the two girls both looked at the console.
"That's so weird. It's Christmas" Rose said as Alyssa stood on her tiptoes to get a closer look.
" All yours" the Doctor replied, gesturing to the doors.
"But, it's like, think about it, though. Christmas. 1860. Happens once, just once and it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still" Rose inquired.
"Yeah, he's like a little kid hyped up on sugar" Alyssa pointed out.
"Not a bad life" the Doctor replied.
"Better with three" Rose pointed out as Alyssa smiled and nodded, agreeing with Rose before they both ran to the doors, only for the Doctor to ask them where they were going.
"1860" Rose replied.
" Go out there dressed like you two, you'll both start a riot, Barbarella. There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up! " the Doctor told them and both the girls ran out of the console room to change into some victorian attire. He waited about half an hour un til they came back, fully changed and looking more suitable for the victorian era. Alyssa was now dressed in a dark green dress, dark blue coat and her ponytail had been removed but she now had a ribbon in her hair.
"Blimey" the Doctor said when he saw them both " you both look nice, considering."
"Considering what? " Rose asked.
"That you're both human" the Doctor replied as Alyssa raised an eyebrow at him.
"Arn't you going to change?" Rose asked.
" I've changed my jumper. Come on." he then raced to the doors, only tob e stopped by his two companions.
"You stay there. You've done this before. This is ours" Rose said before she and Alyssa stepped out into the snow filled victorian street.
"Wow, this is so real" Alyssa whipsered as the Doctor joined the two of them outside.
" Ready for this? Here we go. History." The three then linked arms and walked into the streets , passing a choir as they walked on and the Doctor bought a newspaper to check the date and when he saw it, he looked shocked.
" I got the flight a bit wrong" he pointed out.
"We don't care do we Ali?" Rose asked the little girl who shook her head and said exactly what Rose had said.
" It's not 1860, it's 1869" the Doctor told the two of them.
"So what, like we said, me and Rose don't care" Alyssa pointed out, her voice full of confidence.
" And it's not Naples" the Doctor continued.
"We don't care" Rose and Alyssa both said at the same time.
" It's Cardiff" the Doctor pointed as both girls stopped in their tracks as he continued to walk on.
"Right" said Rose.
"Okay" Alyssa muttered before the pair of them jogged after the Doctor.
"I can't believe that had to happen, nothing even happened in cardiff in 1869 as far as I know" he stated just before they heard screaming coming from the theatre which was across the street "now, that's more like it." He and the two girls then ran into the theatre to see people running out of their seats screaming but the main focus was on an old woman in the audience who had some kind of blue entity floating out of her body whilst a man on the stage was telling the people to stay in their seats as the Doctor caught sight of the lue entity as he floated out of the old woman's body, causing her to collaspe.
"Fantastic" he said with a grin as he, Rose and Alyssa ran onto the stage where the man was still standing, watching all the chaos "did you see where it came from? ."
"Ah, the wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you're satisfied, sir!" the man stated just as Rose and Alyssa caught sight of a man and a woman carrying the old woman away.
" Oi! Leave her alone!" Rose yelled before running off the stage after the pair "Doctor, I'll get them."
"Be careful!" the Doctor yelled to her before turning to the man "Did it say anything? Can it speak? I'm the Doctor, by the way."
"And I'm Alyssa" Alyssa greeted.
" Doctor? You look more like a navvie" the man pointed out.
"What's wrong with this jumper?" the Doctor asked.
"Nothing" Alyssa replied just as the same blue entity that had floated from the old woman floated into a gas lamp which was also seen by the Doctor.
"Gas! It's made of gas" he said before he and Alyssa ran out of the theatre just in time to see Rose being put into the back of a hearse by the same man and woman who had taken the old woman.
" Rose!" the Doctor yelled as he ran towards the hearse as it drove away.
"They've taken her" Alyssa pointed out as the man came running out after them.
"You're not escaping me, sir. What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmm? Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it? " he demanded to know.
"Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks" the Doctor said, not really paying attention to the man before grabbing hold of Alyssa's hand as he spotted a horse and coach nearby "Oi, you! Follow that hearse!." He and Alyssa got into the coach as the Driver told him that he couldn't.
"Why not?" the Doctor asked as the other man came rushing over.
" I'll tell you why not. I'll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is my coach" the man stated.
" Well, get in, then" the Doctor said, pulling the man in the coach before telling the Driver to move forward.
"Why did those people take Rose?" Alyssa asked, confused about the whole situation.
"I'm not sure but I'm going to find out" the Doctor told her before telling the driver to move quicker as they were loosing them.
" Everything in order, Mister Dickens? " the Driver asked, causing the Doctor and Alyssa to both look at him with shcoked expressions.
" No! It is not!" the man, who was now revealed to be Charles Dickens pointed out.
"What did he say? " the Doctor asked.
" Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humour" Dicken's replied.
"Are you saying that you're Charles Dickens, the author?" Alyssa asked.
"Last time I looked" Dickens replied and the Doctor was grinning at him, like all his birthdays had come at once.
"Do you want me to remove the gentlemen and the girl sir?" the Coach driver asked.
" Charles Dickens? You're brilliant, you are. Completely one hundred percent brilliant. I've read them all. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what's the other one, the one with the ghost? " the Doctor babbled as Alyssa sat there, grinning in amusement.
"A Christmas Carol? " Dickens asked.
"No, no, no, the one with the trains. The Signal Man, that's it. Terrifying! The best short story ever written. You're a genius" the Doctor implied.
"Oliver twist was my favourite" Alyssa commented " I've read that one six times."
"You want me to get rid of them sir?" the Driver asked.
"No, I think they can stay" Dickens replied.
"Honestly, Charles. Can I call you Charles? I'm such a big fan" the Doctor told him.
" A what? A big what?" Dickens asked, clearly confused on what the Doctor was talking about.
" Fan. Number one fan, that's me" the Doctor replied.
" How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool? " Dickens asked, still not getting what the Doctor was talking about.
" No, it means fanatic, devoted to. Mind you, I've got to say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what's that about? Was that just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit" the Doctor implied.
" I thought you said you were my fan" Dickens inquired.
"Ah, well, if you can't take criticism. Go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up. No, sorry, forget about that" the Doctor siad before telling the driver to move faster.
"Who exactly is in that hearse? " Dickens asked.
"My other friend, She's only nineteen. It's my fault. She's in my care, and now she's in danger" the Doctor replied.
" Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important" Dickens replied "Driver, be swift! The chase is on!."
"Yes, sir! " the Driver replied.
"Be quick or else we'll lose them" Alyssa yelled.
"Right you are miss" the Driver replied. They followed the hearse to a place named Sneed's funeral home and they watched as the hearse went round the back, disappearing into the darkness.
"Right, we'll give it five minutes then we'll go to the front door and knock" the Doctor whispered.
"Why on earth did these people take your friend to a funeral home if she isn't dead?" Dickens asked.
"It could be something to do with that old woman from the theatre, Rose went to stop them from taking her but they must have abducted her to stop her from telling someone that they had taken that old woman" the Doctor implied.
"Well whata re we doing sitting in here, let's go over there and tell them to give her back" Alyssa said as she jumped out of the Coach, about to run towards the door but got stopped by the Doctor who told her that they had to take it slowly and not raise any suspicion.
"Okay" she sighed before the three of them walked up to the front door and the Doctor slammed the door knocker agaisnt the wood and they waited until a younbg woman in a maid's outfit answered.
" I'm sorry, sir. We're closed" she replied in a welsh accent.
"Nonsense. Since when did an Undertaker keep office hours?" Dickens asked as the young woman looked at him in shock "The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master."
"He's not in, sir" the woman stated.
" Don't lie to me, child. Summon him at once" Dicken's demanded again furiously.
" I'm awfully sorry, Mister Dickens, but the master's indisposed" the woman replied as the Doctor noticed the gas lamp on the wall behind her was begining to flare.
" Having trouble with your gas? " he asked just as Dickens and Alyssa also noticed the flaring gas lamp too.
"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens asked as the Doctor went into the house to inspect the gas lamp a little more.
" You're not allowed inside, sir" the woman said as Dickens and Alyssa followed him inside and the Doctor pressed his ear agaisnt the wall, listening.
"What is it?" Alyssa asked "what's happening?"
"There's something inside the walls" the Doctor replied as he listened in further "The gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas." He then heard Rose screaming from the room at the end of the hallway and ran towards the room, bumping into a chubby balding man halfway.
"How dare you, sir" he yelled "this is my house!."
" Shut up" Dickens told him as he, Alyssa and the maid followed the Doctor down the corridor. He opened the door to see two zombie like people and one of them had hold of Rose.
"I think this is my dance" the Doctor said as he pulled Rose away from one of the zombies just as Dickens, Alyssa, the chubby man who was Mr. Sneed and the maid who was Gwyneth came runiing over.
"It's a prank. It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence" Dickens pointed out.
" No, we're not. The dead are walking" the Doctor told him before tunring to Rose "hi."
" Hi. Who's your friend?" she asked.
"Charles Dickens" the Doctor replied.
"Okay" Rose replied as the Doctor tunred to the two zombies in the room.
" My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked and to his suprise, the two zombies began speaking in several different voices at once and this made a shiver run down Alyssa's spine.
"Failing. Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us" they spoke before gas like entities emitted from their bodies and they collasped dead to the floor.
"Now that is something you don't see everyday" Alyssa commented. Later on, they were all sat in the front room and Rose was givng Sneed a really good telling off.
" First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man" she yelled as she paced up and down the room with his walking stick.
" I won't be spoken to like this!" Sneed barked but Rose continued to lay into him.
"Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk! " she demanded.
"yeah, explain yourself you...kidnapper" Alyssa yelled.
" It's not my fault. It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless" Sneed explained.
"Tommyrot" Dickens scoffed.
"You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps" Sneed told him " One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned."
"Morbid fancy" was all Dickens could say.
" Oh, Charles, you were there" the Doctor pointed out.
"Yeah, you saw it yourself when you was stood on that stage, you saw the blue gassy ghost thing coming outo f that old woman" said Alyssa.
"I saw nothing but an illusion" Dickens replied.
"If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up. What about the gas? " the Doctor asked, walking up to sneed.
"That's new, sir. Never seen anything like that" the chubby welsh man replied.
"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through" the Doctor explained.
"What's the rift? " Alyssa asked.
" A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time" the Doctor explained.
"That's how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations" Sneed replied as Dickens left the room, slamming the door in the process " echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."
"So, you reckon this house is haunted?" Alyssa asked.
"Possibly" the Doctor replied " well there's only one way to find out." He then wnet to find Rose and Gwyneth who in the pantry, overhearing the young maid telling Rose about visions of the future she was having.
" I can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it" he overheard hey saying as he reached the doorway.
" But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?" he asked, causing both Gwyneth and Rose to turn around.
" All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head" Gwyneth replied.
"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key" the Doctor told her before she explained to him on how she tried to make sense of it all.
"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do" the Doctor told her.
"What to do where, sir?" the young maid asked.
"We're going to have a seance" the Doctor told her and pretty soon, they were all sat around a table in the front room, expect for Dickens who still believed it to be a hoax.
"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come, we must all join hands" Gwyneth told them and they all hled hnads round the table.
"I've never done one of these before" Alyssa said.
"Well you're about to experinece just what a seance can be like young lady" the Doctor told her, patting her arm.
" I can't take part in this" Dickens stated as he went to leave the room.
"Humbug? Come on, open mind" the Doctor replied with a smirk.
"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing" Dickens retored.
"Now, don't antagonise her" the Doctor said before smiling at Gwyneth "I love a happy medium."
"I can't believe you just said that" Rose chuckled.
" Come on, we might need you" the Doctor told Dicknes who sighed and sat in between Rose and Gwyneth " Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out." The young maid then looked up towards the ceiling, whispering.
"Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden" she said just as a chorus of whispers uttered around the room.
"Can you hear that?" Rose whipsered.
"yeah, whipsering"Alyssa replied in a hushed voice.
"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly" Dickens pointed out but Rose told him to look at Gwyneth who was still looking up at the ceiling, rocking back and forth in her chair.
" I see them. I feel them" Gwyneth said as gas tendrils began to drift over their heads and more whispering voices could be heard throughout the room.
"What's it saying?" Rose asked.
" They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through" the Doctor told the young maid.
"I can't! " Gwyneth replied in a shaky voice.
"Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link" the Doctor told her and she closed her eyes, tilted her head forewar and then her eyes snapped open. The group then watched as blue outlines of people appeared behind her.
"Wow" Alyssa gasped.
"Great God! Spirits from the other side" Sneed added.
"The other side of the universe" the Doctor stated as the figures began speaking through Gwyneth in child like voices.
"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us" they spoke.
"What do you want us to do? " the Doctor asked them.
"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge" the Gelth said.
"What for?" the Doctor asked as Alyssa watched this all in shock and amusement, it was like nothing she had ever seen before.
"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction" the Gelth explained.
"Why, what happened?" the Doctor asked.
" Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came" the Gelth replied as Alyssa continued to sit there in shock silence.
"War? What war? " Dickens asked.
" The Time War. The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state" the Gelth explained.
"So that's why you need the corpses" the Doctor pointed out.
" We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us" the Gelth spoke out as both Rose and Alyssa listened on in horror.
" But we can't" Rose pointed out.
" Why not?" the Doctor asked.
"It's not. I mean, it's not" Alyssa stammered before the Doctor interupted her.
" Not decent? Not polite?" he asked "It could save their lives."
"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth" the Gelth chorused before going back into the gas lamps, causing Gwyneth to collaspe across the table and Rose stood up to make sure that she was okay.
"All true" Dickens pointed out in disbelieve " It's all true." A little while later, Gwyneth was laying on the chaise longue and she opened her eyes to see Rose dabbing her face with a wet flannel.
" It's all right. You just sleep" Rose reassured her.
"Is she going to be okay?" Alyssa asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure she will be" Rose told the Twelve year old girl who was sitting in one of the chairs in the room, looking worried.
"But my angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me? " Gwyneth asked.
"They do need you, Gwyneth" the Doctor said as he stood leaning agaisnt the wall, arms folded "You're they're only chance of survival."
" I've told you, leave her alone" Rose snapped, giving the Doctor an annoyed look "She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles."
"Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they? " Sneed asked.
"Aliens" the Doctor replied.
"I think they're kind of like ghost Aliens" Alyssa stated " they're Aliens, but they're like ghosts."
"Like foreigners, you mean? " Sneed asked.
"Pretty foreign, yeah" the Doctor replied before pointing up to the ceiling "From up there."
" Brecon?" Sneed asked.
" Close. And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes" the Doctor explained as he began pacing up and down the room.
"Which is why they need the girl" Dickens inquired.
"They're not having her" Rose pointed out protectivly.
"But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through" the Doctor argued.
"Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers" a now clearly fasanated Dickens pointed out.
" Good system" the Doctor replied "it might work."
" You can't let them run around inside of dead people" Rose pointed out.
"Why not? It's like recycling" the Doctor told her.
"It sounds creepy to me" Alyssa stated " gassy Alien ghosts taking over the bodies of dead people, it's just woah, creepy."
"And seriously Doctor, you can't do this" Rose pointed out.
" Seriously though, I can" the Doctor argued back.
"It's just wrong. Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death" Rose stated, getting furious now.
" Do you carry a donor card?" the Doctor asked her.
"That's different. That's " Rose said before she was intterupted by the Manchester speaking Time lord.
"It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home" he implied "You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying. "
" I don't care" a now stubborn Rose pointed out "they're not using her."
" Don't I get a say, miss? " Gwyneth asked.
" Look, you don't understand what's going on" Rose told her gently.
"You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid" Gwyneth told her.
"That's not fair" Rose pointed out.
" It's true, though. Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me" the young maid told her before turning to the Doctor "Doctor, what do I have to do?."
"You don't have to do anything" the Doctor told her.
" They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me" Gwyneth implied.
"We need to find the rift. This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen? " the Doctor asked Sneed who stated that the place where most of the Ghosts had been seen was in the morgue.
"No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?" Rose muttered. A few minutes later, everybody had gone into the morgue where the recenlty departed where lying on tables under white sheets.
" Urgh. Talk about Bleak House" the Doctor inquired.
"You're not kidding" Alyssa stated, holding her nose " it smells of dead people."
"The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed, 'cos I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869" Rose pointed out.
"Time's in flux, changing every second. Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that. Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing" the Doctor told her as Alyssa pointed out that the room was begining to get colder and the girl wrapped her amrs around her small, skinny body, shivering from the sudden chill that had entered the room, followed by a chorus of whispers.
"Here they come" Rose gasped as a Gelth appeared under the stone archway in the morgue.
"You've come to help. Praise the Doctor. Praise him" it said in it's child like voice.
"Promise you won't hurt her" the Doctor said, gesturing to Gwyneth.
"Hurry! Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth" it chorused.
" I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right? " the Doctor told the gassy being.
" My angels" Gwyneth pointed out "I can help them live."
" Okay, where's the weak point? " the Doctor asked.
" Here, beneath the arch" the Gelth said and Gwyneth went and stood under the arch as Rose came running up to her, telling the young maid that she didn't have to go through with it.
"My angels" Gwyneth whispered as she went to stand inside the Gelth as it hovered underneath the arch.
"Establish the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through!" the Gelth chorused.
"Yes, I can see you. I can see you. Come!" Gwyneth spoke out.
" Bridgehead establishing" the Gelth said.
" Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls! " said Gwyneth.
" It is begun. The bridge is made" the Gelth spoke out as Gwyneth opened her mouth and blue gas began flowing out "she has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend" the blue spirit then transformed into an orangy apparation with sharp teeth with it's child like voice becoming deeper and harder "the Gelth will come through in force." At that moment, millions of blue gas entities began emerging from the arch.
" You said that you were few in number" Dickens stated.
"A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses" the Gelth said evily as the rest of them entered the corpses, causing them to sit up and Sneed ran towards where Gwyneth was standing.
"The dead are walking" Alyssa pointed out, her voice shaking.
"Yes, I can see that" the Doctor relied as they watched the corpses walk around the room.
" Gwyneth, stop this. Listen to your master. This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you" Snned told the young miad, unaware that one of the corpses was coming up behind him.
" Mister Sneed, get back! " Rose yelled, but it was too late, the corpse had grabbed hold of Sneed and snapped his neck before a Gelth flew into his mouth.
"Uh oh" Alyssa pointed out.
"Yes, I agree, I think it's gone a little bit wrong" the Doctor pointed out.
"I have joined the legions of the Gelth" the now walking dead Sneed said in a Gelth's voice "Come, march with us." He then grabbed hold of Alyssa's leg, causing her to fall to the ground and Corpse Sneed went down on the floor, grabbing hold of her ankle as she went to get back up again.
"Let me go" she squealed " get off me, let go, help, help."
"Let her go" the Doctor yelled as he attempted to pull the girl away from Corpse Sneed.
" We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead" the Gelth spoke out as the Doctor managed to save Alyssa from Corpse Sneed, pulling her up from the floor just as the corpses began to back him, Alyssa and Rose into the dungeon.
"Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now! " the Doctor yelled to Gwyneth.
"Four more bodies" the Gelth chorused " Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth."
" Doctor, I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me" Dickens pointed out before running out of the room as the Doctor, Rose and Alyssa backed themselves against the wall in the dungeon.
"Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth" the Corpses said together.
" I trusted you. I pitied you!" the Doctor yelled angrily at them as they tried to grab at them through the locked gate.
"We don't want your pity. We want this world and all it's flesh" the corpses said evily.
"Not while I'm alive" the Doctor inquired.
"Then live no more" the Corpses said in the Gelth's voice.
"But me and Rose can't die yet, we haven't even been born yet" Alyssa said " it's impossible for us to die."
"Yeah" Rose said before noticing the Doctor's expression "isn't it?"
" I'm sorry" he told the two girls who where both looking at him worriedly.
"But it's 1869" Rose pointed out " how can we die now?"
"Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape" the Doctor explained to them both "you can be born in the future and die in the past and it's all my fault, I brought you both here."
"It's not your fault. I wanted to come" Rose told him.
"And you promised to look after me until I find my way back home, so I agree with Rose, it isn't your fault" Alyssa told him, trying to sound brave but her voice was quivering.
"What about me? " the Doctor asked "I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon in Cardiff."
" It's not just dying" Rose said, looking at the corpses who where still trying to grab at the three of them from behind the lokced gate "We'll become one of them." Just then, Dickens came running back into the morgue, holding a cloth over his mouth as though he was using it to prevent himself from breathing in something.
"Doctor! Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!" he yelled as he turned off the flames on the gas lamps and turned up the gas.
"What're you doing? " the Doctor asked him.
"I think he's letting out all the gas so it will get rid of these gassy alien ghosts of death" Alyssa inquired.
" Brilliant. Gas" the Doctor said with his traditional toothy grin.
"What, so we choke to death instead?" Rose asked.
"Am I correct, Doctor?" Dickens asked "these creatures are gaseous."
" Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound! " the Doctor said as the Corpses began to mkae their way towards Dickens, giving the Doctor and the girls a chance to escape from the dungeon.
" I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately" he said as the corpses moved closer towards him.
" Plenty more! " the Doctor said with a grin as he ripped a gas pipe from the walls and the Gelth began to leave the corpses.
" It's working" Dickens stated as both Rose and Alyssa began to cough from the gas whilst the Doctor ran over to Gwyneth.
"Gwyneth, send them back. They lied. They're not angels" he told the young miad who hadn't moved from the arch all this time.
"Liars?" she asked.
"Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back! " he ordered her.
"I can't breath" Rose spluttered.
"I feel dizzy" Alyssa said as she placed her hand on her head, swaying on the spot before collapsing to the floor.
"Charles, get them out" the Doctor said, not taking his eyes of Gwyneth. Dickens went to guide Rose out the room but she shrugged him off.
" I'm not leaving her" Rose said as she lifted the passed out little girl from the floor, despite struggling to breath herself.
"They're too strong" Gwyneth gasped.
"Remember that world you saw? Rose and Alyssa's world?" the Doctor asked her "All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."
" I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here" Gwyneth replied " get out." She then got out a box of matches from her apron pocket and Rose ran towards her, holding Alyssa in her arms.
"You can't! " she yelled.
"Leave this place!" Gwyneth told her.
" Rose, get out. Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!" the Doctor told her before looking at Alyssa who laid unconcious in Rose's arms " you need to take care of her." Rose nodded and she and Dickens ran out of the house and into the street where Rose then laid Alyssa onto the floor before giving her mouth to mouth.
" Oh poor child" Dickens pointed out as he watched Rose attemping to get the young girl to breath "she can't be no more then Eleven or Twelve." A few seconds later, Alyssa began to cough and splutter before opening her eyes.
"Oh thank god, you're okay" Rose said, hugging the little girl as she was relieved that she was okay.
"What's happening, where's the Doctor ?" Alyssa asked as Rose helped her to her feet just as the Doctor came running out of the house and it exploded, causing him to fly across the street.
"She didn't make it" Rose said when the Doctor pulled himself up off the floor.
" I'm sorry" the Doctor replied " she closed the rift."
"Oh no" Alyssa gasped, her eyes filling with tears.
" At such a cost. The poor child" Dickens pointed out, shaking his head.
" I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes" the Doctor explained as a teary eyed but silent Alyssa cuddled up to Rose who put her arm round the youngster.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked, rubbing Alyssa's back as she sobbed silently into her shoulder.
" I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch" the Doctor explained truthfully.
"But she can't have. She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us" Rose pointed out.
"How could she have done that?" Alyssa asked, pulling her head away from Rose's shoulder, revealing her tear stained face and red eyes.
" There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor" Dickens pointed out.
" She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know" Rose implied as the four of them looked at the now burning funeral home. A while leter, the Doctor and the girls had gone back to the ally where the Tardis was still parked and Dickens was with them.
" Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, er, shed. Won't be long" the Doctor said as he put the tardis key in the keyhole.
" What are you going to do now?" Rose asked Dickens. Alyssa had stopped sobbing now but she was still upset about Gwyneth.
"I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital" Dickens explained.
"You've cheered up" the Doctor pointed out.
" Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them" Dicknes revealed.
" Do you think that's wise?" Rose asked.
"I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth" he revealed.
" Good luck with it. Nice to meet you" the Doctor replied just ash e finally got the tardis door open " fantastic."
"Bye, then, and thanks" Rose said, shaking Dickens by the hand and giving him a kiss on the cheek which brought a small smile back on Alyssa's face.
" Oh, my dear. How modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going? " he asked as the Doctor and the girls were about to enter the tardis.
" You'll see. In the shed" the Doctor replied, pointing at the tardis.
" Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this. Who are you?" asked Dickens.
" Just a friend passing through" the Doctor replied.
"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?" he asked.
" Oh, yes!" the Doctor replied.
"For how long? " Dickens asked.
" Forever" the Doctor replied before turning to the two girls " Right. Shed. Come on, Rose, Alyssa."
"In the box, all three of you?" Dickens asked, raising an eyebrow.
"yes" the Doctor replied " see you." The three of them then went inside the tardis and the three of them walked towards the console.
" Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" Rose asked.
"yeah, I don't remember any of his books having blue ghosts mentioned in them" Alyssa pointed out.
"In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story" the Doctor told them both.
"Oh no" Alyssa said.
"Oh and he was so nice" Rose said in pity.
" But in your time, he was already dead. We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise" the Doctor replied with a grin and he started up the tardis, making it dematerilise from the victorian streets of cardiff and into the time vortex, ready for more adventures in time and space with the three time travellers.