Episode 7: Fragmented Part 3

The Doctor looked at the Shadowy Man chained up to the wall.

“He was waiting for me,” the Doctor said to Triss grimly.
“What? No Georgia and Conner?” the Shadowy Man asked.
“Oh you’d know,” the Doctor said. “You always seem to know where we’re going.”
“Funny that,” the Shadowy Man mused. “Has Georgia written in her diary lately?”
“What diary?” Triss asked.
“The one Georgia wrote down their adventures in,” the Shadowy Man laughed.
“She buried that with her brother,” the Doctor said. “It’s inside Richard’s coffin.”
“Was inside Richard’s coffin,” the Shadowy Man corrected.
“But what happened after she stopped writing in it...?” the Doctor asked.
“First I had Conner’s watch,” the Shadowy Man said, referring to the tracking device Conner had previously had in his watch. “And when that was discovered, I had a second tracking device placed.”
“Where?” the Doctor frowned.
“On the TARDIS,” the Shadowy Man said. “You’ll never find it.”

Suddenly Triss grabbed the Doctor’s arm. He looked down at her strangely.

“I’m getting reports of teleportation activity,” Triss muttered.
“No!” the Doctor cried, as the chains fell to the ground and the Shadowy Man teleported away.
“Come on,” Triss said grimly. “Let’s go back to the control room. I think you should know more about our war.”

Georgia knocked on Jeremy’s door.

“Come in!” Jeremy said.

Georgia opened the door and stepped inside.

“Hello,” Georgia said nervously.
“Hello,” Jeremy grinned.
“Carlisle said you could help me – I need an office,” Georgia said. “And I wanted to ask you more about the boy you found earlier.”
“Of course,” Jeremy said, indicating a chair by the fire. “Sit down.”

Georgia sat down in the chair. Jeremy abandoned his paperwork and joined her in the chair opposite.

“What office would you like? I’ve got one next to Carlisle spare.”
“Umm, yes please,” Georgia blushed.
“If it’s not going to distract you too much?” Jeremy grinned.
“I’ll manage,” Georgia replied, poking out her tongue.
“Great, I’ll get that sorted out for you soon,” Jeremy said. “Now what did you want to know?”
“What do you do – in the hospital?” Georgia asked.
“I heal people. I’m especially good at brains,” Jeremy said. “I don’t have a girlfriend. Can’t think why. Maybe the brain thing freaks them out…”
“Yeah, or maybe it’s the millions of kids you’ve got at your house,” Georgia added. “Speaking of which, you gained another one today.”
“He looked about 16,” Jeremy said. “He didn’t say what he was doing in the hospital – he wasn’t hurt. I guessed his secret – he was evacuated, but ran away. A lot of children don’t like where they end up, so I sent him to my own house. For his own good. He’d see that evacuation wasn’t always a bad thing.”
“Did he give a name?” Georgia asked.
“You know, I honestly can’t remember,” Jeremy said. “You’re welcome to come to my house tonight and speak to him. You could even have a coffee…”
“Oh,” Georgia said.

They were all the same. If you spoke to any man throughout history, they had usually tried it on with Georgia Bell.

“I think I’ll leave it,” Georgia said. “Thanks anyway. I’ve probably never met that boy anyway. After all, Conner was with the Doctor…”
“Riiight,” Jeremy said, not understanding a word of the last sentence she had said.

Georgia stood up, and left the room. Once outside she heard a bell. Pippa poked her head around the door of her office.

“Another patient,” she said. “You get used to this.”
“I’m not sure I ever will,” Georgia sighed.
“Come on, let’s go see the damage,” Pippa laughed, linking her arm inside Georgia’s as they walked down the corridor.

“What am I like, in the future?” Dorris asked.
“Old,” Conner said simply.

Dorris laughed.

“Enough about me,” Conner said. “What about you?”
“There’s not much to tell,” Dorris said. “I was born in London, in 1930. My mother taught me all the etiquette. I’m a proper lady.”
“I don’t know a thing about etiquette,” Conner laughed. “We’re all common where I’m from.”
“Seriously?” Dorris asked.

Conner stood up on the bed, and began jumping up and down on it. Dorris leapt from the bed in shock, but began laughing at Conner’s carefree attitude.

“You’ll get smacked!” Dorris said. “Stop it! It’s not proper!”
“Oh come on Dorris,” Conner laughed, pulling her up to bounce with him. “Have some fun!”

Dorris reluctantly began to jump, screaming with laughter as she discovered a new passion. She seemed to most enjoy the thought of breaking the rules, bouncing higher and higher.

“Oh no!” she suddenly said. “It’s gone 7 o’clock! We won’t get any dinner!”

She leapt off the bed, and ran from the room. Conner leapt after her. They ran a different way to where Conner had previously come, and ran down a staircase, and into the dining room, where everyone sat eating their dinner. He remembered the faces of Peter, Susan, Edward, Lucy and Mrs Macready, but another woman sat at the head of the table, clearly in charge.

“Sorry we’re late,” Dorris said breathlessly. “Conner got lost.”
“Hello,” Conner said, appearing from behind her.
“I’m Wendy French,” the woman told him.
“I didn’t think Doctor Hutchinson had a wife,” Conner said. “And not one so young.”
“I’m not his wife,” Wendy laughed. “I was evacuated at the start of the war because of Jeremy’s nephew. We were to be engaged, but he went off to fight and I was taken here. Now you’re late for your dinner. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Dorris said, bowing her head.
“We’re sorry,” Conner said. “But it was my fault – at least let Dorris have some dinner.”
“No,” Dorris said. “It should be Conner who’s given dinner. He’s new; he needs time to get used to the rules of the house. They haven’t even heard of etiquette where he comes from!”
“You know the rules,” Mrs Macready interrupted. “Being late costs you your dinner. Now go up to your rooms. You may rejoin us when dinner is finished.”
“Dorris, I’d like you to sweep the kitchen floor,” Wendy said.
“Yes Wendy,” Dorris said. “Bye Conner.”

She took the broom by the door and walked into the kitchen. Conner turned and walked back up the stairs. He walked back along the corridor, and turned left. He was soon lost in the many passages of the house. He opened a door and saw more stairs.

“I wonder what’s up here…” he muttered.

Running his hand along a shelf, Conner saw that this area of the house was dusty – and was never used. He shut the door behind him and walked up the stairs. They clearly led to an attic of some kind. He reached another door at the top of the stairs. Swinging it open, he gasped in shock at what he saw.

Triss led the Doctor through the control room, past Larry, who was working at a desk. She took him to a door, a pressed several numbers into a keypad. As she opened the door, sunlight flooded into the Doctor’s eyes, and he blinked and they adjusted.

“This is it,” Triss said. “Our life.”

They were stood on a bridge, which led across to a mountain. The Doctor looked up, and saw another mountain behind them. There were several hundred bridges leading across from mountain to mountain.

“How many mountains are there?” the Doctor asked.
“Nine,” Triss said. “The Kritzanthians have captured four of the mountains, and one remains neutral. We seek to capture this mountain, which will help us defeat the Kritzanthians.”
“Right,” the Doctor said. “And who owns the mountain at the end of this bridge?”
“We do,” Triss said.
“Fancy a look?” the Doctor asked.
“We can’t! Nobody is permitted to leave the mountain they’ve been assigned to,” Triss said. “It could result in a Kritzanthian attack!”
“Oh come on,” the Doctor grinned, grabbing her hand and pulling her across the bridge.

Triss laughed nervously, and ran with the Doctor across the bridge. It was incredibly long, and Triss couldn’t believe they’d reached the other end without anything happening.

“It’s quiet,” Triss muttered as they reached the door opposite.
“Almost too quiet,” the Doctor said, pulling out the Sonic Screwdriver. “Let’s have a look inside.”

He opened the door, and the two were met by a cloud of dust. Cobwebs littered the floor and the highest corners. The Doctor bounded inside, followed by Triss. They walked down the corridor, and headed into the main control room. It was similar to the one back at the other base, except it was dark, and in the place of Larry and the others, were several rotting skeletons.

Georgia followed Pippa down the steps, where she thought she’d spotted a flash of gold.

“You go on without me,” she told Pippa.
“Sure,” Pippa said. “See you in a minute!”

Pippa walked away, and Georgia ran towards where she thought she had seen the gold. It wasn’t there. She spotted it again at the end of the corridor. Running to catch it up, she found it had gone again. She spotted a gold flash by the stairs. It almost looked like a golden man walking up the stairs… She followed the gold, and found herself in a corridor, with the offices of Pippa, Giles and Becky.

“Where are you, gold?” she muttered. “Come out for Georgia!”

But it had vanished. She looked at the door to Giles’ office. It was slightly ajar. She walked to the door, and stepped inside…

Conner stepped into the attic like room, and gaped at the machine. It was like a giant computer – the kind they used in the old days. He looked at the screens. The computer was working at full power. It seemed to be monitoring something. Conner spotted a button marked ‘files’ on the large control desk. One file popped up. It showed Wendy, the woman who had stopped him having dinner. He read through the text. It mentioned her engagement to Jeremy’s nephew, but at the bottom, Conner spotted a small line of text: ‘activating Wendy was successful – she is programmed for all mandatory tasks, and seems to have forgotten her capture. With a few tweaks, it is possible she could forget Christopher Hutchinson altogether… Yes, a brilliant work of manufacturing. You’d never even know she was a robot…’

To be continued…