'Sorry ladies, rather busy here.'
'Well, how rude! Busy doing what, may I ask?'
The Doctor turned to face Lady Carstairs, 'Busy trying to save our lives!' he retorted.
Lady Carstairs stepped back and sat back on to one of the seats, dumb founded at the young man's insolence. Her companion sat beside her to comfort her. Miss Morris also sat beside them.
'Doctor, that man in there--'
'Is no longer a man, Sir Charles,' said the Doctor, 'It's an alien from another world who's sole intent is to kill us all. Got that?'
'I think so, yes.'
'Now, I need to find a way of getting you and the others off this train before the Time Bubble we're in completely collapses.' The Doctor turned and moved back towards the other carriage door and peered through the window.
He could see the glowing mass of the Rutan as it waited for the next break in the time trap and for the doors to open for it to enter after them.
'Right, we haven't much time. We need to get everyone to the rear of the carriage and up onto the roof of the train and back to the TARDIS.'
'You expect us to climb onto the roof?' asked Mary, quite alarmed at the thought.
'I'm afraid so, or we'll all end up dead.'
'Very well, Doctor.' said Sir Charles, 'Ladies.'
Mary stood to follow Sir Charles, however, Lady Carstairs sat rigid in her seat. Clearly there was no way that she was attempting to climb any ladder.
'Lady Carstairs,' Sir Charles held out his hand to escort her out of the carriage, but she refused to take it.
'If you don't you'll be dead just like the other passengers,' said Rose, 'Do you want that?'
Lady Carstairs refused to answer, even her companion, Cynthia, failed in trying to get her to change her mind. She stood up and took Sir Charles' hand and followed the others out through the door of the carriage and to the ladder to the roof.
'Rose, look out for them, I'll be right behind you.' said the Doctor, 'and Rose, be careful.'
'I will. But what about you?'
'I need to keep the Rutan at bay for as long as possible, long enough for us to get back to the TARDIS.'
Rose turned and left through the door where Sir Charles had already scaled the ladder and was helping his companion Mary Morris to the roof. She looked at Cynthia, she looked scared and was crying quietly to herself. Rose put an arm around her for comfort.
'Come on, it won't take us long. When we get to the luggage compartment we'll be able to get off this train.'
'But, but Lady Carstairs, what of her?' asked Cynthia.
'The Doctor will help her, I'm sure. Now, come on, we need to get moving.'
The Doctor tried again to get Lady Carstairs to see reason. 'Your life is in danger.' he told her matter of factly, 'If you don't move now, you'll end up dead like the rest of them.'
She looked at him in horror still refusing to move from her seat. 'I, sir, intend to remain seated until this train finally arrives in London, where I shall be making a formal complaint about your conduct!'
'You can tell them anything you like, but I don't work for the railways.'
'Then who are you, sir?'
'I've told you I'm the Doctor and I'm trying to save your life.' the Doctor's patience was beginning to wear thin.
At this point the carriage was illuminated by the green glow of the Rutan as it finally entered the carriage. The Doctor stood up and held out his hand to Lady Carstairs, 'Come on!' he shouted.
Lady Carstairs stood up sharply as she caught sight of the creature and taking the Doctor's hand she followed him as quickly as she dared towards the door and freedom. But the Rutan had seen them and moving forward after them it lashed out with its tendrils which caught Lady Carstairs across her back and amongst the crackling energy the Doctor could hear her dying screams.
~~~
Cynthia had heard the blood curdling scream and suddenly began to be hysterical. Rose pulled her up onto the roof of the train. She tried to calm her but the only way she could was to slap the hysterical woman across the face.
'I say!' said Sir Charles, 'Steady on.'
'It worked didn't it.' said Rose and began to comfort the woman who cried quietly to herself. She could hear the sound of footsteps on the ladder and was relieved to see that the Doctor had finally made it. 'What happened back there?' she asked.
'Lady Carstairs.' the Doctor simply said, 'We need to get to the luggage compartment quickly, before the Rutan realises what we're up to.'
The Doctor stood up and looked at Sir Charles and Mary, who hung on to her companion in fear of falling off. 'You two okay?' he asked.
Charles nodded. 'What now?'
'We head for the luggage compartment; I've a way of getting us off this train there.'
'Doctor, we're not moving.' said Rose suddenly looking around at the view beyond the train.
'We never were. We're trapped in a moment in time. I suspect that whoever set this up wanted to contain the Rutan from carrying out its plans.'
'And we found a way in.'
'Yep, afraid so. We crashed our way in and I intend to crash our way back out.' He looked ahead of them back down the length of the train. 'Come on!' he shouted and began to run along the roof of the train.
Rose helped Cynthia up onto her feet and taking her hand helped her walk along the roof. Sir Charles did likewise with Mary and they quickly, as they dared possible, followed the Doctor.
~~~
In the carriage below where the body of Lady Carstairs lay, the Rutan creature slowly moved towards the door and ultimately the ladder leading to the roof of the train. It found the going very slow and so began to reform into the shape of Richard Henrick. In this body it would be able to move quicker and so scaled the ladder to follow the Doctor and his friends.
Rose had looked back and to her horror saw the shape of Richard Henrick clambering up over and onto the roof of the train. 'Doctor!' she shouted, courting his attention.
The Doctor looked back and signalled to the others to follow quickly as the Rutan began to lumber forwards in pursuit.
Sir Charles and Mary had begun the descent towards the luggage compartment, the Doctor helping them down. The Doctor quickly climbed back up to see Rose and Cynthia walking towards him.
'Rose!' he shouted. He could see the Rutan almost on top of them. Suddenly, they stumbled as Cynthia's long dress caught something jagged on the surface of the roof. Rose fell awkwardly almost falling from the security of the roof but managed to hang onto the railing that ran along its surface. Cynthia stumbled to get back up but the Rutan creature was towering over her. She screamed as the Rutan poured its electrical energy through her body, sending the lifeless corpse over the edge of the roof.
'Rose!' shouted the Doctor and grabbed a hand to help her navigate the corner of the train and onto the safety of the ladder. He helped her down and they both entered the luggage compartment where, Sir Charles and Mary were waiting.
'What happened to Cynthia?' asked Mary
'Dead. I'm sorry.' said the Doctor.
Mary turned to Charles and he put his arm around her.
Suddenly, the carriage was awash with the green glowing light emitting from the Rutan as it returned to its natural form.
Rose looked at the Doctor. 'Come on, we need to get away before that thing gets in here.'
The Doctor was already opening the doors to the TARDIS. 'Take them inside,' he said.
'What are you doing?'
'I'm going to try and reason with it.'
'What!? How can you reason with a creature that does nothing but kill? leave it, Doctor, let's get out of here, now!'
'It could easily be the last of its kind, like me.' he looked at Rose, 'I've got to try, Rose.' He held her arms to reassure her. 'I'll be ok, now go. Look after the others.'
Rose reluctantly turned and disappeared into the TARDIS with Charles and Mary, attentively close behind her.
The Doctor turned to face the creature as the door to the carriage finally gave way to the alien's electrical energy that it had used to turn the door's burning timbers to dust.
'Not so fast!' shouted the Doctor.
The Rutan stopped as its pulsating form appeared to slow. Clearly its energy was draining thought the Doctor.
'You can't keep this up for much longer, can you?'
'We have coped this far.'
'But you're trapped here, the bubble maybe stretching but you're still trapped.'
'I sense a power source close by. Your ship, Doctor?'
The Doctor glanced over at the TARDIS. 'Possibly,' he said. 'My way out of the Time Bubble we're in.'
'A time vessel?' asked the Rutan, but the Doctor didn't reply. 'No matter, the energy from your ship will continue with our survival and return us to the war fleet.'
'This ain't no taxi.' scoffed the Doctor, 'I'm not here to do your bidding. You've killed innocent people on this train.'
'All life energy is important to the survival of the Rutan host.'
'Not when it involves killing innocent human beings!' snapped the Doctor.
'But we have to survive-'
'What for? To kill? To go into battle in a pointless war against the Sontarans?!' The Doctor moved over to the TARDIS and leant against the door frame and folded his arms. 'All life is precious in my book and no death warrants your survival to continue to take it!'
The Rutan's body mass rattled and cracked with energy as a way of showing its anger towards the Doctor.
'Then you intend to leave us here to die.'
'I've no choice. You were placed in this Time Bubble for a reason but you've given me no choice but to leave you here.'
The Rutan's body suddenly shook and crackled as it lashed out towards the Doctor with its tendrils. The Doctor jumped to one side to avoid them. Suddenly the doors to the TARDIS opened and Rose called out 'Doctor!'
'Stay there!' he shouted back at her while taking cover behind the crates that they had earlier seen contained chickens they had encountered on their arrival.
The Rutan had observed Rose and decided to make for the power source, the TARDIS.
Rose quickly slammed the door shut just as the creature reached it. It's tendrils latched itself to the frame of the TARDIS and slowly began to crawl towards the roof.
The Doctor observed the Rutan making its climb and its examination of the TARDIS, curious and unsure of what to make of the object as it continued to climb. At this point the Doctor slowly opened the crates containing the chickens and set them free to run around the carriage. He gently "shooed" them out and they "clucked" at their new found freedom. But their freedom wouldn't last. The Doctor had cautiously made his way back towards the TARDIS and opening the door, stepped inside, just as the Rutan had realised its mistake and began to descend to observe the creatures running around the carriage.
'You cannot escape us, Doctor.' it crackled. 'The Rutan shall seek you out and destroy you and this backward planet.' It raged, as its tendrils lashed out again, catching one of the chickens with its tendrils, killing it instantly.
There was a sudden roaring sound as the TARDIS light atop flashed and it began to fade from existence. The Rutan turned and moved as quickly as it could, back towards the sound, watching as the TARDIS re-materialised, the sound now sluggish.
Inside Charles and Mary, still in awe of their surroundings, were seated at the console while Rose hung on to the railing that surrounded the console. The Doctor meanwhile was running from panel to panel, flicking switches and turning dials, pulling levers trying in vain to get the TARDIS to dematerialise.
'Come on!' he shouted in frustration.
The cloister bell rang out its warning.
'What is it? What's wrong with it?' shouted Rose.
The Doctor continued to operate the TARDIS controls, 'The Time Bubble is collapsing around us and I'm trying to break us out before we end up trapped...permanently!' he said through gritted teeth.
The TARDIS shook violently sending it's occupants to the floor. A shower of sparks and smoke erupted from the console. For a moment no one could move as the TARDIS lurched upward until finally...silence.
Aboard the train the Rutan had lost its battle against the Time Bubble as energy poured into the carriage sending everything a ghostly white and then...nothing.
'Did we make it?' Rose whispered, looking over at the Doctor, who had fallen close to her.
'I think so!' he declared jumping to his feet, a big grin crossed his face as he checked the instruments across the panels of the console. He looked to his guests. 'Best get you two home.'
Charles and Mary looked at each other having helped each other up off the floor of the console room. 'We...' Charles stuttered, 'we were heading for London.' he said turning to the Doctor.
'Of course, Charlie boy!' said the Doctor, clapping his hands together, 'London it is.' and he began to set the controls for their journey. Suddenly the TARDIS lurched again, nearly sending its occupants to the floor.
'We hope,' whispered Rose giving the Doctor a sideward glance, who in return gave his companion a discerning look.
'Trust me,'
'I do.' Rose replied with a smile.
THE END
written by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2010
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
