Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory Dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down,
Hickory Dickory dock.

Jane Hickory walked down Cransington Street. She turned around in the darkness. Something moved, close to a tree. Jane couldn’t work out what it was. She strained to see it, but saw nothing. Convinced it must be a stray dog, Jane carried on.

Back at the tree, a man hidden in the shadows clenched his fists.

The Doctor and Martha Jones stood in the TARDIS. The Doctor whizzed around the console, while Martha watched in awe. She was exhausted from their last visit to the planet Munchkin; but the Doctor’s energy knew no bounds.

“So, Martha Jones!” the Doctor grinned “where to next?”
“Somewhere where we don’t have to run for our lives,” Martha said.
“Where we don’t have to run for our lives quite so fast, or not at all?” the Doctor asked.
“You choose,” Martha said, knowing the Doctor wouldn’t stop persisting.
“Great,” the Doctor smiled “let’s go to… Disney Land!”
“Disney Land?” Martha asked.
“Yeah.”
“Out of all the planets-” Martha said.
“-You choose Earth. Yes, I know, you told me last week on 9,” the Doctor said.
“Well then,” Martha said simply.
“Well then, that’s why we’re going to Disney Land on Difty Three,” the Doctor grinned, tapping at some controls “Earth section!”
“What?!”

With one last tap of the console, the TARDIS dematerialised.

Something was chasing Jane Hickory. Something she was sure she’d seen behind a tree. Scrambling through a bramble bush, Jane ran down Pudding Lane. She noticed that she’d scratched her Disney Worker’s uniform. The Boss would kill her. If she escaped that is. Pulling a twig out of her blonde hair, she ran on. That was when the rasping started.

The TARDIS materialised in Pudding Lane. Jane saw a blue box appear at the end of the road. If only she could get to it. She could shut herself inside, and vidphone the Police. The man was gaining on her. She only had 2 seconds.

Martha grinned at the Doctor, despite supposed to be being annoyed at him.

“I love Disney Land!” Martha laughed.
“Me to!” the Doctor smiled “I dressed up as Mickey Mouse once.”
“Mickey Mouse nearly scared Tish to death when she was 6!” Martha remembered.

At that point, Jane made it. Pulling the door to the blue box as quickly as she could, she leapt inside. To her amazement, it was bigger on the inside. (Well, she thought it was, she wasn’t about to leap out and check- what with her being chased by a mass murderer.)

Martha turned in surprise to see a blonde wearing a ripped Disney Land uniform enter the TARDIS panting. The Doctor sure got the best welcomes!

“Help me!” Jane cried.
“It’s ok,” Martha said, running over to Jane and checking for any injuries “you haven’t been hurt. What happened to you? What’s out there?”
“This thing,” Jane panted.
“A thing- what thing?” Martha asked.
“Ask her what thing,” the Doctor called, checking the scanner.
“What thing?” Martha asked.
“I dunno,” Jane replied “but it’s been hunting down the park workers, and killing them. I only just escaped.”
“She said she put on an escapade for a mass murder,” Martha called.
“What?” the Doctor called back.
“What?” Martha asked Jane.
“I think he wanted to kill me,” Jane panted.
“He wanted to kill her;” Martha called to the Doctor “her performance was probably not good enough.”
“Performance?” Jane asked.
“Your escapade,” Martha said, confused now.
“What?” the Doctor called.
“What?” Martha asked Jane. “Oh never mind. Doctor, can you see what’s out there?”

The Doctor beckoned Martha and Jane over. The three of them peered into the scanner on the console.

“Is that a man?” Martha asked.
“No,” the Doctor said “it’s a Cannablicosyt.”
“A Cannablico-what?” Jane asked.
“They’re a Cannibalistic race from 200,000 years in your future, Martha,” the Doctor explained.
“So how did it get here?” Jane asked.
“It must’ve fallen through time,” the Doctor said, “through a time gap.”
“Time gap?” Martha asked.
“It’s like, when you lose a pen down the back of the sofa, and you can’t find it,” the Doctor reasoned “you know it’s there, but you can’t see it. But what if it wasn’t there? What if it had vamoosed?”
“So this Cannablicosyt fell down the back of a sofa?” Martha asked.
“No, but it fell through a time gap, and the people left behind know he exists, but don’t know where he is,” the Doctor said.

Suddenly the Doctor leapt up. He ran into one of the TARDIS’ back rooms. He threw himself into a room containing all sorts of broken devices; he’d just never gotten the time to fix. Grabbing a teleport, the Doctor ran out of the rooms. Leaping over the bins, running past the swimming pool and avoiding a robot that tried to kill him before wandering into the TARDIS and getting lost, the Doctor entered the console room.

“So what’s that for?” Martha asked excitedly, knowing excitement was coming.
“I’m gonna teleport the Cannablicosyt back to his home world!” the Doctor grinned, catching his breath.
“Isn’t that a little dangerous?” Jane asked “couldn’t he kill you first?”
“Ooh, picky picky,” the Doctor said, not unkindly.
“Well, we’ll right on your gravestone- what could possibly go wrong? Shall we?” Jane said sarcastically.
“OK,” the Doctor grinned, running out of the double doors.
“Doctor…” Martha called.

The Doctor ran back inside the TARDIS, fixed the teleport with the Sonic Screwdriver, and left.

“I knew that would happen!”

The Doctor stepped out into the chilly, biting air. The Cannablicosyt turned to face him. It ran at the Doctor, who teleported them both out of Pudding Lane.

“Mission accomplished!” Martha grinned, watching the console screen.
“Now what?” Jane asked.
“Now, we wait.”

The Doctor opened his eyes. He was high up, and the wind was colder than ever. He looked around to see the Cannablicosyt lying unconscious on the same platform. The Doctor stood up shakily. He peered over the edge, and then realised; they were on the Disney Land Big Ben!

Martha’s phone rang, piercing the silence in the console room. She answered it quickly.

“Hello?” Martha asked.
“Martha Jones!” the Doctor cried “I need you and Jane to get to the replica of Big Ben, in the London section.”
“Right…”
“The TARDIS is only about five minutes away,” the Doctor said “hurry!”

Martha grabbed Jane’s arm, and led her out into the dark. She would explain on the way.

The Doctor glanced sideways. He noticed that the Cannablicosyt was waking up. The Doctor would have to fix the teleport fast, time was running out, and the clock hand was moving…

Martha ran up the stairs of the clock tower. The Doctor had pulled of some miscalculations in the past- but this one was ridiculous! Still, Martha was nearly there, and Jane was right behind her.

Hickory Dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.

Martha burst out onto the hour handle, to where the Doctor was kneeling against the Cannablicosyt. She gave him a quizzical look, just as Jane burst through the door as well.

“I’m keeping Henry asleep,” the Doctor said quietly.
“Henry?” Martha asked.
“It takes less time to say Henry!” the Doctor protested.
“Fine.”
“Now,” the Doctor said “I need you to keep Henry asleep, while I use the Sonic to fix the teleport.”
“How?” Martha asked.
“By singing him a lullaby.”

Martha crouched down beside Henry, trying to think of a lullaby.

“Hickory Dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down,
Hickory Dickory dock.”

Jane gave the Doctor a look.

“What?” he asked.
“My name,” Jane said “is Jane Hickory. Hickory!”
“Oops.”

The Doctor began fixing the teleport with the Sonic Screwdriver. Martha tried to invent her own version of Hickory Dickory Dock.

“Hickory Dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down,
Hickory Dickory dock.

Hickory Dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck two
And down he flew,
Hickory Dickory dock.”

Then, with a bleep, the teleport was fixed- just as the clock struck one. Martha grinned at the Doctor, and Jane stepped off the hour hand in relief. She was now stood by the door.

Suddenly, there was a rumble, and Martha and the Doctor, along with Henry, slid down the hour hand. The clock was moving to one o’clock. Martha and Henry hit the arrow at the end of the hour hand, while the Doctor stopped himself around the middle of the hand.

The Doctor exteneded a hand which Martha gratefully grabbed. With a heave, Martha was pulled up onto the ground, where Jane stood.

“Good luck Doctor!” Martha cried.

The Doctor slid down the hand, heading for Henry. When he hit the arrow hand, he grabbed Henry. Without having time to activate the teleport, the Doctor and Henry fell off of Big Ben.

“Oh my God!” Martha cried, grabbing Jane’s hand.

Jane and Martha leapt down the stairs.

The clock struck one
The mouse ran down,
Hickory Dickory dock.

Martha stopped, and looked out of a window on the stairs. She saw the Doctor activate the teleport, and Martha gasped a sigh of relief.

“He did it!” Martha screamed “he did it!”

Jane and Martha hugged. They walked down the stairs, and headed back for the TARDIS, knowing that the Doctor would be waiting for them when they got there.

“So Martha Jones!” the Doctor cried after they said goodbye to Jane “where to next?”
“I think… It’s a shame Jane didn’t come with us.”
“That planet doesn’t exist!” the Doctor grinned cheekily “but yes, she would have been fun. Still, the universe sometimes can’t compete with Disney Land!”

Martha smiled.

“How abot a trip to Earth,” she grinned, giving in to the Doctor’s hints.
“Brilliant,” the Doctor said tapping at the controls on the console.

And so they travelled on, the Doctor and Martha Jones in the TARDIS, their names burning through the stars, forever.

The clock struck two
Off the TARDIS flew,
Hickory Dickory dock.

End.