Episode 11: Neurosis Part 5

John woke up inside his car, his knuckles white from clenching his seat. He looked around, confused, before sighing with relief. Petr Costravalos inside his house had been a dream. But… That meant… John shook his head. He was finding it hard telling what was a dream and what was reality.

“No!” he cried, starting his car up.

There was a rumble overhead, and the sky darkened, the clouds rolling in over London. John clutched his head as he drove back to his house. Flashes of Conner passed through his mind. No. He had to concentrate on what was real, like Victoria, and work, and Alan and Dave, rubbish one night stands, cups of tea and boring T.V. But it was hard.

“In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do,” John sang, trying to concentrate.

That felt better, and so John continued the song.

“Now you’re in New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you. Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New Yoooork.”

Finally he reached home, and he leaped out of the car and rushed to the front door. Victoria was walking past, and she stopped when she saw John’s frantic state.

“Bloody awful weather,” she said. “You okay John? Listen, if it’s about me telling you to see a shrink, I’m sorry. John?”

He had ignored her, and stepped into the house. Victoria ran across his drive and followed him into the porch, where he had frozen still. She looked at the mess on the floor and walls. He had been burgled.

“John, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’ll call the police.”
“Get out.”
“What?” Victoria asked, confused.
“I said get out. NOW!” John bellowed.

Victoria backed away, scared, and John slammed the door in her face. He ran into the living room, and screamed.

“PETR!”

There was no reply. John sighed and collapsed onto the sofa. He’d gotten so worked up over his dream, he needed to calm down. He switched on the T.V., and changed the channel until he found something half decent. As he began to calm down, he stopped shaking, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

***

“I feel like we’re best friends!” Kaylie laughed. “You’re so nice!”
“Thank you,” Korena smiled.

Kaylie took Korena’s arm and led her down the pavement on the way to Beth’s. Conner and Zac followed, catching up on recent events at home and in space, while the Doctor and Georgia headed up the back of the group.

“It was a bad mistake to show Korena 21st Century alcohol,” Zac muttered.
“Why, how much has she had to drink?” Conner asked.
“She hasn’t,” Zac laughed. “But Kaylie’s completely –”
“Pissed,” Conner noticed.
“Yeah,” Zac laughed. “Welcome back.”

Conner laughed in return. Beth heard the doorbell ring, and answered it, whilst chatting to Catherine.

“Who’s that? Is it your dad?” Catherine seemed excited. “He’s so lush…”
“It’s Kaylie!” Beth cried, opening the door. “And Conner!”

She hugged Conner, almost tearing his arms off, much to the annoyance of Georgia, who ignored Beth completely.

“Who’s this?” Beth asked, nodding at Korena.
“Korena Hashimoto,” Conner explained. “She’s a film star in the 40th Century. She joined us in the TARDIS.”

Catherine, alerted by the commotion, stepped out of the house. She saw Conner and Zac, Beth and Kaylie, and her eyes finally settled on Korena.

“Oh my God!” she cried. “It’s you! From the films!”
“You’ve seen some of my work?” Korena asked excitedly, making her way to Catherine.
“Almost every film!” Catherine said. “I love all those lines you say.”
“Oh, you speak Japanese?” Korena asked.

Beth and Conner laughed as Korena and Catherine headed inside the house.

“Do you think we should tell her she’s from the future?” Beth asked.
“No, leave her to it,” Conner grinned. “She’s a bloody good actress herself. If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost think Catherine really had seen all her films!”

Georgia, meanwhile, tugged the Doctor’s sleeve, who was watching with a bemused expression. He turned to her, and saw that she was holding her phone in the sky.

“I can’t get any signal,” she muttered. “But it’s a superphone – I should get signal everywhere.”
“What’s that in the sky?” the Doctor replied, putting his glasses on.

He pointed at a grey blob that seemed to be morphing. Suddenly, a bolt of red lightening flew down and struck the house, exploding on Beth’s T.V. aerial.

“That’s my bloody T.V.!” Beth shouted.

The grey blob morphed into a group of figures, floating in the sky. They wore grey cloaks, and beneath them, Zac could make out claws and skeletal wings.

“It’s the Death Collectors!” the Doctor cried. “Everybody, run!”

He grabbed Georgia’s arm, and hauled out of the way of an explosion. Kaylie screamed and ran with Zac, Beth and Conner after the Doctor. Korena raced after them, leaving Catherine alone in the house. She screamed, backing away as one of the Death Collectors hovered down by the house.

“Catherine, close the door!” Beth screamed. “Run!”

Catherine slammed the door to the house shut, as the Death Collectors fired more bolts at the large group.

“Split up!” Georgia cried.

She and the Doctor, followed by Korena ran across the street and into an alleyway, while Beth, Zac, Kaylie and Conner ran down the street in the opposite direction.

***

The Doctor leaned over Conner, shaking him amongst the palm leaves. Georgia and Korena watched from afar, hoping he would succeed.

“Wake up Conner!” he cried, shaking him.

***

John sat bolt upright. The Doctor’s face was still blurry, his voice unclear, but something was different this time.

“I’ve never dreamed one thing after the other!” he gasped. “I always woke up in between. But… That must mean… Conner’s past, his present, and my life are colliding!”

He slipped onto the floor as he saw an unconscious Conner. Climbing to his feet, he rushed out of the door and leapt into his car, slamming it into life. He raced around to the shrink’s office, not bothering to park it properly.

“Oi! Careful!” Joyce cried as he ran past.

He ignored her and burst into the shrink’s office.

***

“Come on Conner, wake up!” the Doctor cried.
“It’s no use,” Georgia said quietly. “Maybe I should do mouth to mouth…”
“I’ve got one more option,” the Doctor replied. “Hang on – no! Wait! The TARDIS!”

He leapt off the floor and skidded over to the blackened TARDIS, leaving Georgia and Korena to watch Conner wearily.

***

“The dreams, the visions, whatever, they’re showing me two different things!” John explained to the shrink. “Conner Bennet’s past and his present – in the Jungle – but these two things, they’re colliding with my life! You’ve gotta help me! Take it away!”

He sank to the floor, clutching the desk.

***

The Doctor raced back to Conner, bending over him. He listened to his heart beat against his chest, and took a deep breath.

“What are you going to do?” Georgia asked.

***

“Oh my God!” John cried.

He saw the Jungle flash into his mind once more, but this time it was different. He saw the Doctor. But, he wasn’t the Doctor, he was…

“You!” John gasped, pointing at the shrink. “You’re the Doctor!”

The shrink stood up from his chair, and bent down beside John, who was clutching his head in pain.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” the Doctor said.
“What’s happening to me? Is he real – is Conner real?” he cried.
“Yes. The TARDIS crashed,” the Doctor explained. “And she’s shoving all of her power – that’s the entire power of the TARDIS – right into your head. That little brain, right there!”

He tapped on John’s head, causing him to cry out.

“And all the power – it’s creating you!” the Doctor said. “Blimey, a whole new personality, dreaming of a real life. Those aren’t dreams, they’re real. This, this life of yours here, that’s the real dream.”
“But it’s worse than that,” John realised.
“I’m sorry,” the Doctor repeated. “The TARDIS pushing its energy into Conner, it’s killing him. You’re existence is killing my friend.”
“What do I have to do?” John gasped, clutching his head in increasing pain.
“You have to die, so that Conner can live!”

John nodded silently, and the Doctor placed his hands on John’s face.

“It’s okay,” the Doctor soothed. “I can take the pain away, that’s it, dream your last, it’s easy.”

***

“You okay?” Georgia asked Conner.
“Fine,” Conner replied. “I’m just glad to be back.”

Georgia smiled and walked back to the console, and joined Korena, who glanced over at Conner with a worried expression. Conner saw Georgia say something, and Korena looked a little more at ease. The Doctor was patting the TARDIS console happily, before he caught Conner’s eye and stopped.

“You alright?”
“Fine,” Conner repeated. “Did he say anything, before you removed him?”

The Doctor shook his head.

“He just wanted you to live,” the Doctor explained. “And you know, he wasn’t just created from the TARDIS, he was made up of your consciousness too.”
“What does that mean?”
“That he’s still in there,” the Doctor tapped his head. “Tucked away.”
“But he thought his world was real,” Conner said. “All that dreaming – he must have thought he was going mental.”
“He did,” the Doctor replied. “He went to see a shrink. He had Neurosis.”
“Neurosis?” Conner asked.
“It’s occurs within a poor ability to adapt to one’s environment,” the Doctor explained. “Basically you weren’t used to living as an adult, and the shock of it caused you to remember your actual life. I guess you’d say he had Psychosis – a loss of touch with reality – but in the 22nd Century the two illnesses are combined, to avoid confusion with the Dominican Republic…”

He seemed to realise that he was waffling, so he turned and left Conner to his thoughts; of John, Victoria, Petr and the little part of his brain that was smiling, and was glad for him to be out there, in the universe, living his life, more than John Bennet had ever done in a single day.

The End.

Next time:

"The water's song!"
"Welcome to the Houses of Parliament!"
"Help me!"
"A bridge on the River Thames, east of London, has collapsed!"
"The cult who think they can defeat the world."
"I saw the devil."
"Who are you?"
"The four women - who will all die!"

Coming Soon...

Episode 11: Neurosis Part 4

Korena stumbled as she tried to escape. The something stepped into the light, and Korena breathed a sigh of relief.

“Doctor!” she cried. “You gave me the fright of my life!”
“Sorry!” the Doctor said. “I was just getting some more firewood. Try and go back to sleep.”

***

John woke up on the floor of the shrink’s office.

“Why don’t you come back tomorrow, around eleven?” the shrink asked. “I believe we’re making good progress.”
“Thank you,” John said, departing from the office. “See you tomorrow.”
“Goodbye John.”

***

The Doctor slammed the controls down, and air pumped into the room ahead. Georgia grabbed the door handle, and opened the door. It hissed as it opened and Georgia and Korena slipped into the room beyond.

“We need to find the TARDIS!” the Doctor said as he shut the door behind them.
“And Conner,” Georgia pointed out.

It was the year 3052, and the Doctor, Georgia, Conner and Korena had arrived on the Century Ship for a cruise around the Freedom System, when it was attacked by Robots. Georgia, the Doctor and Korena had made it into the staff section where the TARDIS was parked, but Conner remained trapped in the ballroom.

“What if you and Korena find the TARDIS, and I go to the ballroom?” Georgia said.
“Listen, Georgia, we will find Conner, I promise,” the Doctor replied.
“You don’t want to find him,” Georgia said. “Otherwise we’d be going to the ballroom. I’m going there myself.”

She turned and ran back through the door. The Doctor chased after her, turning back to Korena as he opened the door.

“Go find the TARDIS!” he cried. “Use that phone I gave you – ring me and tell me when you’ve found it!”

Korena nodded and hurried down the steam-filled corridor, her dress clinging to her in the heat. Conner, meanwhile, was helping some of the passengers across the ballroom floor and to the doors on the other side. He looked up and noticed the chandelier was beginning to break from the ceiling. If it did, the passengers on the right of the ballroom would all be killed. He needed to get them across faster, without being crushed himself.

“Everyone! If you could get to the left side and out of the doors to the escape pods!” he cried.
“Conner!” Hope screamed, trapped under the table nearby.

Conner dived past a family and skidded along the floor, stopping beside the table. He lifted it up, allowing Hope to crawl weakly from underneath it. He took her hand and led her to the left side of the ballroom, as the chandelier cracked.

“Watch out!” Hope screamed.

The chandelier fell from the ceiling, destroying the right side of the ballroom. The floor broke into several chunks, and people screamed as they fell into the cracks. Conner pulled Hope out of the way as glass shattered all around them.

“This way!” Conner cried, pulling Hope towards the doorway.
“Everyone’s dead!” Hope sighed. “Everyone…”
“Keep faith, Hope,” Conner said. “No, that was cheesy.”

Hope laughed, and they continued to run. Korena ran to the door of the TARDIS, and froze.

“Oh God, he didn’t give me a key.”

She took her chance, and hoped the TARDIS would be unlocked. It wasn’t. She sighed, and leaned against it.

“What is that?”

She squinted into the distance at something shifting. It seemed like it was a figure, running towards her through the steam. She looked at its arm – it didn’t have a hand. Korena screamed as she realised that the shifting thing attached to a chainsaw was one of the Robots that had invaded the ship.

“Doctor!” she screamed, hoping he would hear her.

There was nowhere to run, the TARDIS was blocking the doorway to the room beyond, and she couldn’t go left or right, there wasn’t any room. There was only one other option – try and push the TARDIS from out of the doorway.

“Hurry up Hashimoto!” Korena muttered to herself.

She turned and pushed the TARDIS as hard as she could. For one moment it was like a brick wall, then it seemed to realise what she was trying to do, and slid with ease into the room beyond. Just when she thought she might escape, the TARDIS stopped. She breathed in and squeezed into the position between the TARDIS and the doorway. With a gasp of breath she slammed the door shut.

“Yes!” she laughed.

There was a hiss, and a click. Suddenly the door moved away from the ship, and the angry Robot moved further away. Korena gasped and looked at the stars around her. The glass pod she was in was floating through space. That glass pod was an –

“Escape pod!” Korena moaned.

The Doctor had caught up with Georgia a few corridors ago, and with some convincing, the two raced to the ballroom. Georgia opened the door to the right of the ballroom, and screamed when piles of rubble tumbled out of the doorway, and fires started along the corridor.

“What out!” the Doctor said, pulling her out of harms way.
“But Conner’s in there!” Georgia screamed.

She collapsed to her knees, and screamed so loudly the Doctor let go of her and backed away. On the other side of the rubble, Conner heard the scream and dashed for the exit, leaving Hope avoiding the flames as she reached the door.

“Georgia!” Conner cried. “Where are you?”
“We’re here!” the Doctor shouted.

Georgia looked up from the floor as Conner burst around the corner. He saw her tears, and hugged her.

“I’m fine George!” he said. “Don’t be so silly, come on.”

Georgia nodded and took his hand, as the three ran to find the TARDIS.

“Oh no,” Korena moaned. “The Doctor’s going to be so mad at me…”

She squinted and peered at the remaining escape pods. There were three left. Suddenly there was an explosion, and two of the escape pods were blasted into ash.

“Oh. My. Christ.”

The Doctor used the Sonic Screwdriver to lock the door while Georgia and Conner sprinted to the TARDIS. As the Doctor ran after them, he heard Georgia moan in despair.

“The TARDIS has gone,” she said. “And where’s Korena?”
“You sent her here on her own?” Conner gasped. “But she’s… She’s new!”
“She’ll be fine,” the Doctor said. “Look!”

He pointed out of the window, where the Robot that had chased Korena was floating.

“He must have attacked Korena,” the Doctor said. “Where are we?”
“Escape pods,” Georgia replied, pointing at a sign over their heads.
“Could she have pushed the TARDIS into an escape pod?” Conner asked. “Is that one floating over there?”
“Yes!” the Doctor cried. “It’s the TARDIS!”

Boom! There was an explosion behind them, and Georgia and Conner were knocked off their feet. Two of the escape pods were blasted into ash, and the Doctor threw himself at a computer to keep the oxygen from escaping in the holes they left behind. He heard footsteps down the corridor, and pointed frantically at the remaining escape pod.

“The Robots are coming!” he cried.
“The what?” Georgia shouted over the noise.
“The… Robatrons, I dunno!” the Doctor sighed. “Get into the escape pod!”

Georgia pulled herself up from the floor, and dashed over to the escape pod. She pulled open the door as Conner followed, climbing inside the glass pod. The Doctor abandoned the computer controls and dashed into the escape pod. Several Robatrons burst into the room, but the escape pod was already drifting away.

“What about everyone else?” Conner asked. “The ones we left behind.”
“They are more escape pods all over the ship,” the Doctor said. “I’m sure whoever you were saving got out fine.”
“I Hope so,” Conner said quietly.

***

John woke up, and looked at his alarm clock. He sighed, and rolled out of bed. He was late for the shrink’s appointment. It had gone ‘around eleven’ by now, surely. He glanced at Joyce as he raced through the reception, but she said nothing when he burst through the door of the shrink’s office.

“Ah, I’ve been expecting you,” the shrink said, chuckling. “Sorry, couldn’t resist. Now, tell me one of your dreams…”

***

Conner’s phone rang, and he smiled as he answered it.

“Zac.”
“Hi Conner,” Zac said. “Listen; can you come home for a bit? I haven’t seen you for ages, and Kaylie wants to tell you about an alien invasion she stopped.”
“Not again,” Conner sighed. “I know she was brilliant on Pluto, but she’s gotta stop going on about it.”
“I know,” Zac laughed. “But she didn’t mean then. You know I mentioned about the Adults vanishing? Just come back, okay?”
“Fine,” Conner said. “Actually, I’ve got someone to introduce to you…”

As he put down the phone the Doctor set the TARDIS in motion to the present day. Korena, looking worried, walked over to Conner.

“Who are you showing me to?”
“My friends,” Conner said. “They’ve never met a Japanese film star before, and they wanna see if you’ve got what it takes.”
“I am Japan’s most famous actor,” Korena reminded him.
“I wasn’t talking about that,” Conner laughed. “My friends are very protective over who we share the TARDIS with.”

Korena gulped, causing Georgia to spit out her tea.

“He’s just teasing you,” she laughed, choking. “Zac and Kaylie are lovely, honestly.”

Zac and Kaylie heard the TARDIS materialising, and ran down the steps and out of Kaylie’s flat. They grinned as they saw the familiar blue box stood on the corner. Its doors opened, and Conner stepped out, followed by Georgia and the Doctor.

“Hey,” Zac said.
“Hi,” Conner grinned. “Zac, Kaylie; I’d like you to meet our new friend – Korena Hashimoto.”

Nervously, Korena opened the doors, and stepped out into the 21st Century.

***

The shrink interrupted John just as he was about to explain the moment when Zac and Kaylie met Korena.

“Listen, I’ve just remembered something important, can we reconvene tomorrow?”
“Sure,” John said, confused. “I’ll see you around eleven tomorrow.”

The shrink nodded, and John left. He spent the drive back home wondering what had just happened. The shrink seemed worried – like John’s condition was worsening. No, it couldn’t be that, it was probably his personal life. He’s probably promised to take his wife to lunch and realised that he was late. John convinced himself that this was the case as he stepped out of his car, and entered the house.

“Christ, it’s a tip in here,” he said to himself. “I really must clean the place more.”

He stepped further into the house, which looked like it did the time Alan and Dave had organised a house party at his house – without telling him. But it was different this time. Everything was messy, but it was thrown around with contempt. Suddenly, John realised.

“Oh Christ, I’ve been burgled.”

He ran back to the front door, which he’d locked. He took out his phone and dialled Victoria’s number.

“Vic, get over here now!” he said. “I’m stuck in my porch.”
“What happened now?” Victoria sighed. “I was walking round to yours anyway, I’m two minutes away.”
“I’ve been burgled,” John whispered. “And I think the burglar could still be in the house.”

Two minutes later, and Victoria was using her key to unlock the door. As she stepped inside the porch, John made to leave, but she stopped him, nodding into the rest of the house.

“We can’t go back!” John said. “The burglar!”
“Might not even be here,” Victoria said. “Come on.”

She stepped inside the house, pulling John behind her. The door swung shut, blocking the light from outside. As Victoria made her way to the kitchen, a figure stepped out from the shadows.

“Hello,” Petr said.

John gasped. It was Petr Costravalos, and he had a gun.

To be continued…

Episode 11: Neurosis Part 3

John switched his car off and stepped nervously out of it. He headed across the street and into the small, white, clean building. He smiled at the blonde receptionist, who was chewing in a bored way.

“Hello…” he said quietly.
“You need to wake up!” the receptionist said urgently. “Conner! Wake up!”
“Who are you?” John asked quickly. “Why do I need to wake up?”
“It’s me…” the receptionist said obviously. “Georgia…”

John gasped and stumbled backwards and the receptionist urged him to wake up once more. As she leant over the desk, her head jerked sideways, and she blinked as if she had stepped outside during a particularly bright morning.

“What were you saying?” the receptionist asked.
“Georgia?” John repeated, confused.
“My name’s Joyce,” Joyce corrected him. “Now, would you like to book an appointment?”

Fifteen minutes later and he was at the pub with Victoria, pint in hand. Victoria was on her phone to Alan, telling him that John had booked an appointment with a shrink for the next day. She smiled and placed her phone on the table.

“I’m all yours,” she said. “What persuaded you to book the appointment?”
“I’ve realised,” John said. “I’m Conner Bennet. All these dreams are centred around me.”
“Let’s hope the shrink is a good one,” Victoria grinned. “That is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Before John could reply, Victoria’s phone buzzed, and she snatched it up, almost spilling her pint.

“Dave!” she cried. “I know! Yeah! Yeah! I know!”

So Dave had heard about his visit too. John sighed.

“It’s Dave,” Victoria whispered.
“I know.”
“I’ll be back in a sec,” Victoria replied, getting up out of her seat.

She left John sitting beside the fire to discuss with Dave the unfolding events. She loved dramatics and angst. John slipped off his jacket in the heat of the fire, his eyes closing.

***

The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS, with patchy eyes. Georgia, Conner and Korena remained silent as he lit the large pile of firewood.

“You’d better get some sleep,” he said in a croaky voice. “I’ll keep the fire alight; I’ll keep you warm and safe. It’s the least I can do after…”

He trailed off. Georgia and Korena lay in separate piles of palm leaves, at a loss of words, and Conner followed them into the land of sleep shortly after.

***

The next morning John woke up nice and early, and headed for his first appointment with the shrink. It was unlike he’d expected in many ways – there was no doctor with a notepad, no leather couch, and no headsets. John sat on a comfy chair opposite the shrink, who seemed incredibly ordinary.

“Now, perhaps you’d like to tell me what’s been happening,” the shrink said in a calming voice.
“I’ve been having dreams,” John said. “Where I’m called Conner Bennet, and I travel with an alien in time and space with my friends – Georgia and Korena.”
“And what happens in these dreams?” the shrink asked.
“We travel around, and get into lots of danger,” John said. “But there’s one dream that keeps cropping up…”
“Oh?”
“The Doctor’s (that’s the alien’s name) spaceship has crashed in a jungle,” John explained. “And we’re stranded there. We’ve been collecting firewood and sleeping, but we’re trapped.”
“If you were to place your dreams in a linear narrative, where would this event fall?” the shrink asked.
“What?”
“If you had to place all the dreams in order of when they happened to Conner, where would this jungle scene take place?” the shrink said.
“Well, I’d say the other dreams, if Conner was real, which he isn’t, were in his past,” John said.
“Of course, Conner is just rhetorical.”
“But I’d say the jungle was his present,” John added. “He’s been travelling, but now he’s crashed, and he’ll never travel again.”
“That could be a problem,” the shrink said. “What do you think will happen after this?”
“I dunno,” John said. “I guess I’ll keep dreaming of his past adventures. Maybe they’ll make it out of the jungle.”

He shrugged, and the shrink typed something on his keyboard. He then asked John to lie on the floor, and recount one of his dreams. John thought back to his most recent dream, that he’d had only a few hours ago, and recounted the tale he’d called ‘Back to Colin and Elizabeth’.

***

“Colin!” Elizabeth trilled. “Georgia’s back!”

She rushed to the front door and opened it as the Doctor reached for the doorbell.

“Welcome to our home,” she said grandly. “You may see, we’ve made adjustments. Colin!!”

Colin appeared at the top of the stairs, sighing. Georgia brushed past the Doctor and hugged her parents.

“Mum, this is Conner’s first visit,” she said as she hugged Elizabeth.

Elizabeth squealed in delight and brushed Colin into the kitchen. The Doctor glanced at Conner sympathetically and headed into the lounge with Georgia. Elizabeth returned a few seconds later, stopping Conner, who was attempting to follow.

“Lemonade and cucumber sandwiches will be served shortly,” she announced. “This way Conner, the grand tour starts at the front door!”
“Georgia’s explained the house in a lot of detail,” Conner said. “Doctor, help! Oh, sorry Mr Bell!”

Colin steadied the tray of drinks and waved away Conner’s apologies, grateful to have Elizabeth directed at someone else for once. He entered the lounge and handed the Doctor and Georgia a drink each. Elizabeth was showing Conner an interesting corner of carpet where Richard and Rob had accidentally dropped Georgia’s birthday cake when she was seven and burnt the carpet.

“Where have you been recently then?” Colin asked happily as Elizabeth led Conner out to the microwave to her assurance that she never processed food inside ‘the microwaving contraption’.
“We went to Ireland,” Georgia said. “And 1945.”
“Was it a pub in Ireland?” Colin asked.
“How did you guess Mr Bell?” the Doctor grinned.
“Stereotypes,” Colin laughed. “Ooh Georgia, guess who popped round the other day?”
“Bethany?” Georgia guessed.
“Nope,” Colin said. “Celia Parker! Rob Slater Sr.’s ex-wife! She was at her poor son’s funeral, God bless Rob, and she popped round to give us condolences for Richard, God bless Richard, which was nice.”
“I always thought she was a bit of a bitch,” Georgia muttered. “What did she say, about two deaths in the family?”
“She was sorry for Richard, God bless Richard,” Colin said. “And she was slowly getting used to Rob, God bless Rob, not being there. I was tempted to point out that, being a business woman, she hardly saw him, but it didn’t seem appropriate at the time.”
“Possibly not, no,” Georgia smiled.

Conner, meanwhile, was upstairs, in Richard’s old room, which was untouched since the Slitheen had killed him. Elizabeth had insisted on telling him a story of Richard’s youth, where he had bought Georgia another ice cream after she had dropped hers.

“He was a lovely son,” Elizabeth said sadly. “God bless Richard.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Conner replied.
“You seem very nice,” Elizabeth said casually as they passed Georgia’s room. “I like a gentleman with manners, make sure you wave at Mrs White as you pass next door, I like her to know we keep good company.”
“I care about Georgia very much,” Conner said. “And therefore, I see you as second parents. You heard about my mum and dad’s deaths?”

He was hoping this would distract her enough for him to get away, but Elizabeth had found a new topic of conversation and proceeded to tell him her ways of dealing with her loss, which included ordering Colin to make her lots of cups of tea.

“I don’t even really like tea,” Elizabeth laughed. “It’s just fun to watch Colin squirm.”

Conner laughed in return. He liked Elizabeth, he decided.

***

“You see?” John said to the shrink. “The dreams haven’t got significance, they just happen.”
“I see,” the shrink replied. “Now, continue to lie on the floor, and close your eyes, I’d like to induce a dream if it is possible, to see your reactions when the dream occurs. Do you dream every time you fall asleep?”
“Yeah,” John said.

He yawned. The shrink tapped away at his keyboard, as he began to fall asleep.

***

Petr Costravalos flitted through the trees, heading for the blackened TARDIS. There was a roaring fire spitting and singing as Petr crept past a sleeping Georgia. He bent over Conner, and lifted an eyelid. Instead of stirring, Conner remained unconscious.

“Wake up Conner,” he muttered. “What happened to you? Are you in a coma?”

There was a noise in the trees a few feet away. Petr stood up and leapt silently into the shadows, where he disappeared into the trees. Korena groaned and rolled over, now awake. She glanced at Conner, whose head was lolled sideways.

“Conner?” she muttered, crawling over to him. “Conner? Wake up! Oh God, you’re unconscious!”

She slapped him around the face, but he did not stir. There was another rustle, again a few feet away from where Petr had hidden. With a snap of a twig, something emerged from the shadows. Korena screamed, but Petr was long gone.

To be continued…

Episode 11: Neurosis Part 2

A few minutes after Georgia had woken up; Conner and Korena were awake too. The Doctor still hadn’t emerged, so Georgia had taken charge, and decided to build a fire for the following night. She instructed Conner and Korena to collect firewood, while she built up the pile into a fire-shape.

“Do you think we’ll ever get home?” Korena asked Conner quietly as they dragged more firewood back to the blackened TARDIS. “If we could find our way out of the Jungle…”
“There’s always hope,” Conner said. “But this Jungle goes on for years. And even then, I’m not sure they’ve got time travel in 4473.”
“I’d be dead by now,” Korena realised. “Oh God, my whole family’s dead.”
“If you think of it like that, I’ve been dead for thousands of years,” Conner laughed.
“When do you come from?” Korena asked.
“2011,” Conner replied. “It must seem like the distant past to you.”

Korena shook her head innocently, but then nodded and laughed.

“It does seem a long time ago,” she admitted.
“We don’t even have teleports!” Conner grinned. “Or flying cars. But we do have Lady GaGa. Though judging by our current predicament she isn’t so hot in TARDISes.”

Korena and Conner laughed again, causing Conner to drop all but one of his pieces of firewood. Korena laughed even harder and threw her pieces into the air.

“It doesn’t even matter anymore!” she laughed.

Conner noticed the look in her eye – she was terrified of being trapped in the Heron Jungle. Being an actress, she hid it well, but Conner could tell she was breaking inside. He held his firewood piece in his hand, promising himself that he would whack himself over the head with it if he got into a state like she had.

“It’s all gonna be alright,” he said quietly.

***

“You alright John?” Dave asked, sliding a pint over to John, who was rubbing his eyes.
“Yeah,” John yawned. “I just fell asleep.”
“Work’s so tiring,” Alan laughed. “What are you doing with the scenery?”
“Huh?” John frowned.

Alan pointed to John’s hand, which was holding a piece of firewood. John dropped it and slid it underneath the table with his foot. The dream he’d just experienced was all too fresh in his mind.

“I’ve been having strange dreams,” John explained.
“You ought to see a shrink mate,” Alan said.
“Yeah, Dawn’s mum went to one and she said he was amazing,” Dave said. “Turns out they were sleeping together, but you know, he could have been a really good Psychiatrist despite that…”
“I’m not sleeping with a shrink,” John promised him. “And what Dawn? Danielle’s Dawn? King Prawn Dawn?”
“King Prawn Dawn?” Alan asked.
“You don’t know King Prawn Dawn,” John said. “She’s Susie’s cousin.”
“Danielle’s Dawn, yeah,” Dave replied. “Remember her funeral? The food… Oh, that was a smashing day!”

John laughed, and began to drink his pint.

***

Conner was right – Korena was cracking up. As Georgia headed off to fetch more firewood she slumped to the floor, beginning to cry.

“I can’t do this any more!” she said.
“What do you mean?” Conner asked, sitting down next to her.
“I want to go home,” she sobbed. “I can’t take this anymore.”
“Korena, it’s just collecting firewood,” Conner said. “You’ll be fine.”
“I haven’t done manual labour for years, and I’m dirty, I’m cold, I’m wet, and I’ve never gonna see my home ever again,” she sobbed.

Conner wrapped his arms around her and hugged her comfortingly. She returned the hug, resting her head on his shoulder and crying once more.

***

John woke up, his arms wrapped around a pillow. He rolled over and glanced at his alarm clock. One a.m. Placing the pillow over his face, he drifted back into sleep once more.

***

The Tiger-Faced Alien fired his gun above the group of people. They screamed, and dived to the floor. The Tiger-Faced Alien cackled, and ordered the nearest five people into a small office. They rest of the customers remained on the floor, silent in terror.

“In here,” Tiger-Face ordered.

It was never his plan to capture an Earth Bank and hold the Humans inside it hostage, but when push came to shove, Tiger-Face could hostage with the best of them. The Doctor was with UNIT, trapped by the heat bubble that surrounded the bank. Tiger-Face knew that a companionless Doctor was a weakened Doctor, but was still a threat.

“This is so exciting!” Harry Ladbrook whispered as Tiger-Face led them into the office.

What Tiger-Face didn’t know, was that the Doctor had planted several of his most trusted friends in various places he knew the Tiger would strike. Georgia Bell, Conner Bennet, Kaylie Watson and Harry Ladbrook were inside the London Credit Bank, while Zac Pemberton was looking after the TARDIS.

“What are we gonna do without the Doctor?” Kaylie asked. “I don’t like aliens…”

It was 2010, and Kaylie and Harry were looking forward to the upcoming Spidership competition - and seeing if their year had won. Georgia and Conner stepped inside the office, helping the one unknown woman – an elderly lady named Mae, into a seat. Kaylie and Harry followed, shutting the door behind them.

“If the Doctor or UNIT are to find a way in, I’ll need protection,” Tiger-Face said. “That’s why you five here are extra special hostages. He might make it into the main bank, but the Doctor won’t get inside here.”

He raised his gun in explanation, and Kaylie shuddered. She had faced several aliens since meeting the Doctor – Slitheen, Bulba and Virtual Reality itself – but Tiger-Face was the strangest of them all; an alien, that looked like a creature from Earth. The Doctor had explained this before she agreed to help, but in their current danger, she had forgotten what he’d said.

“I was only in here for a stamp,” Mae said.
“You want the post office,” Conner said. “The one Dorris Goldberg owns. I went in their last week and she recognised me, never forgets a customer. I’d only ever been in their once before, when I bought Virtual Reality, but she recognised me all the same. Said she hadn’t seen me in almost eighty years, but it was only a few months ago…”
“Oh bugger,” Mae said. “There’re so few post offices around these days, I thought you could only buy stamps at banks.”
“You can’t buy them here at all,” Georgia said.
“Still, it’s a good job I popped in,” Mae continued. “You youngsters need me, what with Mr Tiger there.”

Georgia laughed, and then blushed, as Conner glared at her. Poor Mae didn’t realise they had fought dozens of aliens, and that without them she’d have no hope of survival.

“You see, I’ve faced aliens before,” Mae continued.
“Oooh, where?” Harry asked, curious.
“The Theraflu Club,” Mae said. “Back in 2009 – there was a story on Badgers eating people. I met a man, a tall handsome one, with a blonde American girl. We were attacked by these Badgers, but we escaped thanks to the reporter’s car… Then the lovely man dropped me home, and I told Sally that…”

Georgia rolled her eyes and stopped listening. Tiger-Face seemed interested however, watching intently, with a bemused expression. Kaylie slid underneath the desk behind him and took the opportunity of Mae’s distraction to grab the gun. She was a few feet away, when Tiger-Face snapped and grabbed her, lifting her off her feet.

“Think you could pull a fast one did you?” he growled.
“No,” Kaylie stammered. “I was tying my shoelaces.”
“What a load of –”
“Bollards!” Conner cried. “The bollards out of the window are being knocked down! UNIT are getting through the heat shield!”

Tiger-Face gasped, and pointed the gun at Kaylie’s head. Georgia grabbed Harry and stopped him from leaping at Tiger-Face. Conner remained by the window, assessing the situation.

“I’m not dying in a bank!” Kaylie screamed. “I haven’t even got a loan!”

The doors of the bank burst open, and several UNIT soldiers and the Doctor stormed the building. The hostages ran and screamed for the exits as the Doctor strode towards the door of the office. Conner dived at Tiger-Face’s feet as the Doctor burst into the room. Kaylie cried out and dropped to the floor, crawling behind an overturned desk.

“Stop!” Georgia screamed. “Tiger-Face has got Conner!”

Conner gulped as Tiger-Face placed the gun to his head. It loaded with a satisfying click, and the Doctor froze in his position, aghast. Harry got onto his knees to comfort Kaylie, while Georgia moved Mae behind the Doctor and out of the room.

“Stand back!” Tiger-Face spat, pulling Conner towards the door.

The Doctor moved aside as they left the room. Georgia and Mae, by the exit to the bank clapped their hands to their mouths and silently moved aside as Tiger-Face yanked Conner out of the bank.

“Stop!” the Doctor shouted at the UNIT soldiers, who had all aimed their guns at Tiger-Face and Conner. “I’ll sort this out! Please!”

Captain Price stepped onto the scene and called the UNIT soldiers to withdraw. As they did so, she nodded at the Doctor.

“Bring Tiger-Face back to UNIT HQ, dead or alive.”

The Doctor reluctantly agreed, running to where he hoped Zac would be waiting with a solution. Georgia and Mae watched him go, and Kaylie and Harry emerged shortly after with worried expressions.

“Get off me!” Conner said. “I’m so never eating Frosties again! Not that I ever did after that bloody Frosties Kid mind you!”
“Stop dithering,” Tiger-Face ordered, pulling Conner onto the roof of the bank.
“Yes sir,” Conner sighed.

He was forced to the edge of the roof, and as he looked down, he saw Georgia stood with Mae, watching the Doctor depart. He saw the Doctor running back to the UNIT soldiers and point at the roof, when Tiger-Face grabbed Conner and dangled him off of the edge.

“Oh my Christ!” Conner gasped as his feet left the ground.
“Silence!” Tiger-Face roared. “Doctor!! Bring me your TARDIS, or Conner Bennet dies!”

Conner heard footsteps a few feet away, and realised someone was on the stairs leading up to the roof. He looked down once more – Georgia and the Doctor were still on the ground.

“Stop!” Kaylie screamed, running towards Tiger-Face.

Tiger-Face swung his paw carrying the gun around and pointed it at Kaylie. She screamed and dropped to the floor, but Harry continued to run. Tiger-Face hesitated, allowing Conner to kick the gun from his hand. He felt Tiger-Face’s paw release him, and dropped onto the roof, his head next to the gun. There was a crash above him, and Tiger-Face was thrown off the roof, and hit the ground with a splat.

“Well done Harry!” Kaylie cheered.
“Look!” Harry cried, pointing at Tiger-Face’s bloody remains. “He’s gonna taste great…!”
“I wouldn’t eat that,” Kaylie muttered.
“That’s what they make Frosties out of,” Harry joked.
“Really?” Kaylie gasped. “I always thought it was pencil sharpenings…”

Conner sighed and looked at the gun. Sometimes, his friends were very surreal, but, then so was his life.

***

John woke up once more, and gasped. Tiger-Face’s gun was pointing directly at him, lying on the pillow. He pushed it onto the floor and sat up, running the night’s dreams over in his mind. First, there was Conner hugging Korena, and he’d woken up hugging a pillow, and now, there was Conner lying next to a gun, and he’d woken up next to the very same gun. It didn’t take a genius to work out what this all meant…

“Oh my God!” John cried. “I’m Conner Bennet!”

To be continued…

Episode 12 Aquari Aquatics Preview

Cast:
The Doctor
Georgia Bell
Conner Bennet
Korena Hashimoto
Lee Hashimoto
Margaret Hashimoto
Kimiko Hashimoto
Kaito Hashimoto
Natalie Penrose
Natasha Penrose
Mr Toil
A certain evil git
Ken Barrett
Amita Stock
Delilah Howell
Mrs Harrbungershon
Dash
Kufuedun
Captain Alton
Donald Digit
Private Terence
Private Nash
The Prime Minister
Julian
Sam
Sara
Radio Presenter
Sheba
The Aquari

Lee is preparing a presentation for the prime Minister, as the Doctor and Korena investigate a geography place base and Georgia and Conner get captured by a cult of 'World Enders'. Korena's family are concerned when Korena returns home, but happy. Why is global warming suddenly happening, the sea levels are rising around the world, when the Barrier breaks nothing will ever be the same a again.

Spoilers, three are red herrings:
Natasha kisses Lee
Natalie looks after Margaret, who is not pleased with her room.
Sam 'n' Sara are members of a rock group.
Trinity Wells makes a cameo
The 'World Enders' want to blow the world up.
There are ood working at the geography place base.
Julian rather likes the Prime Minister
Ken Barrett dies, poor Ken

Episode 11: Neurosis Part 1

The TARDIS span through the vortex, music blaring from its panels. Inside the wonderfully small box, Conner Bennet danced with Georgia Bell to Lady GaGa, while Korena Hashimoto leaned against the console talking to the Doctor.

“Who is this again?” Korena asked the Time Lord.
“Lady GaGa,” the Doctor replied. “You like?”
“Yeah,” Korena smiled. “She’s so different.”
“She’s amazing,” the Doctor agreed. “You know what; I think we should meet her.”
“Did I just hear you right?” Georgia asked as she and Conner span past the Doctor.
“Are we going to meet GaGa?”
“GaGa?” Conner laughed. “I didn’t know you were a personal friend of hers…”
“Oh we go way back,” Georgia said.

The song ended, and all fell silent. The Doctor pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver and pressed it against the console.

“Can we have Paparazzi?” Conner asked.
“The TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “Something’s wrong. Get back!”

Georgia stumbled backwards as the console began to overheat. Korena yelped and hid behind a pillar. Conner looked as the Doctor dived out of the way, and the console exploded around him.

Title Sequence.

Georgia hitched her dress up to her ankles, and ran along the stone corridor. There was an eruption of fire behind her, and she felt the heat and she skidded around the corner. Conner was waiting for her, wearing chain mail and armour over medieval dress. The two grinned at each other, and ran.

“Where’s the Doctor?” Georgia asked as they thudded down another corridor. “He was supposed to be here!”
“He’s with George now,” Conner said.

There was an explosion and the walls broke apart in a blaze of stone and fire. Conner was knocked off his feet, and Georgia was thrown sideways. A gigantic tail, complete with spikes, smashed through the wall and wrapped around Georgia, before withdrawing from the castle. Conner cried out as the Doctor and George appeared round the corner. The Doctor looked strange, blurred, like he wasn’t quite there. Conner frowned, struggling to concentrate on remembering his face. He heard a screech and his thoughts returned to Georgia.

“The Dragon’s got Georgia!” he said, attempting to stand up amongst the rubble. “Saint George, you’ve got to stop it!”
“Saint?” George asked.
“It’s the 23rd of April, a good a time as ever,” the Doctor said, his voice unclear too. “Let’s get my… horse and let’s go! Conner, stay here and evacuate the castle.”

Conner nodded as the Doctor and Saint George ran off. He looked out of the side of the castle and saw the Dragon, flying off, with Georgia still wrapped around it, to the mountains. He sighed, and slumped to the floor.

“Let me go you maniac!” Georgia yelled, as the Dragon reached the mountain where it slept.

She screamed as it dropped her. She hit the floor, backing away from the giant beast. Georgia looked behind her as she heard the TARDIS materialise.

“Georgia, get away from that thing!” the Doctor cried, running from his ship with George.

The Dragon shot out a plume of fire, and its tail swung at the Doctor, narrowly missing him and knocking George off his feet. He hit the side of the TARDIS and crumpled, unconscious. His lance rolled along the floor, stopping at Georgia’s feet. She picked it up as the Dragon swung once more, and thrust it deep inside its tail. The Dragon screamed, and flew off into the sky.

“Nice one George!” the Doctor grinned. “Wait… No! You can’t be!”
“What?” Georgia asked.
“I just called you George!”
“You do that all the time,” Georgia said. “Oh wait. No way! I’m Saint George! You’re kidding me! And he gets all the credit!”

She pointed at George, who was still lying unconscious. The Doctor laughed and took her hand.

“Let’s go, before he wakes up.”

Georgia nodded, and headed back to the TARDIS with the Doctor.

***

John Bennet woke with a start. He remembered the Dragon, and Georgia. It was all a dream. He sighed, and rolled over in his bed. It was 7:00 o’clock. The radio sprang to life, and Chris Evans began talking about nonsense. Sighing once more, John began to get up.

“I miss Terry Wogan,” he said to the radio.

After a slice of toast and a cracked mug of coffee, he headed upstairs and slipped his shirt off. He turned on the shower, but before he could test the temperature the phone rang.

“Hello?”
“Hi John.”
“Hi Victoria.”

It was Victoria Lane, John’s best friend. He must be late.

“You’re late,” Victoria said. “And if you don’t get off at the same time as me I’m going down the pub without you.”
“I’ll be there!” John protested. “I’m just having a shower.”
“See you in a minute,” Victoria said. “Or I’ll go with Alan and Dave.”

She hung up the phone. Fifteen minutes later John burst into the office. Victoria waved at him from the printer. His other mates were clearly busy at work – Dave Aconda was nibbling on the potted plant beside his desk, and Alan Watts was heading towards him doing the robot.

“Alahhh!” John grinned, doing the robot in return.
“Jonhlahhh!” Alan laughed. “We need to stop watching Gavin & Stacey repeats on BBC3.”

John nodded in agreement and headed over to Victoria. He decided to tell her about the dream, that he’d now fondly called ‘Georgia and the Dragon’, or ‘Saint Georgia’. He’d have to decide later.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked Victoria.
“Sure,” Victoria said. “You okay?”

John sat on the printer, next to her, and began to recount his dream, from everything with the Dragon to the Doctor’s blurred face and voice. When he finished, Victoria looked him straight in the eye.

“What do you think?” he asked. “Does it mean anything?”
“You aren’t planning a trip to Wales are you?” Victoria laughed. “The Dragon…?”
“Not after all those aliens,” John sighed.
“Honestly, I think you need to see a Psychiatrist,” Victoria said. “A shrink. There are people who can get rid of these dreams.”
“It’s not that simple,” John replied.

He slid off of the printer, and headed to his desk. Apart from the dream, he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. As he began to play Solitaire on his computer, he drifted off into a dreamland of sleep.

***

There was an explosion, and Georgia dived sideways. The Panda, still carrying its gun, sauntered towards her. She backed away in terror, when the Doctor appeared behind her.

“Oi!” he cried. “Panda! Come and get me!”
“You fiend!” the Panda cried, leaping at him.
“Ooh,” the Doctor said, clearly not expecting a response.

With a quick sidestep, he dashed off. Georgia leapt up from the floor, and began chasing after the Panda.

“Come on!” Conner cried, pulling Korena by the hand.

They leapt through the vegetation until the reached the cage bars. Conner reached through for the handle, but it wouldn’t turn.

“I’m gonna kill that man when we find him,” he said angrily. “Fancy tricking us into this cage!”
“What does it say on the outside?” Korena asked.
“Human,” Conner said. “He must have planned this all along. We’re the new exhibits.”
“I don’t want people everywhere to see me,” Korena said sadly.
“Korena, you’re a film star…” Conner sighed.

Korena shrugged and pulled at the handle too. It still wouldn’t budge.

“Err Conner…?”
“Yeah,” Conner replied.
“You didn’t read the rest of the sign, did you?” Korena asked. “It says Humans and Snakes…”
“Oh. No I didn’t. Woops.”

They backed into the nearest corner, listening out for the slithering sounds that were growing closer. Georgia finally caught up with the Panda, who had cornered the Doctor against a fence.

“You’re quite a fast bugger aren’t you?” she growled.
“I wasn’t sat around fanning myself,” the Panda said dryly. “The cage wasn’t big enough to fan one’s self.”
“I’ll give you one chance,” the Doctor said. “Get back into your cage, or I’ll stop you.”
“Sorry, but after I kill you, I’m a free Panda,” the Panda said, raising its gun.
“Then I’d suggest you look behind you,” the Doctor said, pointing grandly behind the Panda.

The Panda hesitated, and chanced a look behind him. A helicopter was descending behind Georgia, trapping the Panda beside the fence. It howled, and turned its gun towards Georgia.

“You’ve only got one shot,” the Doctor warned, noting the zoo keepers, complete with tranquilisers heading towards them. “So make it count.”
“Doctor!” Georgia sighed. “Don’t give him encouragement.”

Korena breathed in deeply, and tried to slip between the bars of the cage.

“I’m too fat!” she complained.
“And I’m too muscled!” Conner said sarcastically. “Hurry up.”
“You don’t have breasts!” Korena moaned.

With a slight gasp, she slipped through the bars. She ran to the door, and opened it, letting a grateful Conner out of the cage full of snakes.

“We’d better go find the Doctor,” she said.
“Wait,” Conner said. “One second.”

He pulled a Sharpie from his pocket, and scribbled out Human on the cage sign. With a grin of satisfaction, he led the way to finding the Doctor.

***

John woke up with a start. Victoria was watching over him, concerned. She sat down beside him, and began chewing one of his pens.

“Another dream, huh?”
“Yeah,” John admitted.
“What happened this time?” Victoria asked.
“Georgia and the Doctor chased a Panda,” John said. “And Conner and some Japanese girl, called Korena were locked in a cage full of snakes. It all took place at some Space Zoo.”
“And could you see the Doctor’s face this time?” Victoria asked.
“No,” John replied. “And I couldn’t hear his voice again either. I really want to know what he’s like. That Korena seems nice though.”

Victoria slipped a small card onto John’s desk.

“It’s the number of a shrink,” she explained.
“Do you often have shrink’s numbers lying around?” John said, a glimmer of a smile forming on his face.
“Google’s your enemy,” Victoria shrugged, sliding from her seat and heading back to the printer.

John sighed and threw his half chewed pen into the bin beside him. He examined the card, and pocketed it. He decided – if he had any more dreams, he’d book in and check the shrink out.

***

The TARDIS had landed. The Doctor, covered in soot, had hauled the unconscious bodies of Georgia, Korena and Conner out of the doors and into the Heron Jungle outside. The year was 4473, and the Heron Jungle was now a large expanse covering the Earth. After making his friends comfortable he returned to the darkening TARDIS.

“Please don’t die,” he muttered.

But he knew it was too late. Leaning on the blackened console, he began to cry.

“Doctor?” Georgia called from outside, clearly awake.

When she didn’t get a response, she lay back against the palm leaves. The Doctor was allowed a moment to himself, she knew how he felt about the TARDIS. Besides, she needed a moment to regain her composure – she was trapped in the middle of a Jungle, thousands of years into her future, with no way back home.

To be continued…

Mini ep. 11: Future Forever?

Starring:
The Doctor
Georgia
Conner
And Korena
With: Boom, ZigZag and Fwarr

The TARDIS lurched a little as the TARDIS soared into the future.

“Let’s get as far away from the 1970’s as possible,” the Doctor decided.
“Can we go into the future?” Korena asked excitedly.
“How about the far future?” Conner asked, “The furthest forward we’ve been in a while was the year 3 billion and something.”
“When was that?” Korena asked.
“Well there was this super-evil monster who killed loads of crew members,” Georgia explained, “It’s sort of hard to explain.”

“Far future it is,” the Doctor agreed, “This is the furthest you’ve been.”
“Past the year 5 billion?” Georgia asked.
“Yeah,” the Doctor replied.
“You’ve been to the year 5 billion?” Korena asked in an interested voice, “What happened then?”
“Well we went to New Earth,” Conner replied.
“Because Earth was destroyed recently,” Georgia explained, “The sun expanded… again.”
“I thought Earth was only supposed to be around for a few million years,” Korena said, “I thought it would have died long before the year 5 billion.”

“Are we going to New Earth again Doctor?” Georgia asked.
“No, I thought we’d go somewhere else,” the Doctor replied, “Pulling a lever as the TARDIS stopped.” Korena looked around at the others, as she tried to contain her excitement; she knew it would be the same every time they landed somewhere new.
“You can go out first,” the Doctor said, and Korena smiled widely like a small child as she rushed out of the TARDIS. The others followed quickly afterwards, they were in a huge deserted building with white walls and huge shining windows. There were golden coloured doors on the sides of the rooms and huge tapestries that looked very old but well kept. Korena was already staring out of one of the windows, Georgia and Conner walked up to Korena, while the Doctor leaned on the TARDIS.

“It’s amazing,” Korena commented. The land she was staring out onto was beautiful, but strangely deserted, with beautiful futuristic buildings and castles.
“This city is beautiful,” Georgia replied, “Where are we Doctor?” Georgia turned to see a green light surround the TARDIS and the Doctor.
“Oh I hate teleports,” the Doctor said as he vanished.
“Where did the Doctor go?” Conner asked anxiously.
“He was teleported, with the TARDIS,” Georgia answered annoyed.
“We must find him or will be stuck in the future forever,” Korena observed.
“The future forever,” commented Georgia, “Sounds like the name of a book.”
“What books do you read?” Conner asked.

“Can we focus please?” Korena replied, “We’re stuck on this unknown planet and the Doctor and the TARDIS have vanished.”
“That’s a point I wonder where we are?” Conner said.
“Maybe we’ve finally come to the Planet marshmallow!” Georgia exclaimed.
“What do you mean finally?” Conner asked, “We’ve been there before.”
“Well not really,” Georgia replied, “We only saw the inside of that old people’s home.”
“Shouldn’t we try and explore or something and try to find the Doctor,” Korena suggested, “I mean he could be anywhere so we should start searching now.”
“Yeah, but knowing him he’ll turn up when we least expect it,” Georgia replied, “Come on lets try this door.” Georgia walked over to the door and opened it; together Georgia, Conner and Korena stepped through the door into a room that looked exactly the same. It had the same tapestry, the same windows, the same golden doors.

“I thought we just left this room,” Conner said.
“Come on let’s try that door,” Georgia replied, walking over to an identical door on the other side of the room. She opened a door and they stepped through it, into another identical room.
“I think we’re experiencing déjà vu,” Conner commented.
“Maybe we should try a different door,” Korena suggested.
“Alright,” Georgia replied, “But if I walk into this room again I will scream.” They tried another door on their left and walked straight into another identical room, but this time there was a blue-skinned alien and a human-like alien sitting in the middle of the room.

“It’s the Doctor!” Georgia exclaimed, beginning to run towards the aliens and then stopping when she got closer, “Oh no wait, it isn’t, but his hair...”
“I can see what you mean Georgia, his hair is so like the Doctors,” Korena said.

“They’re Humans!” the blue-skinned aliens exclaimed, as he saw them.
“Yes, we are,” Georgia said proudly.
“They look a bit digi-humanish to me,” the human-like alien said.
“We are humans,” Conner said, “I’m Conner, this is Georgia and Korena.”
“I’m ZigZag,” the blue alien replied.
“I’m Fwarr,” the human-like alien said, “I know I look human, but I’m actually half android.”
“Cool,” Georgia said hastily, “Now how do we get out of this endless room.”
“We don’t know,” ZigZag answered, “You see we arrived and then somebody teleported our transport away.”
“Oh that’s what happened to our transport and pilot,” Korena said.

“We’ve been stuck here for a day,” ZigZag said, “I am so thirsty.”
“And me,” Fwarr added, “We wandered for half an hour, but I swear this city is desolate and every room we go into looks like this one.”

“Why did you come here?” Korena asked.
“Why did you come here?” ZigZag asked.
“Why did you come here?” Conner asked.
“Why did you come here?” Fwarr asked.
“TRAVELLING!” Georgia shouted, then looked embarrassed at her outburst.

“Yeah, we went on a bit of a magical mystery tour,” Conner explained.
“We came here to see if the stories were true,” ZigZag explained.
“Stories?” Korena asked.
“Apparently, anybody who ever comes here never leaves,” Fwarr answered, “Strange thing is I’ve seen no skeletons.”
“Maybe they leave you to die, then when you do, they dispose of your bones,” Georgia suggested, “Bonekickers!”
“Right...” ZigZag muttered.

“This place does look very well kept,” Korena observed, “Those tapestries look centuries old, but they look so clean, and the windows are clean and every where’s clean.”
“Maybe the person who owns this place has OCD,” Conner suggested.
“No but you don’t get it, if we wait long enough surely some cleaner will come along and... clean,” Korena finished lamely.
“I can see her point,” Fwarr said.

“Seriously, you have an uncanny resemblance to the Doctor,” Georgia told Fwarr randomly.
“That’s nice, who’s the Doctor?” Fwarr asked.
“He’s... somewhere,” Georgia said.

“Maybe we should shout,” Korena suggested.
“Because this place is populated so somebody will hear,” Conner said sarcastically.
“I don’t want to do any shouting,” ZigZag said, “I haven’t had anything to eat or drink for over a day, and I feel incredibly weak.”
“The Doctor must be somewhere around,” Georgia said.
“He could have been transported to another galaxy, depending on the strength of the teleport,” ZigZag said.
“Well he can save us then,” Georgia said.
“I’m sorry, I think we’re going to die here,” Fwarr said.
“But you don’t know the Doctor,” Georgia replied, “He’s got to...”
“Stuck in the future forever,” Korena commented, “I’ll never get to see my family ever again, and I didn’t even say goodbye to them.”


The Doctor, meanwhile, had been transported to what looked like a spaceship parking lot. There were hundreds of vehicles and spaceships in the area, but strangely no people. The Doctor had walked for a long time before he had finally reached a door, which was locked. He took out his sonic screwdriver, which made a high pitched sound, and the door opened. The Doctor entered a strange looking control room. There were screens on every wall, even the door and there were buttons and control panels beneath the screens. There was a chair by one of the screens and sitting in it, was a large blue-skinned alien.

“Hello?” the Doctor said.
“Argh, how did you get in?” the alien asked.
“I was teleported into that huge spaceship parking thing,” the Doctor replied, “You have quite a collection.”
“Thank you; of course I don’t use them,” the alien replied, “Some of them are genuine antiques, I’m Boom by the way.”
“I’m the Doctor,” the Doctor answered, “Were you the one that teleported me here?”
“Possibly,” Boom said.
“I was leaning on my blue box spaceship,” the Doctor explained, not wishing to reveal that it was a TARDIS, in case this alien knew what one was, it was the far future after all.
“Oh, I accidentally teleported you here,” Boom said, “Sorry about that... I’ll just send you back.”
“Don’t you dare,” the Doctor said, “You don’t think I realise what’s going on?”
“I don’t think you realise what’s going on,” Boom replied.

“Honestly, you’re so thick,” the Doctor said harshly, “You thought you’d be able to get away with this spaceship stealing and the murder.”
“I have not stolen these spaceships!” Boom snarled.
“So you teleported my spaceship here to give it a clean did you?” the Doctor asked.
“Alright I never murdered anybody,” Boom snapped.
“Then what happens to those who are left stranded on Ytee?” the Doctor asked.
“How do you know the planets name?” Boom asked in a demanding voice.
“What happens to those stranded on the planet?” the Doctor asked in a raised voice.
“They are stolen, by my cleaners,” Boom replied.
“Your cleaners, hang on do you own Ytee?” the Doctor asked.

“Yes, it’s mine, by rights, my brother never should have got it,” Boom explained, “He was mentally unstable. All I got was a mildly huge spaceship thing from mum and dad, and a lot of money. They were thick to be honest, giving me all that money, but not giving me the planet. So I killed my brother, once my parents were dead, and then sold the population of Ytee into slavery, secretly.”
“You did what?” the Doctor asked.
“Yes, some of my slaves... I mean cleaners, remove anybody who they find there,” Boom continued, “While I teleport any spaceships I see on my camera system, to my huge spaceship, which is here. Once my collection is big enough I’ll sell it for trillions of Ytee pounds.”
“Nice money-making plan, but stupid since you’ve already got lots of money,” the Doctor pointed out.
“Damn...” Boom said, “You’ve ruined my plan, for that I KILL YOU!” Boom pulled out a gun from his pocket, while the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

“What’s that?” Boom asked.
“Sonic screwdriver, what’s that?” the Doctor replied.
“A compact zooton ray,” Boom answered.
“Good, that means I can do this,” the Doctor said, as his sonic emitted another high-pitched sound and Boom’s gun exploded in his face. The Doctor made his sonic emit the sound for another minute, as the screens in the room smashed and the control panels exploded. A green light surrounded the Doctor and he vanished. He appeared next to the TARDIS, and several other spaceships, in the white-walled room on the planet Ytee.

Korena, Georgia and Conner looked shocked as spaceships began to appear in the room.
“What’s happening?” Korena asked.
“I’m guessing somebody reversed the teleport!” ZigZag exclaimed.
“That means we can all get home!” Georgia said happily.
“There are an awful lot of spaceships,” Fwarr said, “I wonder what happened to the previous owners.”
“They died,” Conner said unsympathetically.

“Let’s go and find the Doctor!” Korena said.
“Alright,” Conner replied, “See you later ZigZag and Fwarr, we’re a couple of rooms along.”
“OK, look Fwarr there’s our ship!”ZigZag said happily running over to a large blue spaceship.
“WATER!” Fwarr yelled, as he ran towards it.

A few minutes later and the Doctor had been reunited with his companions. Korena seemed very relieved. They were about to leave when ZigZag and Fwarr turned up.
“Look Doctor, its your lookalike!” Georgia squealed.
“He doesn’t look like me,” the Doctor muttered.
“Nice hair,” Fwarr told the Doctor.
“Same to you,” the Doctor replied, “What hair stuff do you use?”

“The police are coming,” ZigZag explained, “They seem very relieved that this mystery may be over. I just hope all the owners of these ships didn’t die.”
“Same here,” Georgia said, “Well goodbye!”
“Nice to meet you,” ZigZag said, “And nice to finally meet you Doctor.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Korena said. The Doctor waved as he opened the doors to the TARDIS and stepped inside followed by Georgia, Conner and Korena. As ZigZag and Fwarr turned away a strange noise filled the air, when they looked back the TARDIS had gone.

The End.

Mini ep. 10: Summer of '79

Korena opened her suitcase and rifled through the clothes inside. Nothing was really suitable for wearing next to the others. She’d look like she was going on a first class trip, while they were hiding in storage. She looked up as Georgia entered the room.

“Hey,” Georgia said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Korena said. “I just don’t know what to wear.”
“How about that top, and these shoes,” Georgia said, pointing several clothes out.

Korena nodded and picked out the clothes and smiled at Georgia gratefully.

“And I’ve got some jeans you can borrow,” Georgia added.
“What are jeans?” Korena asked.
“Come and see,” Georgia laughed, leading her to the TARDIS wardrobe.

The Doctor and Conner looked up as the two girls entered the console room. Korena looked drastically different than she had before in her dress, which was neat even when it was ragged. Now she looked remotely normal against Georgia.

“You two looked a bit dressed up,” the Doctor said. “We’re going to the 1970s, not a casual party on Jupiter.”
“I was gonna wear a bin bag,” Conner laughed. “But I didn’t want to get cold.”
“I reckon you’d look quite good in a bin bag,” Georgia grinned.
“I’ve got the legs for it,” Conner said.

The Doctor set the TARDIS on course for 1979, and it materialised beside a wooden hut. He stepped out, and Korena followed.

“Where are we?” she asked.
“England, 1979,” the Doctor said. “Let’s explore.”

Korena nodded and followed him along a dusty path. Georgia and Conner stepped out of the TARDIS, and watched them go.

“Let’s go this way instead,” Georgia said, pointing in the opposite direction.

She headed down the path the other way, past a rusting sign that read ‘lakeside’. Conner followed as they passed a large tree. Georgia screamed and pointed at the tree, and Conner gasped when he saw someone hanging from a rope tied to it.

“Georgia leave it, he’s dead,” Conner said. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“But why is there a dead body?” Georgia cried.
“Come on, let’s go,” Conner said, pulling her away.

Georgia’ phone rang as they headed back down the path. She answered it, trying to hold back the tears of seeing the hanging man.

“Hello?”
“It’s me,” the Doctor said. “We’ve found something.”
“Is Korena okay?” Georgia asked.
“She’s fine,” the Doctor replied. “But there’s a room full of bunk beds, and in them are several skeletons.”
“Of children?” Georgia asked.
“Yeah.”
“We found a man hanging from a tree,” Georgia said. “He looked like a camp worker.”
“This isn’t like any summer camps I’ve ever been to,” the Doctor said. “But something must have happened here. Wait, Korena, don’t go near the lake! Korena, stop!”

Georgia looked surprised as the phone call ended. Conner looked far left to the other side of the lake, where Korena walked towards the water, seemingly entranced.

“What’s up with her?” he muttered.

Georgia followed Conner’s gaze, and she screamed as mud leapt at Korena, knocking her to the ground. The Doctor ran down and pulled her up the bank as the mud formed a monstrous shape. Conner began to run around the lake as the mud monster began to chase the Doctor and Korena.

“Wait for me!” Georgia cried, running after Conner.

Korena slipped and fell into the dust as the monster loomed over her. She screamed as it broke in half, as the Doctor threw a rock through it. She scrambled to her feet and ran into a tree as it reformed itself. She was trapped.

“Doctor!” she cried.

The mud monster clambered towards her as the Doctor aimed another rock at it. Korena began to climb the tree as it fired a splash of mud at her. Conner joined the Doctor and began throwing rocks at the creature too, when a second mud monster formed from the lake.

“Conner watch out!” the Doctor cried.

Conner yelped as the mud monster wrapped itself around him and lifted him high into the air. Korena, now high in the tree, reached out for Conner, trying to pull him towards her.

“I can’t reach you!” she cried.
“Leave me! Get to safety!” Conner yelled in return.

A third mud monster appeared in front of the Doctor and lifted him off of his feet too. The two monsters formed one giant monster, while the original mud creature grabbed Korena from the tree.

“Oh my God!” Georgia cried as she reached the scene. “Doctor! What do I do?”

Conner pointed behind her and she screamed as a fourth mud monster emerged from the lake. Georgia ran behind the tree as the Doctor dropped the Sonic Screwdriver at her feet. She picked it up and waved it around.

“Setting 45!” the Doctor cried.
“Isn’t that switching off radiation outlets?” Georgia asked as the mud monster advanced.
“Yeah, I’ll explain later! Do it!” the Doctor said.

The fourth mud monster grabbed Georgia and lifted her off the ground. She screamed and activated the Sonic Screwdriver. With a howl, the mud monsters exploded into nothing. Georgia, the Doctor, Korena and Conner hit the ground with a series of thuds.

“What happened?” Korena asked.
“Something happened here last year,” the Doctor said. “I thought I detected it when the TARDIS landed.”
“What was it?” Georgia asked.
“A spaceship crashed here, in the lake,” the Doctor replied. “It’s still there, now.”
“The TARDIS scanner,” Conner guessed.
“And when it crashed, it let out a burst of radiation, turning everyone in the camp into bones,” the Doctor continued.
“Except for the park worker…” Georgia realised. “He was away or something, and when he came back, he saw… And hanged himself. That’s horrible.”
“And the mud monsters?” Korena asked.
“The mud is animated from the radiation,” the Doctor said. “Which Georgia just turned off.”

He led Georgia, Conner and Korena back to the TARDIS, as the sun settled down on the summer camp. A few metres away, a small pile of mud trickled back into the lake, looking for its home.

The End.

Episode 10: Hide and Seek Part 5

“Oh my Christ!” Korena cried as she stepped inside the TARDIS.

Conner grinned, remembering his reaction when the Doctor had shown him the wonders of his ship. Korena ran back outside, checking if what she saw could possibly be true. It was, and she returned, somewhat sheepish, back to the control room a few seconds later.

“It’s a bit rubbish,” Conner shrugged, grinning.
“It’s amazing,” Korena said.

The Doctor leapt around the console. He studied the scanner intently, frowning, and pulling on his brainy specs.

“Why would someone do this?” he muttered to himself.
“Do what?” Conner asked.
“Release those black creatures at Korena’s party,” the Doctor replied. “Someone obviously wanted Korena out of the way, but for what?”
“I dunno,” Conner said. “Maybe she charged too much.”
“Ha ha,” the Doctor sighed. “Actually, that’s brilliant!”

He hugged Conner, lifting him off his feet. Korena looked perplexed.

“I always knew I was brilliant,” Conner said. “I just never knew how you’d find out.”
“Jokes aside, you are good,” the Doctor grinned.
“So, how am I good?” Conner asked, confused.
“Someone wants Korena out of the way,” the Doctor explained. “Now who would that be? When you said maybe she charged too much, I realised. Someone is jealous of Korena.”
“Oh,” Korena said. “I see what you mean.”

The Doctor nodded. Now it was Conner’s turn to look perplexed.

“Conner, you need to stay here, look after Georgia,” the Doctor said.
“Awww!” Conner protested. “But –”
“She’ll be unconscious,” the Doctor pointed out.
“Have fun,” Conner said automatically. “I want you back soon though.”

The Doctor grinned, and nodded to Korena. She headed for the TARDIS doors, looking back at Conner one last time.

“Right, you know where we need to go?” the Doctor asked.

He and Korena stepped out of the TARDIS. Korena nodded in reply, and led the way. The Doctor jogged to catch up, mentally checking the time as he went.

“It’s a good job you know where you’re going,” he said, walking in front of Korena.
“I mean, I’ve just used the TARDIS, I’ve got no idea how far away or how close it is. It can’t be that far, cos you wouldn’t have time to get back here for a party, but it must be fairly far away, otherwise you wouldn’t need to live in a trailer. Blimey, I’ve never been with anyone so quiet. Korena, Korena?”

He looked around, and saw Korena collapsed on the floor. He ran over to her, groaning.

“What happens to you Korena?” he asked softly. “The last time we arrived at 10 o’clock, you were asleep then. Two hours I’ve got to wait now.”

He sighed. Maybe the film set was two hours away. That would be lucky. Leaving Korena laying in the street, the Doctor ran to find someone, with a hovercraft, preferably.

“Lee?” Margaret called, knocking on the door. “Where are you?”

Lee had led Margaret, Kimiko, Kaito, Aimee and Yoshiro to his house. It was time, and Kimiko, Kaito, Aimee and Yoshiro were asleep in their beds. Margaret opened the door to Lee’s bedroom, and found he had crumpled, and was lying on the bed, asleep.

“Ah,” she said. “You too.”

Ever since the year 3968, at 10 o’clock, the whole of Japan fell asleep. Or so everyone thought. It was more complicated than that. You had to have Japanese blood in you – Margaret was completely British, so she stayed awake, and Lee, in England, still fell asleep, despite being hundreds of miles from Japan. It would be two hours until everyone was back. Margaret switched on the television to pass the time. There was a report on the attack at Korena’s house, and Margaret was surprised it had reached England so early.

“Early tonight, there were terrifying scenes at the house of Korena Hashimoto, Japan’s most famous actress. Small black creatures, being dubbed the Borsht, attacked the house and killed several of the guests. Hashimoto’s fate is currently unknown.”

Margaret sighed, and realised she would have to do something. The whole of Japan had ground to a halt, and she had to act before everyone woke up again. Writing a note explaining where she was, Margaret hurried out of the door and to one of the teleports in the street.

“Ha!” the Doctor grinned, using the hovercraft to fly back to Korena.

He lifted her into the passenger seat, shut the door, and flew off. As they were flying through the air, the Doctor heard a ringing. He stopped the hovercraft, and pulled out a phone and answered it.

“Hello?” he called.
“Konnichiwa,” Margaret replied.
“Oh, not again,” the Doctor sighed.
“Korena?” Margaret asked.
“It’s the Doctor,” the Doctor said. “Korena’s with me now.”
“Kiite!” Margaret said.
“I am listening!” the Doctor protested. “Where are you?”

When the Doctor finally managed to hang up, he had reached his destination. He heaved Korena out of the hovercraft and to her trailer.

“Never thought I’d be back at your film location,” the Doctor muttered to her. “I’ll leave a note; you can find me when you wake up.”

He ran back out of the trailer, looking for the person who was behind the Borsht. Margaret stepped out of the teleport booth outside Korena’s film set. She crossed the street, and headed towards the trailers, where the Doctor said he would meet her. As she passed the fire escape where Korena’s character in the film died, there was an explosion.

“Tasukete!” Margaret cried, calling for help.

Fire spread up the fire escape, and a figure was illuminated on the top step.

“Doctor?” Margaret called.
“I’m here!” the Doctor cried.

He ran across the grass to stand beside Margaret. She pointed at the figure watching them, silhouetted against the fire and sky. The Doctor nodded, and pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver as the figure raised a gun.

“What are you doing hiding up there?” the Doctor asked.
“Dare?” Margaret asked.
“That’s right Margaret,” the Doctor said. “Who… Who would try and kill Korena? Let’s see, how about Japan’s second best actor? Naoki Noran!”
“Naoki?!” Margaret cried, disbelieving.

Naoki stepped out from the fire, and casually began to descend the metal steps, swinging his gun around. He glared at the Doctor through the reflection of the fire, and the Doctor glanced back sadly.

“Why couldn’t you be second best?” he asked.
“Do you even know what that’s like?” Naoki snapped. “Having to watch her take all the credit for a joint film? She’s even paid more, and she’s a girl!”
“What if your Borsht had succeeded? What would you have done then?” the Doctor asked. “What about poor Korena?”
“She would be shoved aside, forgotten, while I would take all of the glory!” Naoki declared.
“Yokumo maa!” Margaret said.
“How could I?” Naoki laughed. “Easily. Too easily, until the Doctor stepped in.”
“But the Borsht, where did you get them from?” the Doctor asked.
“They were models used for the film, the enemy that my character and Korena’s character are killed by,” Naoki said. “They were animated during filming. I stole several of them, and animated them to attack Korena’s house. It was simple, even for a film star.”

The Doctor glanced at his watch; it was nearly 12 o’clock. Korena would be waking up, but for her to be any help at all, he needed to distract Naoki.

“So what’s with every Japanese person falling asleep?” he asked Naoki. “How did you manage that, some sort of super wave?”
“That wasn’t me,” Naoki said. “It’s started before I was born.”
“Chigaimasu,” Margaret replied.
“I’m never wrong,” Naoki said.
“You are,” the Doctor announced. “I don’t think it started before you were born, I think it started when you were born. Ever since Binuary 7th, 3968, at 10 o’clock.”
“Impossible,” Naoki gasped. “I’d know.”
“It’s never affected you, has it?” the Doctor asked. “You disappear off to your trailer like everyone else, but you don’t go to sleep. You pretend. I suppose it’s a freak of nature, something giving you a sign – a sign that you were important.”
“I am important,” Naoki declared.

The Doctor, while he was talking, noticed Korena run across the grass and hide behind the concrete walkway. She was making her way to the back of the fire escape, to shake it and knock Naoki off. She placed her hands on the hot metal and screamed as pain seared her flesh. Naoki looked down, and staggered, as the fire escaped shook, and collapsed.

“Doctor!” Korena screamed.

She ran from the falling wreckage, as Naoki leapt off the steps, flying through the air, with a bang of his gun. A bullet shot forwards and propelled itself into Korena’s back. She hit the floor as Naoki reached the ground with a sickening crunch. Margaret ran over to Korena, who was bleeding.

“Don’t die!” the Doctor cried, running towards her too.

He bent down, and picked her up, carrying her to the hovercraft. Margaret hurried after him, climbing into the back of the hovercraft.

“You okay?” Conner asked Georgia, as they sat on the TARDIS floor.
“Yeah,” Georgia replied.
“He’ll be back,” Conner said. “I know the Doctor.”
“Yeah,” Georgia repeated.

She looked up as the doors clicked and the Doctor staggered in, covered in blood.

“What happened?” she asked incredulously.
“Korena was shot,” the Doctor replied.
“Is she okay?” Conner asked.
“She’ll be fine,” the Doctor grinned. “She’s at the hospital now. I was thinking, we could pick her up, and head off…”
“Sounds good,” Conner said. “Georgia? Is that okay?”
“Yeah, of course!” Georgia smiled. “I’ll finally have someone who can talk fashion with me!”

Conner sighed and the Doctor laughed, operating the TARDIS controls. Korena woke up in the hospital, two days later, to the sound of the TARDIS materialising. She looked up as the Doctor entered her room, waving away a worried Aimee.

“Where are my grapes?” Korena asked, jokingly.
“I see Aimee’s back from England,” the Doctor noticed.
“Mum and Dad are staying for a while, they don’t often see Lee,” Korena said. “And Margaret joined them this morning. She wanted to make sure I was okay before she headed off.”
“Well I’m a doctor, and my professional opinion is that you shouldn’t film for at least, ooh, six weeks,” the Doctor said. “You need a trip abroad. What do you say?”
“With you?” Korena asked excitedly.
“Yup,” the Doctor said.
“I’ll get my stuff,” Korena grinned, climbing out of bed. “You’d better tell Aimee.”

The Doctor grimaced, and headed to tell her worried personal assistant. After much shouting, he returned to the room, only to find it empty.

“Hurry up!” Korena called.

The Doctor ran to the window, where Korena had climbed down the ivy. He grinned, and followed.

“We need to make one stop first,” Korena said.

A few minutes later Korena unlocked the door to her house, which was full of workmen, repairing the windows and doors. She headed off upstairs and returned with a suitcase full of clothes fifteen minutes later.

“Blimey,” the Doctor said.
“I’m a celebrity, what do you expect?” Korena laughed.
“You do realise that when we travel, nobody will know who you are?” the Doctor pointed out.

Korena nodded and headed to the front door. A van pulled up outside, and two men stepped out, carrying a crate of bottled water for Korena. She pointed inside the house, and the Doctor passed them as they stepped inside.

“What was that all about?” the Doctor asked.
“Aquari Aquatics supply my water,” Korena said. “I only drink it bottled.”
“Aquari Aquatics?” the Doctor asked. “I think they exist in the 21st Century… Abby Stuart worked as their secretary.”
“That’s nice,” Korena said, only half listening.

They crossed the street and headed for the TARDIS which stood proudly opposite. The Doctor opened the door for Korena, who stepped inside, smiling widely. The Doctor grinned back, until he noticed that she’d left her suitcase outside for him to bring in. He sighed – this one would be difficult.

“Still, hopefully no more demanding than Georgia,” he muttered.

He closed the door behind him, and the TARDIS dematerialised, leaving Korena’s old life behind, and beginning a much more exciting and dangerous one.

Credits.

Next Time:

"The TARDIS! Something's wrong, get back!"
"I miss Terry Wogan."
"Google's your enemy."
"Please don't die."
"I can't do this anymore! I want to go home!"

Episode 10: Hide and Seek Part 4

“Georgia?” Conner cried. “Oh God, don’t tell me that’s you in the lake…”

He peered down. It was. She was unconscious, settling on the floor of the lake. Sighing, he pulled off his jacket, and dived in.

“Come on, onto the balcony!” Korena cried, reaching for the Doctor through the broken glass.

Suddenly there was a splintering crack, and the balcony broke from the side of the house, pulling Korena with it. She hit the stone, and screamed as she was tipped back. The Doctor dived through the glass and reached out for her.

“Korena! Take my hand!”

Petr, Kimiko, Kaito, Margaret, Aimee and Yoshiro ran out of the back of the house, and down the steps into the lower floors. It was cold and dank down here, but at least they could escape.

“Keep moving,” Petr ordered. “We need to get out of here before the creatures find us again.”
“But what about Korena?” Kimiko sobbed.
“I saw her, the Doctor was getting her out, she’ll be fine,” Petr promised. “For now we need to concentrate on ourselves.”
“Hashire!” Margaret cried.
“What did she say?” Petr asked. “I don’t speak Japanese.”
“You’re speaking it now,” Kaito said, confused.
“What did she say?” Petr repeated.
“She said run!” Yoshiro replied.
“Oh,” Petr said.

He turned around, and saw one of the creatures scurrying towards them. He grabbed Margaret and ushered her forwards, as the group began to run.

“Help!” Korena screamed, as the balcony began to crumble.

The Doctor clasped the edge of the house, and reached out for Korena. She moved towards him, as part of the balcony collapsed below her. She grabbed the Doctor’s hand, and her pulled her up just as the entire balcony collapsed.

“Thanks,” Korena smiled.
“No problem,” the Doctor grinned. “Let’s go, we need to find Georgia and Conner.”

Conner swam down to the bottom of the lake, past the weeds and flowers. Georgia was unconscious when he grabbed her, and heaved her up to the surface, and he hoped she was still alive. There was a shake above, and a large glass roof moved over the surface of the lake, trapping the two under the water. Letting go of Georgia, Conner banged on the surface of the glass, trying to get out. It was no use, so he held Georgia as he ran out of breath.

“Get in here!” Kimiko said as she flung open the door.
“What’s in here?” Petr asked as the group hurried inside.
“It’s the garage,” Kaito said. “For the teleports.”

Aimee ran over to three distinctive looking pods. She shook her head sadly.

“The teleports are down,” she reported.
“Then we’ll have to get out of the garage,” Kaito said. “Press that button there.”

Yoshiro leaned forwards and pressed the button on the wall. The garage door slowly began to swing up, an inch at a time. He ducked down, and rolled out of the garage underneath the door.

“Margaret will you be able to get under there?” Petr asked.
“Lie,” Margaret said, shaking her head.
“Right then, Kimiko, you next,” Petr said.

Kimiko ducked under the garage door, and Kaito followed. There was a crash, and the black creature smashed into the door opposite. Aimee screamed, and ducked under the door. Petr grabbed Margaret, and shoved her towards the garage exit, as the black creature leapt into the room.

“Come on!” he cried.

Clack clack. Pippa stepped onto the glass, over the lake, and walked across it, her heels clacking as she walked. Conner, losing breath, looked up at her fearfully. When he worked out what she was going to do, he grabbed Georgia and dived further underneath the surface. Pippa, using her heel, stomped on the glass, which cracked, and broke apart. Conner pulled Georgia to the surface, gasping for breath.

“Wake up!” he cried, pulling Georgia onto the gravel.

She was cold, and needed to regain consciousness before it was too late. He pressed his lips to hers, and breathed. Georgia spluttered, and woke up. Conner collapsed next to her, regaining a steady pace of breathing.

“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Georgia replied. “Thanks.”
“‘S ok,” Conner shrugged.

The Doctor and Korena hurried past the aquarium, searching for Conner and Georgia. Suddenly, Korena pointed to the gravelled area next to the lake.

“There!” she cried, running towards them.

The Doctor leapt over the bridge, landing next to Georgia. He checked her pulse, and she pushed him away.

“I’m fine!” she complained. “Conner saved me.”
“And you’re okay?” the Doctor asked Conner.
“I’m fine,” Conner said as Korena joined them. “Your glass roof went over the lake, and we were trapped. But Pippa smashed it with her shoe. I dunno where she went…”

Korena nodded, and looked at her devastated lake. The Doctor grabbed Georgia, and lifted her up. He nodded to Conner, who stood up beside him.

“We’ve got to go,” the Doctor said to Korena.
“I know,” Korena sighed.

Petr pulled Margaret from the garage as the creature smashed into the door. The group ran across the street, staying together. Aimee pointed to a huddle of teleport booths near an important looking building.

“If we can get the teleports working,” Aimee said. “We can escape!”
“Unless whoever’s behind this destroyed them,” Petr said.

He flipped an access panel open, and examined the teleport infrastructure. It all seemed okay, but Petr wasn’t used to living in the year 3999.

“I think it’s okay,” he said. “One of us should test it though.”
“I’ll do it,” Aimee said. “It’s my job to look after the Hashimoto family.”
“Where will we go?” Kimiko asked.
“Ingurando,” Margaret said.
“Of course,” Kaito said. “We can stay with Lee for a while.”
“Who’s Lee?” Petr asked.
“My nephew,” Kaito said. “He works for the government in England.”

Petr nodded, and Aimee stepped into the teleport. She typed in the area code for London, England, and disappeared in a flash. Kaito and Kimiko followed, and Yoshiro looked back at Petr as Margaret disappeared.

“Are you coming?” Yoshiro asked.
“No,” Petr said. “I need to find Pippa. Good luck.”
“Goodbye,” Yoshiro said, disappearing as well.

Lee Hashimoto walked past the teleport booths on the way to work. There were several flashes, and Kaito and Kimiko stepped out of the booth.

“Uncle!” Lee cried, bowing.
“Lee,” Kaito bowed in return. “There has been a terrible attack at the house; we need to stay with you.”
“We’ve brought your grandmother too,” Kimiko smiled. “And this is Aimee, Korena’s friend, and Yoshiro. I expect you know who he is.”
“Japan’s most handsome actor, yeah,” Lee said. “Let’s get you inside. Will Korena be joining us?”

The Doctor carried a dripping Georgia down a flight of stone steps. Korena followed in her dress, clutching a small handbag, and Conner was right behind in his soaking tuxedo jacket. Korena pointed to the right, where the Doctor saw the entrance to a maze.

“This is the only way out from here,” she whispered.
“It’s fine,” the Doctor said. “We’ll get out. Come on.”

He led the way into the maze. After a few twists and turns, Conner hadn’t a clue where they were, and he could tell Korena felt the same, but was keeping a brave face on it. But when Korena led them to a dead end, she had to admit she had no idea where they were.

“Sorry!” she said. “I haven’t been here for ages.”
“It’s okay,” the Doctor said. “I’ve memorised the way back, so if we really get lost we’ll just have to turn back.”
“But we’re no closer to escaping,” Korena sighed.
“Can you hear footsteps?” Conner asked.

Korena fell silent, and realised that two pairs of footsteps were running through the maze towards them. The Doctor walked forwards, still carrying Georgia, and attempted to work out who it was. He stepped back as Petr and Pippa came hurtling round the corner.

“We figured you were lost,” Pippa said, her black dress torn slightly.
“You must be Pippa,” the Doctor said.
“Yeah.”
“You know the way out?” Conner asked.
“We’ve scanned the area, and it’s given us an overview of the entire maze,” Petr said. “Basically, we have a map.”
“Great,” Conner said, taking the scanner from Petr and examining it.
“Here, let me carry Georgia for you,” Petr said, holding out his arms to the Doctor.

The Doctor pulled Georgia away, but Conner placed his hand on his arm.

“He’s trying to help,” Conner said.

The Doctor handed Georgia over to Petr, grateful for the feeling in his arms to return. Pippa took the scanner from Conner, and led the way. They turned in an unexpected direction, and continued through the maze, until Pippa interrupted the silence.

“There’s a creature in the maze,” she said. “We need to run. This way!”

She ran left, then straight ahead, and then right. The Doctor sprinted after her, holding out the Sonic Screwdriver to light the way. Korena wasn’t far behind, and Petr and Conner remained at the back, both watching over Georgia. Conner turned the corner and found himself in the centre of the maze. The Doctor was on his knees, leaning over a wooden hatch, using the Sonic Screwdriver to open it up. Pippa ran down the little steps and headed along the tunnel. Korena was next, then the Doctor. Conner heard the creature running towards him as Petr and Georgia entered the passageway.

“Conner come on!” Korena screamed.

Conner ducked under the wooden hatch, and slammed it behind him. The creature whimpered on the other side.

“Justice,” Conner grinned. “Let’s go find the TARDIS.”
“Are you sure?” the Doctor said. “Petr…”
“Doctor, it’s a bit more serious than him seeing the TARDIS,” Conner said. “This is life or death.”
“We can go,” Petr said. “As soon as we’re out of this tunnel, we’re gone.”
“Thanks,” the Doctor replied.

The group clambered out of the tunnel, and Petr handed Georgia over to the Doctor, before walking off into the black with Pippa. Conner led the way to the TARDIS and opened the door with his key. The Doctor carried Georgia inside, and Conner followed, turning to Korena.

“Step inside.”

To be continued…