UNINHABITED TIME
BY SAM BENTLEY
Chapter One: The Silent Planet
May 28th 2013, Earth, and the world is silent. Not a word is being said, not a whisper, not even the growl or whimper of any animal. No sounds at all, simply silence. Then, a loud wheezing noise appears from a street in London. More and more, the wheezing continues until it has stopped and is replaced by the image of the old blue police box which had not been there mere moments before.
CREEEEEK!
The door opened and out stepped Clara Oswald. Clara had seen many weird sights since she had started her travels in the TARDIS, according to the Doctor it was something that simply happened when you go around all of time and space, but this was the most weird sight of all, a London street with no one around. The only sound she could hear was the hum of the TARDIS behind her, and the footsteps of the Doctor inside the machine.
‘Doctor, where are all the people?’ she turned to see that the TARDIS doors had shut behind her and the Doctor was not there. She turned back round to see him standing in front of her, with his ‘stern face’ on and investigating a lamppost with his Sonic Screwdriver. ‘Oh, there you are...’ Clara’s sentenced drowned out when she noticed the Doctor take a massive lick of the lamppost. ‘Oh, you are disgusting! Has anyone ever told you that?’ she scrunched up her face in a nauseated manner.
‘No actually. That or I just don’t bother to listen to them when they do. I zone out, like when you are talking about something boring again. I just switch off my ears!’ he said looking up and smiling at her, a large grin from ear to ear. She lightly punched his arm and smiled back. Leaning against the TARDIS doors now, she looked around once more then back at the lamppost in search for the Doctor, who had now moved from the lamppost to the ground, his left ear against the gravel.
‘What are you up to now?’ she huffed. Folding her arms and looking down at the floor.
‘I’m seeing if this...’ he pointed to the floor ‘is real gravel’ he popped up from the ground and pointed to the lamppost ‘if this is a real lamppost, and if this...’ he swung his arm around in mid-air, pointing to the area around him ‘is actually London.’
‘And is it?’ Clara asked, unfolding her arms.
‘Unfortunately, yes.’ The Time-Lord patted down his purple tweed jacket removing any little bits of gravel that had stuck onto the fabric, and then placed his screwdriver into the inside pocket. He grabbed Clara’s arm and started to run ‘Come along then!’
After being hauled for about twenty seconds, Clara was finally able to catch up to the Doctor when he violently stopped and she swung round in a semi-circle, still being dragged by the Doctor. He let go and Clara rubbed her arm. ‘Ow. That hurt! Be more careful next time you decide to pull me like that!’
‘Sorry,’ the Doctor stuttered not looking at her, but instead keeping his eyes fixated on a window at the top of a house.
‘You still haven’t told me where everyone is.’
‘They’re not here. No one is here. On Earth, everyone has vanished, even the animals. No one else is here, not anymore anyway.’ The Doctor said, his eyes still fixated on the window.
‘You alright there, Doctor? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!’ Clara noticed the Doctor was starting to look a little scared now. ‘Doctor...?’ she moved closer to him and looked up into the same window that he was, there was nothing there.
‘What do you see?’ the Doctor said looking down at Clara.
‘What?’ she asked confused.
‘Well, in that window what do you see?’
‘Nothing, why what did you see?’ she asked holding his hand, slightly scared.
The Doctor squeezed her had in return and looked back up at the window. ‘A face.’ Chapter Two: A Message From The Future
‘What?’ Clara said in quite a high-pitched voice as she let go of the Doctor’s hand, sharply. ‘But you said that no one was here, that they’ve all gone... wait are you saying my dad’s disappeared?’
‘Yes.’ The Doctor looked away from the window to face her, ‘I’m very sorry, but yes.’ The Doctor watched as Clara slowly took in what he had said.
‘Everyone?’ she said as if she didn’t understand.
‘Yes.’ The Time-Lord walked over to the door of the house and ran his hand through
his hair, ruffling it slightly. He looked over at Clara who was now leaning against an old bench.
‘Are they dead? Is that what happens? Do they all die?’ she looked up at him, a scared and worried look on her face. The Doctor walked back over to her and looked her in the eyes.
‘No. No, it isn’t. Your dad, he’s fine. And if he isn’t,’ he saw Clara was going to speak over him so he placed his finger on her lips to stop her ‘if he isn’t I promise that I will find a way to save him.’ He smiled at her and she smiled back, obviously now more reassured and less worried about the safety of her father. ‘Now, how about we go take a look upstairs, eh? See if we can find this ‘face’.’ Clara nodded and the Doctor removed his finger from her lips.
The two of them walked to the front door, the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and pointed it at the lock.
BUUZZZZZZ!
After the screwdriver had finished unlocking the door, the two of them entered the house. There was nothing special about it. It was your regular, 21st centaury house, with pictures of the family who had once owned it hung upon the walls. Clara could hear the static of a television from the front room, the family must have sat down to watch it when... well, when whatever happened to them, happened to them. Clara walked into the room and went to turn the TV off, but when she hit the button on the remote nothing happened. She hit the button harder until she gave up completely and threw the remote to the ground in anger. She turned around and exited the room to find the Doctor, panting, leaning against the wall.
‘Doctor, are you okay?’ she asked, worried about his out-of-breath-ness.
The Doctor made a long ‘shush’ noise and again he held his finger up to her lips, stopping her from speaking. ‘Listen to me, and listen carefully, I haven’t got much time.’ he whispered ‘Time, it’s going to go wibbly. I’m from the future and I’ve come back to give you a message.’
He handed her an envelope, the words ‘Do not open until he is gone.’ written on it in what Clara recognised was her hand-writing. The future Doctor removed his finger from Clara’s lips to cover his mouth as he coughed.
‘Clara?’ the Doctor called from a room at the end of the hallway.
‘What does it say? And what does it mean, ‘When he’s gone’?’ Clara whispered quietly.
‘I don’t know the message isn’t from me! I have to go,’ the future Doctor looked at his watch and then looked at the other item on his wrist. Clara thought for a moment it was a second watch, but actually instead of a clock-face it was a little square shaped touch-screen pad. The future Doctor tapped it numerous times, and then looked back up at Clara.
The Doctor called again from the other room ‘Clara?’ He whistled as if calling a dog. Clara rolled her eyes and then looked at the future Doctor who had a slight grin on his face. She mouthed the word ‘Oi’ at him, and then grinned as well.
‘Good luck! And don’t tell him about this! Okay?’ the future Doctor whispered, Clara nodded her head. The Doctor pressed the watch-like device on his wrist one last time and then vanished into thin air.
‘Clara! I’ve been calling you! And whistling, I don’t usually whistle for people.’ The Doctor was standing behind her now, obviously oblivious to her little meeting with his future self mere moments before. ‘Was that you coughing a minute ago?’
‘Um... yes.’ She said unsurely. ‘Yeah it was.’ Clara imitated the future Doctors deep cough and then looked up at the Doctor, who had an unbelieving face upon him. ‘I had a little saw throat, all better now though!’ She smiled at him, hoping it would help her in some way.
‘Okay,’ he dismissed it, smiling at her and turning back to face the room at the end of the hallway. ‘Now, keep up, I have something to show you.’
‘Oooh,’ Clara said following the Doctor ‘is it something interesting? Or different, I love it when it is something different.’ The Doctor stopped on the spot, Clara having to halt just behind him avoiding walking into his back. He reached for his sonic screwdriver in his inside jacket pocket and pulled it out, then switching it on, making it’s familiar buzzing sound. He looked around and down at Clara with a cheeky grin on his face.
‘Oh, yes, I would say that this is very different!’ Chapter Three: Clara’s Lucky Day
The back room turned out to be a kitchen. There was a fruit bowl on the side next to a microwave, and Clara picked up a pear and took bite out of it. The Doctor looked at her and she picked up another and offered it to him, to which the Doctor knocked it out of her hand, it landing back into the bowl.
‘What did you do that for?’ Clara mumbled, pear still in her mouth.
‘Pears are rubbish. They are the worst. Never, ever offer me a pear. Ever.’ He said, picking up an apple and taking a bite out of it, spitting the contents of his mouth out onto the floor. ‘Apples too. Never offer me an apple either. Bananas on the other hand...’ he went to take a banana out of the bowl, only to find that there wasn’t a single banana in it. ‘No bananas.’ He shook his head in despair ‘If you ever take anything away from our travels miss Oswald, let it be this; always keep a banana on your person, and always take one to a party.’
‘Okay,’ the girl mumbled swallowing her bite of pear. ‘What’s this ‘very different’ thing of yours then? ‘
‘Ah, yes of course, just this way!’ the Doctor led Clara to a small cupboard at the end of the room. He pointed to it ‘This!’
‘It’s just a cupboard.’ Clara placed the pear of the table beside her.
‘No it isn’t! Open it up!’ he said, a massive grin on his face again due to his obvious excitement. Clara opened the cupboard to find it filled with... well Clara had no idea what it was. ‘It’s future Earth technology.’ The Doctor said as if answering her questions, as if he could read her mind. ‘Cool or what?’
‘It is rather cool I guess!’ she replied, she looked up at him and smiled.
‘Well, you’d be very, very wrong there, miss Oswald. You see this stuff shouldn’t be available on this planet for...’ he made a face that made it evident that he was doing equations in his head, possibly hard ones ‘two-hundred years or so. That being said, I don’t know what this is...’ he reached in and grabbed the same watch-like device that the future Doctor had been wearing when he came back to give Clara that message. ‘I wonder what you do...’ the Time-Lord said to the object, even though it couldn’t give him a reply. He placed the device on his wrist and the screen turned on. He tapped a few buttons and then stopped and looked in the doorway behind
‘Doctor, what is it?’ Clara turned to see where the Doctor was staring ‘What the hell...’
‘What’s going on?’ the Doctor from behind her said, a tone of amazement in his voice.
For, standing in the doorway, straightening his bow-tie, was the Doctor. ‘Well... that watch-thingy is a time-travelling device. I’ve been here for’ he looked at his watch ‘forty-five minutes or so. I found myself upstairs and looked out the window when...’
The Doctor from behind Clara interrupted ‘When I ran past a saw you up there... oh, very nice!’ both of them chuckled and the Doctor in the doorway winked at Clara. ‘I thought I recognised you! Well... this IS different, isn’t it Clara?’
‘Two Doctors, it must be my lucky day!’ Clara grinned cheekily.
‘Careful!’ the Doctors said in unison, then pointing at each other and exclaiming a loud, long ‘Ay’!
‘Well, I best be off then...’the original Doctor stated ‘take good care of her Doctor! See you forty-five minutes!’ and after the Doctor took a few seconds to figure out how to get the device working and then he just disappeared.
‘Where next then, Doctor?’ Clara asked as the Doctor walked into the room and looked back into the cupboard.
‘Well, we need to find out why everyone on the planet has vanished.’
‘It would be a start wouldn’t it. I mean... we’re the last people on Earth, how is that even possible?’
And then there was a knock at the door.
Chapter Four: From The Shadows They Came
Clara lifted her head as she heard the knocking. No, she thought, that wasn’t knocking, something was trying to bash the door down!
‘Doctor!’ she called ‘There’s someone at the door, and they don’t sound too happy!’ she screamed as the door caved in, falling to the ground with a bang! There was
no one in the doorway, and all Clara could see from where she was, was the empty street. The Doctor stepped out into the hallway, Sonic Screwdriver in hand scanning the area for life forms. The device bleeped loudly and the Doctor opened the hatch, extending the screwdriver and looking at it as if reading it.
‘No, no, no. Oh, no…’ the Time-Lord continued to babble and repeat the word ‘no’ numerous times before turning to face Clara, and putting the sonic device back into his jacket pocket. ‘I have good news, and I have some bad news.’
‘Let’s have the Good news first, then the bad news.’ Clara said, a slightly worried look slowly appearing on her face.
‘Well… the good news is I know who we’re up against now.’ He smiled at her as if proud of himself ‘The bad news on the other hand is that I don’t know where they’ve gone, or why they are here in the first place.’
‘Oh. Right, well that is helpful isn’t it?’ Clara shouted sarcastically throwing her arms in the air ‘Go on then, who are they?’
‘Ice Warriors.’ The two shared a look that lasted for a long time before being interrupted by the Sonic Screwdriver beeping once again. ‘Aha!’ exclaimed the Doctor taken his attention back to his device, taking it out of his pocket and extending it again. ‘Gotcha!’
Back in the TARDIS now, the Doctor hurriedly ran around the console, flicking switches and leavers at such a fast pace that Clara could not concentrate on him for more than five seconds without getting a headache.
‘Slow down! Where are you taking us anyway?’ she shouts over the roar of the TARDIS engine, now clinging onto the side controls to keep her balance, and losing it anyway.
‘I managed to find a link, a very small link, which I can track down to where the Ice Warriors are hiding. Well… I say I found it… it was more the Sonic Screwdriver that found it. It really is a clever old thing!’ he smiled and then pulled one final lever, and then the ship stopped abruptly, making the two passengers shake slightly. ‘This way, miss Oswald!’ he lead the girl to the doors of the ship and opened them widely, only to find that they had not moved one bit. ‘Oh.’
‘We’re in the same place. We haven’t moved.’ Clara turned and looked at the Doctor , who looked at her with a face that Clara knew meant she was missing something, ‘But then that means…’ she turned her head to see three large Ice Warriors, wielding their arm-based weaponry right in her direction, all three of them hissing loudly.
Chapter Five: Looking Into The Eyes Of The Enemy
‘You will come with usssssss,’ hissed one of the Ice Warriors, his arm still in mid-air pointed at Clara. ‘Now!’ he demanded, shouting.
‘I don’t think so.’ The Doctor stepped forward, ‘I think you’ll find we aren’t going anywhere.’
‘You will come with usssssss!’ the other two Ice Warriors repeated, then they grabbed the Doctor, one on each arm,. The Time-Lord struggled to get out but couldn’t escape their tight grips.
‘Let go of him!’ Clara yelled as the two Ice Warriors led him away, his legs dragging along the floor slowly. They stopped and turned to face her.
‘You heard the woman lads, let go of me!’ the Doctor stopped fidgeting and gave up on the fight. ‘Fine,’ he said ‘don’t then, but I have a question for you’ he said to the Ice Warrior who still had aim on Clara. ‘What are you doing on this planet? You have no need not right to be here, removing this planet of innocent human beings!’ The Ice warrior lowered his weapon and turned to face the Doctor.
‘I am General Staldour. We came here because this planet wasssss close to our home of Marsss. Our planet is dying. My people, they are dying too. We have come here to live and to conquer. We mean no harm to the human race.’
‘What? You mean you aren’t the cause of the people disappearing?!’
‘The people of this planet have not disappeared.’ The Ice Warrior said in a cold voice, hissing like a snake.
‘And how can that be possible? They are obviously not here!’ the Doctor said before the Ice Warrior nodded his head and his henchmen began to drag the Doctor away again.
‘Take him to the leader.’ Staldour shouted to the two.
‘Alright-y then,’ the Doctor said rubbing his hands together ‘take me to your leader!’ He chuckled then whispered ‘I’ve always wanted to say that!’ Then the two Ice Warriors reached over to their wrists and disappeared into thin air, leaving just Clara, General Staldour and the TARDIS in the middle of the street.
The Ice Warrior reached for his wrist and then Clara noticed that he was wearing the same time-travelling device that the Doctor had found in the house. He tapped it and then disappeared with one long and loud hiss. Clara was all alone and scared. She entered the TARDIS doors and then walked over to a set of steps which led down to a doorway which led to goodness knows where. She sat down, reached into her pocket, and pulled out the letter that the future Doctor had handed to her early that day. She had already realised the letter was written by a future version of herself, and that when it says ‘when he is gone’ it meant when the Ice Warriors took the Doctor away, but what she didn’t know was what was written in this letter. She opened the envelope, and started to read.
The Doctor found himself in a cold room. He was lying on the floor and could hear voices mumbling around him. He sat up, rubbed his head and groaned loudly which made the talkers go silent. The Doctor felt their eyes on him and turned to face them from the floor. His vision was blurred but he could just about make out the green of the Ice Warriors suit of armour.
‘You know, next time you kidnap me, could you try being a little more… gentle maybe?’ his vision started to come back again now and he was able to see the same three Ice Warriors that had kidnapped him, standing around a table. Then he realised they were all staring at him. He stood up and tried to walk over to them but found that his ankles were chained to a wall. One of the Ice Warriors laughed at him, the Doctor recognised him as the general.
‘Oh, very nice, bit old school though, don’t you think?’
‘Hardly, Doctor. It does the job it is suppossssed to do, doesss it not?’ Staldour said walking over to the Time-Lord, looking down at him.
‘How do you know my name?’ the Doctor said with aggression in his voice as he stared into the big, red glass windows, which covered the Ice Warriors eyes from view.
‘Everyone on Marsss knows of the great Doctor.’
‘I would hardly say I was great.’
‘Maybe, but that doesn’t stop you from being a celebrity of sorts.’ Staldour hissed.
‘Well, I’d give you my autograph, but I don’t have a pen.’ The Doctor reached into his pocket and lifted out the Sonic Screwdriver. ‘But I do have this!’ He aimed it at the chains around his ankles and they released him instantly. He walked away from the general and inspected the rest of the cold room. Then he aimed the screwdriver at what looked like an alien computer and the system switched off, the lights in the room dimming slightly as he did so. ‘Now, tell me, where are the people of Earth?’he said aiming the device at Staldour himself ‘Tell me or I switch off everything on this whole ship.’
‘The human beings are on Earth, like they always have and like they always will.’ The Ice Warrior replied, the Doctor thought he saw a slight grin form on the scaly, green lips of the alien.
‘Well, they really aren’t. Unless…’ he thought to himself for a minute ‘I’m missing something, aren’t I?’
‘Yessss.’ The Ice Warrior hissed, before one of the Ice Warriors behind him hit the Time-Lord around the head, leaving him unconscious once again. Chapter Six: Talking To The TARDIS
The TARDIS hummed to itself as Clara put the piece of paper back into her pocket. She stood up and walked over to the TARDIS console and placed her hands on it.
‘Right, you, listen to me, and listen carefully.’ She hesitated, looking down at her feet. ‘I need you to take me somewhere.’ She waited as if wanting a response from the TARDIS ‘Well? Come on, talk to me TARDIS!’
‘Hello, Clara Oswald.’ Said a voice from behind her, she turned around to see the Doctor standing by the TARDIS doors, a blank expression on his face.
‘Doctor?’ she asked, unsurely.
‘No, of course it isn’t. It is me.’ The TARDIS hummed louder this time. ‘I am using the interface to talk to you.’ His face was still bare of expression, before smiling widely and rather mockingly, Clara thought.
Clara groaned ‘Look, this is serious I don’t have the time.’
‘No one has the time. Time has stopped.’ The TARDIS interface said, the Doctor’s face going blank again.
‘What do you mean by that? How can time just ‘stop’?’ Clara asked, but before she could get an answer the Doctor, or the TARDIS interface, flickered out of sight with a slight buzz. ‘Oi, come back!’ Clara yelled at nothing, and then she hit the TARDIS console gently. The machine started to shake widely and the motor came into life. Clara fell backwards unexpectedly and landed on the floor, and then all went dark.
‘You know, I would really like to meet ‘the leader’ now.’ The Doctor shouted to the three green giants, as he rattled the chained handcuffs around his wrists. He looked up at the table in front of him, where the Sonic Screwdriver, the time-device he had found in the cupboard of that house and his jacket all laid, taunting him. ‘I’d also like my belongings back,’ he said to himself ‘like that’s ever going to happen.’
‘You shall meet the leader when he wishesss to meet you.’ Staldour said, turning away from the other two Ice Warriors to talk to the Time-Lord, and then turning back straight away. The Doctor couldn’t work out what the Martians were saying as it was all mumbles and whispers.
‘You know last time I was in handcuffs – actually forget that, that is NOT a story that needs repeating.’ A large, smug grin formed on his face and he chuckled slightly, reminiscing over the memory. His thought track was interrupted the door opened with a clunk and made him jump. In stepped another Ice Warrior, all four of them joined in on hitting themselves on the chest in the Ice Warrior salute.
‘Leader...’ Staldour bowed his head, as did the other two. The Doctor had noticed that the other two hardly said, nor did, much. He assumed that they were simply the ‘bodyguards’ of the group. He had also learnt a lot from these Martians. For instance, he found out that there was only the four of them there. He did not know why, but what he did know was that they were there to bring the rest of their race over from their home planet, and then turn Earth into ‘a second Mars’.
‘Ssssso, Doctor, we meet again.’ The leader of the pack said in a deep, dark, husking voice.
‘Again?! We’ve met before? Sorry, my memory isn’t what it used to be. Well... actually it is better than it used to be...’ he laughed at the realisation the focussed back onto the Ice Warrior ‘Sorry, I keep getting distracted. It’s probably something to do with the fact you men keep hitting me over the head!’ he shouted the last part of the sentence and stood up, the chains that hung from his wrist and ankles clattered together.
‘Yessss, we have met many, many generationsssssss ago.’ The Ice Warrior replied.
‘Generationsssss, eh?’ the Doctor mimicked the hissing of the green giant ‘Well, it might have been generations for you, but maybe not for me. I am a time-traveller after all, as you know. I may not have even met you yet.’ The Doctor tried to walk up to ‘the leader’ but failed in doing so because of the chains. ‘You couldn’t get me out of these chains could you? They are getting a little uncomfortable!’ The Ice Warrior simply walked away from the Doctor and up to Staldour, they shared a few whispers and then the two saluted to one another and the leader walked back over to the door. ‘Wait!’ called the Doctor, the Ice Warrior turned his head ‘Tell me you name, if you are going to keep me in these chains and stuck on this freezing ship of yours, you might as well give me a clue to who you are.’
‘My name?’ he hissed ‘Skaldak. Or as you will remember me: Grand Marshal Skaldak.’ Chapter Seven: Back To The Future
Clara could hear the hum of the TARDIS, yet she was unable to open her eyes. She tried and tried but she just couldn’t. Then she heard footsteps coming towards her. Two sets of footsteps actually. She heard one of the two gasp in shock, then she heard the other whisper telling them to ‘shut up and be quiet’.
SLAM!
The doors to the TARDIS slam shut and Clara awoke, sitting up abruptly with surprise. She looked over to the two people who had entered the TARDIS. Both were female and they were wearing what looked like rather tight, purple boiler-suits. They both removed their helmets and shook their heads like a dog in the rain.
‘Okay, who are you and what are you doing on my ship?’ Clara asked concerned. A bell in the TARDIS chimed, making a rather angry noise ‘Okay, okay,’ she said to the console ‘it’s not MY ship, but I do travel with the owner.’ She said, back to the young girls standing in front of her. Both must have been in their late twenties, they were blonde and very beautiful.
‘Well, I’m Marti and this is Emmitt and we’re from the future.’ The girl who was nearest to Clara said, she pointed at the girl who had gasped at the site of the bigger on the inside TARDIS.
‘Wait, sorry...’ Clara rubbed her head and stood up clumsily ‘You two, you’re from the future and your names are Marty and Emmet? That’s a bit... Back to the Future don’t you think?’
‘Our names are Marti and Emmitt.’ She said correcting Clara, although they sounded exactly the same to her ‘Now, tell us your name.’
‘My name is Clara Oswald.’ She held her hand out to Marti, who shook it rather energetically ‘Now, would you care to fill me in on what’s going on?’ The other girl, Emmitt, walked up next to Marti and began to speak.
‘Well, we come from the year 2478, Earth of course.’ She said, Clara noted that she was holding Marti’s hand now ‘Me and my wife,’ she looked over to Marti’s face and they shared a small smile ‘we were experimenting on a new device. We called it the Time and Space Watch.’
‘Not the snazziest of names, but okay... I think I know the ones you mean. Me and the Doctor, we found some in a cupboard in a house in London, with loads of other future tech.’
‘That will be our home you found then, or at least where we were living.’ Marti said ‘We came back to Earth, your time, in 2011. We were doing some research, to find out how your generation lived. It was very interesting.’
‘And rather disturbing!’ Emmitt added, jokingly. ‘But then the Ice Warriors found us. I don’t know how, but they teleported themselves into our homes and then held us up at gunpoint!’ the two women began to look a little scared ‘They made us do something, very, very bad.’
‘Well, I’m sure the Doctor can fix whatever is wrong.’ She placed her hand on the now crying Emmitt’s shoulder.
‘I don’t know about that Clara, we’ve been here for a year now, and we’ve only just finished doing what they wanted us too.’ Marti said ‘Come this way!’ all three of them left the TARDIS and Clara found herself in a small science laboratory. ‘They made us break time.’
‘Okay, sorry, how can you ‘break time’?’ Clara asked, remembering her conversation with the TARDIS interface about how time can stop.
‘Actually, when you know how, it is rather simple. But we obviously didn’t want to do it. So for a while we tried to create a new device that would get us back to the future.’ Marti said, sitting in a chair behind a desk. The room was really cold and Clara felt like she might have to pop back into the TARDIS and grab her jumper.
‘You know, when you talk about getting back to the future, you really aren’t helping with the whole ‘not Back to the Future’ thing.’ Clara said, as she and Emmitt also sat down on some chairs. They weren’t very comfy. In fact they were horridly uncomfortable.
‘Anyway,’ Marti continued choosing to ignore Clara’s comments ‘The leader of the group, Skaldak, he found out and smashed it up. So, we had to do what they told us to. We had to stop time on Earth.’
‘Why?’ Clara asked ‘Wait, you’ve stopped time?’
‘Yes. Somehow when we stopped time, all the humans disappeared alongside it. They are still there, they are living out their lives as usual, but we stopped time at exactly nine o’clock on May the 28th 2013, so that the Ice Warriors can live in that second for the rest of their lives. Just one second pulled away from the rest of time and I am so sorry... but there is nothing your friend can do to help us now.’
‘Well, we’ll see about that! Come on!’ Clara ran back into the TARDIS, soon followed by Emmitt and Marti. ‘TARDIS do my one last favour,’ she said to the machine, Marti and Emmitt looking at each other in confusion ‘Find me the Doctor!’
Chapter Eight: The Hissing Green Puppet
‘Stay here with the Time-Lord,’ Staldour said to one of his henchmen ‘Don’t let him out of your sssssight.’ He left the room through another door on the opposite side of the room to the one that Skaldak left threw, with the other Ice Warrior and the door closed behind them with a clunk.
‘You’re the bodyguard, aren’t you?’ the Doctor called over to the last Ice Warrior in the room ‘The one they ask to stand by and watch the prisoner. Never in battle, or using that magnificent mind of yours, just watching. What’s your name?’ there was no response from the Martian who simply stared back at the Doctor. ‘We’ve had Staldour, and obviously the great and powerful Skaldak, but what’s yours, eh?’
‘Sssssilence.’ The Ice Warrior hissed.
‘You’re just their puppet.’ The Doctor continued, now trying to torment the giant. ‘You are just their useless green shell with a puppet inside.’
‘I said sssilence Time-Lord!’ The Ice Warrior raised his arm and shot a ray of red light at the Doctor; it missed and hit the handcuffs, breaking them in two. The shot bounced of the metallic handcuffs and straight back at its shooter, who fell back and hit the ground violently. ‘ARRGHHHH!’ he screamed with a hissing tone. Then he went quiet.
The Doctor quickly grabbed his Sonic Screwdriver from the table in front of his and released his ankles from their chains, and removed the broken handcuffs from his wrists. He put the time-device back on and his jacket and walked over to the dying Ice Warrior. He knelt down and removed the helmet to the Ice Warriors armour.
‘Xargoor,’ the Ice Warrior hissed is a faint whisper ‘My name is Xargoor.’
‘Well Xargoor, I’m sorry, no one was meant to die.’ The Doctor said before watching the Ice Warrior die. He stood up before making his way to the door which Skaldak had left through earlier on. Then he heard the familiar vroom of the TARDIS engines, he turned around and saw his favourite blue box appear slowly next to him. When it had fully landed Clara popped her head out.
‘Well, hello again!’ she said embracing the Doctor in a hug. Marti and Emmitt soon walked out the doors.
‘Who are they?’ the Doctor asked, rather rudely. Clara hit him on the arm. ‘Oh, sorry, that was a little rude wasn’t it?’
‘Just a bit,’ Emmitt said, before smiling ‘I’m Emmitt and this is my wife, Marti. We’re from the year 2478, and you must be the Doctor!’
‘Indeed I am! Oh, you must be the ones who created this!’ he held up his wrist to show them the time device.
‘Yep, that was us! Well... it was her that came up with the basics.’ Marti nodded towards Emmitt. But...’
‘Yes, I know. I know you were the ones who stopped time. I’ve had quite a while to think about it while I’ve been stuck here. The people of Earth haven’t vanished, one second of time has. Honestly, very clever of you to do that, but time is going all wibbly.’
‘Wibbly?’ asked Emmitt.
‘Yes, very much so. Time is like this big bag of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. So, when it is meddled with everything gets confusing. Luckily, I think I know how to sort this out.’ He grabbed Clara by the hand, whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver and aimed it at the door.
BUZZZZZ!
The door opened, and the Doctor turned to face Clara ‘Come along, Clara! Allons-y!’ he started running down a corridor before stopping and mumbling ‘No... No that’s just.... that’s just wrong...’ to himself.
They continued to run, the Doctor, somehow, seemed to know where he was going. Then there was a loud piercing scream. Clara and the Doctor turned around to see Staldour holding Marti, covering her mouth with his metallic paw, his was arm raised, gun aiming at her.
‘Thisss is the end of the road for you, Doctor. Go any further and I’ll shoot the girl.’ Chapter Nine: Gun Control
‘It doesn’t have to be this way Staldour.’ The Doctor called to him ‘Mars, it isn’t dying. Mars lives on for many, many generations! I know because I’ve been there!’
‘Liesssssss! They are all liesssss! Mars diessss and we live on the second Mars, Earth!’ Staldour shouts, the anger in his voice raising.
‘Please, let go of Marti! If you really believe Mars is dying then we can try somewhere new for you to live that isn’t Earth, somewhere uninhabited!’ the Doctor was practically pleading with the Martian. Staldour let go of Marti and she ran up to Emmitt and hugged her, crying with fear. ‘See, I can help. I can sort out everything. I promise.’ But there was no answer from Staldour. The Ice Warrior fell to the ground, and massive wound in the back of his armour.
Behind him were Skaldak and the other Ice Warrior henchmen, who the Doctor was yet to learn the name of. Skaldak lowered his arm, and walked up to the group of time-travellers.
‘Are you sure, are you sure that my planet does not die?’ he asked the Doctor.
‘Yes, I’m positive. The red planet lives on forever and ever, as a peaceful planet.’ He looked up at Skaldak ‘Well... a peaceful planet... I mean there was this time... well actually; I don’t want to spoil anything for you!’ he grinned and patted the Warrior on the arm before apologising.
The Doctor, Clara, Marti and Emmitt all made their way back to the TARDIS. Marti and Emmitt holding hands and telling each other how much they loved the other, because the last year had been very traumatic for them. The Doctor and Clara laughed as they walked in front of them.
‘So, how did the Ice Warriors leave if the planet is stuck on a one second loop?’ Clara asked.
The Doctor placed his hands in his trouser pockets ‘Well, Marti and Emmitt made a new time device, one that only went one journey, and gave it to the Warriors so they could go back to their own time as well as their own planet.’
‘Ah, yeah, I may have offered Marti and Emmitt a lift home... is that okay?’ Clara linked arms with the Doctor, looking up at him innocently.
‘Really? I mean first you start telling the TARDIS what to do, and then you start offering lifts to people! Honestly miss Oswald, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you!’ the Time-Lord joked, ‘Of course they can have a lift, though it is going to be a bit of a tough journey. I’m going to need to try and travel a singular second into the future to get out of the time-loop. It’s a very tricky thing to do you know!’
‘I’m sure it is.’ Clara giggled ‘Girls!’ she called as they walked up to the TARDIS. ‘Come on we haven’t got all day!’ all four of the hurried into the spaceship. Slowly, the box faded away with a loud engine noise, light on top of it flashing brightly.
Epilogue
The Doctor and Clara stand in the doorway of the TARDIS as they wave goodbye to Marti and Emmitt. They dropped them back off in 2013 as the girls had decided to stay there instead of going back to the future like they had planned.
‘There’s still something I don’t understand...’ Clara said ‘When we were in the house earlier, you appeared to me and gave me this letter.’ She held the letter out to the Doctor ‘You said you were from the future and that time would go wibbly!’
‘Well, it did go wibbly! What does the message say?’ the Doctor asked closing the doors of the TARDIS.
‘Well, it is written by me. All it says in the message was ‘don’t be afraid to tell people what to do, even if they are a moody old infinite space and time machine that hates you’.’ Clara laughed.
‘Give that here!’ the Doctor snatched the letter from Clara’s hand and started to read ‘Well, you don’t hate her, do you?’ he shouted to the TARDIS, there was no reply. Clara continued to laugh. ‘Well, go on the write it out again!’ the Doctor said handing her a piece of paper and a pen which he appeared to make out of thin air.
‘Why?’ Clara asked taking the items and starting to write.
‘Well you have to. Otherwise, it will be a paradox. And those aren’t very nice.’ When she had finished she handed the letter to the Doctor and he tapped the Time and Space Watch a couple of times and then vanished.
The Doctor found himself in the hallway of Marti and Emmitt’s home. He could hear Clara in the houses living room. He found himself feeling really out of breath, which must have been a side-effect from the Time and Space Watch. Clara walked out of the room and turned to face the Doctor, looking rather confused.
‘Doctor, are you okay?’ she asked, worried about his out-of-breath-ness. The Doctor made a long ‘shush’ noise and again he held his finger up to her lips, stopping her from speaking. ‘Listen to me, and listen carefully, I haven’t got much time.’ he whispered ‘Time, it’s going to go wibbly. I’m from the future and I’ve come back to give you a message.’
Then after his conversation with past Clara he made his way back to the TARDIS and his own time. ‘Happy?’ he asked Clara who was now leaning against the TARDIS’ console.
‘I’m always happy!’ the Doctor walked up to her and started to flick certain switches on the TARDIS console ‘So, what happened to the second that was taken out of time?’
‘Oh, we ever put it back! I completely forgot!’ he smacked his forehead really hard, and then shook it off ‘You know, I think Earth will be fine, I mean it was only one second. Now, go put your fancy Victorian clothes on and do your hair up all nice.’
‘I don’t have a fancy Victorian dress, and are you saying my hair isn’t nice?’ Clara replied confused and rather offended.
‘No, of course it is. I’m just taking you on a little trip, Victorian London! 1893, I’ve got some friends I’d like you to meet! Wardrobe is down the hall in that direction’ he pointed down a staircase which lead to an opening in the wall, to your right, then your other right, then three doors down you’ll find the fancy dress room, if you continue going through there you should find the wardrobe in no time! I’m sure you’ll see something you like!’
Clara laughed as she followed the directions the Doctor had given her. The Doctor started to run around the console flicking switches and pushing buttons. ‘You are a good old girl, aren’t you?’ he said, patting the console ‘Letting that mean old Clara boss you around!’
‘You know I can hear you, right?’ Clara called from the hallway.
‘Oops!’ the Doctor blushed before going back to flying his spaceship! ‘Ooh, Clara fetch me my bowler hat while you’re down there, will you?’ he shouted after her adding ‘Bowler hats are cool!’ quietly, smiling to himself.
BY SAM BENTLEY
Chapter One: The Silent Planet
May 28th 2013, Earth, and the world is silent. Not a word is being said, not a whisper, not even the growl or whimper of any animal. No sounds at all, simply silence. Then, a loud wheezing noise appears from a street in London. More and more, the wheezing continues until it has stopped and is replaced by the image of the old blue police box which had not been there mere moments before.
CREEEEEK!
The door opened and out stepped Clara Oswald. Clara had seen many weird sights since she had started her travels in the TARDIS, according to the Doctor it was something that simply happened when you go around all of time and space, but this was the most weird sight of all, a London street with no one around. The only sound she could hear was the hum of the TARDIS behind her, and the footsteps of the Doctor inside the machine.
‘Doctor, where are all the people?’ she turned to see that the TARDIS doors had shut behind her and the Doctor was not there. She turned back round to see him standing in front of her, with his ‘stern face’ on and investigating a lamppost with his Sonic Screwdriver. ‘Oh, there you are...’ Clara’s sentenced drowned out when she noticed the Doctor take a massive lick of the lamppost. ‘Oh, you are disgusting! Has anyone ever told you that?’ she scrunched up her face in a nauseated manner.
‘No actually. That or I just don’t bother to listen to them when they do. I zone out, like when you are talking about something boring again. I just switch off my ears!’ he said looking up and smiling at her, a large grin from ear to ear. She lightly punched his arm and smiled back. Leaning against the TARDIS doors now, she looked around once more then back at the lamppost in search for the Doctor, who had now moved from the lamppost to the ground, his left ear against the gravel.
‘What are you up to now?’ she huffed. Folding her arms and looking down at the floor.
‘I’m seeing if this...’ he pointed to the floor ‘is real gravel’ he popped up from the ground and pointed to the lamppost ‘if this is a real lamppost, and if this...’ he swung his arm around in mid-air, pointing to the area around him ‘is actually London.’
‘And is it?’ Clara asked, unfolding her arms.
‘Unfortunately, yes.’ The Time-Lord patted down his purple tweed jacket removing any little bits of gravel that had stuck onto the fabric, and then placed his screwdriver into the inside pocket. He grabbed Clara’s arm and started to run ‘Come along then!’
After being hauled for about twenty seconds, Clara was finally able to catch up to the Doctor when he violently stopped and she swung round in a semi-circle, still being dragged by the Doctor. He let go and Clara rubbed her arm. ‘Ow. That hurt! Be more careful next time you decide to pull me like that!’
‘Sorry,’ the Doctor stuttered not looking at her, but instead keeping his eyes fixated on a window at the top of a house.
‘You still haven’t told me where everyone is.’
‘They’re not here. No one is here. On Earth, everyone has vanished, even the animals. No one else is here, not anymore anyway.’ The Doctor said, his eyes still fixated on the window.
‘You alright there, Doctor? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!’ Clara noticed the Doctor was starting to look a little scared now. ‘Doctor...?’ she moved closer to him and looked up into the same window that he was, there was nothing there.
‘What do you see?’ the Doctor said looking down at Clara.
‘What?’ she asked confused.
‘Well, in that window what do you see?’
‘Nothing, why what did you see?’ she asked holding his hand, slightly scared.
The Doctor squeezed her had in return and looked back up at the window. ‘A face.’ Chapter Two: A Message From The Future
‘What?’ Clara said in quite a high-pitched voice as she let go of the Doctor’s hand, sharply. ‘But you said that no one was here, that they’ve all gone... wait are you saying my dad’s disappeared?’
‘Yes.’ The Doctor looked away from the window to face her, ‘I’m very sorry, but yes.’ The Doctor watched as Clara slowly took in what he had said.
‘Everyone?’ she said as if she didn’t understand.
‘Yes.’ The Time-Lord walked over to the door of the house and ran his hand through
his hair, ruffling it slightly. He looked over at Clara who was now leaning against an old bench.
‘Are they dead? Is that what happens? Do they all die?’ she looked up at him, a scared and worried look on her face. The Doctor walked back over to her and looked her in the eyes.
‘No. No, it isn’t. Your dad, he’s fine. And if he isn’t,’ he saw Clara was going to speak over him so he placed his finger on her lips to stop her ‘if he isn’t I promise that I will find a way to save him.’ He smiled at her and she smiled back, obviously now more reassured and less worried about the safety of her father. ‘Now, how about we go take a look upstairs, eh? See if we can find this ‘face’.’ Clara nodded and the Doctor removed his finger from her lips.
The two of them walked to the front door, the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and pointed it at the lock.
BUUZZZZZZ!
After the screwdriver had finished unlocking the door, the two of them entered the house. There was nothing special about it. It was your regular, 21st centaury house, with pictures of the family who had once owned it hung upon the walls. Clara could hear the static of a television from the front room, the family must have sat down to watch it when... well, when whatever happened to them, happened to them. Clara walked into the room and went to turn the TV off, but when she hit the button on the remote nothing happened. She hit the button harder until she gave up completely and threw the remote to the ground in anger. She turned around and exited the room to find the Doctor, panting, leaning against the wall.
‘Doctor, are you okay?’ she asked, worried about his out-of-breath-ness.
The Doctor made a long ‘shush’ noise and again he held his finger up to her lips, stopping her from speaking. ‘Listen to me, and listen carefully, I haven’t got much time.’ he whispered ‘Time, it’s going to go wibbly. I’m from the future and I’ve come back to give you a message.’
He handed her an envelope, the words ‘Do not open until he is gone.’ written on it in what Clara recognised was her hand-writing. The future Doctor removed his finger from Clara’s lips to cover his mouth as he coughed.
‘Clara?’ the Doctor called from a room at the end of the hallway.
‘What does it say? And what does it mean, ‘When he’s gone’?’ Clara whispered quietly.
‘I don’t know the message isn’t from me! I have to go,’ the future Doctor looked at his watch and then looked at the other item on his wrist. Clara thought for a moment it was a second watch, but actually instead of a clock-face it was a little square shaped touch-screen pad. The future Doctor tapped it numerous times, and then looked back up at Clara.
The Doctor called again from the other room ‘Clara?’ He whistled as if calling a dog. Clara rolled her eyes and then looked at the future Doctor who had a slight grin on his face. She mouthed the word ‘Oi’ at him, and then grinned as well.
‘Good luck! And don’t tell him about this! Okay?’ the future Doctor whispered, Clara nodded her head. The Doctor pressed the watch-like device on his wrist one last time and then vanished into thin air.
‘Clara! I’ve been calling you! And whistling, I don’t usually whistle for people.’ The Doctor was standing behind her now, obviously oblivious to her little meeting with his future self mere moments before. ‘Was that you coughing a minute ago?’
‘Um... yes.’ She said unsurely. ‘Yeah it was.’ Clara imitated the future Doctors deep cough and then looked up at the Doctor, who had an unbelieving face upon him. ‘I had a little saw throat, all better now though!’ She smiled at him, hoping it would help her in some way.
‘Okay,’ he dismissed it, smiling at her and turning back to face the room at the end of the hallway. ‘Now, keep up, I have something to show you.’
‘Oooh,’ Clara said following the Doctor ‘is it something interesting? Or different, I love it when it is something different.’ The Doctor stopped on the spot, Clara having to halt just behind him avoiding walking into his back. He reached for his sonic screwdriver in his inside jacket pocket and pulled it out, then switching it on, making it’s familiar buzzing sound. He looked around and down at Clara with a cheeky grin on his face.
‘Oh, yes, I would say that this is very different!’ Chapter Three: Clara’s Lucky Day
The back room turned out to be a kitchen. There was a fruit bowl on the side next to a microwave, and Clara picked up a pear and took bite out of it. The Doctor looked at her and she picked up another and offered it to him, to which the Doctor knocked it out of her hand, it landing back into the bowl.
‘What did you do that for?’ Clara mumbled, pear still in her mouth.
‘Pears are rubbish. They are the worst. Never, ever offer me a pear. Ever.’ He said, picking up an apple and taking a bite out of it, spitting the contents of his mouth out onto the floor. ‘Apples too. Never offer me an apple either. Bananas on the other hand...’ he went to take a banana out of the bowl, only to find that there wasn’t a single banana in it. ‘No bananas.’ He shook his head in despair ‘If you ever take anything away from our travels miss Oswald, let it be this; always keep a banana on your person, and always take one to a party.’
‘Okay,’ the girl mumbled swallowing her bite of pear. ‘What’s this ‘very different’ thing of yours then? ‘
‘Ah, yes of course, just this way!’ the Doctor led Clara to a small cupboard at the end of the room. He pointed to it ‘This!’
‘It’s just a cupboard.’ Clara placed the pear of the table beside her.
‘No it isn’t! Open it up!’ he said, a massive grin on his face again due to his obvious excitement. Clara opened the cupboard to find it filled with... well Clara had no idea what it was. ‘It’s future Earth technology.’ The Doctor said as if answering her questions, as if he could read her mind. ‘Cool or what?’
‘It is rather cool I guess!’ she replied, she looked up at him and smiled.
‘Well, you’d be very, very wrong there, miss Oswald. You see this stuff shouldn’t be available on this planet for...’ he made a face that made it evident that he was doing equations in his head, possibly hard ones ‘two-hundred years or so. That being said, I don’t know what this is...’ he reached in and grabbed the same watch-like device that the future Doctor had been wearing when he came back to give Clara that message. ‘I wonder what you do...’ the Time-Lord said to the object, even though it couldn’t give him a reply. He placed the device on his wrist and the screen turned on. He tapped a few buttons and then stopped and looked in the doorway behind
‘Doctor, what is it?’ Clara turned to see where the Doctor was staring ‘What the hell...’
‘What’s going on?’ the Doctor from behind her said, a tone of amazement in his voice.
For, standing in the doorway, straightening his bow-tie, was the Doctor. ‘Well... that watch-thingy is a time-travelling device. I’ve been here for’ he looked at his watch ‘forty-five minutes or so. I found myself upstairs and looked out the window when...’
The Doctor from behind Clara interrupted ‘When I ran past a saw you up there... oh, very nice!’ both of them chuckled and the Doctor in the doorway winked at Clara. ‘I thought I recognised you! Well... this IS different, isn’t it Clara?’
‘Two Doctors, it must be my lucky day!’ Clara grinned cheekily.
‘Careful!’ the Doctors said in unison, then pointing at each other and exclaiming a loud, long ‘Ay’!
‘Well, I best be off then...’the original Doctor stated ‘take good care of her Doctor! See you forty-five minutes!’ and after the Doctor took a few seconds to figure out how to get the device working and then he just disappeared.
‘Where next then, Doctor?’ Clara asked as the Doctor walked into the room and looked back into the cupboard.
‘Well, we need to find out why everyone on the planet has vanished.’
‘It would be a start wouldn’t it. I mean... we’re the last people on Earth, how is that even possible?’
And then there was a knock at the door.
Chapter Four: From The Shadows They Came
Clara lifted her head as she heard the knocking. No, she thought, that wasn’t knocking, something was trying to bash the door down!
‘Doctor!’ she called ‘There’s someone at the door, and they don’t sound too happy!’ she screamed as the door caved in, falling to the ground with a bang! There was
no one in the doorway, and all Clara could see from where she was, was the empty street. The Doctor stepped out into the hallway, Sonic Screwdriver in hand scanning the area for life forms. The device bleeped loudly and the Doctor opened the hatch, extending the screwdriver and looking at it as if reading it.
‘No, no, no. Oh, no…’ the Time-Lord continued to babble and repeat the word ‘no’ numerous times before turning to face Clara, and putting the sonic device back into his jacket pocket. ‘I have good news, and I have some bad news.’
‘Let’s have the Good news first, then the bad news.’ Clara said, a slightly worried look slowly appearing on her face.
‘Well… the good news is I know who we’re up against now.’ He smiled at her as if proud of himself ‘The bad news on the other hand is that I don’t know where they’ve gone, or why they are here in the first place.’
‘Oh. Right, well that is helpful isn’t it?’ Clara shouted sarcastically throwing her arms in the air ‘Go on then, who are they?’
‘Ice Warriors.’ The two shared a look that lasted for a long time before being interrupted by the Sonic Screwdriver beeping once again. ‘Aha!’ exclaimed the Doctor taken his attention back to his device, taking it out of his pocket and extending it again. ‘Gotcha!’
Back in the TARDIS now, the Doctor hurriedly ran around the console, flicking switches and leavers at such a fast pace that Clara could not concentrate on him for more than five seconds without getting a headache.
‘Slow down! Where are you taking us anyway?’ she shouts over the roar of the TARDIS engine, now clinging onto the side controls to keep her balance, and losing it anyway.
‘I managed to find a link, a very small link, which I can track down to where the Ice Warriors are hiding. Well… I say I found it… it was more the Sonic Screwdriver that found it. It really is a clever old thing!’ he smiled and then pulled one final lever, and then the ship stopped abruptly, making the two passengers shake slightly. ‘This way, miss Oswald!’ he lead the girl to the doors of the ship and opened them widely, only to find that they had not moved one bit. ‘Oh.’
‘We’re in the same place. We haven’t moved.’ Clara turned and looked at the Doctor , who looked at her with a face that Clara knew meant she was missing something, ‘But then that means…’ she turned her head to see three large Ice Warriors, wielding their arm-based weaponry right in her direction, all three of them hissing loudly.
Chapter Five: Looking Into The Eyes Of The Enemy
‘You will come with usssssss,’ hissed one of the Ice Warriors, his arm still in mid-air pointed at Clara. ‘Now!’ he demanded, shouting.
‘I don’t think so.’ The Doctor stepped forward, ‘I think you’ll find we aren’t going anywhere.’
‘You will come with usssssss!’ the other two Ice Warriors repeated, then they grabbed the Doctor, one on each arm,. The Time-Lord struggled to get out but couldn’t escape their tight grips.
‘Let go of him!’ Clara yelled as the two Ice Warriors led him away, his legs dragging along the floor slowly. They stopped and turned to face her.
‘You heard the woman lads, let go of me!’ the Doctor stopped fidgeting and gave up on the fight. ‘Fine,’ he said ‘don’t then, but I have a question for you’ he said to the Ice Warrior who still had aim on Clara. ‘What are you doing on this planet? You have no need not right to be here, removing this planet of innocent human beings!’ The Ice warrior lowered his weapon and turned to face the Doctor.
‘I am General Staldour. We came here because this planet wasssss close to our home of Marsss. Our planet is dying. My people, they are dying too. We have come here to live and to conquer. We mean no harm to the human race.’
‘What? You mean you aren’t the cause of the people disappearing?!’
‘The people of this planet have not disappeared.’ The Ice Warrior said in a cold voice, hissing like a snake.
‘And how can that be possible? They are obviously not here!’ the Doctor said before the Ice Warrior nodded his head and his henchmen began to drag the Doctor away again.
‘Take him to the leader.’ Staldour shouted to the two.
‘Alright-y then,’ the Doctor said rubbing his hands together ‘take me to your leader!’ He chuckled then whispered ‘I’ve always wanted to say that!’ Then the two Ice Warriors reached over to their wrists and disappeared into thin air, leaving just Clara, General Staldour and the TARDIS in the middle of the street.
The Ice Warrior reached for his wrist and then Clara noticed that he was wearing the same time-travelling device that the Doctor had found in the house. He tapped it and then disappeared with one long and loud hiss. Clara was all alone and scared. She entered the TARDIS doors and then walked over to a set of steps which led down to a doorway which led to goodness knows where. She sat down, reached into her pocket, and pulled out the letter that the future Doctor had handed to her early that day. She had already realised the letter was written by a future version of herself, and that when it says ‘when he is gone’ it meant when the Ice Warriors took the Doctor away, but what she didn’t know was what was written in this letter. She opened the envelope, and started to read.
The Doctor found himself in a cold room. He was lying on the floor and could hear voices mumbling around him. He sat up, rubbed his head and groaned loudly which made the talkers go silent. The Doctor felt their eyes on him and turned to face them from the floor. His vision was blurred but he could just about make out the green of the Ice Warriors suit of armour.
‘You know, next time you kidnap me, could you try being a little more… gentle maybe?’ his vision started to come back again now and he was able to see the same three Ice Warriors that had kidnapped him, standing around a table. Then he realised they were all staring at him. He stood up and tried to walk over to them but found that his ankles were chained to a wall. One of the Ice Warriors laughed at him, the Doctor recognised him as the general.
‘Oh, very nice, bit old school though, don’t you think?’
‘Hardly, Doctor. It does the job it is suppossssed to do, doesss it not?’ Staldour said walking over to the Time-Lord, looking down at him.
‘How do you know my name?’ the Doctor said with aggression in his voice as he stared into the big, red glass windows, which covered the Ice Warriors eyes from view.
‘Everyone on Marsss knows of the great Doctor.’
‘I would hardly say I was great.’
‘Maybe, but that doesn’t stop you from being a celebrity of sorts.’ Staldour hissed.
‘Well, I’d give you my autograph, but I don’t have a pen.’ The Doctor reached into his pocket and lifted out the Sonic Screwdriver. ‘But I do have this!’ He aimed it at the chains around his ankles and they released him instantly. He walked away from the general and inspected the rest of the cold room. Then he aimed the screwdriver at what looked like an alien computer and the system switched off, the lights in the room dimming slightly as he did so. ‘Now, tell me, where are the people of Earth?’he said aiming the device at Staldour himself ‘Tell me or I switch off everything on this whole ship.’
‘The human beings are on Earth, like they always have and like they always will.’ The Ice Warrior replied, the Doctor thought he saw a slight grin form on the scaly, green lips of the alien.
‘Well, they really aren’t. Unless…’ he thought to himself for a minute ‘I’m missing something, aren’t I?’
‘Yessss.’ The Ice Warrior hissed, before one of the Ice Warriors behind him hit the Time-Lord around the head, leaving him unconscious once again. Chapter Six: Talking To The TARDIS
The TARDIS hummed to itself as Clara put the piece of paper back into her pocket. She stood up and walked over to the TARDIS console and placed her hands on it.
‘Right, you, listen to me, and listen carefully.’ She hesitated, looking down at her feet. ‘I need you to take me somewhere.’ She waited as if wanting a response from the TARDIS ‘Well? Come on, talk to me TARDIS!’
‘Hello, Clara Oswald.’ Said a voice from behind her, she turned around to see the Doctor standing by the TARDIS doors, a blank expression on his face.
‘Doctor?’ she asked, unsurely.
‘No, of course it isn’t. It is me.’ The TARDIS hummed louder this time. ‘I am using the interface to talk to you.’ His face was still bare of expression, before smiling widely and rather mockingly, Clara thought.
Clara groaned ‘Look, this is serious I don’t have the time.’
‘No one has the time. Time has stopped.’ The TARDIS interface said, the Doctor’s face going blank again.
‘What do you mean by that? How can time just ‘stop’?’ Clara asked, but before she could get an answer the Doctor, or the TARDIS interface, flickered out of sight with a slight buzz. ‘Oi, come back!’ Clara yelled at nothing, and then she hit the TARDIS console gently. The machine started to shake widely and the motor came into life. Clara fell backwards unexpectedly and landed on the floor, and then all went dark.
‘You know, I would really like to meet ‘the leader’ now.’ The Doctor shouted to the three green giants, as he rattled the chained handcuffs around his wrists. He looked up at the table in front of him, where the Sonic Screwdriver, the time-device he had found in the cupboard of that house and his jacket all laid, taunting him. ‘I’d also like my belongings back,’ he said to himself ‘like that’s ever going to happen.’
‘You shall meet the leader when he wishesss to meet you.’ Staldour said, turning away from the other two Ice Warriors to talk to the Time-Lord, and then turning back straight away. The Doctor couldn’t work out what the Martians were saying as it was all mumbles and whispers.
‘You know last time I was in handcuffs – actually forget that, that is NOT a story that needs repeating.’ A large, smug grin formed on his face and he chuckled slightly, reminiscing over the memory. His thought track was interrupted the door opened with a clunk and made him jump. In stepped another Ice Warrior, all four of them joined in on hitting themselves on the chest in the Ice Warrior salute.
‘Leader...’ Staldour bowed his head, as did the other two. The Doctor had noticed that the other two hardly said, nor did, much. He assumed that they were simply the ‘bodyguards’ of the group. He had also learnt a lot from these Martians. For instance, he found out that there was only the four of them there. He did not know why, but what he did know was that they were there to bring the rest of their race over from their home planet, and then turn Earth into ‘a second Mars’.
‘Ssssso, Doctor, we meet again.’ The leader of the pack said in a deep, dark, husking voice.
‘Again?! We’ve met before? Sorry, my memory isn’t what it used to be. Well... actually it is better than it used to be...’ he laughed at the realisation the focussed back onto the Ice Warrior ‘Sorry, I keep getting distracted. It’s probably something to do with the fact you men keep hitting me over the head!’ he shouted the last part of the sentence and stood up, the chains that hung from his wrist and ankles clattered together.
‘Yessss, we have met many, many generationsssssss ago.’ The Ice Warrior replied.
‘Generationsssss, eh?’ the Doctor mimicked the hissing of the green giant ‘Well, it might have been generations for you, but maybe not for me. I am a time-traveller after all, as you know. I may not have even met you yet.’ The Doctor tried to walk up to ‘the leader’ but failed in doing so because of the chains. ‘You couldn’t get me out of these chains could you? They are getting a little uncomfortable!’ The Ice Warrior simply walked away from the Doctor and up to Staldour, they shared a few whispers and then the two saluted to one another and the leader walked back over to the door. ‘Wait!’ called the Doctor, the Ice Warrior turned his head ‘Tell me you name, if you are going to keep me in these chains and stuck on this freezing ship of yours, you might as well give me a clue to who you are.’
‘My name?’ he hissed ‘Skaldak. Or as you will remember me: Grand Marshal Skaldak.’ Chapter Seven: Back To The Future
Clara could hear the hum of the TARDIS, yet she was unable to open her eyes. She tried and tried but she just couldn’t. Then she heard footsteps coming towards her. Two sets of footsteps actually. She heard one of the two gasp in shock, then she heard the other whisper telling them to ‘shut up and be quiet’.
SLAM!
The doors to the TARDIS slam shut and Clara awoke, sitting up abruptly with surprise. She looked over to the two people who had entered the TARDIS. Both were female and they were wearing what looked like rather tight, purple boiler-suits. They both removed their helmets and shook their heads like a dog in the rain.
‘Okay, who are you and what are you doing on my ship?’ Clara asked concerned. A bell in the TARDIS chimed, making a rather angry noise ‘Okay, okay,’ she said to the console ‘it’s not MY ship, but I do travel with the owner.’ She said, back to the young girls standing in front of her. Both must have been in their late twenties, they were blonde and very beautiful.
‘Well, I’m Marti and this is Emmitt and we’re from the future.’ The girl who was nearest to Clara said, she pointed at the girl who had gasped at the site of the bigger on the inside TARDIS.
‘Wait, sorry...’ Clara rubbed her head and stood up clumsily ‘You two, you’re from the future and your names are Marty and Emmet? That’s a bit... Back to the Future don’t you think?’
‘Our names are Marti and Emmitt.’ She said correcting Clara, although they sounded exactly the same to her ‘Now, tell us your name.’
‘My name is Clara Oswald.’ She held her hand out to Marti, who shook it rather energetically ‘Now, would you care to fill me in on what’s going on?’ The other girl, Emmitt, walked up next to Marti and began to speak.
‘Well, we come from the year 2478, Earth of course.’ She said, Clara noted that she was holding Marti’s hand now ‘Me and my wife,’ she looked over to Marti’s face and they shared a small smile ‘we were experimenting on a new device. We called it the Time and Space Watch.’
‘Not the snazziest of names, but okay... I think I know the ones you mean. Me and the Doctor, we found some in a cupboard in a house in London, with loads of other future tech.’
‘That will be our home you found then, or at least where we were living.’ Marti said ‘We came back to Earth, your time, in 2011. We were doing some research, to find out how your generation lived. It was very interesting.’
‘And rather disturbing!’ Emmitt added, jokingly. ‘But then the Ice Warriors found us. I don’t know how, but they teleported themselves into our homes and then held us up at gunpoint!’ the two women began to look a little scared ‘They made us do something, very, very bad.’
‘Well, I’m sure the Doctor can fix whatever is wrong.’ She placed her hand on the now crying Emmitt’s shoulder.
‘I don’t know about that Clara, we’ve been here for a year now, and we’ve only just finished doing what they wanted us too.’ Marti said ‘Come this way!’ all three of them left the TARDIS and Clara found herself in a small science laboratory. ‘They made us break time.’
‘Okay, sorry, how can you ‘break time’?’ Clara asked, remembering her conversation with the TARDIS interface about how time can stop.
‘Actually, when you know how, it is rather simple. But we obviously didn’t want to do it. So for a while we tried to create a new device that would get us back to the future.’ Marti said, sitting in a chair behind a desk. The room was really cold and Clara felt like she might have to pop back into the TARDIS and grab her jumper.
‘You know, when you talk about getting back to the future, you really aren’t helping with the whole ‘not Back to the Future’ thing.’ Clara said, as she and Emmitt also sat down on some chairs. They weren’t very comfy. In fact they were horridly uncomfortable.
‘Anyway,’ Marti continued choosing to ignore Clara’s comments ‘The leader of the group, Skaldak, he found out and smashed it up. So, we had to do what they told us to. We had to stop time on Earth.’
‘Why?’ Clara asked ‘Wait, you’ve stopped time?’
‘Yes. Somehow when we stopped time, all the humans disappeared alongside it. They are still there, they are living out their lives as usual, but we stopped time at exactly nine o’clock on May the 28th 2013, so that the Ice Warriors can live in that second for the rest of their lives. Just one second pulled away from the rest of time and I am so sorry... but there is nothing your friend can do to help us now.’
‘Well, we’ll see about that! Come on!’ Clara ran back into the TARDIS, soon followed by Emmitt and Marti. ‘TARDIS do my one last favour,’ she said to the machine, Marti and Emmitt looking at each other in confusion ‘Find me the Doctor!’
Chapter Eight: The Hissing Green Puppet
‘Stay here with the Time-Lord,’ Staldour said to one of his henchmen ‘Don’t let him out of your sssssight.’ He left the room through another door on the opposite side of the room to the one that Skaldak left threw, with the other Ice Warrior and the door closed behind them with a clunk.
‘You’re the bodyguard, aren’t you?’ the Doctor called over to the last Ice Warrior in the room ‘The one they ask to stand by and watch the prisoner. Never in battle, or using that magnificent mind of yours, just watching. What’s your name?’ there was no response from the Martian who simply stared back at the Doctor. ‘We’ve had Staldour, and obviously the great and powerful Skaldak, but what’s yours, eh?’
‘Sssssilence.’ The Ice Warrior hissed.
‘You’re just their puppet.’ The Doctor continued, now trying to torment the giant. ‘You are just their useless green shell with a puppet inside.’
‘I said sssilence Time-Lord!’ The Ice Warrior raised his arm and shot a ray of red light at the Doctor; it missed and hit the handcuffs, breaking them in two. The shot bounced of the metallic handcuffs and straight back at its shooter, who fell back and hit the ground violently. ‘ARRGHHHH!’ he screamed with a hissing tone. Then he went quiet.
The Doctor quickly grabbed his Sonic Screwdriver from the table in front of his and released his ankles from their chains, and removed the broken handcuffs from his wrists. He put the time-device back on and his jacket and walked over to the dying Ice Warrior. He knelt down and removed the helmet to the Ice Warriors armour.
‘Xargoor,’ the Ice Warrior hissed is a faint whisper ‘My name is Xargoor.’
‘Well Xargoor, I’m sorry, no one was meant to die.’ The Doctor said before watching the Ice Warrior die. He stood up before making his way to the door which Skaldak had left through earlier on. Then he heard the familiar vroom of the TARDIS engines, he turned around and saw his favourite blue box appear slowly next to him. When it had fully landed Clara popped her head out.
‘Well, hello again!’ she said embracing the Doctor in a hug. Marti and Emmitt soon walked out the doors.
‘Who are they?’ the Doctor asked, rather rudely. Clara hit him on the arm. ‘Oh, sorry, that was a little rude wasn’t it?’
‘Just a bit,’ Emmitt said, before smiling ‘I’m Emmitt and this is my wife, Marti. We’re from the year 2478, and you must be the Doctor!’
‘Indeed I am! Oh, you must be the ones who created this!’ he held up his wrist to show them the time device.
‘Yep, that was us! Well... it was her that came up with the basics.’ Marti nodded towards Emmitt. But...’
‘Yes, I know. I know you were the ones who stopped time. I’ve had quite a while to think about it while I’ve been stuck here. The people of Earth haven’t vanished, one second of time has. Honestly, very clever of you to do that, but time is going all wibbly.’
‘Wibbly?’ asked Emmitt.
‘Yes, very much so. Time is like this big bag of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. So, when it is meddled with everything gets confusing. Luckily, I think I know how to sort this out.’ He grabbed Clara by the hand, whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver and aimed it at the door.
BUZZZZZ!
The door opened, and the Doctor turned to face Clara ‘Come along, Clara! Allons-y!’ he started running down a corridor before stopping and mumbling ‘No... No that’s just.... that’s just wrong...’ to himself.
They continued to run, the Doctor, somehow, seemed to know where he was going. Then there was a loud piercing scream. Clara and the Doctor turned around to see Staldour holding Marti, covering her mouth with his metallic paw, his was arm raised, gun aiming at her.
‘Thisss is the end of the road for you, Doctor. Go any further and I’ll shoot the girl.’ Chapter Nine: Gun Control
‘It doesn’t have to be this way Staldour.’ The Doctor called to him ‘Mars, it isn’t dying. Mars lives on for many, many generations! I know because I’ve been there!’
‘Liesssssss! They are all liesssss! Mars diessss and we live on the second Mars, Earth!’ Staldour shouts, the anger in his voice raising.
‘Please, let go of Marti! If you really believe Mars is dying then we can try somewhere new for you to live that isn’t Earth, somewhere uninhabited!’ the Doctor was practically pleading with the Martian. Staldour let go of Marti and she ran up to Emmitt and hugged her, crying with fear. ‘See, I can help. I can sort out everything. I promise.’ But there was no answer from Staldour. The Ice Warrior fell to the ground, and massive wound in the back of his armour.
Behind him were Skaldak and the other Ice Warrior henchmen, who the Doctor was yet to learn the name of. Skaldak lowered his arm, and walked up to the group of time-travellers.
‘Are you sure, are you sure that my planet does not die?’ he asked the Doctor.
‘Yes, I’m positive. The red planet lives on forever and ever, as a peaceful planet.’ He looked up at Skaldak ‘Well... a peaceful planet... I mean there was this time... well actually; I don’t want to spoil anything for you!’ he grinned and patted the Warrior on the arm before apologising.
The Doctor, Clara, Marti and Emmitt all made their way back to the TARDIS. Marti and Emmitt holding hands and telling each other how much they loved the other, because the last year had been very traumatic for them. The Doctor and Clara laughed as they walked in front of them.
‘So, how did the Ice Warriors leave if the planet is stuck on a one second loop?’ Clara asked.
The Doctor placed his hands in his trouser pockets ‘Well, Marti and Emmitt made a new time device, one that only went one journey, and gave it to the Warriors so they could go back to their own time as well as their own planet.’
‘Ah, yeah, I may have offered Marti and Emmitt a lift home... is that okay?’ Clara linked arms with the Doctor, looking up at him innocently.
‘Really? I mean first you start telling the TARDIS what to do, and then you start offering lifts to people! Honestly miss Oswald, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you!’ the Time-Lord joked, ‘Of course they can have a lift, though it is going to be a bit of a tough journey. I’m going to need to try and travel a singular second into the future to get out of the time-loop. It’s a very tricky thing to do you know!’
‘I’m sure it is.’ Clara giggled ‘Girls!’ she called as they walked up to the TARDIS. ‘Come on we haven’t got all day!’ all four of the hurried into the spaceship. Slowly, the box faded away with a loud engine noise, light on top of it flashing brightly.
Epilogue
The Doctor and Clara stand in the doorway of the TARDIS as they wave goodbye to Marti and Emmitt. They dropped them back off in 2013 as the girls had decided to stay there instead of going back to the future like they had planned.
‘There’s still something I don’t understand...’ Clara said ‘When we were in the house earlier, you appeared to me and gave me this letter.’ She held the letter out to the Doctor ‘You said you were from the future and that time would go wibbly!’
‘Well, it did go wibbly! What does the message say?’ the Doctor asked closing the doors of the TARDIS.
‘Well, it is written by me. All it says in the message was ‘don’t be afraid to tell people what to do, even if they are a moody old infinite space and time machine that hates you’.’ Clara laughed.
‘Give that here!’ the Doctor snatched the letter from Clara’s hand and started to read ‘Well, you don’t hate her, do you?’ he shouted to the TARDIS, there was no reply. Clara continued to laugh. ‘Well, go on the write it out again!’ the Doctor said handing her a piece of paper and a pen which he appeared to make out of thin air.
‘Why?’ Clara asked taking the items and starting to write.
‘Well you have to. Otherwise, it will be a paradox. And those aren’t very nice.’ When she had finished she handed the letter to the Doctor and he tapped the Time and Space Watch a couple of times and then vanished.
The Doctor found himself in the hallway of Marti and Emmitt’s home. He could hear Clara in the houses living room. He found himself feeling really out of breath, which must have been a side-effect from the Time and Space Watch. Clara walked out of the room and turned to face the Doctor, looking rather confused.
‘Doctor, are you okay?’ she asked, worried about his out-of-breath-ness. The Doctor made a long ‘shush’ noise and again he held his finger up to her lips, stopping her from speaking. ‘Listen to me, and listen carefully, I haven’t got much time.’ he whispered ‘Time, it’s going to go wibbly. I’m from the future and I’ve come back to give you a message.’
Then after his conversation with past Clara he made his way back to the TARDIS and his own time. ‘Happy?’ he asked Clara who was now leaning against the TARDIS’ console.
‘I’m always happy!’ the Doctor walked up to her and started to flick certain switches on the TARDIS console ‘So, what happened to the second that was taken out of time?’
‘Oh, we ever put it back! I completely forgot!’ he smacked his forehead really hard, and then shook it off ‘You know, I think Earth will be fine, I mean it was only one second. Now, go put your fancy Victorian clothes on and do your hair up all nice.’
‘I don’t have a fancy Victorian dress, and are you saying my hair isn’t nice?’ Clara replied confused and rather offended.
‘No, of course it is. I’m just taking you on a little trip, Victorian London! 1893, I’ve got some friends I’d like you to meet! Wardrobe is down the hall in that direction’ he pointed down a staircase which lead to an opening in the wall, to your right, then your other right, then three doors down you’ll find the fancy dress room, if you continue going through there you should find the wardrobe in no time! I’m sure you’ll see something you like!’
Clara laughed as she followed the directions the Doctor had given her. The Doctor started to run around the console flicking switches and pushing buttons. ‘You are a good old girl, aren’t you?’ he said, patting the console ‘Letting that mean old Clara boss you around!’
‘You know I can hear you, right?’ Clara called from the hallway.
‘Oops!’ the Doctor blushed before going back to flying his spaceship! ‘Ooh, Clara fetch me my bowler hat while you’re down there, will you?’ he shouted after her adding ‘Bowler hats are cool!’ quietly, smiling to himself.