Episode 7: Fragmented Part 4

“Oh my God…” Conner gasped. “Wendy’s a robot!”

He turned and ran back down the stairs, shutting the door as he went. He ran through the house, back to the stairs and into the kitchen. Dorris looked up from her sweeping as he grabbed her.

“Come with me,” Conner said. “I’ve found something. We don’t have much time!”
“What’s going on?” Dorris asked, as he pulled her from the room.

Conner ignored her and ran up the stairs, and back to the dusty part of the house. He found the door and pointed at it.

“It’s a door,” Dorris said.
“But behind it,” Conner said.

He pulled open the door and together they ran up the stairs. They entered the room, but it was empty.

“What am I looking at?” Dorris asked, peering into the shadows.
“It’s gone!” Conner cried. “There was a giant computer – Wendy’s a robot.”
“A robot?” Dorris laughed. “Is that the best you can come up with?”
“I’m not lying,” Conner said. “You know I can travel in time, so why not believe this?”
“It’s just… Wendy?” Dorris asked incredulously.
“Yes!” Conner sighed.
“Is this because she didn’t let us have dinner? She’s not so bad,” Dorris replied.
“No! She really is a robot!” Conner said. “Come on, let’s go.”

Georgia stepped into Giles’ office. A fire continued to blaze in the grate, but Giles’ chair was empty.

“Hello?” Georgia called. “I guess that golden thing wasn’t in here after all…”

She began to turn for the door, when she spotted a pair of shoes poking out from Giles’ desk. She began to walk slowly towards them.

“Doctor Brown?” she asked nervously. “Giles?”

She gripped the desk, feeling faint. Giles’ shoes were still on his feet. Blood stained his coat, but the top half of his body was missing. There was no sign of it having been cut off. It was almost like the top half of Giles’ body was invisible.

“Oh my Christ,” Georgia muttered, dropping onto her knees.

She felt his wrist for a pulse. There was none.

“He’s dead.”

Mark Nott switched on his communicator as he walked down the corridor.

“Larry?” Mark asked, talking in to it. “Any reports of Kritzanthian attack? And where’s Triss? She was supposed to be looking after that Doctor.”
“Dunno, sorry,” Larry replied through the communicator. “And no reports of Kritzanthian activity. Steve suspects there may be an attack tonight though. It seems the Doctor has disappeared as well. Give me a shout if you find them.”
“Will do,” Mark said, switching off the intercom.

He turned the corner into the next corridor. Lying on the floor was the top half of a man, his face smashed and covered in blood. The bottom half of his body seemed to be invisible. Mark ran over and crouched beside the man.

“Dead,” he confirmed. “I’d better tell Larry.”

Georgia grabbed Giles’ feet, and began to drag him towards the door. As she did so, the top half of his body began to reveal itself. In the future, Mark leapt backwards as the body of the man began to disappear. Once Georgia had pulled Giles completely into view, she checked it was definitely him, before running from the room, calling for help.

“Let me see,” Mark said.

He switched on a scanner in his belt. It pinged twice. That meant the scanner had detected two life forms.

“One is me, I’d imagine,” Mark muttered. “Where’s the next one, scanner? The next corridor?”

He walked to the end of the corridor. The murderer of the man could be standing in the next one. Mark turned the corner, pulling out his gun. He came face to face with a man of gold.

“Hello,” Mark said. “What are you then?”

The gold did not reply verbally, but physically, by smashing its fist down on Mark’s brain, killing him instantly.

Triss ran over to the skeletons. The Doctor pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver and began to scan one of the bodies.

“The crew, they’re all dead…” Triss said. “What happened here?”
“They’ve been dead for a while,” the Doctor noticed. “About several years.”
“We don’t get contact with the other bases,” Triss said. “It’s very likely. But how did they die? Why didn’t we know this before?”
“If I can hack into the CCTV, or whatever you have nowadays,” the Doctor said, sonicking the computer.

The computer screen rewound to when the crew weren’t skeletons, but living people. He and Triss peered in to look at the scene. The crew were sat around, drinking coffee and occasionally popping out for the toilet. Suddenly the room was filled with dust, and part of the right wall exploded. Several Crocodile-like creatures ran into the room with large guns. There were several red blasts, and the crew fell onto their desks, dead. The Doctor frowned.

“They’re already skeletons,” he muttered.
“That’s the Kritzanthian technology – their guns can turn you into skeletons,” Triss said.
“That’s… Annoying,” the Doctor said.
“What do we do now?” Triss asked. “We’d better tell Larry and the others about this. We need to push extra hard now that we’ve lost a base.”
“Come with me,” the Doctor said, leading her from the room.

Conner and Dorris ran down the corridor to the bedrooms. They stopped outside his room.

“Which room is Peter’s?” he asked.
“This one,” Dorris said, leading him to it.

Conner knocked on the door.

“Peter, open up!” he cried. “We have something to tell you!”

The door opened, and an immaculately dressed Peter stepped out. Dorris looked at Conner strangely. He was backing away slowly.

“He’s like her,” Conner said. “Peter’s like Wendy.”
“A robot?” Dorris asked.
“Yes, look! Dressed perfectly,” Conner said. “And his eyes, they’re… Inhuman.”
“Is something the matter, Conner?” Peter asked.
“N- No,” Conner said, shutting the door in Peter’s face.
“Susan,” Dorris said, running to the next door.

It swung open, revealing a perfect, robotic Susan, with Lucy at her side. The door next to Conner’s opened, and Edward, also robotic, stepped out. Peter’s door opened, and they turned to face Conner and Dorris.

“You will be perfect,” Susan said.
“You will achieve perfection,” Lucy added blankly.
“Perfection,” repeated Edward.
“Perfection,” Peter and Susan said together.

Conner grabbed Dorris’ arm and hauled her backwards. They turned around, and came face to face with Wendy.

“Perfection,” Wendy smiled blankly.
“C’mon!” Conner cried, grabbing Dorris by the arm.

They ran around Wendy and along the corridor. They reached the stairs, with the children still following them. They descended the steps, breathing sharply. They ran into the kitchen, where Mrs Macready stepped out from the shadows, carrying a large kitchen knife.

“This house used to be loud, messy, evil,” she said.

The children walked down the stairs, and surrounded Dorris and Conner. Dorris grabbed Conner’s hand. He squeezed it in reply.

“And I will have Perfection,” Mrs Macready said triumphantly. “At any cost.”

Georgia ran down the corridor, screaming for help. Carlisle poked his golden hair around his office door, and Pippa appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Giles!” Georgia cried. “It’s Giles! He’s been murdered!”
“When?” Carlisle asked seriously, emerging from his office.
“I just discovered the body,” Georgia said, tears falling down her face.
“What happened?” Pippa asked, running to join them. “How was he killed? And what were you doing up there, Georgia?”
“I thought… I thought I saw a flash of Gold,” Georgia began. “So I followed it, and Giles’ office door was open. I went inside, and discovered the body.”
“I don’t think she’s lying,” Carlisle said. “She told me earlier she’d experienced death before, but this time she seems genuinely shocked.”
“Do you think it was the Gold that did it?” Pippa asked, frowning.
“Yes,” Georgia said. “I’m going to sound mad, but… I think it was a man made of Gold!”

Steve Rollins turned off his communicator, and switched it back on again. He sighed.

“I’ve tried everything,” he said into it. “And I still can’t contact Mark.”
“All right,” Larry said. “Come back to control. If the Doctor and Triss aren’t back soon, we’ll do a full scan for them.”
“Okay,” Steve said, heading back.

As he turned the corridor, he saw a smear of blood on the floor. He ran over to it, scanning it with the strap on his belt. He grabbed his communicator.

“I’ve found some blood,” he told Larry.
“Is it Mark’s?” Larry asked.
“No,” Steve said. “According to my scanner, it belongs to one Giles Brown.”
“Maybe he was with the Doctor…?”
“I don’t think so,” Steve replied. “According to the records, Giles Brown died in 1945.”

Steve heard an intake of breath at the other end.

“It’s happened before,” Larry said. “A few weeks ago, I found the body of Gerry Bates. He died in 1945 too.”
“What didn’t we know about this?” Steve asked.
“Because I was freaked out,” Larry said. “And I thought it might’ve been a mistake…”
“Well it’s happened twice now,” Steve said. “Put it on the records. Hang on; my scanner’s picking up something else around the corner.”

He followed the directions the scanner sent to him. Walking round the corner, he saw the smashed skull of Mark Nott. Steve ran forwards, but he never reached Mark. A wave of heat passed over him, and suddenly, he was standing in a darker corridor.

“Scanner? What happened?” Steve asked.
“You moved,” the scanner said. “All the way back to 1945…”

To be continued…