Hi everyone, and welcome back to my 'Family Reunion' saga. The latest story I've written for this series is a remake of the 1970s 3rd Doctor comic strip 'Zeron Invasion', which was originally written by Dennis Hooper and published in 'TV Action + Countdown' #94-100.
As always, I take no credit for the original material I've adapted for my FanFiction. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes, with no copyright infringement intended.
The city of London, which was normally a bustling metropolis of honking taxis and chattering tourists, had fallen into an unusual hush. The air hung thick with the scent of rain-soaked cobblestone, the only sound a distant echo of a lone Big Ben chime. The light lamps cast a soft glow on the streets, creating pockets of shadow that danced with the misty air. The silence was so profound that it was almost palpable.
The city was not deserted, but the people in the streets moved like zombies or robots, their expressions blank and emotionless. They shuffled along the sidewalks, eyes cast forward as if in a trance. None of them spoke a word to each other or even glance at one another, as if the very air was afraid to carry their words. They paid no heed to the London pigeons, who regarded the humans' behaviour with puzzlement, and they did not even notice how pleasant the weather was that day. The whole atmosphere was a stark contrast to the usual cacophony of the city.
It was around ten in the morning, along the unusually deserted embankment, when the TARDIS materialised on the pavement with its usual wheezing, groaning sound. Inside the amazing time-space craft, the Doctor was at the controls, checking the landing readings, while Jenny watched on a little impatiently.
"So, Mum, where are we this time?" Jenny asked, eager to get out and explore.
The Doctor looked up and grinned at her daughter. "Well, according to the instruments, we've landed in the city of London on Earth, early 21st Century. Bang on target!"
Jenny raised an eyebrow. "'Bang on target'? You mean there's a specific reason why you've landed us here? It wasn't just random?"
The Doctor tapped the console, looking a little sheepish. "Okay, you caught me out. I got a message from U.N.I.T. in Geneva via the space-time telegraph, asking for help to investigate a rather peculiar phenomenon. It seems that for the past week, the UK has gone eerily silent. The message from U.N.I.T. indicated that the population has started behaving like mindless drones. Well, mindless compared to their usual standards. No actual violence, but certainly a lack of the usual British charm and wit, and the other countries are worried that whatever is happening to Britain might affect them next."
Jenny's eyes widened. "That does sound weird. What could be causing it?"
The Doctor stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Well, the reports are a bit sketchy, but it seems like something's affecting people's emotions and cognitive abilities. It's as if someone's flipped a switch and turned off their personalities. We need to find out who or what is behind this, and fast, before it has a chance to spread beyond the UK's borders and affect the rest of the globe."
"Oh, I get it," said Jenny. "Your U.N.I.T. friends want us to find out what's going on. Play detective and get to the bottom of the great big mystery."
The Doctor nodded gravely. "Yep, because the forces that have gathered and are now surrounding Britain are being barred from entering. They can't force their way in, cause they don't want to risk an international incident, but some of them may be starting to feel a little restless and potentially trigger-happy. So we're sneaking in to have a look around, before anyone loses their nerve and does something everyone will regret."
Jenny grinned. She had always loved a good adventure, and the thought of playing detective with her mother was thrilling.
The Doctor was about to operate the switch to open the main doors, when she paused and looked up, a more serious look on her face. "Uh, Jenny, this could get pretty dangerous, so if you want to wait here..."
But Jenny was already halfway to the doors, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "What and leave you to have all the fun? Fat chance! You could need help dealing with... whatever this thing is!"
The Doctor could not help but chuckle, her eyes filled with a mix of pride and concern. She knew that Jenny had inherited her thirst for adventure and her stubborn streak. With a sigh, she nodded. "Alright, but stay close and be careful. I don't want to put you at any unnecessary risk. You are my daughter, after all."
The Doctor had always cared a great deal for her travelling companions, and she wondered if the maternal instincts she had developed since her latest regeneration were making her a little over-protective at times around Jenny. Though this was arguably understandable considering the number of dangers the Doctor had faced over the centuries, and the recent meeting with Clara and Ashildr had reminded the Doctor how perilous her travels could be for those who travelled with her. The painful memories of past friends, like Katarina, Sara Kingdom and Adric, who had met tragic ends, still lingered in the back of her mind, and she did not want to see any harm befalling her daughter. She had already lost enough as it was.
Jenny returned the look with a determined smile. "I'll be careful, Mum, I promise. I do appreciate your concern and I love you for it. But we've got to help these people. If something's messing with their brains, then someone has to fix it. Besides, I've got you to watch my back, and that's all the reassurance I need! And don't forget, I've had my own fair share of getting out of tough scrapes."
The Doctor nodded in defeat, understanding Jenny's eagerness to assist. She knew her daughter could handle herself in most situations. She could not blame her for wanting to be part of the adventure. After all, Jenny had inherited more than just her curiosity; she had her mother's bravery and instinct to fight injustice as well. So the Doctor forced herself to push her worries aside. Jenny was more than capable of looking out for herself, and her mother was confident they could face whatever awaited them together.
"Okay then," said the Doctor, as she pulled a lever on the console and the TARDIS's double doors swung open, revealing the London scenery outside. " Now, let's get to it before the kettle boils and the tea gets cold! Just be prepared for anything. We don't know what we might find waiting for us out there."
"Something pretty hair-raising, I'll bet, considering our past track record," smirked Jenny, as they exited the TARDIS.
They stepped out of the TARDIS into the stillness of the London street, the Doctor locking the time machine's doors behind them with a firm click of her key. The cool air kissed their faces as they surveyed their surroundings. The buildings stood tall and proud, unchanged by the eerie quiet that had descended upon the city. There were no tourists going about the place, or people manning the various empty take-away stalls running along the embankment. It was as if the very soul of the city had been temporarily siphoned away.
The Doctor looked around, her eyes narrowed in concentration. The air was tingling with an energy she could not quite place, something that tickled the back of her mind. It was definitely not a good sign.
"This is odd," said the Doctor thoughtfully, as they made their way along the path. "Not to mention worrying. In my experience, deserted London streets are usually a sign of alien invasion. Daleks, Cybermen, Dinosaurs... I wonder what it'll be today?"
"Hey, it's not completely deserted," said Jenny, pointing at various figures walking rather stiffly along Westminster Bridge. "Why don't we try asking one of that lot what this is all about?"
The Doctor nodded and strode over to the nearest pedestrian, a middle-aged man in a damp business suit. His eyes were vacant, his tie askew, and he moved with the grace of someone who had almost forgotten how to walk. She tapped him politely on the shoulder, making him he pause.
"Excuse me, mate," she began, her voice carrying a gentle lilt of curiosity. "Could you tell us what's happening in the city? Why is everyone acting so...unusual?"
The man turned to face them, his eyes focusing with effort. For a brief moment, something flickered in their depths—a spark of recognition, perhaps, or a fleeting glimpse of his former self. Then it was gone, replaced by the emptiness they had seen in the others.
"This country now belongs to the mighty Zerons," he replied, his voice monotone and devoid of inflection. "I am one of their slaves. I do as they command. Yes... We are all slaves..."
With that, the man resumed his robotic march, leaving Jenny and the Doctor to exchange a look of shock and confusion.
"The Zerons? I don't remember any Zerons," the Doctor murmured, her mind racing with the vast intergalactic knowledge she had accumulated over the centuries. "They must be new to the cosmic block."
"Not to mention unfriendly," added Jenny her eyes narrowing as she observed the man's retreating back. "It looks like they've managed to hypnotise everyone here!"
The Doctor agreed. "Well, they're definitely not winning any awards for creativity in their conquests. 'You will obey' is so passé. And they've missed the memo that the British hate being told what to do."
"Uh, can we focus a bit here. Mum?" said Jenny. "These Zerons, whoever they are, have turned everyone here into brainless zombies! We've got to do something about this!"
The Doctor nodded, her gaze sharp. "Good point. Let's have a look around and try to gather some intel first before we decide on our next move."
They quickly made their way across the bridge, the Doctor's eyes darting around for any sign of the mysterious Zerons, the silence seemingly amplified by the looming presence of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It was an eerie sight, the heart of a great city beating so faintly.
The first person they encountered was a young woman pushing a pram, her eyes glazed over, moving as if on autopilot. Inside the pram, a baby slept peacefully, seemingly unaffected by the odd behaviour of its surroundings. Jenny felt a pang of pity for the child, who was apparently oblivious to the horror that had taken over his mother's life.
Next, they saw a group of street performers, their instruments silent, their faces slack. The Doctor recognized one of them as a talented violinist she had once watched on a previous Earth visit, and she recalled how his music brought tears to his audience's eyes with its beauty. Now, he stood with the bow hovering over the strings, his movements jerky and forced. Further along, a busker sat on the pavement, her guitar propped against the wall. Normally, her soulful voice would have drawn a crowd, but today she was mute, plucking at the strings without passion or rhythm. The coins in her hat lay untouched, glinting in the lamplight like a sad little treasure trove of lost humanity. And in a nearby park, a group of children just stood aimlessly around, with no laughter or cries of excitement parting their lips. The Doctor watched them with a furrowed brow, her hearts aching for the joy that had been stolen from these innocents.
"Mum, I don't mind telling you, I'm feeling just a little freaked out by all this," said Jenny with a shiver. "I mean, it's like they've been turned into soulless animatronics for a display in an exhibition."
The Doctor put a comforting arm around her daughter's shoulder. "It's okay to be scared, Jenny," she said quietly. "You know, I don't think these Zerons are actually on Earth yet. If they were, they would probably be already out and about the place, checking the enslaved population over. That may give us a bit of breathing space to sort all this out. We need to find out where this mind control is originating from and put a stop to it."
"Sounds good to me, Ma'am."
The Doctor's eyes narrowed as she picked up the unmistakable twang of an American accent. Spinning around, she found the source: a young dark-skinned man, dressed in blue coveralls, standing a few feet from them, a beacon of life in the sea of blank faces. He was not one of the emotionless drones; his eyes were bright with curiosity, and he looked at them with a quirky grin.
"Welcome to the land of the walking dead," he said, extending a hand. "Name's Nick. Nick Willard. Guess you ladies are stuck in the middle of this zombie apocalypse too, huh?"
The Doctor took his hand, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Pleasure to meet you, Nick. I'm the Doctor, and this is my daughter, Jenny. And I assure you, it's not a zombie apocalypse. More like a hostile alien invasion."
"No kidding?" said Nick, raising his eyebrow slightly. "Aliens, huh? Well, that's a first for me. I thought I'd stumbled into a scene from '28 Days Later' or something. Man, when I moved over here from the Big Apple last year, I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen."
"You don't seem all that surprised at the idea of aliens behind all this," observed Jenny.
"Lady, I've been stuck in a city where the people have been acting like robots for the last week! After all that, I'd believe anything!"
"Good lad!" said the Doctor approvingly. "Keeping an open mind. That's the ticket. Now you are the first person we've met who hasn't been had their brains turned into mush. Where exactly were you when all this started?"
"In the tube stations," said Nick. "Me and my mates were working overnight, you see, cleaning the platforms. When we finished and came back up, everyone-else were behaving like they were extras in 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. They're still going about their basic everyday jobs, but it's like they've forgotten how to feel. Not one of them has cracked a smile or laughed, and when we tried to ask what the heck was happening, they simply said some guff about being slaves, then they just ignore us."
"So you're not the only one unaffected?" observed Jenny. "Where are your friends then?"
"Hiding out in the subway tunnels," replied Nick. "We figured that being underground had something to do with us not getting our brains fried, so it seemed to be the safest place to be."
"Smart reasoning, Nick," said the Doctor, clapping Nick heartily on the back. "I think that you're spot on there."
The Doctor's thoughts raced as they walked, her mind piecing together the puzzle. If the underground had kept Nick and his friends safe, it could mean that the signal or whatever it was that was controlling the people of London was being blocked by something down there, or that the mind control was limited to the surface of the targeted area and could not work underground.
"You know, I think I'm starting to develop a theory," said the Doctor, almost to herself. "I wonder if..."
She took out her sonic screwdriver, its red light flashing brightly as she swept the device through the air, the whirring noise cutting through the silence like a knife. The people around them didn't flinch, didn't even acknowledge the sound. They just kept walking, like a river of humanity flowing around an unseen obstacle.
The Doctor's brow furrowed as she took in the data from the screwdriver's readings. The gadget beeped and whistled as it detected the unusual energy signatures. The waves of mental control were faint but definitely there, like a whisper in the wind that only those who knew to listen for it could hear.
"Hmm, yes," she said at last. "Definite traces of some form of energy which has affected all these people's brains. Their minds have been largely neutralised, and they're now behaving like their on auto-pilot, continuing their normal routines, but nothing else. It's definitely as if someone's turned them into pre-programmed robots, and now they're behaving like computers waiting to be reprogrammed for new instructions."
"By these Zeron guys presumably," said Jenny. "So where are they?"
"Not sure, but I'm more certain than before they're not actually here on Earth yet, especially since the TARDIS scanners would have easily picked up some trace of alien technology around these parts. After all, they're clearly not hiding their presence," mused the Doctor. "Judging from the readings, I think that Britain was subjected to some form of energy bombardment from space, which turned everyone into unintelligent drones, except for Nick and his chums, as they were sheltered in the subway tunnels."
"Yeah, but why just Britain? Why not the rest of the world?"
"Perhaps they choose the UK as a test site for their subjugation beam or whatever they used," suggested the Doctor. "Of course, I'm only theorising here. It's hard to be sure without more data."
"Look, we can stand around guessing all day," said Nick, "but what can we actually do to get everyone back to normal?"
"Well, the first thing we need to do is to establish the exact origin of the energy that was used here," said the Doctor. "And I think I know where we can start looking."
With that, she suddenly took off at a brisk pace, Jenny and Nick hurrying to keep up. The Doctor led them away from the river and into the heart of London itself, through the eerie streets, dodging the various mindless citizens, until they reached the iconic Post Office Tower, which stood tall and proud, piercing across the blue sky. It was a place the Doctor had visited before in her very first incarnation, where she had done battle with a mad computer called WOTAN and its deadly War Machines in 1966.
"Why did you bring us here, Doc?" asked a puzzled Nick.
"Because this tower's height and central location gives us the best vantage point for detecting the source of the alien energy, Nick," explained the Doctor as they entered through the main doors and marched their way over to the elevators. "If I can modify some of the equipment here into a makeshift scanner, I might be able to pinpoint the location of these 'oh-so mysterious' Zerons."
The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver sang as it danced around the elevator controls. With a clunk and a whirl, the doors slid open, revealing the empty metal box inside. The three of them stepped in, and with a few more clicks and whirs, the elevator started to ascend at an unnatural speed, the numbers on the display blurring as they shot past.
"These Zerons must have a pretty sophisticated setup to pull this off from afar," said Jenny, looking around at the cold, metallic walls of the elevator, as they shot up the tower. "They can't just be broadcasting mind control signals willy-nilly across space without some serious tech backing them up!"
The Doctor nodded. "They're definitely not amateurs. But then again, very few things are ever that simple with invading aliens, are they? It's always the clever ones that cause the most trouble."
As the elevator halted at the required level and they all disembarked, Jenny looked in awe through the window at the sight of the London cityscape. Despite the eerie silence, the grandeur of the buildings looked breathtaking from such a height.
"Wow, I never realised how amazing this Earth city looks from above," she breathed, her voice filled with wonder.
The Doctor chuckled. "Remind me to give you a proper London tour when this mess is all sorted, honey. But meanwhile, we have work to do."
Jenny nodded, though she still hoped for a chance to explore the Earth city properly. Although Jenny was not actually human, she did owe her existence to human technology, so she naturally held some curiosity and fascination towards human culture. This was something encouraged by her mother, who had always had her own fondness for the Earth and its people.
With the Doctor leading the way, they stepped into one of the old transmitter rooms, the air thick with the hum of unused machinery. The room was a maze of cables and antennas, a lot of it outdated but still functional. The Doctor's eyes lit up as she saw the potential in the chaos.
"Fantastic!" she beamed, like a child opening a new birthday present. She immediately set to work, pulling out her Sonic Screwdriver and dismantling various parts of the old machinery. She moved swiftly and with precision, her fingers almost dancing with the various wires and switches, like a maestro conducting an orchestra of obsolete gadgets.
"Mum, let me help you out with that," Jenny said eagerly, pointing at a particularly tangled mess of wires. "I've picked up a thing or two myself over the years."
The Doctor paused, and looked over at Jenny. Though she could easily do all the work herself, the Time Lady knew that her daughter was pretty good at rewiring technology herself, and she could see the eager glint in Jenny's eyes.
"Go on, then. But be careful," she warned as she handed over her screwdriver. "This isn't a toaster you're playing with."
Jenny took the tool with a solemn nod. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
The Doctor stepped back, watching as Jenny approached the machinery with a confidence that surprised her a bit. The room was silent except for the occasional clink of metal and the buzz of the screwdriver as Jenny studied the tangle of wires, her brow furrowed in concentration. Then, with a sudden burst of understanding, she began to manipulate the circuits and wires, her hands moving with a grace like a sculptor turning a piece of clay into a stupendous work of art.
"You've got it, Jenny," the Doctor encouraged her, nodding approvingly, impressed by her daughter's engineering skills.
Jenny worked tirelessly, her eyes never leaving the task at hand. After what felt like an eternity, the young blonde woman stepped back from the machinery.
"There!" she announced with some satisfaction, as she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. "All ready!"
The Doctor took a moment to examine her daughter's handiwork, her eyes flitting over the reconfigured transmitters, which had been converted into a makeshift space tracker. "Very impressive," she said, her voice filled with genuine amazement. "Couldn't have done better myself."
Nick looked on, his eyebrow raised skeptically. "Is this thing actually going to work?"
"Of course it'll work," said Jenny with a confident smirk. "It's got my Mother's seal of approval."
With the improvised scanner all ready, the Doctor flipped one of the switches Jenny had just installed with a dramatic flourish, only for the whole room to be plunged into darkness. With a look of some annoyance, she kicked the side of the machine, which then spluttered into life and lit up like a Christmas tree, the screens flickering into life and casting a reassuring glow across their faces. With a broad smile, the Doctor began scanning the area around Earth, but so far nothing appeared on the screen.
"Hmm, let's see about expanding the scan radius a bit," she said, tapping away fast on a keyboard, her eyes practically glued to the screen as her gaze darting across the readouts coming through.
The room went quiet for a moment, save for the whirring of the machines, and then the Doctor gave a triumphant cry of "Ah-ha!", as a faint blip appeared on the largest scanner screen, pulsating with an alien rhythm.
"Is that the source of the brainwashing beam?" asked Jenny, leaning over to get a better look.
The Doctor nodded, her eyes still fixed on the screen. "It certainly is," she said. "Seems to be a spaceship, in orbit around Pluto. And not a very friendly-looking one at that. The energy signatures are off the charts!"
"Then you were right, it is aliens!" said Nick, feeling caught up in the excitement of the moment.
The Doctor continued to look at the pulsing blip, her eyes blazing with thought. "Hmm... Well, now we know where these Zerons are. The question is, do they know that we know...?"
To Be Continued...