Monday 25 January 2010

Dream Diary? No thanks.

God, after last night’s dream I don’t think I want to tell you what happened. It was, in a word horrific, I would call it a nightmare but then at the time it didn’t scare me! It just grossed me out and it still does to think about it. Blech.

Anyway, first day at work was awesome today, had a really fun day manning the station and keeping an eye on Amy’s show. Not too sure what the plan is for tomorrow’s show but I guess we’ll see. The rest of the week is totally sorted so I’m a bit more relaxed about that.

I have a strange urge to go out at the moment, last week before gobble I was SO up for it, and despite the events that took place in the days following it I’m even more eager to find my perfect lady. Strange really. Oh well, bring on the party on Wednesday!!!800px-super_mario_64_box_cover

I was playing Super Mario 64 earlier and realised that our little Italian hero has a black  moustache but brown hair…what’s the deal with that? Does he have a strategic hair dye system? Or is it just a matter of bad luck that those evil Nintendo programmers from the mid nineties decided to inflict on him? Who knows. What I do know is that I love that game, in fact I love old school games…and other old school stuff that reminds me of my childhood – oh well, no time machine so I guess I’ll just use these things as a little reminder, it’s all good :)

I was telling AJ yesterday about how I have the entirety of my next Doctor Who story planned out, it might end up being even better than Scavenger Hunt (which I was actually very proud of) – I won’t spoil too much for you, but it takes place in series 4 (yep, Donna will be in it!) and will have a return of Launda Fox as well as 2 spin off chapters and lots of other little appearances from things you might remember. I think that’s enough for now.

I better rap it up now, have a good day and I’ll catch you next time!!

Reno x

Sunday 24 January 2010

Dream a little dream…

Hello all, I want to thank everyone who read Scavenger Hunt and gave me positive feedback, it’s been a real pleasure to write. I’m going to make you wait a little longer before Time Rupture starts, but I’ll be giving you a few spoilers between now and then so keep an eye out for them!

Anyway, there’s a few new things going on in my life – recently I’ve been having really really clear and strange dreams so I’m going to start blogging them as a dream diary (if I continue to have them) and you can post comments about them if you like, some people know the meanings to dreams so I’m all up for it. The other night I had such a crazy dream it had a million people from my past (not literally) and it signified the end to a lot of things for me, which was really refreshing, even if the imagery got a little trippy at times. Oh well.

My new (unpaid) job starts tomorrow as Executive Producer for the Home Time show on One Media Radio at Staffs Union, it’s going to be great managing a team of people, not too sure how good I’'ll be at it, I’ll be tweeting though so keep an eye at the top of this page or go to my twitter page to see what’s going on!

That’s about all for now guys, thanks for reading and I’ll catch you all soon :D

Friday 22 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 13 – The Final Act of Critidan the Shadow Jailor

The TARDIS materialised in one of the larger cargo holds of the station

“And what is an orbital port?” Martha asked, stepping out

“Does exactly what it says on the tin” the Doctor said, kicking a large vertical girder as if to test its strength, even though he knew it was holding up at least two hundred and fifty tones of the port’s weight. They began to walk briskly down a dimly light hallway, from all sides of them they could hear shouting and booming music that echoed from deeper within the station “The orbital port was once a part of a huge network of stations which liaised between each other as ships came into the trade with Shantist VII and its moon. They’d supply safe routes to the surface or fuel or other things, a bit like a  service station on the motorway… only with more space ships”

“What happened to the other stations?”

“A great civil war among the Netrikai, the orbital ports became battle stations which not only fired upon military targets on the ground but would also exchange fire with each other as they crossed paths on their orbital cycles, this is the last one left – the only one to survive the massacre. The planet below was ruined by the war and is pretty much a wasteland, there’s just the Capitol city and even that is pretty empty. The Netrikai are almost extinct now, once the greatest trade civilisation in the universe – now a ruined people.” the Doctor paused for a moment, remembering the similarities with his own kind “Now the orbital port is just a place for pirates to trade knock off goods or travelers to drown their sorrows in a sea of Net Ale. There are a lot of dangerous people on this station Martha, better not let them know we’re here” Martha nodded back in humble agreement.

They were in the personal cabin areas now; endless doorways with round windows lined the walls which lead to small rooms which were once accommodation for customers, then barracks for soldiers and now they were private lockers for people to keep supplies in. One room had a glow of white light inside but the Doctor ignored it, knowing that time to find Critidan was slipping away

A young female voice echoed down the hallway “Marthaaaa…” she turned back and noticed the light shining from the door they had just passed. It was as if the room was calling out to her, she couldn’t help but approach the big circular window and peer within. Inside was a room lit from all sides by bright white lights that could not be seen, it was as if the walls were made of light. The chamber was only a few feet square and  had only one piece of rather odd cargo within; in the far left corner was a small blonde girl in a white dress, no older than 8 years old by Martha’s estimation, crouching down and hiding her face against the wall as if she was somehow afraid of the very person she had been calling

“Hello?” Martha asked “Are you alright?”

“Hello? Are you alright?” the soft voice said, repeating Martha word for word, rhythm for rhythm

Martha stuttered a little “Can…do you need help?” the voice copied her again. The Doctor, who was now far down the corridor noticed Martha’s absence and turned to look where she was. Upon noticing her trailing, he ran back for her, calling out her name. The girl in the room was now talking back to Martha

“Martha Jones… I can see you!” then she turned her head to display her face; eyeless and smiling. This terrifying little girl seemed horrifically misleading now and Martha feared a new threat, perhaps this was why she was locked away “Sweet kind Martha Jones… the one who will walk the path of salvation, the one who shall see so much that never existed, the girl of many faces, the great soldier!”

Martha was upset by the words the little girl had said “I don’t know what you mean…”

The Doctor caught up and slid sideways on his baseball shoes and peered into the window at what the hubub was about. The girl in the corner of the cell sprung up, staring at him with her absent eyes. To him, she looked like a child of the pantheon but within her shining smiling mouth her teeth were different and her whole face was not that of evil, for he had seen evil so many times before. She took a few steps closer and then stopped, through the thick door her muffled voice spoke

“Doctor…” it was soft and heavenly “you have come so far and yet your war is not won” he stared at her, it felt as though she could see right through him, his soul was naked and he could do nothing to cover himself

“Who are you?” he enquired

The girl pressed her hand against the small area of glass “I am Launda Fox, daughter of Jestix the Inquisitor”

“A Time Watcher…” he whispered, utterly dumbfounded just to acknowledge the impossible once again “but you can’t exist, that’s impossible!”

"And yet, I do.” her tone lowered to one of despair “I have seen so much, Doctor, and yet I know there is so much more to come”

He rummaged in his Jacket pocket for the sonic screwdriver “I have to get you out of here”

“No Doctor, there is no time, we shall meet again at the coming… of the end” she said softly

“What do you mean? What end?”

“Soon you shall see, as I have, the closing of everything – when time ends and every world dreams no more, the culmination of every timeline into one spot – I have seen this forever ending Doctor, and you will be…”

“What will I be? What do you mean?!” he shouted

“I cannot see…” she said, bowing her head in confusion “a Time Watcher’s vision is never clouded, what have you done?!” she snapped

“I don’t know, I haven’t done it yet!!” he said slightly confused “Look, whatever it is, we’ll get through it together”

“No Doctor, I will not be there to make this journey with you”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you killed me” the Doctor’s hearts stopped stone dead for just a moment as she told him the future that he no longer wanted “Fear not,” she smiled “now go”

As they continued down the the corridor the Doctor was weeping inside for another one lost, another helpless angel left in the heart of danger with only a forbidding prophecy to keep the faith in her salvation. Still, he and his companion had to keep moving, Critidan was somewhere ahead.

A trail of blood was the key to finding the traitorous jailor, spatters and droplets lead the two travelers across the quiet outer edges of the orbital port to a large open space with the limping Critidan on the far side, lumbering his way through a huge arch.

“CRITIDAN!”

“Too late Time Lord!” he muttered and slammed his hand on the door release, bringing the bulkhead doors to a close within the frame of the arch. As per usual, the Doctor withdrew his sonic screwdriver and began zapping and whirring at the controls to the side. It took a few minutes to access the ship beyond but Critidan had only made it a few metres down the dim green hall when the doors opened. They followed him hurriedly and around a left turn they found him, laying on his back with the wound Reelog had administered with his horn on the Hybrid Locker untitlednot long ago

“My masters will give me life” he squinted  

The Doctor peered around the ship he was in. He had not taken any notice up to now for he was too fixed upon catching the jailor “No…” he whispered “We’ve got to leave!” – they made their way swiftly out as they heard Critidan speak again in the control room

“I pledge myself…to the family…” and with that, a mass of green gasses and energies floated down from the interface on the wall, seeping into his body and jerking him upright; Critidan was back to life, but he was not himself “this body is dying” he said in a bold, deeper voice “the mind is corrupted…I cannot see him”

Another younger voice swept in from somewhere else on the vast wall console, it was a girl “Go, brother of mine! Find the Time Lord!” Grabbing a blaster rifle he pulled his new body out of the ship.

Limping and lurching, the fatally wounded body of Critidan was hard to maneuver for the son of the family. The Doctor and his companion were now in the far distance of the corridor which would lead them down to the TARDIS. They disappeared around a corner and by the time he had reached it he could see them lumbering into the blue box. He took one shot through the door and then collapsed, the body was useless now and he would return to his family in his natural state for the hunt; wherever and whenever the family would have to go, for the Doctor’s capture would mean they could live forever.

 

THE END.

 

EPILOGUE

THE DOCTOR WILL RETURN IN MY NEXT STORY – ‘TIME RUPTURE’ COMING SOON!!

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 12 – Pride of the Prisoners

Martha turned and slowly paced her way up the gangplank “Can’t we help them?”

“Martha that’s not our place”

“But you saw what they can do! Okay, they’re criminals, but they saved our lives countless times, don’t they deserve freedom?”the_tardis_whoohoo

“No.” he said and circled the console “I’ve tried so many times to do the right thing, to stop the innocents from dying, giving freedom to those who really deserve it, but sometimes it all goes wrong. I can’t let that happen again, this is their fight and whatever happens is down to them, I can’t be responsible.” he paused for a moment and looked up at her with a slight smile “They’ll be alright”

“Of course…” she said, trying to keep faith in them “What will happen after? I mean, if they succeed”

The Doctor looked down at the console and rested two fingers on a few switches “I dunno” his eyebrows lifted up “Knowing Reelog he’ll take the ship back to the Proclamation so they can all serve their proper sentences”

“Sho! Co! Fo!” shouted a voice from a speaker on the TARDIS centre system, Martha’s face lit up and she swept over to the com screen, which held an image of the judoon commander oozing green blood from his forehead and nose

“Reelog! You’re alive! What happened?” she shouted in excitement

“Critidan escaped, we were tricked!” he grunted boisterously “He has set the ship to collide with colossal meteor” Martha let out a slight gasp as Reelog fell backwards and disappeared, Taan took his place

17

The Doctor pushed his way into view “Let me get you out of there” Martha looked across to her companion, who had completely gone against his previous statement, it appeared that primal urges could get the better of Time Lords too

“This is our fate” Taan conceded “If you save us then Critidan will escape, you must find him”

“But you can’t!” Martha wept, pressing her hand against the screen while a silent tear streaked down her left cheek. Sparks began to fly and pieces of the bridge could be seen falling apart in the background. Reelog stood back up, to which Martha let out a brief smile “You’re okay!”

“Affirmative”

Taan looked at Reelog and then peered around at the rest of the doomed crew, who were struggling to piece back together the equipment that their former jailor had sabotaged in the revolt. Turning back to the screen it seemed as if the Sontaran had found a possible solution “Maybe we can…” and then the screen faded back into static

“What happened??” Martha asked desperately, but the Doctor said nothing, he just looked at her with that face; the one that signaled the end of another life and his knowing inability to change their fate “No! Bring them back!” she said, slamming her fists on the screen again and again until she broke down. The Doctor slung his arms around her and held her tight

“Come on, we have to find Critidan” he whispered

“I can’t”

“Martha I need your help, I can’t do this without you” he pulled back a little to look at her without breaking the hug “If you want to preserve the honor of Reelog and Taan and the other Prisoners you have to help me find him” and with a hesitated determinism she nodded

TO BE CONTINUED

Sunday 17 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 11 – Sontaran Eulogy

reelogandtaaninthetardis

Taan had made his way up to the large metal balcony that hung over the back of the control room and sat down; his legs dangling over the edge. Martha noticed him and took a quick look at what the other two were doing - they were discussing locations and vortex manipulation traces, which she had little interest in, so she took this advantage to learn more about her Sontaran counterpart. She climbed the ladder and made her way over to Taan, slumping down next to him and smiling

“What is your story?” the inquisitive Sontaran asked. The Doctor was too busy to notice their conversation this time, so without fear of judgment from her seemingly wiser counterpart she told him

“Gosh, there’s not much to tell, I’m Martha Jones and I’m a medical student"

“Where are you from Martha?”

“Earth” she smiled, Taan looked a little confused as to how she could come from that desolate little planet they had just left and then he remembered that they were both travelling with a Time Lord

The Doctor continued to fuss with controls in the pursuit of the Hybrid Locker, Martha heard him tell Reelog that they were travelling forwards through the 21st and 22nd century

Martha looked back to Taan “That wasn’t my world though, so many years ago, miles away” by this point she had almost fallen into a daze and began repeating a cycle of four taps of her index and middle finger on her lap

“Martha?” Taan interjected, she shook her head and looked at him “Are you alright?”

“Yes… sorry"

“Do you have family?”

“Yeah,” she smiled “Mum, Dad, Brother and Sister” their faces lit up in her mind for a moment

“Then why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well on Sonta war is all we know, this is what I am made for, but you have so much freedom – why would you make yourself a soldier?” Martha didn’t quite know how to answer this

“Well, I don’t really see myself as a soldier, I’m just a traveler”

“And yet, in the space of two days you have been imprisoned, fought your way out of jail and battled an interstellar crime lord – is that the way you wish to travel?”

“I don’t know, I guess it’s just a part of the adventure” she changed the subject “What is Sonta like?”

Taan sighed “My home world is one big military structure, the war is designed in every inch of every complex, we exist to fight and we fight to exist. The air is thick with a heavy vapor from the cloning factories and we breathe the lust for victory. We are not born, we are grown from living cells – only the best warriors are selected and the rest of the live stock is burnt. We know of the sacrifice that our brothers feel day by day, we taste the war before we even see it. We are taught only one thing; the glory of Sonta.”

Martha was taken back by the imprinted ruthlessness in Taan’s mind

“But you’re different” she suggested, he looked at her displeasingly

“I am not, I would die for Sonta, just as you would die for Earth”

“But I wouldn’t kill for it,” she insisted “and I don’t think you would either”

Taan paused for a moment, realising his new found compassion for others “Only one” Martha knew exactly which ‘one’ he meant, and soon he would get that chance.

“GOTCHA!” the Doctor shouted from the console

“You found them?!” Martha shouted as she hopped up and made her way over to the ladder “OH YES!” the Doctor shouted in return. Taan, meanwhile, had decided to excuse kind footing and jumped the six or seven foot down to the outer ring of the control room before hulking himself over to join the other three in front of the tilted screen with co-ordinates that only the Doctor could read.

“So where are they?” Martha asked

“I’ve stabalised the TARDIS in a spot where the Hybrid Locker will soon pass on its way to the orbital port, when it comes near Reelog can jump back on board with his teleport”

Taan and Reelog grabbed their equipment and made their way towards the double doors of the ship “We have to stop Critidan, if he makes it to the orbital port he will have bounty hunters and friends on his side, if that happens they’ll hunt us all down and it will have been for nothing” the Sontaran said

“Not for you.” Reelog held his hand up to separate the two criminals from the Doctor’s companion. The teleport lit up the two warriors and they disappeared; leaving Martha on the gangplank

“No!” she shouted, lurching forward, but they were gone.

TO BE CONTINUED

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 10 – Ultimatum

An alarm on the central console started to beep, signaling the commencement of a tractor beam shift which had locked on to the TARDIS. The Doctor reached far across the controls and slammed him palm on a large circular button which cancelled the movement of the ship “Oh no you don’t!” he said hurriedly. Martha stepped up next to him

“What do we do now?”

“We send him back Martha, back to the Shadow Proclamation to face justice”

“But how? He’s got all those weapons and prisoners at his disposal”

Reelog interrupted “Prisoners irrelevant!” they looked at him intriguingly “Crew members of Hybrid Locker will fight for freedom just as we did”

“Those prisoners want to be free of Critidan as much as we do, they’re just waiting for the right time to make their stand”

The navigation screen flickered and blurred, a grey field of noise and interference overtook the previous statistics image and then a new image faded into view – it was Critidan, broadcasting from the bridge of the Hybrid Locker.

“Surrender, Doctor” his tone was triumphant

“Oh hello there” the Doctor smiled

“There is no escape”

“Well,” he mused highly “You’ve got me there, but who needs to escape when I’ve got this TARDIS?” Critidan looked confused “Ya see, this ship isn’t just for travelling, it’s a vessel of war. It’s fought off armies and hordes and crusaders, and I know how to use it, which gives me the upper hand” he chirped, then his voice deepened “Now go Critidan, leave this planet or you’ll see what Time Lord technology is known for”

The jailor looked into the camera and then away, then back again

“You’re bluffing”

“Try me” the Doctor aggressed, then the whole TARDIS shook from a blast of the Hybrid Locker’s ultra-cannon; a crude port side weapon that had been grafted on from a crashed Metal-Lord Trunk Cruiser. It fired again and the TARIS rocked heavily as the crew tried to keep a hold of their footing. The Doctor pulled himself back to the screen “Don’t do this Critidan, just stop”

The jailor yelled back “If you will not surrender then under the strictures of the shadow proc…” then he stopped, realising his own mistake, adhering to the old rules which he professed so much to hate now

“Aha!” the Doctor shouted “You were saying, Jailor? Or should I say, renegade? It’s all a bit of a joke really isn’t it?” Martha saw the charm and wit of her companion returning “See, for someone so intent on breaking away from law and obedience you do such a brilliant job of demanding it from your own crew! The really silly thing is though, the longer you force people into doing your bidding the more likely they are of finding a way to strike back at you, like the infamous prison break of…” he turned “what was it Reelog?”

“Surface 669” the Judoon grunted

“Surface 669!” he repeated quickly “And if there’s one thing you shouldn’t have done, it’s lock up a Time Lord and his companion, because the first chance he gets he might end up doing something like this!” he cranked a large handle on the control pad towards him, sending out an electrical pulse which shot through the Hybrid Locker and made everything cut out for a few seconds. Their plummet towards the surface was halted as the system came back online and the engines fired up once more. The Doctor’s voice deepened when Critidan returned to the screen “Now go, or I’ll make that disruption permanent”

“You’ll regret this, Time Lord” he snarled and then the screen returned to static. The four travelers left the TARDIS to watch the Hybrid Locker gain altitude as it began to leave Earth, then two large circular missile bays opened and fired down on the planet.

“GET DOWN!” Martha shouted as they all dived for cover. The explosion threw the clock shaped TARDIS into the sky and then it landed upright on the river’s edge. The ground here was unstable at best and the surface began to crumble and give way before it suddenly dropped the TARDIS into the water with an almighty splash!

“No no no no!!” the Doctor shouted running over to the waters edge and dropping to his knees. He caught a glimpse of the large clock sinking into the blue depths, followed by the emergence of a few bubbles. He stood up and ran his right hand through his hair, holding it at the back of his head while gritting his teeth “That’s stuck a spanner in the works, I was going to use that to get back to our TARDIS”

Reelog stepped forwards “Apprehension system will take us”. He pressed a switch on his wrist as he had in the junk room and in the blink of an eye they were all back in the meadow just a few metres from the Doctor’s glorious blue box, the sight of which made Martha smile inanely despite being thrown to the floor by the teleport.

She stood up and brushed herself off “Phew!” then looked across to the Doctor “So what do we do now?” The Doctor hesitated for a moment, he wanted to leave these events  as they were, but he knew he couldn’t, luckily Taan stepped forward and did it for him

sonta2“We will chase them down, for the glory of Earthfall and Sonta!” he said, the Doctor looked at him, utterly dumbfounded at the new world that this bloodthirsty warrior now found pride in being a part of, never had he seen a Sontaran prize life in this way, but he looked at the bigger picture and knew that Taan’s race would not always be so generous in realising the value of this planet. Still, much like Critidan was one-of-a-kind in his rebelion, so as Taan in his lust for something better, and so he cherished these times while they took place

“Off we go then!” he said hesistantly, and they all ran into the TARDIS to pursue the jailor for one last time.

TO BE CONTINUED

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 9 – Unwilling Alliance

A stealthy Sontaran, a mighty Judoon, an inquisitive human and the last of the Time Lords continued to brave their way through the pre-civilisation world on their quest to take back one of the most elegant vessels and dangerous weapons in the universe. Martha couldn’t quite tell if the thicker nature of the trees in this area was sheltering them or if the winds were actually dying down. Either way, she could see much more of her surroundings now; the huge black suit of her Judoon counterpart immediately ahead of her, the sweeping brown coat of the Doctor just ahead of him and behind her was Taan in his red decommissioned Sontaran body armor.

“So what’s your story?” she said, slowing to let him walk beside her. He didn’t look at her, instead he tracked the gun through the trees as they went 

“I was part of the 196th Sontaran infiltration unit. Five of my brethren and I were sent to assess a primitive world, we needed a new outpost in the Tasket nebula and this looked like it could be perfect, but something went wrong.” the Doctor peered around, he didn’t trust their new Sontaran ally, nor did he appreciate Martha taking sympathy on him

“What happened?” she asked

“We took samples of the air, dirt and water on the planet. At first everything seemed fine because we were breathing oxygen within our battle suits, but when we took the samples back a virus developed on the ship. 18,000 Sontaran soldiers caught the virus across 12 different convoys. The virus mutated and infected a further 5 planets. My entire task force was arrested by Sonta high command, but before we could be executed, a prison transport from the Shadow Proclamation arrived and took us away. And here I am now”

“That’s terrible” Martha said softly

“Martha” the Doctor shouted cautiously, he would regret her getting the wrong impression of the Sontarans

“And what is your story, Doctor?” Taan asked “Who are you?”

“I’m a Time Lord” he said, looking ahead with his hands in his pockets

“Time…Lord…” Taan had begun remembering the stories of that mysterious race, the tales of the great battles within the Norbella Sphere, the final days of the Medusa Cascade colony and the banishing of Yeelson the Great. This man was the living story, the tales of his cloned youth, the epitome of things he was taught to fear and fight against. Would he really restore his honor? Taan doubted it, but then, he was outnumbered and quite ready to make an unwilling alliance to get seek vengeance on Critidan.

“Reelog!” Taan shouted ahead, trying to get the his shipmate’s attention. The Doctor stopped

“Commander Reelog?” the Doctor questioned in a shocked voice, turning back to the Judoon member of the party “No no no no, not the great Commander Reelog, the Judoon who piloted the Blasphemy Conqueror from its collision course with the Goliath Temple World? It can’t be!” Reelog grunted in embarrassment, he had hoped to keep his identity hidden from anyone who didn’t need to know it

"Tell me Doctor, if you know so much of the commander, why he is here?” Taan grinned with a sense of accomplishment over the mighty beast. The Doctor paused, realising what had happened just a few months after Reelog’s triumphant flight

Softly he spoke “The Queen…” to which Reelog grunted again in shame, looking down to the floor “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”

Reelog found a few words “History irrelevant, we must continue” and so they did

The crunching of branches beneath heavy feet came to a sudden halt a short time later, the Doctor had raised his arm so that his fist was at head height - signaling the group to silently stop

“Doctor?” Martha whispered. He didn’t reply, he simply began to run forward as fast as he could and the other three quickly followed suit. Where the Doctor had stopped was the tree line of the forest and just outside was a large grassy area and a river on the far side which spanned for miles with islands dotted within it. In the centre of the area was the grandfather clock they had found in the future, standing proud, saved from the scratches and burning that the clumsy shock core had inflicted upon itself; this living ship knew how to land without a pilot.

They all stopped in wonder again a few metres away from the TARDIS

“This is what we came here for? A time keeper?” the Sontaran was disgusted, but nobody else saw it so simply. The Doctor took the fabled steps up to the clock’s glass door again as he had the first time and jolted it open. This time, the lights were already on and the command console was completely functional. As they all stepped inside and made their way around the spiral staircase, Taan was dumbfounded and remained that way for several minutes. Martha noticed that the art on the roof had changed; instead of the lion standing over the dead bear, they were now back in battle locked in an eternal moment of combat

“Doctor…”

He looked up in awe “Beautiful… that is… truly…” and then he stopped, looking back to the controls. He swept the navigation screen round in front of him and tilted it up a little “the last place this TARDIS went was the Silver Devastation, but I can’t work out the date”

“What happened to the pilot?” The Doctor didn’t reply, he continued to fiddle with widgets and doogangs on the navigation board. From outside came an enormous rumbling and a familiar sound of a heavy horn; The Hybrid Locker was back.

TO BE CONTINUED

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 8 – Eye of the Stormjudoon

It was settled. The Judoon warrior, who still hadn’t identified himself, would repeatedly ram the gate with his head until someone on the other side was tricked into opening it, then the Doctor would find his sonic screwdriver and they would gain access to the junk room to find some way of getting back to the surface. From there, the Doctor would have the perfect way to send Critidan back to the stars.

“It’s time” he said softly, and they all got to their feet.

 

On the bridge, the rest of the crew continued to work as they had for the last 24 months at their respective stations. The ship flew in through the atmosphere and headed to the crash site of the mysterious other TARDIS.

“Sir",” Taan spat “there is a weather system in the locality of the drop zone, it could do some serious damage to our ship, request further instructions”

“Hold back, we can wait” Critidan peered at the differential time coordinator, there was still plenty of time before their rendezvous with the buyers. A red light began shining to the left of the bridge and a deafening siren blurted out a recurrent low alarm

The Bloodfist hopped light footedly across the bridge “The prisoners have esssscaped!”

“Find them! Find the Doctor!!” He shouted to the rest of the crew, who began scurrying around and disappearing off in different directions

On the other side of the ship, the three escaped prisoners had reached the door the junk room. The Doctor buzzed the sonic over the keypad which allowed access into the room but he wasn’t having much luck. From down the corridor came the sounds of a crew member in hot pursuit

“Doctor!” Martha shouted

“It won’t budge!” he gritted his teeth “come on!!!”

The sounds of the alien making his way down the corridor became louder and more distinct, then Taan appeared from around the corner in front of them. The Judoon stepped ahead of Martha and pushed her back against the door to protect her

“Sho! Co! Flo!”

“Disgusting creature” Taan, who was a good three feet shorter than his rival, shouted back. The Judoon was not impressed, and took it upon himself to prove exactly how powerful his race was. He dove forward, grabbing Taan by the neck and slamming him against a wall; holding him up so that they were face to face. The disgraced Sontaran squinted and then slumped down, by some miracle that thrust against the wall had hit the probic vent on the back of his suit and knocked him out cold. The Doctor finally got the door open, and upon his summon, the Judoon dropped Taan and followed them into the junk room.

For several minutes they scouted through the junk room for something that could take them back down to Earth, the Doctor was considering collaborating numerous pieces of equipment with his screwdriver to make some kind of Frankenstein jump port. Martha had no idea what she was looking for but in attempt to look useful she continued to stir around through various piles of scrap. Every once in a while she would hold up a large piece of useful looking metal and say “how about this?”, hoping that she’d gotten it right, but then her Time Lord companion would look and say something like “ahhh, that’s a…curling iron Martha” without trying to sound too patronising. The Judoon however had disappeared far into the room on his own mission. The Doctor realised his absense and began trying to shout over the taller objects which blocked his view

“Uh…Judoon? Whatever you’re called? Hello?” he turned to Martha “Rhinos, I dunno” Martha grinned at him before continuing to dig into piles of smaller rubbish and junk. A few moments later their Judoon counterpart stomped back onto the scene in a full Judoon officer uniform that he had found. The Doctor stood in amazement “Blimey”

The shame ridden Judoon officer stepped ahead with his assimilation tool and soaked up a garble of words from the Doctor and then pressed it into the port in his chest

“Language assimilated” he said loudly

“Oh that’s a shame, I was enjoying all those deep grunts, I’ll have to do it more often. Now!” he said, reaching down and picking up two ominous pieces of metal and shining the sonic over them at varying distances “If I can rotate the motor truncator of this hydro-lotiner and use it to displace the matter within a two metre radius we should be able to get out of here… I think”

“No need” the Judoon grunted “Spatial transference apprehension system working”

“Of course! That suit has a teleport for transferring prisoners off world! That’s brilliant - I could kiss you!” he paused to let the excitement go a little “of course, I wouldn’t, because, well, you know” the Judoon let out a short sound, almost the audible version of a dog tilting its head when it fails to understand something

“Let’s go!” Martha cried. The next thing she knew, there was a flash of light and then they were all falling over on the soft Arizona grass. Things looked very different to how she had last seen the area; far more trees and shrubs, indeed it was a veritable forest of life. It was a little hard to get a proper view though, as the wind was picking up and that dust they had experienced in 2007 was still very apparent.

“Come on!” The Doctor yelled as the noise of the storm increased “We have to find the TARDIS!” There was another flash of light in front of them and there stood Taan with a Sontaran blaster clutched in his hands ready to fire

The Doctor snapped his hand up to halt the warrior’s actions for just a moment “Taan! Stop! You have to help us!” the air barely carried his words “You know what Critidan is doing goes against every rule of the Shadow Proclamation!”

“And why should I care for the rules of that pitiful council? The rules of others do not rain down upon me, I fight for Sonta!” he snarled, preparing to fire

“And how do you think the grand martial would see this? Would your brethren applaud you for doing slave missions for an ex-council member?” the Doctor shouted over the howling winds “You can regain your honour! I can take you home!”

Taan thought about it for a moment, repeatedly lowering and then re-raising his weapon as if to suspect a trap, but then the truth dawned upon him “There is nothing waiting for me back home…” he began looking at the ground, then his eyes returned up to them “But for the glory of Sonta, I will do as I must” he said, and slowly lowered his weapon. The Doctor smiled and looked to his other two comrades standing behind him, “Alonze!” he shouted, and they were off again through the thick trees on the hunt for the TARDIS.

TO BE CONTINED

Friday 8 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 7 – Mercy Mission

The gate into the cell opened with numerous clanking sounds, the Doctor and his two friends turned to see who would be waiting on the other side, it was the stumpy red suited Taan.

“Doctor, you will come with me” he growled. Though he only summoned the Doctor, Martha stood with him and grabbed his shoulder

“Don’t go” she whispered

“Martha, I have to” he said, peering round to her. She smiled a little and then took a step back. The Doctor’s long brown coat swept along the ground and disappeared around the corner before the large gate clanked and groaned to a close again. Martha sat down again and looked at her Judoon counterpart

“Hello” she said timidly

“Co, fo, tow, tow” he said softly.

The bridge door opened and the Time Lord entered; pushed in the back by Taan’s stun baton.

“Ah, welcome back Doctor” the jailor smiled “you had me worried for a few moments back there, I thought we’d never find you! Still, you’re back with us now, and that’s all that matters”earth-space

The Doctor approached Critidan from across the large room. He looked beyond him and peered down on the beautiful earth below

“What are you doing here?”

“I was sent here to retrieve a prize”

“No but really, whatever happened to the integrity of the Shadow Council? You were meant to be fighting injustice, not adding to it”

“It changed. You should have seen it Doctor, the bureaucracy, the laws and the rules tying every one of us to a life without freedom.” he took a few paces to a console and pondered the switches for a while with the tips of his fingers; not pressing them, just knowing that he could. “In days of old we had the ability to serve justice how we wanted, the proclamation was above everything and we made our own rules”

dw5“But that freedom, lawlessness within law, that is what sparked events like those which destroyed my people. Without rules, you become as destructive as the Sontarans or even the Daleks; bringing death in anyway you choose simply because you can, when you become drunk with power you become more dangerous than those you seek to imprison” the Doctor pleaded

“And that is the way it should be” he snapped back “we are the law, so we should be the ultimate power that this Universe responds to” then silence fell over the bridge again

“And how exactly do you plan on restoring those values? Hiding in the shadows, pretending to be dead, turning prisoners into slaves, selling scrap to make a few credits? There was more glory in your old position”

“GLORY!?” Critidan shouted “Who are you to speak of glory, Time Lord? Your people are spent, your entire planet is locked in a cage of death and despair, the mighty race who befriended my forefathers years ago; now lost to war among savages” the foul words tore through the Doctor’s hearts, he could see it all burning; Gallifrey in its final moments “oh yes Doctor, I know of your time war, and the sacrifice you made, where was the glory then?” but he received no response, just a scowl from his priceless prisoner 

“What becomes of me now?” he said through his teeth

“The buyers who want that TARDIS will take much greater interest in you than just that old thing, and you will bring in a much better price too!” he grinned “Take him back to the cell” and Taan did as he was told.

Martha was trying to get to grips with the language of the Judoon “Sho, co, flo, ro, tow” she said shakily

“Tow! Tow! Co!” the rhino grunted, grinning at her progress

Once again jail gate groaned and clanked as it slid open from the right hand side, the Doctor entered and sat with them again

“There’s something going on here, Critidan’s greed and anger have blinded him"

“What are we going to do Doctor?”

“We’ve got to escape” he said, turning to the Judoon

TO BE CONTINUED

Thursday 7 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 6 – Unlawful Disclosure

“What!?” the Doctor spluttered  NUP_102225_0175.JPG

“Breaking and entering into an official Shadow Council vessel is prohibited by Article 14 of the Shadow Proclamation, and as you here without convoy or paperwork I can only count this as an illegal breach of this ship’s sovereignty. I therefore have no choice but to imprison you on this ship until I can process your attendance at the next Shadow Proclamation checkpoint.”

“Ah, now, there’s a problem with that…” the Doctor said, stepping back. A number of the ship’s monstrous prisoner crew began to walk towards him, preparing to secure him for their master. “See, you tag all of your prisoners with those leg clamps to restrain their abilities and strengths” the horde continued to walk methodically up the tiered levels of the bridge towards them “and if I were you, I wouldn’t have given them all the same transmit frequency” and with that he dropped to the ground and jammed the blue end of his sonic into a port on the side of the Reeth’s tag and switched it on. Electricity shot through his body and all of the other aliens on the ship as the equipment failed momentarily.

“Run!” he cried, and they disappeared once again into the endless bowels of the ship.

For those few seconds, though they were being shocked, the prisoners were able to feel their own strength for the first time in years. The Judoon warrior, stripped of his armor and honour felt like he could lift ten tons, the reptilian Bloodfist could taste the chemicals in the air again and the Sontaran felt the need for war once more. The Reeth cycled through many different shapes during his few moments of despair until the power shut down and the Jailor rebooted the system.

“Find them!” he shouted. The prisoners had felt their primal selves again; they had seen a flash of the colour that the Shadow Proclamation had taken away from them for so long, and they liked it. But for now, they were back under the grey veil of the leg tags, and so they did what their master bid of them.

tunnels-antennaHalf an hour of searching for the junk room found the Doctor and Martha lost in the service tunnels. They stopped for a few moments while the Time Lord tried to get his bearings.

“Doctor, how are we going to get out of here?”

“I don’t know” he said, this was the last thing the young human wanted to hear “every tunnel looks like the last, we could be going in circles! There’s not even a hint for directions, I have absolutely no idea how they find their way around here!” he said, looking back and forth down the opposite directions of the narrow corridor.

From an access panel on the flat side of the wall crawled out the Bloodfist, his tongue slithering out of his mouth as he stood up “Stop!” he hissed

“Time to go!” the Doctor shouted as he burst a steam pipe and he leapt down the hallway with his companion in tow. At the end of the corridor they turned and bumped into the Judoon from the flight deck.

“Sho! Co! Flo! No! Tow!” he grunted

“Co! So! Mo! Ho! Juscapo-tow-tow!” the Doctor said deeply

“Doctor?” Martha was highly confused as to why the TARDIS hadn’t translated what the giant rhino was saying

“He can’t assimilate our language and this ship has a barrier which stops the use of unauthorised alien technology like the TARDIS’ translation circuit. I have to speak in hisjudoon native tongue. So! Ro! Tow! Co jo ron po no?”

The Judoon hesitated for a few seconds, looking around the corridoor and then conceded “Jo Jo topi-toe” 

“He’s going to help us escape!” the Doctor grinned, and they continued down the corridor towards the junk room, now lead by the enormous warrior who knew the way. Unfortunately, at the next intersection they were stopped by a host of the crew and the Bloodfist caught up behind them.

The Doctor admitted defeat quietly “They’ve won”

The two intruders and the traitorous Judoon were taken to a large prison cell which was shadowed at the edges but had a large roof window which was encapsulated by sunlight and left a large glowing circular area in the middle. The Doctor sat in this area with the ex-interstellar police officer and had a lengthy conversation of grunts and groans while Martha sat in the shadows and thought of her Mother back on Earth, her Earth, the home that didn’t exist yet. It was strange, she had called her Mum back after their hectic time on the doomed cargo ship, but her phone wasn’t answering anymore. In fact, it wasn’t even ringing, every time she dialed all she got was the Archangel answer phone. This time, sat in the shadows, had given the Earth girl even more time to think about her life and the path she had chosen. Watching two aliens discuss things in a language which just sounded like primal noises while she sat as a prisoner on a ship 12,000 years before she was born, how could she have ever imagined this? Then she smiled, because she knew it was beyond her imagination, which was why she loved the adventures so much. She got to her feet and joined her friends on the floor in the circle of light.

“What has he told you?”

“All is not as it seems on The Hybrid Locker, Martha” he said softly “the man who has imprisoned us here is called Critidan and he isn’t part of the Shadow Proclamation at all. He’s a renegade, just like the rest of the prisoners here. He was trusted with their transportation and then he disappeared; ditching his convoy ship and building this one, making every prisoner he had a slave for his own benefit, selling pieces of junk they find. He’s just like every other pirate, but he’s pretending to be something more”

On the other side of the ship Critidan stood proudly in front of the observation window on the bridge. Now they were in orbit and he stared at the beauty of primitive earth. A few hundred miles away an object floated into view; the prize he had been sent to find had finally arrived “Taan!” he snapped, the Sontaran warrior stood to attention “Bring the Doctor to me” he said softly, grinning with pride at the large wooden clock which began to tumble to the surface.

TO BE CONTINUED

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Doctor Who – Scavenger Hunt

Part 5 – The Hybrid Locker

“Martha?” the Doctor’s familiar voice whispered across the darkness

“Doctor!”

“Hang on a sec” he said, then came the buzzing and little blue flash from the sonic, followed by a delayed slamming sound as all the huge purple lights of the room switched on. Martha pulled her way out of a mass of plastic pipes and small pieces of metal that had buried her lower half. The Doctor, however, was already up and scanning the enormous room which spanned at least four football pitches square. The roof was a dome shape and the long purple neon lights spanned the curvature like the veins of a creature. The whole area was scattered with different objects; from pieces of ships that looked like art to unidentifiable artifacts and burnt out engines like the one they had ridden in on.

“What is this place?” Martha asked

“This is a scavenger ship” the Doctor said in a hurried voice, still shining the sonic over the area “and there’s only one problem with that”

“What’s that?”

“All scavengers are out to make a profit, which means that TARDIS will be sold to someone unless I stop them. If it gets into the wrong hands, the entire universe could be blinked out of existence if the wrong buyer took possession of it”

“Then lets get it out of here!”

“There’s just one problem” The Doctor stopped scanning “it isn’t here”

A door behind them opened and the silhouette of a humanoid stood in the yellow light that shone from within

“Intruders! You will come!”

The Doctor hesitated, the figure walked into the junk room and revealed himself; it was a Magreeth – the race of shape shifters from the planet of Ralkoom, the most cunning shape shifters of all, and yet here he was; in his natural state. The Doctor knew full well that this ‘Reeth’ could easily become a Sontaran or a Raxicoricon or even a Dalek, but he chose the feeble shape he was born as; withered and short, green and lumpy. Then the Doctor noticed a clamp around his leg and realised that this particular Reeth was a prisoner. With grace, Martha took the lead and the Time Lord followed a few steps behind. Through old tunnels and corridors lined with huge piping which fired out steam at regular intervals. After a long walk, the bright yellow service tunnels opened out into a regular hallway with normal white lighting. This trapezoid hallway went on for a further few minutes before the intruders finally reached the doorway into the main bridge. Martha looked around while they waited for the bridge door to open; nothing on the walls looked similar, every single panel was different and the welding was always shoddy

“Doctor, do they use the parts they salvage to repair the ship?”

“Sometimes, usually just the scrap metal is used for ship repairs, but they might find something that’ll make the ship faster or more durable”

“Like the shock core?”

“Nah, it’s not compatible. That’ll go for a fair price,” he leaned over to look at the Reeth “won’t it?”

“Prisoners will enter” he grunted, and the enormous doors opened. In front of them was the vast bridge; wide and complex; pieces of command consoles from a hundred different ships, freighters and battle cruisers, and hurrying about them was a veritable zoo of alien outcasts; a Judoon, a Vamproy,  an Axon, a Sontaran, a bloodfist and a numerous others. On the far side was a dark figure, cloaked and facing out through the huge viewing glass before him. For a moment he stayed still, then turned slowly and graciously as the long black cloak swept across the floor. As the deep red eyes locked upon his, he took a deep breath and a step back

red-eyes

“What is that?” Martha insisted

“A Shadow Jailor; a prison guard of the galaxy’s most infamous villains sent to look over them by the Shadow Proclamation.”

“And now you are mine, Time Lord!”

TO BE CONTINUED