DrWho@45: An Unearthlier Child (fan fiction)

[WhiteCrow]

This is an idea for a short story I came up with a few weeks ago, and have managed to get finished for the 45th anniversary of An Unearthly Child.

It came out as about 10 pages long. Thanks to the two Si's for their feedback and help with some continuity.

PART ONE

The rumour was that this was the scene of a terrible crime a year ago. The word of mouth that passed on the playground of the nearby school was that it’d been murder, and the Police hadn’t been able to find the bodies yet. Two teachers and a pupil killed by the insane owner of the junkyard for reasons unknown, who then in remorse and grief threw himself into the Thames afterwards never to be found.

Whatever the tale, rumour or myth, there was one solid fact and indisputable fact, four people had disappeared that night in November 1963, and they’d all been linked to a junkyard in Totter’s Lane. The junkyard itself had lain abandoned ever since, until quite recently, a new and mysterious individual had taken ownership of it. And all the whispers started again with a new ferocity. Why had no-one seen the new owner? Had the previous owner come back from the grave to kill again? Would more people disappear soon?

On this evening, the street lay as shrouded in fog as it was in secrets. With such terrible fears about it’s possibly gruesome past, few children were allowed to walk here by their parents. It wasn’t just children who were spoke in hushed, terrified tones of what might have happened here. The street was empty except for a newspaper that lay abandoned, announcing to the world that it was, or had been 2nd December 1964, and that on that day, America’s President Johnson had intensified his country’s bombing campaign into North Vietnam.

But the stillness and slumber was disturbed as the gates of the notorious establishment were illuminated by the headlights an approaching car. ‘Remind me again how you talked me into this?’ Sighed Cliff Taylor as he brought his Austin Mini to a stop, cranked on the handbrake. He waited a moment looking through at the large gates in front of them with the name ‘J. Smith’ crudely painted across before turning off the Minis lights.

‘Oh come on!’ Replied Lola Butler, flashing him a mischievous smile. ‘You’re as curious as me into what’s going on here.’ She fixed a scarf around her long, curly red hair, then removed her seatbelt.

Cliff shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He was a tall, thin man and the Mini had never been his first choice of car as he could only just fit inside, and then not terribly comfortably. He took off his wire-rimmed glasses, and rubbed his eyes trying to get straight in his mind what they were doing here, before replacing them. ‘And you and I are going to succeed where a one year Police investigation has failed?’ The question hung in the air, and there was a moments uncomfortable silence before he continued. ‘Anyway here we are, J. Smith, Scrap Merchant, 76 Totters Lane.’ He read from the large lettering scrawled on the gates. ‘Formerly owned by one I. M. Foreman, and scene of one of the biggest mysteries in Coal Hill.’

‘Well if it’s anyone’s fault it’s yours!’ Lola corrected Cliff in her teasing manner. ‘You’re the one who told me the rumours about our predecessors at the school, how teachers Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton disappeared one November night along with their pupil Susan Foreman from this very spot.’

‘The Police say now the address was probably just a cover of some sort.’ Cliff repeated matter of factly from a recent newspaper article.

‘So how come they found Ian’s car abandoned outside then? Explain that.’ Lola put to him. Lola made an excellent teacher, she’d perfected her stare with those blue eyes of hers, one of authority and wisdom, which even the most rebellious of pupils found hard to challenge. Cliff found it easier to look away than meet that stare head on, even though the dimness light inside robbed those eyes of some their intensity

‘Mark Jones, the Head of Maths recons that old Ian got Barbara knocked up.’ Cliff stuttered, repeating the piece of gossip that had passed through his corner of the staff room. ‘And they ran away rather than face the scandal of a child born out of wedlock. You know how something like that can ruin a teacher’s career … well I do!’ Cliff seemed to blush at that. Lola eased off on the stare, Cliff was a bit of a shy one, perhaps that was why she found him so appealing. Still it was a bit of a wonder how he managed to keep control in the classroom as well as he did.

‘Skeletons in your cupboard Cliff? You do surprise me.’ She couldn’t help but taunt him a little. It was unfair, she told herself Cliff could be such an easy target, but there was something adorable about catching him off guard. Sure enough even in the dim light, she could see he was at a loss for words. ‘Even so it doesn’t explain the disappearance of Susan Foreman, or the car being left here. Do you know how much they’re worth? Well you probably do, you’re a man aren’t you!’ She beamed at him cheekily. Lola looked around inside the car, it was the first time she’d taken a lift with him. ‘It’s rather cosy in here.’

‘Well it’s kind of all I can afford at the moment.’ Cliff responded a little defensively.

‘No, I wasn’t complaining. I’ve wanted an excuse to get you on your own for a while now. I was hoping later we could go somewhere, you know get to know each other a bit?’ Lola asked. Cliff seemed lost for words, and a little embarrassed.

He finally said after what seemed like forever. ‘Well erm. You see it’s a bit complex.’

‘Oh no …’ Lola grimaced, trying to back peddle a little. This was going to be awkward. ‘I’d asked around the staff room, they told me you weren’t married, and didn’t have a girlfriend or anything. I know you used to be on the staff room phone sometimes to someone called Sam.’

‘Yes, well. I’m not married, and I don’t have a girlfriend.’ He took a pause as if unsure whether to say the next bit. ‘Sam’s a man you see.’

‘Ah some friend of yours? Phew … that’s a bit of a relief. So there’s still hope for me then!’ Giggled Lola, feeling a little less embarrassed, but Cliff didn’t seem to ease up.

‘Shhh – someone’s coming!’ Hissed Cliff in alarm. From out of the fog, came the caped figure of a Policeman, flashlight scanning the area. Quickly Lola grabbed Cliff around the head, and pressed her lips against his. However Cliff pulled her away in sudden shock. The next moment there was a rat-tat-tat of the Policeman’s torch knocking on the driver’s window.

Embarrassed, Cliff frantically wound down his window, and the gaunt humourless face of the Policeman leant down, looking grotesque and ghostly illuminated as it was in the torch light. ‘Can you please do that elsewhere please sir? You shouldn’t be parked there you know!’

‘Oh really officer? I didn’t know.’ Cliff almost tripped on the words as they stuttered out of his mouth.

‘Very good. And please drive carefully sir. I’m sure you’re aware how dangerous driving in poor visibility is.’ And with that the figure of the Policeman disappeared back into the fog from which he came.

‘Can we go now?’ Pleaded Cliff, desperate to get away and put all this behind him.

‘I only kissed you to make it look less suspicious!’ Lola’s voice had a note of hurt in it. ‘And no we can’t. I’m not going to be happy tonight until I know just what’s happening with our mysterious pupil Robert.’

[WhiteCrow]

The new boy or girl at school always had it tough. They never seemed to fit in at first. Any teacher who’d been around enough knew this. However something about Robert from 5D seemed to be a whole new league of ‘not fitting in’.

He’d been at school for almost two weeks now, and seemed quite bright in so many ways, but he was always complaining about the oddest things.

His writing was absolutely abysmal, and he struggled with the inkwells in his desk saying, ‘Why don’t we have ballpoint pens? Haven’t they invited Bic biros yet?’, which had caused the rest of the class to descend into laughter. Then Lola has been on playground duty when some of the girls had been listening to the Beatles on their transistor radio, and he’d gone over to talk to them saying what a big fan he was as well, but then proceeded to say some of his favourite songs, which he claimed were Beatles songs, but no-one had ever heard about.

And then out of the blue, he’d started to ask questions about Susan Foreman. Which classroom had she gone to? Which desk she’d sat at? Who were her friends? But never anything about her actual disappearance, which most of the other children talked about incessantly. And that’s when he’d really started to intrigue Lola Butler.

Tonight when Lola had found that the staff room had been disturbed, and the box containing Susan Foreman’s desk contents rifled through, she had no doubt who the culprit behind it was. But why? And how did he fit in? Well that was what she was going to find out.

‘Do you know I saw Linda from 4B try to kiss Rob on the playground yesterday?’ Lola laughed. ‘You should have seen the look on his face, I’ve never seen someone so afraid of a kiss … until I kissed you just!’ Lola couldn’t help but tease him a little again.

‘Must be something about the Coal Hill School which makes women so predatory.’ Cliff said dryly, before sighing. ‘You know when I became a teacher I never imagine it would be such a life of cloak-and-dagger!’

‘What made you become a teacher anyway? I know you’re not from around here.’ She’d known him since the day they’d started work together, but had never got around to asking him that.

‘Oh I get enough stick about my accent from the kids as it is. Well I’m from a little town you’ve probably never heard of up in Yorkshire. My family are all mining engineers.’ He stared out of the car as he thought about it. ‘I always thought I’d follow them into the same career, until my older brother died in a roof collapse whilst he was underground.’

‘Oh I’m sorry I never knew.’ Lola couldn’t help but wonder if the shyness around Cliff was perhaps him still recovering from the death of his brother.

‘It was a long time ago, I was only 11 at the time. My mum couldn’t stand the idea of me working the mines after that, said she couldn’t lose another son like that. My dad said she was being silly, said the country needed miners, that it was a job for life.’ He took a pause, as if wondering whether to go on. ‘There were … other reasons. I don’t think I’m the kind who can live in a small town, London seemed to offer a man like me a little more … acceptance. What about you?’

‘Don’t be silly.’ Giggled Lola, as if she’d never been asked before. ‘As a girl growing up there’s little in the way of career choices if you’re a bright and ambitious. Nurse. Librarian. Teacher. Well I can’t stand blood, and I talk too much, so that only left the one thing! I’d like to have a go at something a bit more ambitious though. I went for the Head of History job you know? But the new Headmaster told me I wasn’t suited to the position, whilst trying to touch my behind. He’s such a dirty old man! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind being touched, as long as you have my permission.’ She smiled at Cliff, pausing before making another assault, trying to get through that quiet, shy demeanour. ‘You know you would get permission if you asked …’

‘Here he comes!’ Whispered Cliff. They did their best to duck out of sight in a car not renown for it’s spacious passenger provision. Lola couldn’t help wonder a little about Cliff – she’d fancied him since the day she’d met him. He wasn’t like other men she’d known, but she always felt like he wasn’t interested in her. Oh he smiled, he was polite, and he would talk to her at length, but there was never quite that spark between them she’d wished for. Half the reason for coming tonight was just to get him alone, and try to move things on, make something happen.

She peeked above the dashboard, and watched the slight figure of their mysterious pupil move through the fog and come to the gates of J. Smith, scrap merchants. He seemed to shift like a nervous weasel, looking around furtively as he removed the padlock from the gates, and slipped into the junkyard beyond. It was a demeanour that spelt out some form of guilt, as plainly as the name ‘J. Smith’ was scrawled on the gates.

The two occupants of the Austin Mini sat up. Lola let out a long and nervous breath. This was it – time to solve the mystery she told herself.

‘Is it me, or does he look too old to be at school?’ Asked Cliff.

‘Well I thought that myself. But his paperwork says otherwise. He’s left the gates unlocked - let’s follow him and see what he’s up to.’ She said as she opened her car door to pursue.

[WhiteCrow]

PART TWO

Robert moved through the junkyard, at this time of night it was silent and still like a graveyard. So this is where it all began so long ago, he thought to himself. He’d heard this place mentioned with a certain amount of nostalgia. He’d expected it to be something amazing and almost unearthly. But instead it was just full of … junk. All this stuff was probably well loved and state of the art long ago. But now they were just abandoned and broken down relics lying in state before they were recycled, stripped and reused. Somehow the Police Box seemed to fit in perfectly with the broken down and the obsolete, it was the only time it had ever seemed to blend in.

Robert pushed the doors of the box open. It was a box unlike any other, and proof that a book couldn’t be judged by it’s cover. A small cabinet that contained a cavernous wonderland within, owned by Roberts travelling companion and mentor, the Doctor.

Robert James McCow – Rob to his friends, entered the Cathedral to Timelord ingenuity and know-how that was the TARDIS control room, where his two friends waited for him. It was an eclectic mix of the most advanced technology Rob had ever seen, and the bric-a-brac that the Doctor seemed to love to collect on his travels. He could be a bit of a hoarder, which was a problem given the near infinite cabinet space of the TARDIS.

His two friends were waiting for him with a look of impatience and frustration. Though they both looked human, under the skin they were anything but. The Doctor - standing tall and imposing in the velvet jacket he seemed to wear for all occasions - was a Timelord, an alien race who had perfected time travel. Nick on the other hand, with his toned muscular build that contrasted with Rob’s almost spindly and awkward frame, was from an alien race as yet unknown. The Doctor had discovered Nick when he’d hatched from an egg, and even the Doctor was at a loss as to what species Nick belonged to. And that was saying something – the Doctor knew every alien whether friend or foe from Auton to Zygon. Yet he seemed to revel in finding something even he and the combined wisdom of the Timelords had never before encountered. The Doctor always enjoyed a mystery.

Rob removed a large glass tube from his satchel and waived it in triumph. ‘Did you miss me? I don’t see why it was me who had to get this you know!’

‘Probably because you damaged the one in the TARDIS and left us stranded here.’ Snapped Nick, folding his arms in annoyance. ‘You’re just lucky we broke down in London 1964 and the Doctor knew where to find a spare fluid link.’ Rob was a nice enough guy, but he had a knack for accidents and causing problems.

‘Yeah but you’ve never been to school ever. It was bad enough for me the first time around. Two weeks in 1964 it’s like some kind of reality show boot camp.’ Rob protested, and continued to inform them of his day’s activities. ‘I can’t remember what I’m supposed to know and I’m not supposed to know. They asked me who was Prime Minister and I guessed Mrs Thatcher. They thought that was hilarious. Then today’s class was all about how the Post Office runs the telephone system – yeah, like that makes sense. Letters are nothing like telephones. Its no wonder so many people did drugs in the 60s.’

But he wasn’t finished yet, and continued. ‘And I didn’t know my mum Linda used to come to school here at Coal Hill. She told me she went somewhere really posh! Do you know she tried to touch my bottom again today? And yesterday she tried to kiss me at break! It’s a nightmare Doctor!’ Rob was quite animated as he talked about that, absent-mindedly juggling the glass tube in the air like a Majorettes baton.

The Doctor snatched the fluid link from Rob’s hand before calamity struck and they really were stranded. ‘Be careful with that Rob. These things have caused me enough trouble as it is.’ He inspected the precious glass tube for any defects, checking the mercury level as he did so. A little puzzled he asked, ‘Surely you’re not that embarrassed about being kissed by your mother in public?’

‘Yeah but she’s never try to use her tongue when she’s kissed me before.’ Rob shuddered and grimaced as he weighed the events in his mind. ‘I’m going to need loads of therapy when we’re out of here. Yesterday though she told me she’d been good friends with Susan Foreman – mind you most people at Coal Hill seem say that – it’s like a craze. Anyway, she told me Susan’s desk had been emptied out about two weeks after she disappeared, and it’s contents kept in a cupboard in the teacher’s staff room. Sure enough the fluid link was there!’

Nick couldn’t resist what he said next. ‘You know if this doesn’t work, we’ll be trapped in 1964. Maybe you’ll have to end up marrying your mum to ensure your own existence.’ Nick remarked with a certain amount of wicked glee. ‘I’ve been through the TARDIS library, it’s supposedly more common than you think.’

Rob’s mouth fell open in horror. ‘That’d be terrible!’ He uttered. ‘My dad works as an accountant, it seems about the dullest job on the planet! What was your granddaughter doing with this fluid thingy anyway Doc?’

The Doctor sighed thinking back to those days – by Earth’s calendar it was barely a year ago, but on his personal timescale it was more like half a century ago. He’d be the first to admit he was a bit reckless and tetchy in his youth back then. Thinking about it, he sighed. ‘It’s my fault really – I used to tease her when she was difficult.’ He cleared his throat a little nervously before continuing, knowing what he was going to say would sound monstrous. ‘I’d say that one day I would send her to school dematerialise the TARDIS away whilst she was gone. She was scared I’d do it one day, so thought she’d disable the TARDIS by hiding a fluid link at school – I never told her I used to keep one spare.’ He offered by way of explanation. ‘I could be a bit cantankerous that regeneration.’

Nick and Rob’s expressions were ones of open mouthed disbelief. The Doctor could be terrifying to people who were stupid enough to make an enemy of him. And he could get annoyed with both of them when they got into trouble and he had to bail them out. But his anger was always tempered by a gentle compassion. ‘Whatever happened to her anyway?’ Asked Nick, the Doctor didn’t usually talk much about his companions, except for a recent companion called Ed and sometimes one called Adric, who both sounded like a couple of Goody Two-Shoes who never put a foot wrong. Nick really wanted to know what happened to both of them at some point – they probably got their own TARDISes and had their own adventures for the Timelords. Nick quite liked the idea of getting his own TARDIS one day, perhaps one of the newer models the Doctor mentioned which sounded easily to fly.

‘Oh well. Erm. One day I dematerialised the TARDIS and left her behind.’ The Doctor murmured in slight shame.

‘Hope it was somewhere nice!’ Said a shocked Rob.

‘Erm. Yes. Would you believe London?’ He proclaimed, slightly caught off guard by the question. Then he corrected himself slightly. ‘Well a post-Dalek invasion war-torn London of the future.’ There was a shocked silence. ‘Look she was in love.’ He continued to squirm as he tried to better explain. ‘I’m sure she thanked me for it. She seemed okay last time I saw her in the Death Zone on Gallifrey.’

‘Don’t you ever call around sociably? Or does there always need to be some crisis?’ Contemplated Nick.

‘Hmm. I’m not the best of people at social and family gatherings, even my own – just ask Susan’s mother.’ Mused the Doctor with more than a hint of regret. Outside there was the sound of a gate clattering shut. ‘What was that?’ He asked. He would find out soon enough.

[WhiteCrow]

PART THREE

Cliff and Lola stumbled around in the gloom, which was lit only by the small torch Cliff had brought from the car. The junkyard was living up to it’s name. There was nothing particularly exciting or valuable here, mainly broken-down remnants from fairgrounds, markets and heavy industry, which cast eerie and disturbing silhouettes by torchlight. ‘Well he seems to have disappeared!’ Observed Cliff, eager to get out of the there as soon as possible, well aware they were now technically trespassing. This whole evening felt too clandestine for his comfort.

‘Don’t be silly. There’s only one way in and out of this yard. And nowhere to really hide, except this Police Box …’ She came up to it and pushed the door, which to her surprise creaked open. ‘The door’s unlocked!’ She grinned at him before looking inside ... ‘Oh my goodness Cliff, come here!’

Two bedraggled and speechless teachers stood inside the doorway to the TARDIS, trying to take in the strange phenomenon that met their eyes.

‘See you shut the door behind you - nice one Rob – this’ll take some explaining.’ Moaned Nick.

‘Erm, Mr Taylor, Miss Butler – fancy seeing you here! Doctor, these are the nice teachers from school I told you about.’ Exclaimed Rob, painfully aware that he was going to get the blame for this.

‘Not again!’ Sighed the Doctor, there was more than a little Deja vu here, even for a Timelord.

‘But … it’s bigger on the inside!’ Cliff tried to rationalise the sight before him like many before him.

‘So they tell me.’ Replied the Doctor dryly.

‘So this thing’s supposed to be the entrance to another world, like Narnia?’ Lola tried to reason.

‘Well not quite.’ The Doctor moved from behind the TARDIS console where he’d been working, and outstretched his arm to the new arrivals. ‘I’m the Doctor, and this is my ship, it’s called the TARDIS – and as you’ve observed it’s dimensionally transcendental.’ The Doctor offered as explanation.

Nick sighed, the Doctor really needed to read up on Transdimensional Physics For Dummies someday. ‘Don’t worry, it’s a term he uses to say it’s internal dimensions differ from it’s external ones in inexplicable ways.’

‘I don’t care about whatever illusion or magic you’re trying to pull here.’ Said Lola dismissively. ‘I want to know if you’re behind all those disappearances? Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton?’ Lola forcefully accused the Doctor, who seemed a little shaken by the claim. ‘What did you do with them?’

‘Well in a way I was behind their disappearance, yes. But they’re all safe – Barbara and Ian should be back next year, and my granddaughter Susan lives in the future.’ The Doctor tried to clarify.

‘I beg your pardon?’ Lola levelled her fierce stare against the Doctor, but he met it coolly. What he was saying made no sense – but nothing since she walked through those doors was making any sense.

‘The TARDIS can move in time and space … the events you’re talking about happened almost 50 of your years ago in my timeline.’ The Doctor told Lola matter of factly.

Lola dismissed his explanation. ‘You can’t ask me to believe that surely. It was only 12 months ago.’

‘To you maybe, not to me.’ The Doctor answered directly.

‘But you look far younger than 50. And you call Susan your granddaughter – but you don’t look old enough for that either. Are you playing games with us?’ Lola accused him, giving the Doctor the withering look which gave her such authority in the classroom.

Cliff gently placed a hand on Lola’s shoulder, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the air. ‘Lola, we’re standing in a room at least 20 foot by 20 foot, encased in a Police Box.’ Mused Cliff. He wandered the room, stepping forward as if to test that the room really was as big as it seemed, that it really couldn’t be the illusion. He tried to martial his thoughts, a part at the back of his brain was screaming that this couldn’t be real. And yet all his senses were telling him it was. He turned to Lola, rationalising everything the Doctor had said to them. ‘That’s proof right in front of our eyes that what we know of the laws of physics are being used in ways we never even imagined. If space can be bent and twisted by such forces, why not time itself?’

‘I’ve heard the rumours about how 1963 was a bad year at Coal Hill, how the place was cursed. Mysterious explosions, which some said were unexploded bomb. Some of the school is still being rebuilt! The previous Headmaster dropping dead from a brain tumour. These disappearances.’ Lola tried to speak with restraint, but there was emotion bubbling up, barely contained now. ‘I went to college with Barbara Wright, she was one of my closest friends. What happened to her?’

‘You think this is a simple mystery hmm?’ The Doctor pondered. ‘Follow the clues and there’s a simple answer. Not this time. Not the way you want. They came here that night a year ago to you, half a Century to me. There was … a disagreement, and the ship dematerialised, moving backwards in time. We couldn’t get back.’

‘And yet here you are Doctor!’ Lola cut him short with her comment.

The Doctor took a moment before continuing. ‘Travelling in time isn’t a simple matter. The TARDIS, this ship moves, riding the time-space vortex. It’s much like the days of sailing ships, navigation is more an art than a science. The time currents around the 1960s were always difficult to handle, nothing compared to the turbulence in the 1990s – I never managed to land in that period much.’

‘Why should I believe anything you’ve said to me has been anything more than elaborate lie?’ Said Lola, afraid she was being played for a fool, afraid she might be starting to believe him.

The Doctor calmly looked at her before continuing. ‘Because they were my friends too. Oh not at first, I couldn’t trust them. But two years travelling together facing opposition you can’t imagine. It changes many things.’ The Doctor wondered for a moment. ‘But you still don’t believe me do you? Do you want me to show you? I could take off with the TARDIS and move to another time, another place? Would that satisfy your curiosity? But be warned, getting back wouldn’t be easy. It took years to get Ian and Barbara back, and in the end they had to settle for 1965 as the best they could realistically manage.’

‘Do you think I care about what I leave behind? What makes you think I’d ever want to return?’ Snapped Lola in emotional anguish, the restraint of before evapourated. ‘I’m sick of this place, this country, the times we endure. Sick of being underrated in everything I do just because I’m a woman. Sick of the constant terror that atomic bombs could rain from the sky at any moment. Sick of the hopelessness I feel when I think about the future.’

‘Do you think moving in time and space makes things any better?’ Pondered the Doctor, thinking about all the places he’d visited. ‘If there was a perfect idyllic place in time and space, don’t you think I’d be living out my days there? It doesn’t work like that, every period has it’s own problems. There’s no Utopia out there to be found in the whole Universe of time and space, only the one you build. You can’t run all your life.’

‘Doesn’t sound like it stops you!’ Muttered Lola in disgust. ‘Sounds like all you do is run!’.

The Doctor tried to reason with her. ‘Look at the American Civil Rights victories recently. That all started because Rosa Parks, a black woman decided she was too tired and exhausted to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, that she deserved equal rights to anyone, black or white. The Universe changes because sometimes one person takes a stand against something which is wrong and unjust, and when they do, they realise they’re not alone, because they have supporters they never even realised who silently felt exactly the same.’

The air was full of tension. Until now, Rob, Nick and Cliff had remained silent as this exchange had played out. Rob tried to ease the tension. ‘To be honest, travelling with the Doctor you seem to usually find yourself right in the thick of it. Sometimes I’m sure he goes looking for trouble.’

‘Yes he tells you he’s taking you somewhere as a treat, but there’s always some psychopathic lunatic with a robot army lurking around the corner. He’s got to be the Universes worst tour guide!’ Added Nick, continuing from where Rob had left off.

‘They’re right – the Universe is a dangerous place. There’s a reason I came to this time and place with my granddaughter Susan when I needed to keep her safe. This period might have its problems, but it’s nothing that can’t be overcome.’ The Doctor offered Lola a gentle smile, and met her eyes. She noticed behind them was an age, gentleness and wisdom that seemed to outstrip the youthfulness of his face. ‘I’m a man of reason not a man of force. I won’t make you leave, and you’re more than welcome to come along with me.

‘But a life travelling in the TARDIS isn’t for everyone. Some people travel and explore with me. Other people stay behind and build better worlds. The question you’ve got to ask is which are you?’

[WhiteCrow]

PART FOUR

Lola and Cliff stood outside the battered Police Box that hid a world of wonder and secrets within.

Cliff rubbed a finger along the wooden frame. ‘The most amazing of places inside the most humblest and mundane of wrappers.’ He contemplated. ‘Are you’re sure you’re making the right decision? You sounded pretty keen on the idea of leaving everything behind in there!’ Asked Cliff.

‘I know.’ Lola sighed. She bit her lip, knowing she had one last chance to change her mind. She wondered for a moment more before strengthening her resolve. ‘But he’s right. If everyone just flees from problems, no-one is going to make a difference. What if Emily Pankhurst, Mahatma Ghandi or Rosa Parks had just met up with him and left their problems behind? Where would we be now? The world would be a much poorer place that’s for sure. Things have got to get better. They have to’

A strange humming, scraping sound of unearthly engines beginning to whirr and roar could be heard, and they watched as the Police Box slowly vanished from sight. Almost disbelieving, Cliff walked into the spot where it’d stood just moments ago, ensuring the Police Box really was gone. ‘I guess the Doctor was right when he said it could move in time and space!’ He laughed and turned back to Lola with a smile. ‘Any regrets?’

‘No. But I tell you – next year I’m going to have to find Barbara Wright and compare notes.’ Said Lola.

Cliff just had one thought on the matter. ‘Personally, I just hope they don’t want their jobs back.’

[shada pavlova]

Now that's one good story. Very well done to you, whitecrow.

This kind of thing makes me want to re-invigorate my as-yet unresolved Time War epic!

[Andrew Curnow]

Very neat - I didn't guess it would be our very own Rob, et al, in the TARDIS. Don't take it as a big moan, but I think maybe one more readthrough might have helped with a few typos; I really enjoyed it though.

[WhiteCrow]

Don't take it as a big moan, but I think maybe one more readthrough might have helped with a few typos

This is the 5th draft - I've corrected most of the spelling with Microsoft word (I'm dyslexic, so I have issues with spelling at the best of times). However a lot of strange things happened to the text when I tried to import it - it really messed up a lot with quotation marks and "Deja Vu" (with the proper French thingies on it), replacing them with "?". I suppose it's kind of apt for a Doctor Who story.

Anyway - I'm glad you've enjoyed it.

[Jon Masters]

Excellent - liked all the continuity stuff subtly weaved in. That Lola's a right slapper though, and where was the Battenburg ?

and CANON ADDITION - the Doctor had a daughter, not a son (he's Susan's maternal grandfather)

[SiHart]

Cliff gay? Oh my!
I thoroughly enjoyed that Mike- a nice nostalgic trip back to the junkyard. Nice Remembrance continuity too.

Si xx

[WhiteCrow]

Excellent - liked all the continuity stuff subtly weaved in. That Lola's a right slapper though, and where was the Battenburg ?

Yeah - that was a bit of a hard choice. I wanted to get over that Lola wasn't sexually repressed. But all the same she didn't like being sexually harassed at work. And her being like that would make Cliff uncomfortable - it's not actually said, but I hope it's kind of obvious that Cliff is gay.

I had a lot of reasons to want to write something for the 45th celebration. But I wanted to take a trip back to the 60s, but with modern attitudes.

Cliff and Lola would each fit in perfectly in modern day society. But back in the 60s it was a different world. Homosexuality was illegal, and women's careers were limited. I've also tried from my families stories of the 60s some of the detail of the era.

I ummed and ahhed about getting Cliff to reveal his secret to Lola at the end as a sign of trust. But it didn't seem to fit well.

The first draft was a bit more jokey, and due to a mix up, Lola and Cliff go off in the TARDIS, whilst Nick and Rob were left behind.

But the more I thought about Doctor Who, there's often a moment at the end of a story, where the Doctor says farewell. Some people come with him, and some people stay behind. And that's what I wanted to be the heart of the story.

The hope is that at the end, Lola and Cliff decide to make make a stand for women's lib or gay rights, and in a small way change the world.

[WhiteCrow]

Hmmm ...

I'm just going to mention this here. I was going to do a companion piece for this, but it's probably unnecessary called "How the world changed in 45 years", looking at how society did change over the time period of Doctor Who, and perhaps how we can see ideas preserved in old stories.

Hopefully I touch enough on these in the stories to give a slight "Life on Mars" taste. Fear of nuclear war. Gay and women's rights. Racial integration. The Vietnam war. Beatlemania.