Author's Note: Hey There! Long time no see! I know it has been a long time since my last chapter. I had thought about ending this story with previous chapter. But, with the episodes with the Fifteenth Doctor coming out have inspired me to continue the story of Teddy Duncan and her daughter, Annabelle. I'm skipping Series 10 because I really didn't care for that season. So we will be starting with the a little bit of "The Woman Who Fell to Earth."
The Ghost Monument
(Third Person)
After Grace's funeral, The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz were talking. Yaz looked at The Doctor and asked, "Have you got family?"
The Doctor smiled, "I do… I have a niece and her daughter." Her smiled faded away, "They are the only family I have left. I lost the rest of them a long time ago."
"How do you cope with that?" asked Graham.
"I carry them with me. What they would have thought, and said, and done. Make them a part of who I am. So even though they're gone from the world, they're never gone from me."
Graham smiled, "That's the sort of thing Grace would have said."
The Doctor smiled.
(Teddy's POV)
Shortly after leaving Grant and Lucy, we received a summons. Aunt Missy had been captured and was sentenced to be executed. Because of the technology used in the process, her body would have to be guarded for a thousand years by a Time Lord. The Doctor volunteered to be the one to guard her. Annabelle and I decided to go back to Denver. I got a job as a professor of American History at the University of Denver and Annabelle got a job as a technology consultant at a security company. All and all it was a pretty good life.
One day, I was in my office at school when my phone rang, "Professor Duncan speaking," I said nonchalantly.
"Oh, Teddy! Brilliant!" said a female's voice with a Northern England accent, "You'll never guess in a million years who this is!"
I was confused for a moment. Trying to figure out who on Earth I was talking to then it dawned on me, "Doctor?"
"Oh," said my now Aunt, sounding kind of disappointed that I was able to guess so fast, "How did you guess?"
"Um," I said, a bit dumbfounded, "Well, you are the only person I could think of who would call me and ask to guess who I was talking to."
"Oh…"
"So, I'm guessing you regenerated again?"
"Yeah… Long story short. Answered a distress call from a colony ship trying to escape a black hole. Turned out it was the birthplace of the Cybermen. I got electrocuted by a Cyberman and regenerated…"
"Okay, so why are you calling me? Why not just come and see me?"
"About that…"
I sighed, "You lost the TARDIS, didn't you?"
"Yes…" she said.
"Doctor…"
"It wasn't exactly my fault."
"Doctor…"
"Okay… I did regenerate in the TARDIS, and she didn't like that very much. She threw me out mid-flight and took of for who knows where," said The Doctor. I sighed again and she continued, "But, I think I've got a way to find her, and I need yours and Annabelle's help. How soon can you get both to Sheffield, England?"
The next day, Annabelle and I got out of a taxi outside a warehouse in an industrial park in Sheffield. I paid the driver and we walked toward the building the Doctor told me to go to. "Do you think she's ginger, this time?" asked Annabelle.
I smiled, "I doubt it."
"20 bucks she is," said Annabelle, as she offered her hand.
I shook my daughter's hand, "You're on, Sweetpea."
We walked up to the door, and I knocked. The door opened and a woman with short blond hair, about 15 years younger in appearance to me opened the door. She was wearing a navy blue top with horizontal stripes across her chest, a pair of blue high-waisted trousers held up with a pair of yellow suspenders, a pale grey long coat with hood and a pair of boots on her feet. She smiled at us, "Teddy!" she gave me a hug. I knew at that moment it was The Doctor.
I hugged her back, "Doctor." I smiled.
"Annabelle!" said The Doctor as she hugged Annabelle.
"Hello, Doctor," said Annabelle, with a slight smile.
"Pay up," I said as I held out my hand to Annabelle.
"Fine," she said as she reached in her pocket and pulled out a $20 bill.
"What's this all about?" asked The Doctor.
"Your great niece bet me $20 that you'd be a ginger this time and I won." I smiled at I slipped the money in my pocket.
"Oi!" said the Doctor, "One of these times I'm going to be ginger…" The three of us laughed then The Doctor said, "Come on… We've got work to do…"
The Doctor led us in the warehouse. And there was all sorts of electronics on racks and the remnants of some kind of transport pod on the floor. There were also three other people a black man and an Indian woman about the same age and older white man about the age of my dad, Bob Duncan.
"Teddy and Annabelle," said The Doctor as she pointed at me and Annabelle. "Meet my friends, Ryan," she said, as she pointed at the black man, "Yaz," she pointed the Indian woman, and "Graham," she pointed at the white man, "Teddy, is my niece and Annabelle's her daughter."
Graham walked up to me and shook my hand, "Nice to meet you. You're her niece… shouldn't be the other way around…."
"I moisturize," said The Doctor.
"Hey!" I said.
"Enough chit chat. Let's get to work…," said The Doctor.
As we started, The Doctor filled me in on what had happened over the last few days. She had met Ryan, Yaz, Graham; Graham's wife and Ryan's grandmother, Grace, and a crane worker named Karl when she crashed through the roof of the train they were in. An alien orb implanted all of them with DNA destroying bombs. The Doctor and others track the transport pod down to the warehouse where we were currently. And they encountered a humanoid alien. The Doctor lost her previous sonic screwdriver, so she made a new one from spare parts in the room.
They found the orb and it turned out to be a mass of biological data-gathering coils. Then alien suddenly appeared and told The Doctor his name was Tim Shaw, a warrior of the Stenza warrior race, on a hunt to challenge hunt, to prove himself worthy of being their leader. To do this he had to find a selected human, alone with no weapons or assistance. He had to locate and obtain the human and return home with it. But the Doctor had figured out that Tim Shaw had sent the Gathering Coil ahead to find the designated human for him.
The Doctor had figured out that the selected human was Karl. The Doctor and her new friends tracked down Karl, to a construction site. Tim Shaw captured Karl, but The Doctor confronted him. Tim Shaw detonates the bombs, but The Doctor had transferred them into the coils, which were self-implanted into Tim Shaw when he downloaded the information from the coils. The Doctor then used a recall device to send Tim Shaw back to his planet. Unfortunately, Grace died when she fell from the crane while successfully destroying the coils.
Sometime later, we had cobbled together an extremely crude device to help track down the TARDIS. Graham had been holding a car battery for a few minutes when he asked, "How long have we gotta stand here for? I'm getting cramp."
"Seriously, Graham!" said The Doctor, "Trying to concentrate here."
Ryan looked at Graham and asked, "Do you understand what they're doing?" Graham shook his head and Ryan sighed.
I started to type some information into a keyboard, "The TARDIS uses a particular type of energy. We've tracked that energy trail from the moment The Doctor lost it to where it is now." The Doctor walked over to the remnants of the pod, "Now, given this is a transport pod I'm configuring it," she scanned it with her new sonic. "… to send Teddy, Annabelle and me to the planet where my ship seems to have ended up." She looked at the readings and rejoined me and Annabelle.
"The three of you are going to another planet?" asked Yaz.
"Well, we're trying to," said Annabelle, "except Stenza technology is really annoying and super hard to decipher, even for me…" She looked at the Doctor's friends, "A hundred and thirty-nine layers of security protocols, seven of which don't make sense."
The Doctor looked at the group, "Graham." She bent down and picked up some jumper cables.
"Yeah?" he asked.
She handed the jumper cables to him, "Clamp those onto there."
"All right," said Graham as he struggled to clamp the jumper cables to the battery and hold onto it at the same time.
The Doctor pointed at a makeshift antenna, "Yaz, throw the cable onto the top." Yaz clamped a cable to the antenna. The Doctor looked at Ryan, "Ryan, you turn on the switch.
Ryan picked up box on the floor, "All right."
The Doctor took a breath and looked at her new friends, "Okay, you three. I'm almost gonna miss you."
Just then, the contraption beeped, "We have a connection." I said, as Annabelle and I joined our aunt. "Believe it or not this should work."
The Doctor then turned the dial on a microwave oven. The contraption started to hum, "Moment of truth, then. Wish us luck," She said as she pulled out her sonic, "And goodbye." Ryan and Yaz waved a little at us. "Oh
Oh, deep breath." Ryan took a deep breath. Then, The Doctor said, "Not you lot, us." She pointed to the three of us.
We all took a deep breath and held it. The Doctor pointed at the contraption we built with her sonic in her left hand. She took my left hand with her right hand, and I took Annabelle's left hand with my right hand. We all closed our eyes and few moments later, I felt us warp out of the warehouse. Then, a second later, something didn't feel right. It felt like I was floating. I opened my eyes, and I couldn't believe it. Not only were we floating in space without spacesuits, but Graham, Ryan and Yaz were there as well!
I didn't know what we were going to do. I knew we couldn't survive long in the vacuum of space. Then a spaceship dropped out of hyperspace and extended a grabber that looked like a claw out of a crane game. There was a bright light and I passed out.
I heard Annabelle's voice calling me, "Mom… Mom..."
I saw my daughter look up at me, and I smiled, "I'm up…" She helped me up and I saw that I had been laying in a medipod. "How are you doing?" As I got out.
"I'm okay," she said.
I looked and saw Graham standing over Ryan who was laying in another medipod. "Breathe slowly, son. Well done. That's it. Well done."
"I'm alive. We are alive, right?"
"As far as I can tell, yeah."
Ryan fell out of his pod, "Where are we?"
"On a spaceship," said Graham.
"My spaceship!" said a woman.
"Who's that?" I asked.
"She says she's the pilot," said Annabelle.
"We were in space," said Ryan, "No, wait. We were in that warehouse, and then we were in space."
"Yeah," said Graham.
"How were we in space? "
"Somehow The Doctor's calculations were off on where the TARDIS is" I said, "And, the transport field was much wider that we anticipated and you three were caught up in it. Sorry about that."
"And why are we not in space now?" asked Ryan.
"I scooped you," said the pilot, "That was a very sneaky trick of his, especially coming out of hyperjump. Now, you could've been killed!"
"Listen, I keep telling you," Said Annabelle, "we haven't got a clue what you're talking about."
"Oh, have it your own way,"
"Where in space are we?" asked Ryan.
"Just off the Final Planet," said the pilot, "Which is out of orbit, not where it should be. But I still found it."
"What do you mean, 'Final Planet'?" asked Ryan, "How can a planet be final?
The pilot laughed, "You are a very funny little bonus."
"Where's Yaz and the Doctor?" I asked, "Are they here?"
"No, I don't know where they are," said Annabelle, "I've been trying to get her to look for them. I tried telling her there was six of us.
"And I said I only saw the four of you. I mean, things were moving pretty fast" said the pilot, "Speaking of which... Landing ahead. Lock yourselves back in."
"We're not doing anything unless you turn this thing around and go and look for our friends," said Graham.
"There'd be no point. If they were still there, they'd be dead. "
"They can't be dead," said Ryan.
"Don't panic," I said, "We'll figure it out."
"How?" asked Ryan, "What happened to them?" I shrugged my shoulders.
A short time later, we found ourselves on a desert planet, "Whoa!" said Ryan.
"I couldn't have put it better," said Graham.
Annabelle saw the pilot walking off, "Hey! Where are you going?" She called out/
"I need to survey the atmospheric data," answered the pilot.
Ryan looked at his grandfather, "We're on an alien planet, Graham."
"I know," said Graham, "Well, three suns in the sky are a bit of a giveaway."
"What do we do?"
"We follow her," I said, as I pointed at the pilot.
"Yeah," said Ryan, "Maybe they're already here. Yaz and the Doctor. Maybe they're safe."
We walked for a few minutes, when we heard a something behind us, "Do you guys hear that?" asked Ryan.
We turned and saw a spaceship coming out of the sky, "Finskad!" said the pilot, "How did he even make it?"
"It's another spaceship!"
"Another spaceship about to crash land," said Graham.
I watched it coming right toward us! "Don't just stand there, run!" shouted the pilot.
Ryan and Annabelle were already running ahead of Graham, the pilot and myself. I turned and saw the ship hit the ground and start sliding through the sand, as we continued to run through a dry gully. Ryan tripped and we all stopped to try pull him to safety. I knew the sand would slow down the ship, but I didn't know how much father the ship would move. The ship was just a few feet in front of us, when the bow wave of air coming from the ship pushed us back and down a slope, as the ship came to a stop.
There was a huge cloud of dust, and a few moments later a figure came out of the dust, "Doctor!" said Ryan.
"Sorry about the mess," she said.
Yaz was right behind her, "Yaz, you're alive!" said Ryan.
"We thought you were dead," said Graham.
"We thought you were dead," said Yaz.
"Right, quick update," said The Doctor, "I made a terrible mistake. We shouldn't be here." The Doctor pointed at herself, Annabelle and I and continued, "We're going to fix it and get you guys home, I promise. Soon as we figure out where we are."
"How are you going to do that?" asked Graham.
"Not sure. Treating it as a chance to surprise myself. Oh, by the way, welcome to what I presume is your first alien planet."
"Don't touch anything," I said.
"Come on, let's try this way," said Annabelle, as she pointed in the distance.
"Look at you, Epzo," said the pilot. I turned and saw a man coming toward us, "So you can't even control your own ship now? You nearly killed us!"
"Yeah, well, I'll try harder next time, eh?" said Epzo. "Where's Kornlite, and Fythen?"
"Failed hyperjump, both of them. It's just you and me left."
"You're kidding me. You have got so lucky. How did you even make it this far, Angstrom, eh? You're nothing. Still, makes the next bit easy. "
Angstrom chucked, "You would really love that, wouldn't you? But I've got four bonuses, you only got two!"
I was going to protest about us being called bonuses, when an alarm went off, "What's that?" I asked.
"Here we go, " said Angstrom, as she and Epzo started toward the sound.
"What you mean, 'here we go?'" asked The Doctor, "Here we go where? To what?"
"Yeah, where are we actually going?" asked Ryan.
"Come on," said Angstrom, as we started to climb a sand dune.
"Oh, I forgot I put stuff in these pockets," said The Doctor.
"All this sand is getting in my eyes something rotten," said Graham.
The Doctor reached in her inside pocket and took out a pair of sunglasses, "Want to borrow my shades?"
She handed them to Graham and said, "Oh, ta," as he put them on.
Annabelle looked at them and said, "They kind of look like an old pair of mine. Well, they weren't mine, I borrowed them from someone. Can't remember who though… It was either Audrey Hepburn or Pythagoras."
"Eh? Pythagoras never wore shades."
"You obviously never saw him with a hangover."
I shook my head and as we reached the top of the dune. We looked down and saw a large white tent. "Do you two know what that is?" I asked.
"It's a tent," said Enzo.
I rolled my eyes, "Obviously, it's a tent. I meant... Oh, never mind."
Enzo and Angstrom started toward the tent, "Come on, no dawdling," said The Doctor, and we all started toward the tent.
When we reached the tent Angstrom looked at Epzo, "Losers first." He gave her a look and headed inside. Angstrom waited a beat and then went in herself.
The Doctor turned and looked at the rest of us, "Be careful. I still don't know what's going on. It could be dangerous. Probably is dangerous."
Then Graham spoke up, "Can I ask, if we are on an alien planet, with aliens, how can we understand them? Ain't they talking alien?"
I walked up to Graham, "Let me see," I walked behind him and and pulled down his collar and saw a pink star shape blinking on the back of his neck. "Just what I thought, the medipods have put implants into each of you. It's standard procedure. The pod checks for a universal translator and implants one if you don't have one."
"Eh? Well, can people and things stop putting stuff inside me without my permission!"
"If I had my TARDIS, you wouldn't need them," said The Doctor, "Anyway, shall we?"
We walked in the tent, and it looked like something out of the Arabian Nights At the front of a tent sat a man on a large chair, filled with pillows. "This is lavish, for a tent," said The Doctor, as she looked around. She looked at the man and said, "I'm the Doctor," She pointed at me, "This is my niece Teddy," she pointed at Annabelle, "her daughter, Annabelle." She motioned to the others, "These are my new best friends, Ryan, Graham and Yaz. Now..." She put her hand though the man sitting in front of us and both him and the tent flickered, "Oh. See? Hologram. Thought it might be. Good one, though. I love a good hologram. I was a hologram once, for three weeks. The gossip I picked up. What are you, projection reality or AI interface? Cos if you're an interface, those are excellent nose hairs."
The man looked at Angstrom and Enzo, "Who are these people?"
"Bonuses," said Angstrom.
"No."
"What?" asked Epzo.
"I told you, bonuses and snaketraps are over," said the man.
"They were hanging in the starfield when we exited hyper. Are you saying we scooped them for nothing?"
"Yes."
"I sacrificed my ship!"
"Yeah, sorry. Some of this is my fault," said The Doctor, "Hi. We were loads of solar systems away, I was trying to find my own ship, I got a fix on it here... and then it all went quite badly wrong, actually." She motioned back to Graham, Ryan and Yaz, "These three are being very good not going on about it." She looked at Epzo and Angstrom, "Very grateful you came along." She looked at the man, "Can I ask, what is actually going on here? Cos I'm confused. Are you confused?"
"Very confused," I said.
"Extremely confused," said Annabelle.
"Pretty confused," said Yaz.
"Proper confused," said Ryan.
Graham took his sunglasses off and said, "I'm way beyond confused."
"You're intruding on the final stage of the last ever Rally of the Twelve Galaxies," said the man.
"So, what, like a race?" Asked The Doctor, "Like Paris-Dakar, in space? Are you two space-racing each other?"
"We're the finalists," said Angstrom.
"Four thousand entered, two are left," said the man, "Only one will claim the prize."
"Sounds more like The Amazing Race," I said, "What's the prize?"
"For the final ever race, 3.2 trillion krin."
"3.2 trillion what?" Asked The Doctor.
"Krin," said Angstrom.
"How much is a krin?" Asked Annabelle.
"200 kavlons."
"90 forvalars," said Epzo.
"No," said The Doctor.
"4,000 trynties," said Angstrom.
"Well, in old money," said Epzo.
"Bit behind on my exchange rates," said The Doctor
Then the man spoke up, "Enough to provide a lifetime of comfort on a safe world for the winning pilot and their entire clan."
"Are we eligible too?" Asked Ryan.
"No" said Angstrom and Epzo, together.
"You're irrelevant," said Epzo, to Ryan. Epzo looked back at the man, "Get on with it. Tell us the task."
"The final challenge is to cross the terrain," said the man, "Survive the planet, make your way to the other side of the mountains, and the first one to get to the site marked as the Ghost Monument will be crowned the winner and transported off this planet. The loser will not."
"You can't leave one of us here," said Angstrom, "The ships are out of fuel."
The man got up out of his chair and got right in Angstrom's face, "Don't tell me what I can and cannot do with my own race. You knew the risks when you joined." He moved back away from her and looked round at the group in front of him, "Biggest ever prize, biggest ever risk."
"Oi, hang on, what about us?" Asked Graham.
"Shut up," said Epzo, "You're not part of this."
"'Scuse me, we are human beings. Show a bit of solidarity."
"I'm Muxteran. She's Albarian."
"Never even heard of Moomanbeans," said Angstrom.
"Beings," said Ryan, "Human beings. Earth?"
"Nope," said Epzo.
"Pretty cruel race," I said, "leaving the loser stranded."
"The rally is a test of survival," said the man, "How far will we go? How will we react when challenged? It's the ultimate test."
"Interesting use of the word we, seeing as though you're not here," I scanned the hologram with my sonic. Then I read the readings, "Projected in from a very long way away."
"I started the rally. I competed and I won, and now I'm going to end it." The man looked at Angstrom and Epzo, "No sabotage, no injuries and no killing each other."
"Shame," said Epzo.
"Instant disqualification applies. Now, take your meds, don't travel at night, and don't drink the water. In fact, don't even touch the water. This entire planet has been made cruel."
"Made cruel how?" asked The Doctor, "And by whom?"
The man just ignored her and continued, "This stage must be completed before one full solar rotation. You have one single piece of assistance. Transport, provided by the water. Get across the water, through the ruins, and the site of Ghost Monument is on the other side of the mist swamps."
"Mist what?" asked Yaz.
"Your route trackers are over there. Good luck."
"I know you prefer to ignore those of us who are not a part of your little race, but what is it, this Ghost Monument?" asked Annabelle.
"The site was named by the ancient settlers," said the man, "It appears in exactly the same place every thousand rotations."
Angstrom and Epzo walked over to the table with the route trackers, "I've got my tracker, I'm good to go," said Angstrom, then she headed out.
"See you for the prize, Ilin," aske he walked to the door, "I'll finally get to light my Althusian cigar. Saving it for the win." Then he left
I turned and looked at Ilin, "What does it look like, this monument?"
"What does it matter?" he asked as he walked through me.
"Look at us," said The Doctor, as Ilin walked over to a table, "Six people who barely know each other, stranded on a planet called Desolation. No route trackers, no way off, and judging by what you've just told us, very little hope of survival. I need all the information I can get. Including, but not limited to, what this "
Ilin raised his hands over the table and a projection of the Ghost Monument appeared. It was the TARDIS! "That's an old police box," said Graham.
"Yeah, like the one on Surrey Street," said Yaz, "Only the one in town's green. This doesn't make any sense."
"Makes sense to me," said The Doctor.
"Me, too," I said with a smile.
"Me, three," said Annabelle.
The Doctor looked at Ilin, "Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. That'll do."
"Well, I'm sorry I can't be of any more help," said Ilin.
"I don't think you are," said Annabelle.
"You're right," he said. Then he and the tent vanished.
"Bye, then," said The Doctor, "He was a bit full of himself."
"I've got a couple of questions," said Yaz.
"A couple?" said Graham, as he put his sunglasses back on "I've got a book full. But shouldn't we keep up with those two before they get too far away?" he said as he pointed to the two pilots off in the distance.
"Yes," said The Doctor as she started to walk in the same direction as Angstrom and Epzo. Then, she stopped and looked at the rest of us, "Now, I know this is a bit of a shock."
"Well, you could say that. I mean, we have been dumped in space, we got spaceships crashing all around us and now we are marooned on a planet that everyone else is racing to get away from."
"Anyone can focus on the negatives," I said.
"Well, what are the positives?" asked Graham.
"What he called the Ghost Monument, that's my ship," said The Doctor, "It's here."
"What, the old police box?"
"Didn't look all that," said Ryan.
"It's very all that, thank you very much. Don't you see? I got it mostly right. I tracked my Tardis here, but the planet had fallen out of orbit. We landed where the planet should've been."
"It looks like the engines are stuck in a loop, phasing in and out of time and space," I said, "If we get to it when it phases in, the three of us," I pointed to The Doctor, Annabelle, and myself, "should be able to stabilize it. Then we can get you back home."
"Definitely?" asked Yaz, "If we get there, you lot can get us off this planet alive?"
Annabelle looked at Yaz, "Yaz, I promise, we will keep you all alive and we will get you back home. The three of us are really good in a tight spot."
"At least, we have been historically," said The Doctor, "I'm sure we still are. If we stick together, if you trust us, we can get out of this. Right, let's get a shift on."
We walked through remains of what was once a forest. Strangely, there were pieces of old fabric lying around. We reached the dock where the boat was moored, it sat high in the water and have a curved canopy to keep the sun of most of the dock. As we approached, we saw Epzo and Angstrom arguing. "I said stay away from the boat," said Apzo.
"You don't get this to yourself," said Angstrom.
Apzo pulled out a blaster, "This blaster says I do."
"Put the blaster down," said Annabelle, "We all know you're not going to use it. No injuring, no killing, no sabotage, isn't that what whatsisface said?"
"Yeah, well, maybe I don't play by the rules."
"Did you practice those lines in the mirror?" asked The Doctor. She held up her little finger, "See this?" She touched his neck, and he froze.
"Nice move," said Angstrom.
"Thanks. Venusian Aikido. Grand Master Pacifist. Temporarily paralyses, while also being fundamentally harmless. Very clever, those Venusian nuns. Shall I let go?" She did and Epzo gasped for breath.
"And this boat doesn't work," said Angstrom.
"Oh. Well, me and Ryan'll take a look," said Graham.
"Will we?" asked Ryan.
"Yeah, well, those NVQ classes must be good for something. An engine's an engine."
"Not a space engine."
"You don't get to take charge here," said Epzo, "This is about me and her fighting to win."
"We're all going to the same place," said Yaz, "and that boat is big enough for all of us."
"Yaz is right," I said, "If we get it started, we all get on board."
"I know what this is," said Epzo, "You're part of Ilin's game. Saboteurs, sent to throw us off."
"You think the whole universe is out to get you," said Angstrom.
"How's your family, Angstrom?"
The Doctor leaned down and scanned the water with her sonic, "So that's why he said don't touch the water. Flesh-eating microbes, millions of them, living in there. Toxic atmosphere, killer water." She looked up at Yaz, "Very dangerous planet, Yaz."
A short time later, The Doctor and I checked on Graham and Ryan's progress. Ryan was looking at the engine and said, "That's not an engine. It's more like a massive battery. What if it's solar?"
I smiled as The Doctor and I walked in, "Look at you two. Light years from home, figuring things out." I looked up at the sky, "Yep. Three suns in the sky, tri-solar engineering panels on the outside, powering that battery."
"Well, if it won't start, maybe the panels aren't lined up," said Graham.
"Or maybe they're not feeding the battery properly," said Ryan.
"Loving your work, boys," said The Doctor, "Let's take a look."
A Short time later, the boat was up and running and we were all heading across the water. Angstrom was at the tiller. Ryan looked at Yaz, "Hey, Yaz, can you believe it? Alien planet, man."
Yaz smiled a little, "I know."
"This planet doesn't make any sense," said The Doctor.
"I know," I said, " No other life forms except us and the microbes in the water. No people, no animals, no insects, no nothing. But that Ilin guy talked about the old settlements. What happened here?"
"No one cares," said Epzo.
"Don't take him personally," said Angstrom, "He treats everyone like this."
"I don't need other people.:
"We all need other people, mate," said Graham.
"We're all alone," said Epzo, "That's how we start and end, and it's the natural state of all points in between."
"Were you born this miserable?" asked Annabelle, "or did you have to work at it?
Epzo laughed a little, "You know, when I was four, my mum told me to climb a tree. She made me climb until I was too scared to climb any higher. Then she told me to jump into her arms. Don't worry, she said, I'm your mum, I'm here for you, I'll catch you. So, I jumped. And she moved out of the way."
"What?" I said.
"Sorry, did you say your mum did this to you?" asked Yaz.
"I smashed into the ground," said Epzo, "Broke this arm, shattered that ankle. And she stood over me and she said, 'Now you've learned. You can never trust anyone in this life.'"
"That is messed up," said Ryan.
"Best thing she ever did for me. I loved my mum."
"Yeah, she sounds terrific," said Annabelle.
"Your mum was wrong,' I said, "We're stronger together." I took Annabelle's hand. I looked her in the eyes and I smiled. She smiled back.
Sometime later, Epzo fell asleep, "I see your mate's dropped off," said Graham, "It's nice to see him quiet."
Angstrom smiled a little, "Yeah. He can nap anywhere. Famous for it."
"How many stages are there in the rally?" I asked.
"This time? 209 terrains, 94 planets. We start the race with nothing and barter our way up."
"Is it worth it?"
"To ensure enough for my family's safety? Yeah. Albar is being systematically cleansed. Half of my family are in hiding. The others are on the run. This is my only chance to bring us back together."
"So, you left your family to do this?" asked Yaz.
"I left my family to try and save my family. They told me to. If I win, I find them, rescue them. If they're alive to be rescued. Whatever happens here, it's a better chance than I had back home."
"You're making me miss my family. That's quite some achievement, considering my dad drives me bananas and my sister's trying to get me to move out so she can have my bedroom. And I only saw them yesterday."
"Don't ever take them for granted. God, you all look shattered."
"You should all rest," said The Doctor, "I'll wake you when we get there."
I leaned back and closed my eyes, "Mom?" I heard Annabelle through our telepathic link.
"Yes, Theta?" I asked.
"I've missed this… Traveling with The Doctor…"
"Me too, Sweetpea… Me too…"
Sometime later, we reached our destination. We walked away from the water and into more desert Epzo was looking at his cigar, "Have you seen yourself, Epzo?" asked Angstrom, "I'd say you love that cigar more than you've loved any person."
"Have you any idea how rare and expensive these are?" asked Epzo, "It takes half an Althusian lifetime to make just one of these. To make them, roll them, age them, and then, and this is the best bit, they make them self-lighting. Just one click of the finger and it lights itself." He smelled it. "Do you want a sniff? Closest you'll ever get to victory."
"Bad for your health."
Up on a hill in front of us were some destroyed buildings, "Big set of ruins," said The Doctor, "Wonder who those were built for?"
"Why do you even care?" asked Epzo.
"Where are those people now? Why are there so few signs of life? What happened to everyone?"
"Bye," said Epzo, with a laugh as went to right.
"Good luck," said Angstrom, as she went left.
"You've already lost, Angstrom!"
The Doctor scanned the ruins with her sonic. "What, we're just letting them go, are we?" asked Graham, "How do we know what to do, where to go?"
"First thing we have to do is make it through those ruins safely. Because these readings are all over the place, and I don't know why." Then we started up the hill to the ruins.
We stood in the ruins and looked at suns. They were getting lower and lower, "Those suns are starting to set," I said.
"They're moving way faster than I realized.," said The Doctor.
"Well, back in the tent, that bloke Ilin said do not travel by night," said Graham.
"We need to move, fast."
We turned around and several armed figures were there! "Whoa! They weren't there when we came in."
"Where did they come from?" asked Ryan.
"I don't know," asked The Doctor.
Annabelle took out her sonic and scanned the figure, "So much for no life forms on this planet," said Graham.
"They're not alive," said Annabelle, "They're robot guards."
"Why would you need robot guards on a deserted planet?" asked The Doctor.
"The Good news is they're not fully active. So, what we all need to do is very slowly, totally unthreateningly, back out of here," directed Annabelle. We started to move out of ruins. Then, a few moments later, the robot started to move, "They've been activated! Run!" We ran up some steps as the guards started to fire laser blasts at us. We ran through an open-air portion and guards fired at us from above, "Swerve! Don't run straight. They're predicting our path!" We continued to run. Soon, Annabelle found a circular hole, "In here!"
We went in the hole and sand and blown in through several similar openings. "Well done, all of you, nice running," said The Doctor. Then, a few human shaped figures on sicks popped out from under the sand. "Oh! Okay, come on. Oh! What have we here?"
We saw what looked like an old, deactivated robot guard. Annabelle scanned it with her sonic, "Got anything there, Anna?" asked Yaz.
Annabelle looked at Yaz and gave her a look, "It's Annabelle." Annabelle hated the name 'Anna' she always preferred to be called her full name or if it's me Sweetpea, "And, have and it's not good. They're SniperBots. We've just walked into the middle of the shooting range. Everything within the perimeter is target practice."
"Which would explain all the targets in here," said Graham, "And looking on the negative side, they're human-shaped targets."
"If that's the way it is, time to stop messing about," said Ryan, as he picked up the SniperBot's weapon.
"What are you doing?" I asked
"Fighting back."
"No. Guns, never use 'em," said The Doctor.
"They're shooting at us," said Ryan
"I know."
"They're going to kill us with their guns!"
"He's got a point, Doc," said Graham.
"Put the gun down, Ryan," said Annabelle.
"What's your better idea?" asked Ryan
"Out-think them."
"You can't out-think bullets," said Graham
"The Doctor, Mom and I have been doing it all of our lives," said Annabelle.
"Uh-uh. Sorry. Call of Duty, man. I've trained for this," said Ryan, then he ran outside. Annabelle crossed her arms across her chest and waited. We heard him yelling and shooting "Argh! Who's next? See, that's what I'm talking about! That's how you deal with things. Taking out the aliens! No, no, no! Where's the reload? Where's the reload? Where's the reload!" then he ran screaming back inside.
"Made it worse?" asked Annabelle.
"Just a little bit, yeah," said Ryan.
"Now do you see why we don't like guns?"
"Don't go on about it.
"I will go on about it. A lot!"
Then, a group of SniperBots entered the room and, "They're here!" said The Doctor. Then they started to open fire on us.
"Take cover behind the pillar," said Annabelle, as she grabbed the wrecked SniperBot and pulled it with her, "You know we're completely surrounded?" asked Yaz.
"Yep!"
"With no way out whatsoever," said Graham.
"Here's a lesson," I said, as Annabelle, The Doctor and I started to work on the robot, "The answer was on the floor. You just reached for the wrong thing."
"What are you talking about?" asked Graham.
"The best thing about robots is, they're powerful," said The Doctor, "Literally packed with power. Super-powered." Then, Annabelle pressed a button on the robot and a pulse went out through the ruins and deactivated the SniperBots and they all fell over.
"Wow!" said Ryan.
"Okay. Now that was impressive," said Graham,
"Thank you," said Annabelle, "We aim to please."
"What exactly did you just do?" asked Yaz.
"Electromagnetic pulse," said The Doctor, "Basically fried their systems."
"I figure we've got about five minutes before they reboot and recover," I said.
Annabelle looked at Ryan, and said "See? Brains beat bullets. That was one of the first things Mom and The Doctor ever taught me… Come on…" Then, she led us out of the room.
We walked for a bit and The Doctor said, "Let's try through here." We entered corridor and saw Epzo and Angstrom. Epzo had been shot by one of the SniperBots but he was still standing.
"What just happened?" He asked.
"What do you care?" I said, "You don't care about anything."
The Doctor saw Angstrom's tracker, "Ooo, tracker, thanks." She took the tracker from Angstrom and continued to walk down the corridor.
"How did you even do that?" asked Angstrom.
"Did I not mention? I am really smart."
"Thank you."
"You are very welcome. Amazing what you can learn from a SniperBot. Like where their control commands emanate from. Also, maps. Which leads us... here." We reached a room with a sealed hatch. The Doctor took out her sonic and pointed it at the wheel on the hatch and it started to turn. We opened it and was saw a ladder down a dark hole. "I want answers to this planet, and I think they're down there," she said.
"You sure about that?"
"Nope. Come on," then The Doctor started down.
Ryan looked down the hole and sighed, "Why is it always ladders?"
"What's the matter with ladders," asked Annabelle.
"I've got dyspraxia. It's a mild case but it affects my coordination. I still don't know how to ride a bike."
I nodded, "I see…"
We all climbed down the ladder, with Ryan going last. Once he reached the bottom, Yas said, "See? Second nature now."
"No, not really. Thanks for waiting," he said.
"Always."
We were in a large tunnel with some lights, "These tunnels runs under half of the planet," said The Doctor, "Think of the technology, the civilization required to build all that. And then ask yourselves, where are they?"
Epzo groaned, "How's the injury?" I asked.
"It's painful," he said.
"Hope it's made you reconsider your entire philosophy."
"Nope."
Then, Graham called out, "Doctor?" We all stopped and looked at him. He was looking at the wall of the tunnel, "Scorch marks all along the walls."
"Not exactly encouraging, is it?" I said.
"No."
"Still, best feet forward," said The Doctor. We continued to walk a little further down the tunnel and we saw a door. Then, she said, "Oh, big, locked door. I love a big, locked door." She pointed her sonic at the door and it opened. She looked back at us, "Ominous."
We walked in the room, and it appeared to be a laboratory. There was broken equipment and jars full of mold. "What happened in here?" I asked.
"There's another room next door," said Yaz, "We'll take a look?"
"Yeah," said Ryan.
Yaz and Ryan walked out of the room, "I'll go with them," said Annabelle, then she followed them.
Angstrom walked up to me and The Doctor, "I don't want to be here," she said, "We're off route. We need to move on."
"You went into the ruins without knowing what was there," I said, "You want to keep going without knowing why it's bad to travel at night?"
"Whatever happened here, it's in the past. What does it matter to you lot?" asked Epzo
"This was a living, breathing planet once, with an ecosystem, organic life, and a population. There was a catastrophic event here. And as hard as it is for you to understand, you are not the only life form in this universe. Some of us feel a duty to others who might be in trouble. So, fix your wound, take one of your heroic naps, and we'll wake you when we leave, if you're lucky."
"Fine," said Epzo, then he walked away.
The Doctor took out her sonic, "Now do me a favor. Give me something that will finally make sense of this planet." Then, she started to scan the lab. And some computer screens turned on, "There. That's more like it. Angstrom, bring me that route mappy thing," Angstrom brought it over and The Doctor took it, "If we sync it, this shows us the whole network of tunnels. Your friend, Ilin, warned us not to travel at night. We could use the tunnels to keep moving while it's dark, avoiding whatever's on the surface."
"It's better than that, though," said Angstrom as she pointed at the screen, "Look. There's the site of the Ghost Monument. This network could help us cut a diagonal through the route, then bypass most of the mountain terrain. We could cover the distance in half the time."
"Well, if you leave now, you could get there before Sleeping Beauty," I said, "You could win."
We heard some machinery start up, "What was that?"
"There's something through there," said The Doctor.
The four of us went in the next room. It was a big room there were some lights in a circle pointing to the floor, "Inscriptions on the floor," said The Doctor.
"What is it, some sort of cave painting?" asked Graham
"Almost. Left by the people who worked here."
"Can you read it? What does it say?"
I looked at the floor and stated to read, "'We are scientists. Abducted, tortured and made to work, while our families are held hostage. We are forced to find new ways of destruction. Poisons, weapons, creatures. We gave them our minds and they made us the creators of death. This planet has been left scorched and barren from our work. The atmosphere and water are toxic. Killing machines and creatures inhabit every corner. We had no choice but to obey... The Stenza. We are trying to destroy all of our work before they use it against others.' There's two words below that. 'They're coming.' That's how it ends."
"The Stenza?" asked Graham, as he looked at The Doctor, "That's the thing we stopped in Sheffield, right?"
"You know the Stenza too?" asked Angstrom.
"My wife died because of them."
"Mine too. I'm sorry. They took our planet, sent us into hiding, cleansed millions of us."
A few moments later, we heard some muffled screams. We found Epzo struggling, "Epzo!"
We saw a piece of cloth wrapped around Epzo's nose and mouth, "Oh, my God," said Angstrom.
The Doctor pulled out her sonic and pointed it at Epzo and the cloth, "Nothing's working on it."
Angstrom took out a knife and cut the cloth off of Epzo setting him free, "We've seen them before," said Graham, "Like, all over the planet. Like they were lying dormant."
"Lying dormant till night, across the whole planet," I said, "clearing up the wounded."
"Mom! Doctor!" I heard Annabelle call out. She, Yaz and Ryan ran up to us, "The SniperBots are on their way down after us."
"We need to get out of here," said The Doctor, "Everybody, move fast!"
We all ran as The Doctor used her sonics to close bulkhead doors behind us. We ran for a bit but soon we stopped, "Why have we stopped?" asked Yaz.
"Listen," said The Doctor. We heard machinery shutting down, "They've shut down the life support systems, depriving us of air."
"A man could really take against those robots," said Graham
"We need to get out of the tunnels," said Annabelle.
"But it's night."
Angstrom looked at her tracker, "This exit ladder will take us up and out to the surface."
"What's up there?" asked Yaz.
"Acetylene fields."
"Acetylene, like the gas?" asked Ryan
"This place just keeps getting better and better," I said.
"We're running out of air and options, so let's go up," said The Doctor.
Graham headed up the ladder. Ryan walked up to the ladder and hesitated, "You okay?" asked The Doctor.
"It's not my favorite thing," said Ryan, "climbing ladders under pressure."
"Can I just say? You are amazing."
"Am I?"
"Think of what you've gone through to be here, and you're still going. I'm proper impressed."
"Thanks."
"If it helps, focus on facts about acetylene as you climb," I said, "Did you cover it for your NVQ?"
"Think we might've done, yeah."
"I don't mean to rush you but we have to go…" I said. Ryan nodded and headed up the ladder
Soon we were all at the top of the ladder at walked out of a small room where the ladder came out. We walked into the acetylene field. "That's some smell," said Yaz.
"What is it, garlic?" asked Graham.
I knew that was the acetylene. Then Ryan said, "Wait. Everyone, stop. Look, it's like the ground's moving."
I looked and saw strips of cloth flying around us. Then, we heard a male voice, coming from the cloth, "Finally, a big feast of lives."
"Nobody move," said Annabelle.
"Don't let them touch you," said Epzo, "They'll squeeze the life out of you."
"Yes, squeeze the life from all of you," said the cloth.
"The talk is to distract you," said The Doctor, "That's how they were designed in that laboratory."
"You can't save them. We smell your fear too. The strongest of all."
"You want fears? I've got a dozen lifetimes' worth."
"A dozen lives? We'll take you first."
"Remember any facts, Ryan, as we climbed?" asked The Doctor.
"It's lighter than air," said Ryan.
"Yes. Smells like garlic and lighter than air. That's right. And one other thing about it, but we'll all have to dig deep for that, right?"
I knew what The Doctor was getting at so I started to shuffle my feet to make a hole for myself, "What are you talking about? What are you doing?" asked Epzo.
"Shut up and dig, Epzo," said Angstrom.
"You lead but you're scared, too, for yourself and for others," said the cloth to The Doctor. As one of the pieces of cloth raised up and towered over us.
"Yeah, well, who isn't?" she said.
"Afraid of your own newness. We see deeper, though, further back. The Timeless Child."
"What did you just say?"
"She doesn't know."
"What are you talking about? What can you see?"
"We see what's hidden even from yourself, the outcast, abandoned and unknown."
"Get out of my head."
"Now we crush those fears from you," the cloths stared to circle around The Doctor.
"Enjoy your feast, whatever it is," she said, "You know what some people like after a feast? Graham?"
"Huh?" asked Graham.
"Not me. Some people." She looked at Graham.
Graham reached at Epzo's belt and got his cigar, "Do it," said Epzo.
"Oh, yeah," said Graham, "A nice cigar." Graham then threw it in the air.
"DOWN!" shouted The Doctor. We all fell to ground flat on our backs. The Doctor then snapped her fingers. The cigar lit and ignited the gas layer, just above us and burning up the cloth monsters, "Third fact… ignites very easily. Good old acetylene. See? Teamwork. Now, move. Come on." We rolled onto our stomachs and crawled under the burning acetylene above us.
Soon, morning came. We were walking through the mountains, "We must be near now." Said Ryan.
Angstrom checked her tracker, "Says we're close."
We walked up a small incline and a short distance away was the same tent that was in the desert, "There," said The Doctor, "Your finish line."
"Ah, we made it," said Epzo.
"But where's your ship?" asked Yaz, "Where's the Ghost Monument?"
"It's not here," said The Doctor, "I don't understand. It should be here. We did all this for nothing," She looked at Angstrom, "So, you got here..."
"And now I'm going to claim my prize," said Angstrom.
"What? Your prize?" said Epzo.
"I saved your life. You'd be dead without me. And if I raced you now to that tent, you'd be dust. You're a wreck, Epzo."
"Who had the cigar, eh? Me. That was mine. The cigar saved us all."
"Seriously?" said Angstrom, with a laugh, "Don't even think I'm going to lose to you now."
"I have an idea…" I said.
A few moments later Angstrom and Epzo walked into the tent at the exact same time, "Dead heat," said Epzo.
"Joint first," said Angstrom, as Epzo put his right arm out and balled his hand into a fist. Angstrom put her hand on top and said, "Dual winners."
"With witnesses," I said, as the rest of us walked in.
"What?" said Ilin, "No. There's never been a joint winner of the Rally."
"There has now," said Angstrom.
"No," said Ilin, as he leaned forward, "I will declare the final race null and void."
The racers lowered their hands and Epzo stepped forward and got right in his face, "Ilin, you've made this a living hell for us. I promise you that whatever happens, I will get off this planet, and if we don't get what we both fought for, I will hunt you down and ensure that whatever time you have left is both short-lived and agonizing. Do we understand each other?" he stepped back and rejoined Angstrom, "Now, recognize your equal winners."
Angstrom stepped forward, "Pay the prize, or pay the price."
"I'm honored to declare a unique joint victory," said Ilin. Angstrom rejoined Epzo. Then Ilin continued, "and equal split."
"Now, get us off this rock," said Epzo.
"Fine."
"And them," said Angstrom, referring to the rest of us.
"No," said Ilin, as he snapped his fingers."
"No!" shouted Angstrom, as the three of them and the tent disappeared. Leaving the six of us, alone on the mountain top.
Ryan looked around, "They're gone.:
The Doctor looked forlorn, Annabelle and I went over to comfort her. I stood at her left and put my right arm around her. Annabelle stood at her right and put her left "We're stuck here, are we?" said Graham.
The Doctor nodded, I patted her back and gave her a small side hug. I looked at the three humans in front of us, "I'm sorry," I said, "We've failed you."
"We promised you and we let you down," said Annabelle.
"We can wait, can't we?" said Ryan.
"Yeah. We've got each other," said Yaz.
"No, we'll be dead within one rotation," said The Doctor.
"Who says so?" said Graham, "We've come this far, ain't we? Who says we're giving up? Any of us? Really? Even you, Doc? No. Come on, we ain't having that, are we?"
"Nope," said Yaz.
"No," said Graham.
"No," said Ryan.
Then I heard a distant but familiar wheeze, "Can you hear that noise?" asked Yaz.
I heard it and looked in the direction the noise was coming from, and I heard it again. The Doctor broke free from Annabelle and I and moved toward the noise, "Come on, please. Give us this," She took out her sonic and pointed it at the sound. I saw the TARDIS phasing in and out, nearby.
"It's all right!" I called out, "It's us!"
"Stabilize," said The Doctor, "Come to Daddy. I mean Mummy. I mean, I really need you right now." Then, a few moments later the TARDIS fully materialized, "My beautiful Ghost Monument," The three of us Time Ladies looked at each other and we ran over to her. "Hello, you. I've missed you.
I looked at the TARDIS and saw the sign on the door had changed to a black background with white writing and it looked like she had freshened up her paint job, "You've fixed yourself up," said Annabelle, and she rubbed a corner, "Very Nice."
The Doctor tried opening the door, "Lost my key. Sorry."
I sighed, "Why I am I not surprised." I looked at the TARDIS, "I've got it…" I reached in my pants pocket and took out my TARDIS key and unlocked the door.
We were just about to walk in when Jaz, Graham and Ryan walked up, "But it's an old police box," said Graham.
"Sort of," I said, "But, not really."
"You expect us all to fit inside there?" asked Ryan.
"Yep," said Annabelle.
"At the same time?" asked Yaz.
"Wanna try?" asked The Doctor, with a smile.
"Okay," said Ryan.
We were going to go in when The Doctor stopped, "Oh, word of warning. I left it in a bit of a mess."
We walked in and the box part of the TARDIS was now like a little foyer. We walked into the control room and stood there in awe of the new interior, "Oh. You've redecorated," said The Doctor. We walked up to the new console, "I really like it."
We turned and saw Ryan, Yaz and Graham, "This is our TARDIS," said The Doctor.
'Wow," said Yaz.
"Yeah," said Graham.
"It was a police box," said Graham.
"It still is on the outside," said Annabelle.
"How do you fit all this stuff inside a police box?"
"Dimensional engineering," I said.
"You can't engineer dimensions," said Yaz.
"Maybe you can't," said The Doctor.
Ryan moved closer to the console, "Can I press any of...?"
"No," I said, as I put my hand out and he stepped back.
"It's a spaceship?" asked Graham.
"And a timeship," said Annabelle.
"Get out," said Ryan.
"Seriously," said The Doctor.
"This... is proper... awesome."
"I thought maybe you didn't believe us that we'd get you home."
"I thought you didn't believe yourself for a second back there," said Yaz.
"Who, me? No. Never doubted. Don't know what you mean," said The Doctor. I smiled and shook my head. Then, The Doctor said, "Home, then?
"You can get us there? Really?"
"Start believing," said The Doctor. Then, the three of us Time Ladies walked around the console and started to set the coordinates to get our new friends home.
AN: And, we are off on our new adventures with The Doctor, Teddy and Annabelle. Remember, If you like this story, Review, Favorite and Follow. It gives me motivation to keep going!