Bad Wolf
Seren woke up with a groan, absently noticing the smooth surface she was on. She sat up, a hand on her head as she saw the blurry form of a dark-skinned man kneeling in front of her.
"What happened?" she asked, rubbing her temples.
"It's all right." The man said reassuringly, a gentle smile on his face. "It's the transmat. Does your head in… get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?"
"Seren." She replied after a few seconds with a frown on her face. For a moment, she had barely been able to remember who she was. She patted the ground around her, trying to find her glasses.
"What are you doing?" he asked with a frown, seeing her pat the ground as she sat up.
"I'm trying to find my glasses." She replied. "I can't see without them."
"Oh, here." He said, holding the folded rectangle dark brown wire-framed glasses out to her. "They had fallen off your face when you were beamed in."
"Thank you." Seren said, putting them on and looking up at his much clearer form with a sincere smile on her face. "Have you seen the Doctor?"
"Just remember, do what the android says." He said instead of replying to her question. "Don't provoke it. The android's word is law."
"What android?" Seren asked, completely confused. "And where's the Doctor? And Jack?"
"Positions, everyone!" A woman called out in the distance, clapping her hands.
"Come on, hurry up." The man said, helping her to her feet. As soon as she was on her feet and he let go of her, she stumbled and he caught her. "Steady, steady."
She was dressed in a short cap-sleeved black blouse that came just below her chest and trimmed with gold embroidery, showing off her toned stomach, the red lahenga skirt with a gold-embroidered border that started from her hips and went down to the floor and the red dupatta that was around her neck and falling down her back*. She had a black cross-body purse* slung across her chest, resting against her hip. She had small red ruby studs in her ears, with no other jewellery, and her long hair was open, falling down to her hips in loose ringlets that started from the middle of her back. On her feet, she had a pair of black 6" high heeled strappy sandals*.
She held onto him for support as they walked forward to an area that had what looked to be podiums.
"I was travelling with the Doctor and a man named Captain Jack Harkness." She said, trying to piece together what had happened. "They wouldn't just leave without saying anything."
"That's enough chat! Positions!" the female voice from earlier called out briskly to them, apparently the Floor Manager. She was standing next to an inactive robot, the droid being attended to be a team of technicians. "Final call! Good luck!"
The man helping Seren smiled in anticipation, looking at Seren eagerly.
"But I'm not supposed to be here." She stressed as he looked at her.
"Well, it says Seren on the podium…" he said, looking to the podium in question.
Seren frowned at him and turned to follow his gaze. Seren's mouth dropped open in shock when she saw, sure enough, there was a podium with her name on it. The name plate was lit up, her name displayed proudly at the front of the podium.
"Come on!" he urged, his hold on her loosening as he dashed off to his own podium.
Seren slowly walked forward to her own podium, stepping on to it with trepidation and confusion, a sense of foreboding filling from deep with her heart.
"I must be going mad." She muttered to herself as she took in her surroundings once again. The technicians attending to the android as the woman from earlier supervised them and the podiums on either side of her own. Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her, "It can't be. This looks like the-"
"Android activated!" the woman from earlier called as the android sprang to life with a whir. Spot lights began shining behind the android as it raised its head.
"Oh, Duw. The Android." Seren whispered to herself in horror. "The Anne Droid."
"Welcome, to the Weakest Link!" The Anne Droid said in a robotic voice that resembled the real Anne Robinson, although with a more robotic tone to the voice.
As soon as the Anne Droid announced the opening line, the theme music played around them and the lights flashed around them in resemblance to the real show.
"17, 16, 15." The Floor Manager called, a hand to her headset. "Thank you people. Transmitting in… 11, 10 -"
Seren agitatedly leaned toward the man that had helped her, his name plate saying his name was Roderick.
"But I need to find the Doc-" Seren started quietly.
"Just- shut up and play the game!" Roderick snapped impatiently, pushing her back to her podium.
"All right, then." Seren muttered, seeing that the only for her to get out so that she could find the Doctor and Jack was to play. "If I have to play my way out of here, I'm going to play to win!"
She smiled radiantly, facing forwards as Roderick looked at her distractedly. The expression on his face told her that he thought she was slightly mad, if not entirely insane.
"3, and cue!" The Floor Manager called.
"Let's play 'The Weakest Link!" The Anne Droid announced. In imitation of the real show, theme music and lights came on as the Anne Droid continued, "Start the clock." The clock music that had annoyed Seren since David became fascinated with it began to play, echoing as the seconds ticked by. "Agorax – the name of basic food stuff is an anagram of the word 'beard'?"
"Bread." Agorax replied, a nervous expression on his face.
"Correct." The Anne Droid replied, causing Agorax to let out a sigh of relief. "Fitch - in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?"
"Is it…Clavadoe?" she asked, unsure.
"No, Pandoff." The Anne Droid replied before turning to Seren. "Seren, in maths, what is 258-158?"
"100." Seren replied, slightly confused but getting the feeling that the round of nonsense questions was just a warm-up.
"Correct. Roderick-"
"Bank." Roderick said, glancing at Seren and turning back to the Anne Droid.
"Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word 'dangle' but not in the word 'gland'?"
"E." He replied after a moment.
"Correct!" The Anne Droid turned to the next contestant. "Colleen - in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?"
"Default." Colleen answered nervously.
"Correct." The Anne Droid turned to the next contestant, a male. "Broff - the Great Cobalt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous Old Earth Institute?"
"Uh, T-Touchdown." He stuttered nervously in response.
"No - Torchwood." The Anne Droid corrected him and turned back to Agorax. Despite the foreboding feeling she had, Seren couldn't help but giggle quietly at the absurdity of the questions. "Agorax - in language, all five examples of which type of letter appear in the word 'facetious'?"
"Vowels." He replied.
"Correct. Fitch - in biology, which blood cells contain iron - red or white?"
"Um… white." Fitch replied nervously after a moment's hesitation.
Despite the absurdity of the question, Seren managed to hold back her giggle, knowing that not everyone knew about biology – Fitch being among them.
"No, red." The Anne Droid replied. Fitch looked at the Anne Droid with an expression of terror at having gotten another answer wrong. The Anne Droid turned to Seren. "Seren, in the holovid series 'Jupiter Rising', the Grexnik is married to whom?"
"How in Arawen's name would I know?" Seren asked, laughing.
Even with the foreboding feeling getting stronger as time passed, Seren couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the questions.
"No, the correct answer is Lord Drayvole." The Anne Droid replied and turned to Roderick. "Roderick, in maths, what is 9 squared?"
"Um… 81." Roderick replied strongly after a brief moment of hesitation as he calculated the answer.
"Correct." The Anne Droid replied before moving to the next contestant.
The next several minutes passed as the Anne Droid asked them all a few more questions. As the round continued, the foreboding feeling she had was pushed to the back of her mind as her amusement took hold. She alternated between laughing at the absurdity and successfully holding back her laughter – she ended up laughing more than she actually managed to hold it in.
Finally, it came time for them to vote for the weakest link of the round.
"So, Seren. What do you actually do?" The Anne Droid asked her as she held up her board, Fitch's name written on it in her elegant calligraphy.
"I'm a gymnast but I'm currently traveling." Seren replied, answering the question but remaining vague.
"Another way of saying 'unemployed'." The Anne Droid commented.
"Huh, yeah. I suppose so." Seren replied thoughtfully, not bothering to argue with the Droid.
"And yet, you still have enough money to have ruby earrings and gold embroidery on you clothes." The Anne Droid commented. Seren raised an eyebrow, opening her mouth to say that the gold wasn't real when the Anne Droid asked, "Why Fitch?"
"She got a few of the answers wrong." Seren replied and glanced at Fitch. She was confused at the sight of the older woman in tears. "That's all." She finished in a confused tone.
"Oh, you'd know all about that." The Anne Droid said bluntly.
"Yeah, but I can't exactly vote for myself." Seren commented turning back to the Anne Droid. "Wait, can I?" she asked hopefully.
"No."
"That's why I chose Fitch." Seren replied, turning to look at the now quietly sobbing woman. She frowned, not understanding why the woman was sobbing, it wasn't just sadness at being voted out, rather terror mingled with it. "I'm sorry… that's the game. I had to vote for someone…" She said softly to Fitch, who ignored her.
Fitch looked at the Anne Droid, completely terrified.
"Let me try again." She pleaded desperately. "It was the lights and everything. I couldn't think."
"In fact, with three answers wrong, Broff was the weakest link in that round, but - it's votes that count."
"I'm sorry. Please…." Fitch pleaded terrified. "Oh God, help me!" She turned her pleas to the contestants as she looked around wildly at them.
Seren looked around in confusion, still in complete darkness to what was going on. Roderick looked away sadly and Broff sobbed silently into his board, Seren's name written on it. She looked back at the Anne Droid as it spoke, looking at Fitch.
"Fitch - you are the weakest link. Goodbye!"
Seren could only stare in shock as the Droid's mouth opened and a barrel gun protruded from it. Without any hesitation, the Droid fired the gun, a thick and rapid concentrated beam of yellow-gold light. The beam hit Fitch and she vanished, leaving only smoke where she had been standing as the gun retreated back into the Droid's mouth.
"And we've gone to the adverts." The Floor Manager announced as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "Back in three minutes."
"What was that?" Seren asked, whirling around to face Roderick and pointing at the smoke. "What just happened?"
"She was the weakest link, she gets disintegrated." Roderick replied quietly, wiping his board clean. "Blasted into atoms."
Seren stared at him with wide eyes, unable to comprehend his words. The foreboding feeling that had been pushed to the side when she became preoccupied with her amusement was back in full force and she began to feel sick.
"But I voted for her!" Seren said quietly and Roderick rolled his eyes. "This is sick!" she exclaimed, her words echoing around the silent studio. The contestants turned to look at her as she glared fiercely at them all. "All of you, this is just sick! I'm not playing-"
"I'm not playing!" Broff whimpered, cutting Seren's rant off. They all turned to look at him and he continued, whimpering in terror, "I-I can't do it." the Anne Droid turned to him slowly as the other contestants looked on in quiet fear. Broff leapt off his podium and made a mad run for the door. "I'm not – please, somebody let me-"
"You are the weakest link." The Anne Droid said, opening its mouth and revealing the gun. It fired the beam and Broff disappeared mid-run with a scream. "Goodbye." The gun retreated back into its mouth and it slowly turned back to the remaining contestants.
Seren stared at the spot Broff disappeared in shock and absolute disgust.
"Don't try to escape." Roderick said quietly, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. "It's play… or die."
At the Floor Manager's announcement, the show resumed and they went back to playing – round after round until they had to choose the next weakest link.
"You are the weakest link. Goodbye." The Anne Droid said to Colleen, firing the laser beam at her.
As Colleen disintegrated, Roderick and Seren looked away.
"Going to the break!" The Floor Manager announced. "Two minutes on the clock. Just a reminder – we've got solar activity coming up in 10."
Seren glared fiercely at the Floor Manager, tired and completely fed-up with the game.
"Colleen was clever, she had banked all of our money." Seren said to Roderick through clenched teeth as he wiped his board clean. "Why did you vote for her?"
"'Cos I want to keep you in!" Roderick replied, looking at her unkindly. "You're stupid! You don't even know the Princess Vossaheen's surname. When it comes to the final, I want to be up against you. So that you get disintegrated, and I get a stack-load of credits. Courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation . . ."
"What do you mean, 'Bad Wolf'? Who's Bad Wolf?" Seren asked.
He looked at her as though he couldn't believe she didn't know the answers to her own questions.
"They're in charge." Roderick replied and seeing the still questioning look on her face, he rolled his eyes and added, "They run the Game Station."
"Why are they called 'Bad Wolf'?" Seren asked insistently.
"I dunno, it's just a name." Roderick said, shrugging. "It's like an Old Earth… nursery rhyme sort of thing. What does it matter?"
"I keep hearing the words, everywhere we go." She said pensively, her voice soft, speaking more to herself than to Roderick. "Bad Wolf."
XX
Gwyneth said it in Mr. Sneed's Kitchen – Cardiff 1869
"The things you've seen, the darkness, the big bad wolf-"
XX
A ground technician announced it at Van Statten's base – Utah 2012
"Attention all personnel – Bad Wolf One descending."
XX
Rose asked what the Welsh words meant in City Hall – Cardiff 2006
"Blaidd Drwg."
"What's it mean?"
"Bad Wolf."
XX
The Powell Estate – London 2006
'Bad Wolf' graffitied on the side of the TARDIS.
XX
A newscast on Floor 139 – Station Five 200,000
The Face of Boe appeared on the Bad Wolf Channel.
XX
"Different times… different places." Seren continued as the memories flashed across her mind's eye as though on fast forward. "As though they're written across the Universe…" she trailed off with a haunted expression, trying to understand what it meant.
"What are you going on about?" Roderick asked her impatiently, only having understood every third or fourth word.
"If the Bad Wolf is in charge of this Game Station," she said, looking at him. "Maybe I'm not here by mistake. Someone's been planning this."
The thoughts raced through her mind as they went through another round of questioning.
When the time came to vote, Agorax was voted out and he was disintegrated with a scream. The gun retreated back into the Anne Droid's mouth as the light behind Agorax's name on the podium went out.
"That leaves Seren and Roderick." The Anne Droid said, turning to them. "You're going head-to-head. Let's play 'The Weakest Link'."
"Right, that's the end of tactical voting." Roderick said briskly, not looking at her. "You're on your own now."
"Seren, in geography, the Grand Central Ravine is named after which Ancient British city?" The Anne Droid asked her, starting off the final round.
"York?" Seren replied, unsure
"No, the correct answer is Sheffield." The Anne Droid replied before turning to Roderick. "Rodrick, in literature, the author of 'Lucky' was Jackie who?"
"Stewart." Roderick replied, taking a wild guess since he didn't know the answer.
"No, the correct answer is Collins. Seren, the oldest inhabitant of the Isop Galaxy is the Face of what?"
"Boe." Seren replied. She smiled softly, remembering the ancient figure she had met on Platform One, the being that named her 'Star-Flower'.
"That is the correct answer." The Anne Droid replied, turning to Roderick. "Roderick, in history, who was the President of the Red Velvets?"
"Hoshbin Frane." Roderick replied after pondering for a second.
"That is the correct answer." The Anne Droid replied. "Seren, in food, the dish Gaffabeque originated on which planet?"
"Uh… is it... Mars?" Seren asked, completely unsure and naming a random planet.
"No, the correct answer in Lucifer." The Anne Droid replied. Seren closed her eyes and prayed for the strength to make it through the game so that she could find the Doctor and Jack as incorrectly answered yet another question. As the Anne Droid turned to him, a nasty pleasure glinted in his eyes, the look sending shivers up Seren's spine. "Rodrick, which measurement of length is said to have been defined by the Emperor Jate as the distance from his nose to his fingertip?"
Seren glanced at Roderick and saw that he didn't know the answer.
"Would that be a goffle?" he asked, unsure.
"No, the correct answer is a paab." The Anne Droid replied. "Seren, in fashion, Stella Pok Baint is famous for what?"
"Shoes." Seren replied after a moment, her voice firm despite having taken a random guess.
"No. The correct answer is hats." The Ann Droid replied. There were only two questions left, one for each of them and Roderick was still in the lead. "Rodrick, in physics, who discovered the Fifteen-Dash-Ten Barric Fields?"
"San… Hazeldine." He replied, pausing for a moment before saying the second word.
"No, the correct answer is San Chen." The Anne Droid replied, turning to Seren for the final question. "Seren, in history, which Icelandic city hosted Murder Spree Twenty?"
There was a tense silence as Seren stared at the Droid and it stared back. Roderick glanced at her wondering what she was going to reply with and if it would be the correct answer.
"Reykjavik…?" Seren asked, not having any idea what the answer was and saying the first thing that popped into her head.
For a single tense second, there was silence as Roderick looked between Seren and the Anne Droid, wondering if it was the correct answer – not knowing it himself.
"No, the correct answer is Pola Ventura." The Anne Droid replied, causing an ecstatic smile to spread across Roderick's face.
The lights flashed around them and the theme music played as the game ended, with Roderick winning with 2:1 in his favour.
"Oh, my God! I've done it!" he exclaimed gleefully. He turned to Seren, and without a single trace of pity or sorrow, he gloated, "You've lost!"
"I'm not supposed to be here!" Seren cried in terror, knowing what was going to happen. "I need to find the Doctor and Jack, they've got to be here somewhere! The Doctor wouldn't just leave without saying anything!"
"Roderick, you are The Strongest Link. You will be transported home with 1600 credits." The Anne Droid said, ignoring Seren as she panicked, speaking over the Welshwoman.
"Oh, thank you, thank you so much." Roderick told the Droid, a wide smile on his face.
"This game is illegal!" Seren yelled, terrified though her voice remained strong as she leaned over her podium. "I'm telling you to stop!"
Suddenly, the door slammed open, drawing everyone except the Anne Droid's attention.
"Seren!" the Doctor yelled as he, Jack and a young woman barged in through the door located on the other side of the studio.
"Seren, you leave this life with nothing-" The Anne Droid said, facing Seren.
"Stop this game!" Jack yelled.
"I order you to stop this game!" The Doctor yelled.
"You are the weakest link." The Anne Droid finished, opening its mouth and revealing the gun.
"Look out for the Anne Droid, it's armed!" Seren yelled, jumping off her podium and running towards the Doctor.
The Doctor ran across the expanse of the studio's floor towards her. The Anne Droid turned, its aim following Seren and hitting her in the back with the disintegration beam when she was less than a foot away from him. Her glasses flew off her face from the force of the impact against her back.
"Doctor!" she screamed as she disappeared, her hand stretched out towards him.
The last thing she saw was his blurry stricken face as he reached out to her before everything went black.
Seren woke with a groan, a familiar rhythmic hum echoing around her. She sat up, her eyes widening when she the blurry form what was slowly gliding towards her. It didn't matter that she couldn't see very well, after her last encounter with the being, she would recognize it even if she had been unable to see it at all - a Dalek.
"It can't be…" she breathed scrambling to her feet and stumbling backwards in an attempt to get away from it. "But you're dead… I saw you die!"
It glided towards her until she was backed against a walled pillar. She tried to edge away, towards the side, but the sucker shooting out prevented her from moving even half a step.
Several more glided in to the wide area she was in, stopping in neat rows. There were hundreds of them, and only from what she could see in front of her.
"Alert! Alert!" A Dalek said as it came through an archway. "We are detected!"
"It is the Doctor. He has located us." The Dalek in front of Seren said, turning to face the others. "Open communications channel!"
Seren huddled against the wall, staring at them all with wide eyes. a Dalek, the one that had announced the alert, swiveled around to face Seren.
"The female will stand." It ordered her, repeating it when Seren made no move to comply. "Stand!"
Seren stood up, glaring at its general direction and pushing her fear aside. There was no way she was letting these temperamental pepper pots get the better of her, even if they terrified her beyond reason.
The Daleks looked up as an image materialized in the air above them – the Doctor, Jack, two females and a male staring through the holo-screen at the Daleks and Seren. Seren, despite not being able to see clearly, could almost feel the Doctor's grim expression as he saw Seren being flanked by three Daleks. He stared at the Daleks in distaste, the expression softening ever so slightly when he laid his eyes on Seren before hardening once more when he looked back at the Daleks.
"I will talk to the Doctor." A Dalek said.
"Oh, will you?" the Doctor asked in response, a mocking grin on his face as he waved. "That's nice. Hello!"
"The Dalek Stratagem nears completion. The Fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."
"Oh, really? Why's that then?" The Doctor asked, his mocking grin fading and a glare taking its place.
"We have your associate. You will obey, or she will be exterminated."
Seren, who had been looking at the Doctor's blurry figure on the screen, turned to look at the Dalek with a raised eyebrow.
"No." the Doctor replied.
As one, Jack and the other three people that were there turned to stare at him in shock. A grin began forming on Seren's lips as she looked back up in the direction of the screen.
"Explain yourself." The Dalek ordered, not having expected the answer.
"I said 'no'." the Doctor repeated firmly.
"What is the meaning of this negative?"
"It means 'no'." The Doctor replied.
The Daleks confusion had Seren giggling, a hand on her mouth to try and silence the sounds.
"But she will be destroyed." The Dalek pointed out.
"No!" the Doctor announced passionately, standing up from the chair he had been in beside Jack. "'Cos this is what I'm gonna do - I'm gonna rescue her." Seren looked in the direction of his voice, a proud smile on her face as she looked at his blurry figure. The other four people looked at him with expressions of awe. "I'm going to save Seren Rhosyn Jones from the middle of the Dalek Fleet, and then I'm gonna save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every stinking Dalek outta the sky!"
He finished off in a raised voice, speaking with passion and fire like a true hero, Seren's hero.
"But you have no weapons! No defences! No plan!" The Dalek said.
"Yeah." The Doctor agreed with a manic grin on his face. "And doesn't that scare you to death?" he didn't wait for a response as he turned to Seren. "Seren?"
"Yes?" she asked, looking at his blurry figure with a radiant smile lighting up her beautiful features.
"I'm coming to get you." He told her before raising his screwdriver and closing the communication line.
"The Doctor is initiating hostile action!" A Dalek announced.
"The Stratagem must advance. Begin the invasion of Earth!" Another said.
The Daleks began spinning around wildly as they spoke. Seren had to jump out of the way as the Daleks began gathering together, taking no notice of her.
"The Doctor will be exterminated!"
"Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Daleks cried, the air filling with the sounds of the massive army repeating the one word over and over again in unison.
Seren could only look on horrified silence at the blurry sight of the massive army, at the number of Daleks on the ship she was on alone.
She had no way of knowing that a similar scene was occurring on at least 200 more ship around her in the space above her beloved home, Planet Earth.
Links (on pinterest):
*Seren lahenga (red skirt and dupatta) - .ca/pin/Aef71xXVmHr395rOmINJXh44Pg7cYlf3B9WohyNvI1N8FiErryLSoaw/
*Seren purse - .ca/pin/474566879477252973/
*Seren sandals - .ca/pin/474566879476966254/