Episode 2: The Georgian Terror Part 5

“Why isn’t my wig attacking?” Sefarina asked, as the people around her writhed and shook.
“I don’t know, just make your way over here,” Mina replied.
“Be careful,” Milford muttered, as Sefarina began to make her way through the people on the floor. A group of hairs from Acacia’s wig grabbed her foot and Sefarina fell to the floor. Georgia jumped into the room through the window, and fell on her face after tripping on her dress. Milford ran over to her and helped her out as Mina attempted to help Sefarina.
“Thanks,” Georgia told Milford, as she ripped the bottom of her dress off, which made it look like a skirt and made it look even tattier. Milford looked at Georgia in a surprised way, before they both helped Sefarina away from the wigs.

“Can’t we just take their wigs off?” Milford asked.
“No, I think that would kill them,” Georgia commented seriously, as the a hair-tentacle from a wig made snatches at her feet.
“Let’s get out of this room,” Sefarina said.
“But we have to help them,” Milford said.
“I don’t know how we can...” Georgia muttered.
“Well let’s get out of here,” Mina said, slapping a hair-tentacle as it tried to grab her arm. Georgia nodded, and she, Mina, Milford and Sefarina ran from the room into the hallway, where they found Travis and two other footmen writhing on the floor.
“Next room!” Georgia called, and they ran from the hallway.


When the Doctor and Conner’s coach had finally reached the Cooper’s wig store, the Doctor tipped the coach driver, and then found that the store was closed.
“There are no lights on,” Conner said looking at the windows in the shop and above it.
“They didn’t have electricity, they had candles and...” the Doctor began to explain.
“All right they haven’t lit any candles or you’d see the glow through the windows,” Conner interrupted, “But I bet they’re in a top secret villain alien base thing.”
“These aren’t villains from batman films,” the Doctor commented.
“I bet it’s in the cellar,” Conner said, ignoring the Doctor’s comments and marching forward. He reached the door and tried it.

“It’s locked,” Conner said.
“Did you expect them to leave it open?” the Doctor asked exasperated, pulling out the sonic screwdriver, “I’ll open it.” The Doctor unlocked the door to the shop with his screwdriver and they walked inside. It had wigs lining the walls. The wigs were different sizes and shapes and colours.

“Hello?” the Doctor called, but there was no answer. Instead, every single wig in the store burst into life and jumped down from their shelves.
“Run!” the Doctor told Conner, as clumps of hair from the wigs formed tentacles and the wigs started to growl menacingly. The Doctor pulled Conner towards the back of the store, as a particularly large wig made a snatch for Conner’s head from a shelf.
“This way,” Conner said, pointing towards a door, and they both ran for it, as the wigs began to move surprisingly quickly across the floor towards them. The door led into a hallway; once inside the Doctor locked the door with his sonic screwdriver.

“Look in here,” the Doctor said, pointing into the next room, which had some sort of alien computer on a desk.
“Yeah, these people are alien,” Conner commented.
“Oooh, look a family tree,” the Doctor said excitedly, as he rummaged through papers on top of the desk, “That’s interesting.”
“What is?” Conner asked.

“Hands in the air or I shoot,” Eirlys Cooper said, pointing her gun at Conner’s head. The Doctor placed the papers back on the desk and put his hands in the air
“You stole the wig, I’m guessing?” the Doctor asked.
“It’s impossible to steal off humans, since we deserve whatever they have,” Eirlys snapped, “Now let’s move, the one with the weird hair can go at the front I think.”
“I don’t have weird hair,” the Doctor replied, before quickly adding, “Do I?”
“Yes, strange, odd hair, it looks like you’ve been dragged through a hedge, or maybe several hedges,” Eirlys said smiling nastily, “Now, come on, and don’t touch anything.” The Doctor walked in front, followed by Conner with Eirlys holding the gun behind them. She ordered them down a flight of stairs and into the basement, which the Doctor gaped at.

“It’s bigger on the inside!” the Doctor gasped, as he and Conner stared around at the basement that had to be much wider and longer than the house above them. There were wires on the floor and some pipes on the wall, and in the centre of the room was a huge wig with wires attached to it.
“No, its not, you weird man,” Eirlys snapped, “We extended our basement a bit, although in the laws of England we aren’t technically allowed to do that without permission, but we aren’t humans so we can’t count.”
“How can you not be human?” the Doctor asked.
“Don’t play silly games with us, I know you’re an alien too, you own the superior technology that woke up the Wheltrch, I’m also pretty sure it’s Time Lord technology, that’s right I know what you are,” Eirlys said quickly.
“You killed the Wheltrch, why?” the Doctor questioned.
“Because it was a nuisance ‘tis all, and also my idiot husband was angry at it,” Eirlys explained, “Anyway, I’m guessing you worked out we were controlling the wigs who are not extracting the thoughts and memories of most people in Buckinghamshire and several people elsewhere too, we couldn’t get the King.”

“Who’s the King now?’ Conner asked the Doctor quietly, “Is it William?”
“Conner, why do you think it’s called the Georgian age?” the Doctor whispered back.
“Because they’re Georgians,” Conner shrugged.
“All the Kings were George,” the Doctor replied.
“So when William was King, was it called the Williamian age?” Conner questioned.

“Emmett, is it nearly ready?” Eirlys called, as a man, who had been fixing a pipe in the shadows stepped out into the light.
“Lift off in approximately 10 minutes,” Emmett muttered, not looking at the Doctor and Conner.
“That’s my idiot husband, if you hadn’t realised,” Eirlys said smiling.
“What species are you?” the Doctor asked, “Actually let me guess, the wigs are tearwiguns, and they are the pets of Tousekaniums, so that’s what you are.”
“He’s knowledgeable, as I expected,” Eirlys told Emmett, still staring at the Doctor with a smirk on his face, “Unfortunately if I shoot him, he may regenerate, the other will die though. But should I kill them, or not.”
“We don’t need to kill anyone innocent,” Emmett muttered.
“They broke into our house, they brought the Wheltrch back to life, that’s not that innocent” Eirlys replied, still looking at the Doctor and holding her gun up, “And I don’t see you complaining about me killing all the innocent humans just to get our spaceship away from Earth.”
“That’s because if I do say something you’ll just bring it up again,” Emmett snapped.
“Bring what up exactly?” the Doctor asked, still holding his hands in the air.
“He need not know,” Emmett snarled, and Eirlys smiled gloatingly back.

“He’s a right nasty piece of work him, they think I’m bad, but I ain’t been sleepin’ around,” Eirlys replied smiling, “I weren’t enough for him, so he runs off with some human he met, they go out; once she’s pregnant, he wants to support the baby, but I ain’t havin’ none of it!”

“Conner, meet Mina’s father,” the Doctor said.
“I’m not Mina’s father, I’m her... ex... now she’s dead, I... well, I don’t know...” Emmett muttered.
“Oh shut it you,” Eirlys hissed at Emmett, “That blithering idiot don’t even know what ‘is daughter’s called, tells you what kind of freak he is. I suppose I did chain him to the fridge when I found out what he’d done; she was dead by then though, as was the Wheltrch. I didn’t realise at the time why he was so intent on killing it.”
“You didn’t own the Wheltrch, did you?” the Doctor asked.
“No, ‘course I didn’t, dunno who did, Emmett probably does, don’t like to talk ‘bout it though,” Eirlys said, turning to Emmett for the first time, as she did the Doctor walked forward and out on his brainy specs. He began examining the wig intently.
“Oh no you don’t Doctor,” Eirlys snapped, spinning round to point her gun at the Doctor again.


Georgia, Mina, Milford and Sefarina found their way up to a sitting room on the first floor, where Georgia guessed Lady Adlington had her posh food on posh platters when she didn’t have any guests. They passed several writhing footman and a couple of scared cooks, who weren’t wearing wigs, who Georgia instructed to go home.

“Well, I hope we’re safe here,” Georgia said, breathing heavily.
“I haven’t run like that since I was young,” Sefarina commented, as she fanned herself and sat herself on a large red seat.
“I run all the time, away from guests, Lady Adlington, and my friends, who are few,” Mina said sadly, and Milford patted her on the shoulder comfortingly.

“What’s that noise?” Georgia asked, “It’s coming from the cupboard.” Georgia heard a low growling noise coming from a cupboard on a side of the room, and she walked slowly towards it.
“Wait,” Sefarina ordered.
“What is it?” Georgia asked.
“That’s the cupboard where Lady Adlington keeps her wigs,” Sefarina replied.
“Oh,” Georgia muttered, as several doors coming off the room began to shake, “And what about those other doors, do they lead into wig cupboards too?”
“I do hope not,” Sefarina commented.
“I second that,” Milford said fearfully, as the doors burst open and wigs surged into the room, hair-tentacles reaching out.

“Get in the centre of the room,” Georgia said.
“We’re in the centre of the room,” Mina replied, as the wigs grew closer and closer.
“We could run for one of the doors, and try and get past the wigs,” Milford suggested.
“We’re surrounded, so unless one of you has a medal in long jumping, then that’s a rubbish idea,” Georgia said, looking around the room for a means of escape.
“We could try and get out of the window,” Mina muttered.

“Mina!” Georgia exclaimed.
“I’m sorry,” Mina apologised.
“What for?” Georgia questioned.
“Whatever made you shout that way, Miss Georgia,” Mina replied.
“Oh, no, tell them to stop Mina,” Georgia ordered.
“What?” Mina asked.
“Before, didn’t you get angry at Sefarina and her wig attacked her, tell them to stop!” Georgia pleaded.
“That won’t work,” Mina whined.
“Why were you angry at me?” Sefarina asked interestedly.
“Tell them to stop!” Georgia begged, as a wig seized her leg and sent her falling to the floor, “Mina! Please!”
“Mina, it’s worth a try,” Milford told Mina.
“STOP!” Mina shouted, and immediately the wigs stopped, and Georgia kicked the wig wrapped around her leg away. Milford and Sefarina gave Mina looks of interest and surprise.
“That worked,” Georgia said brightly.


Eirlys’ finger poised on the trigger of her gun, and the Doctor’s hands shot straight back into the air, while Conner moved into the shadows of the room unnoticed.

“I’m sorry, I was just examining it,” the Doctor commented, “It’s an Alpha Tearwigun, right? They share psychic links with all their children, and they can also be fed by their children through telepathy, I’m guessing that’s what’s going on here?”
“Correct,” Eirlys commented.
“So everyone wearing a Cooper wig is writhing on the floor?” the Doctor questioned.
“Well done,” Eirlys snapped, “Now back off!” The Doctor began to back away from the Alpha Tearwigun, and Eirlys followed him away, still holding her gun.

“I’m guessing your names aren’t actually Cooper,” the Doctor said, hands still up.
“No, we’re Eirtrstigyrefat and Emmughaersat Vafritan,” Eirlys replied.
“I bet it was hard remembering your names for the wedding,” the Doctor said smiling.
“I am not amused,” Eirlys replied, narrowing her eyes.

“So the Alpha Tearwigun is attached to your spaceship, which is the basement!” the Doctor explained to himself more than to anyone else, “This whole basement is your spaceship, the house was built above it by you, or is the top of your ship camouflaged so when you crash, the bottom, the basement, buries itself in the soil and the top of the ship, the shop, camouflages itself in the surroundings, nice crash landing plan.”
“Thank you Doctor, but I don’t care about any compliment that comes from you,” Eirlys said, “The plan did work very well though, our ship was losing power and the gravitational pull of the Earth pulled us in. But still I don’t want no compliments off you, seeing as you are going to die.”
“The Alpha Tearwigun is wired to your ship, so if you cut the blue one then the link with the ship will be broken,” the Doctor continued, “And as the little wigs feed, big momma wig gets very full, and you use its new brain power to power you into space.”
“Well done, since you know everything, we might as well kill you,” Eirlys said smiling, as she raised her gun.

“And the blue wire is cut,” Conner said smiling, holding up the sonic screwdriver that the Doctor had given him. Eirlys spun round to see that the Tearwigun was shrinking and Emmett was holding his head in his hands.
“Emmett, you idiot!” Eirlys roared.
“I’ll take that thanks,” the Doctor said, snatching Eirlys’ gun off her as she wasn’t looking.
“Give that back!” Eirlys snarled, “Emmett, fix the wire! We can still take off!”
“Actually you can’t, sorry,” the Doctor said shrugging, “You see the Alpha Tearwigun’s shrinking, because you disconnected it with the ship, so it can’t power the ship, but it’s still being fed, and what happens when you eat too much?”
“You explode?” Conner asked grinning.
“No, not when you eat that much, basically you vomit,” the Doctor explained, “But the Alpha Tearwigun doesn’t have a mouth, so where does the brain extracts go? Back to the other Tearwiguns, but they were only feeding momma because they were too full too, so they vomit, but where do they vomit? Back into the heads of the people wearing them. The power of all these thoughts passing through them so quickly knocks them out, so there’ll be taking their wigs off any minute now..."

“Nooo!” Eirlys roared, launching herself at the Doctor, as she opened her mouth to reveal purple, glowing fangs. In a flash, Emmett had pulled out his own gun, and a second later Eirlys was lying on the floor dead.
“I’m sorry Doctor, but I promised to do... and for what I have done, goodbye,” Emmett muttered.
“NO!” the Doctor shouted, starting forwards, but Emmett had already pressed the gun to his head, and then there was a gunshot.
“I don’t understand,” Conner muttered, staring down at Emmett’s body.


Lady Adlington brushed herself down and straightened her wig, as the other room’s occupants rubbed their heads and saw that they were bleeding, as Sefarina had before.
“Dear me, I must fetch my private doctor,” Lady Adlington decided.
“Mother, don’t you think you should take your wig off?” Paul asked.

“Where’s Mina?” Acacia asked, “And Milford!”
“And where’s my mother?” Marie questioned. Suddenly, Georgia, Travis, Milford, Mina and Sefarina burst into the room smiling. Mina hugged Paul and Velda, and Milford hugged Acacia, while Georgia and Lady Adlington swapped looks of hatred.
“We hoped you were all fine, we found Travis, rubbing his head,” Milford told Acacia.
“Mina saved us all from a swarm of wigs,” Georgia explained.
“Ridiculous,” Lady Adlington snapped under her breath.

Around half an hour later the Doctor and Conner had returned to Adlington hall, and everyone had sat themselves down in the drawing room, wigs thrown into cupboards.
“I don’t know why you ever wore a wig Acacia, your hairs a lovely colour,” Georgia told Acacia.
“But it isn’t the fashion, you seem like a fashionable person,” Acacia replied.
“That girl has no idea of fashion,” Lady Adlington snapped, “She is a fraud, as is the Doctor and the so-called Lord Conner.”
“Is that true, Doctor?” Milford asked.
“But Georgia seemed too nice to be a fraud,” Marie commented.
“None of us are from around here, they’re from London, but for those of you with open minds consider this,” the Doctor said, “We come from the future, and I’m not even human.”
“What rubbish,” Lady Adlington snapped, “Do not listen to anything he says.”

“There are alot of liars in this room, or alot of people with secrets,” the Doctor continued, “Secrets concerning many of us, a secret story, which I think I’ve worked out. It starts with two people, who are in love; Mina Adlington and another.”
“My daughter never was in love,” Lady Adlington said through gritted teeth.
“Actually she was, right Paul?” the Doctor said.
“That wouldn’t be right, that’s just disgusting!” Paul exclaimed.
“No not you, but you know who Mina loved,” the Doctor replied.
“Well... yes, but I promised not to tell,” Paul muttered.

“The person who Mina loved also loved her, but they never could tell each other, even though it was Mina’s mother’s wish for them to marry,” the Doctor continued.
“N-no, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lady Adlington stuttered.
“The thing is this person was already married, he’d fallen in love when he was much younger, with a woman called Nymph,” the Doctor explained, “He never told anyone, because soon after they met she revealed that she wasn’t a human. They lived secretly together for a while, until one day when Nymph was called home, but she never returned, ever. She left her husband a present, a brown, hairy monster, called a Wheltrch. He couldn’t control the monster and it escaped. That’s right, isn’t it Wilbur?”
“What?” Velda and Lady Adlington exclaimed and everyone turned to stare at Wilbur, who stood frozen in his seat.

“All right, it’s all true, I married a woman not of this Earth, and when she had gone I fell in love with Mina,” Wilbur muttered.
“Isn’t that like inbreeding?” Georgia asked.
“Not that much, he was her second cousin,” the Doctor replied.
“Still...” Georgia muttered, “So does that mean living Mina is Wilbur and Nymph’s daughter?”
“No, she isn’t she’s Mina and...” Wilbur began but stopped.

“The thing is, Mina Adlington was tired of waiting for Wilbur to confess his love, and she met a much more forward man, who she liked alot,” the Doctor continued, “Whether she preferred him to Wilbur I don’t know, but out of mere coincidence, Mina fell in love with an alien too, Emmett Cooper.”
“That must be how the alien wigs got around,” Milford exclaimed.
“Yes, that is, me and Conner managed to stop them,” the Doctor explained, “They’d crash-landed and their ship disguised itself as their shop. They had some pets on board, which looked just like wigs. Basically, they sold their pets and waited until they’d sold enough that the pets would have enough thoughts and memories to power their ship. They’d send their thoughts to the ship using their link with the Alpha wig pet thing.”
“I didn’t get a word of that,” Acacia muttered to Milford, who shrugged.

“Anyway, Mina fell in love with an alien and she got pregnant,” the Doctor continued.
“What?” Velda exclaimed, “But... but...”
“Where’s the baby?” Marie asked, and then everyone in the room turned their heads to stare at Mina.
“I’m half-alien?” Mina asked surprised.
“That’s why the wigs obeyed you, they could tell you were related to Emmett Cooper, their master,” Georgia told Mina.

“But how does Sefarina fit into this, she knew something, you thought she was Mina’s mother,” Conner told the Doctor.
“Well, basically, Mina Adlington was scared about her pregnancy so she told Wilbur, who agreed to let her stay with him until she had the baby,” the Doctor explained. “Seriously, you looked after her even though she’d got knocked up by someone else?” Georgia asked Wilbur.
“I loved her, this thing couldn’t stop that, obviously the father didn’t care much about her, and she was very sad,” Wilbur explained.
“You should have shunned like I did,” Lady Adlington snarled.
“How did she know?” Marie asked.
“Sefarina told her, you see Wilbur already had a house guest when Mina turned up,” the Doctor continued.
“Well, it was Sefarina and Dolph’s wedding in a couple of weeks and she needed somewhere to stay,” Wilbur replied, “I had no idea she saw Mina come in, she must have heard us arguing. It was a short argument though.”
“It was very loud,” Sefarina muttered, “I couldn’t help overhearing, and as a near-Adlington I felt like I had to tell the head of the family, Lady Adlington.”
“You did well there,” Lady Adlington told her kindly.
“No I did not,” Sefarina replied angrily, “That was wrong, it was because of that Mina was treated so badly for all these years, it was because of that that Mina left...”

“Mina, had the baby,” the Doctor said, after a slight pause, “And she knew Lady Adlington had decided to cut her from the family, as she wouldn’t even let her see her. The rest of the family had no idea, except for someone we’ve forgotten to mention.”
“Someone else is involved,” Marie said exasperated, “Was it Grandfather Adlington?”
“No, it wasn’t, it was Mina’s best friend, and brother, Paul,” the Doctor replied, causing everyone to look at him with shocked faces, “She was worried about everything and she asked to see Paul, he saw that she was pregnant and she told him everything. He agreed to take care of the baby, and together with Wilbur they arranged to drop it off.”
“Wilbur and Mina decided to drop the baby off on my doorstep,” Paul explained.
“They found Wilbur’s Wheltrch in the woods, and it followed them to the house,” the Doctor continued, “They left the baby, and then Mina decided to die, she wanted the Wheltrch to do it. Wilbur knew that it could not disobey a direct order from him, since it was within earshot. He let it do the dirty work.”
“It wasn’t like that, that was the saddest moment of my life,” Wilbur said tearfully.

“Paul, all these years and you didn’t tell me anything!” Velda moaned.
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the darkest secrets of my family,” Paul said, bowing his head. Acacia and Marie were gazing around the room at all the people who had been involved in the story with surprised looks on their faces.

“Wilbur told Emmett what he had done, and Emmett was very angry,” the Doctor explained, “So Emmett found the Wheltrch and injected it with an alien disease, by then Eirlys had found out and then she locked him up.”
“Tied him to the fridge,” Conner added.
“But how did it come back to life?” Georgia asked.
“We landed on its grave, the TARDIS resurrected it; the Wheltrch broke out of the ground and found Milford walking by,” the Doctor explained.
“Of course, I forgot, I saw a hole in the ground, where it may have come from,” Milford interjected.

“But what happened to Mina’s body?” Sefarina asked.
“Who chose the place of Mina’s memorial tree?” the Doctor questioned.
“Wilbur...” Paul muttered.
“That’s her final resting place,” Wilbur muttered.
“So is my father still alive?” Mina asked.
“No, I’m sorry, he’s killed himself, I guess because he couldn’t face up to everything that’s happened,” the Doctor said, “I’m very sorry.”
“How could nobody have told me any of this?” Mina asked the room.
“Nobody knew except Paul, and Wilbur,” Marie told Mina.
“Actually, I’m pretty sure that Sefarina and Lady Adlington had worked it out too,” the Doctor replied, “Which is why Lady Adlington treated her so badly, and when Sefarina grew close to you when you were young, Lady Adlington warned her against it, so Sefarina treated you badly too.”
“Do you remember everything now?” Marie asked Sefarina.
“Yes, I do, but... how?” Sefarina said aloud.

The next day all the Adlingtons, Milford and Wilbur stood around Mina’s memorial tree and together they placed flowers beside the tree.
“We must also remember Dolph,” Sefarina said, placing flowers down.
“And Tyrone,” Acacia added.
“And Emmett,” Mina finished, placing the final flowers down.

“None of this is ever going to get out,” Lady Adlington was telling everyone.
“Unless you treat me nicely, it will,” Mina replied triumphantly, “Blood-related Grandma.” Mina walked off with a smile on her face, but Velda and Paul caught up with her.

“Mina, we understand that as I lied to you, then you might want to leave us,” Paul told Mina.
“And that now you know who your real parents were you might want to just call us Velda and Paul,” Velda added.
“I grew up thinking you were my parents, and I love you, and to me you are my parents, I will never leave you,” Mina replied, and they hugged.
“Hey, wait for me!” Acacia called, and she joined in the hug, dragging Marie and Milford with her.

“Mina will always be in my heart,” Wilbur told Sefarina.
“And mine too,” Sefarina replied, “I’m sorry for what I did, so sorry.”
“Don’t worry, you just wanted to be accepted by the family,” Wilbur muttered. “It looks like somebody else wants to feel accepted now,” Sefarina replied, as she and Wilbur saw Lady Adlington marching away, with a sulky expression on her face.


The TARDIS soared through space as its passengers enjoyed some tea and small cakes. Georgia joked that she was feeling Georgian again, but when Conner mentioned that she was getting like her mother again, she shut up.

“Doctor, I don’t understand how you know all that about Wilbur and Nymph,” Georgia mentioned.
“Emmett had alot of documents on the Adlingtons in his study, there was a family tree, and beside Wilbur’s name was Nymph, which I though was interesting,” the Doctor explained.
“But how did you know she was an alien?” Georgia asked.
“Well, I guessed that Emmett had written the family tree himself, so he must have known who Nymph was, and he knew someone who owned the Wheltrch and since Wilbur...” the Doctor began.
“Please stop, I don’t understand any of it,” Georgia muttered.
“Thick,” Conner said, before taking a sip of tea.
“Basically, I did guess alot,” the Doctor said nothing, “But all my guesses were right.”
“Except your original guess that Sefarina was the mother of Mina,” Conner added, smiling.
“And that time when you thought Mrs White was an alien,” Georgia laughed.
“That wasn’t me,” the Doctor replied.
“Oh,” Georgia said quietly.

Next time:
"Buckle up, we leave in five."
"The Drifter crashed in the 46th Century."
"Now they're sending people out to salvage it."
"Captain Adele MacDonald."
"I've just realised - you're Italian!"
"You didn't join the job for the glamour, did you?"
"This is your gift, let me show you."

THE END