The Doctor’s People (3/6)
Title: The Doctor’s People
Author: sarah531
Rating: PG13
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Eleven, Amy, Rory, Mickey, Martha, OCs
Summary: A pair of old companions reappear in the TARDIS and the whole group heads off to a holiday planet. But something sinister and dark is going on, and it will test them all…
Martha and Rory were hurrying through the crowds.
“How are we going to find the Doctor?” Rory asked. “This is a whole planet! How do we know where he’s gone?”
“I know the Doctor,” Martha answered. “He’ll have gone to the place where all the danger is. And what does that tower look like to you?”
Rory looked at it, and then saw Martha holding up the camera.
“Oh. A tower with eyes.”
“He’ll be there.”
*
Mickey, Amy and the Doctor walked back through the caves.
“Don’t worry if you see anything scary,” the Doctor said. “It won’t be real. Of course, you know it’s not real now, but it still might affect you. Just concentrate on other things.”
“What’s doing this?” Mickey muttered.
“I have a feeling I know.”
“And?” Amy said, when he didn’t continue.
“And it’s horrible, Amy, horrible,” he whispered.
*
Martha and Rory reached the Tower.
“No need to wait in the queue,” Martha said. “There’s probably a back entrance. And I can unlock it, I’ve got tools on me.”
They slid away from the crowds, as far away as they could get. It wasn’t easy, but they managed to reach the tower. They pressed up against it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had to rescue the Doctor before,” Rory whispered.
“We’re probably not rescuing him,” Martha said, looking for a door or an opening. “He’ll have everything under control, you’ll see.”
*
“Oh dear,” the Doctor said. “Things are spiraling out of control.”
Amy let out a gasp.
There were several hundred bodies in the cave they’d just entered. Men and women of many different species…and some children.
“Don’t look,” the Doctor said. “This is my head that’s doing this. Just keep walking. We have to go through here. Keep on walking.” He didn’t look well at all.
“Doctor,” Amy said, “Doctor, you look terrified.”
“I am,” he said. “Don’t look at any of them.”
“Why not?”
“In case you see someone you know!”
They walked. Amy found herself closing her eyes, and thinking back to that time so long ago with River and the Angels. Weird, how time flew, how she’d been so different back then…now, she’d seen so many dead bodies.
“Amy!” Mickey whispered.
“Rory!” she whispered back, before realising it wasn’t him.
“Rory’s ok, Amy,” the Doctor reassured her. “I promise.”
They continued, and then they reached the door, and only the Doctor looked back. Amy thought she heard him say something under his breath, but she didn’t know what it was.
“Doctor,” she asked, “are you okay?”
The Doctor nodded.
“What are we looking for, Doctor?” Mickey said. “It must be something pretty powerful to do all this.”
“No,” the Doctor said. “Not that powerful. Just full of spite and malice and disregard. Probably human.”
“Hey,” Amy said.
“Listen to me, both of you, because this is important. What you see here isn’t real. You’ll be scared but now your fear can kill people, understand? So I want you both to concentrate, concentrate on all that you hold dear. They’re trying to trick you…”
“Who is?” Amy said. “What are they doing, what’s killing people?”
“This place, this planet, this tower, it’s a killing machine. Just remember, Amy, Mickey, please just remember that nothing you see down here is real!”
Just then Rory and Martha burst into the cave.
“Except for them,” the Doctor said.
“Amy!” Rory shrieked, and ran to her. “Amy, I saw, I saw…”
“I know,” she said, as he crushed her in a hug. “Me, dead, yeah? I saw you dead.”
“Amy, what is this? What’s happening?”
Martha too had her arms around her husband.
“Everybody!” the Doctor called, and everybody stopped and paid attention to him. “Nice to see you again, Martha and Rory. Nice to see you were able to get in here without being hit on the head.”
“Doctor,” Martha said, “what is going on?”
“This tower is a transmitter,” the Doctor said.
“OK,” Mickey said, “what’s it transmitting?”
“Fear.”
*
In the highest room of the tower a bloke called Brian was sitting in an armchair, sipping some champagne, staring out over his little world and basically pretending to be a Bond villain. In his room there was a raging fire, a drinks cabinet, a bookcase, and it all seemed very cosy and jolly until you turned around and saw the torture chamber on the other side of the room.
An old man was hooked up to a machine. He was very unwell, probably dying, but defiant eyes were glaring out. Brian finished his champagne and sauntered over. (He was very good at sauntering and did it all the time.)
“All your friends are dead,” he said in a voice which didn’t match the demeanor at all. “It’s time to talk. Who’s gonna blame you?”
The man spat in his face. Brian rolled his eyes a bit and cleaned himself up.
“Right, well, that wasn’t nice.”
He pulled a switch on the wall and turned away. When he turned back the man was dead, sheer terror etched into his features.
“You didn’t call out your loved one’s names,” Brian said. “Maybe you didn’t have any loved ones. Who knows.”
He rang a bell which would bring someone up to dispose of the body.
*
“What’s happening is this,” the Doctor said. “Everyone who enters this tower, this ride, they’re exposed to their worst fears. Loved ones dead and mangled on the floor. Darkness, mazes, no way out. They’re terrified. That sheer amount of terror, from so many people, is deadly. Transmit it to someone’s brain and they’re dead. That’s what somebody, something, is doing here. Killing people with terror.”
“Oh my God,” Martha said.
Something occurred to Rory. “You said this planet was owned by something called TomorrowCorp?”
“Yes! Yes I did! Well done Rory.”
“You said they were nice people!”
“I said I was told they were nice people.”
“Did Jack tell you?” Martha asked, after a long pause.
“Yes.”
“I think he met them a good few centuries ago.”
“Who is Jack?” Amy said.
“You’ll meet him one day and you won’t know what hit you,” the Doctor said. “Aha!”
They had turned a corner and a teenage girl was there. She had been the one screaming, and she was still, at varying intervals, at it. She was kneeling by a corpse, too.
“It’s not real,” the Doctor said, approaching her. “That body? It’s just a illusion.”
The girl was so distraught she seemed to barely understand, but then in one shuddering movement she lifted her face to the Doctor.
“Who are you? Can you help him?”
“I don’t have to, he’s not real.”
“What do you mean?”
“None of this is real. It’s designed to scare you, to scare everyone. What’s your name?”
“Ghost.”
“Your name’s Ghost? What, for real?”
“Yeah. Ghost.”
“Fair enough. Who’s that?”
In a shaky voice the girl said, “My father.”
“And was your father on the ride with you?”
“No. He’s not on the planet. It’s just me, me and some friends…” She dissolved into tears again. “Is my father dead?”
“No, he’s not.” The Doctor took out the screwdriver, pointed it at the body, and once again it faded into its dummy form. “See.”
Ghost stared in amazement. She slowly stood up, still shaking, and wiping her eyes. “It’s really not real?”
“No.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m the Doctor. This are my mates- Amy, Martha, Mickey and Rory.”
“Oh.”
“D’ya know a way out of here, Ghost?”
“No.”
“We’re going to have to do things the old fashioned way then. Martha, what’ve you got in those pockets?”
“Um, let’s see…there’s this pocket flamethrower thing we took off a Sontaran, my phone, my TARDIS key, a stun gun, a sort of zipwire thing, some tiny bombs from the 51st century…”
“Good lord, you carry far too much weaponry now. Hand over the bombs.”
Martha did. The Doctor waved the screwdriver over them and announced, “Stand back.”
They did. The Doctor tossed one into the air and covered his ears, and although there was no noise there was an explosion, and suddenly an exit from the caves.
“They’re noiseless,” Martha said, as the Doctor looked at her quizzically.
“Ah, of course.”
One by one they exited through the hole. Far off in the distance was the rest of the Land Of Horrors, and no-one had noticed them at all.
“Right,” the Doctor said. “Everyone alright?”
Everyone nodded, expect for Ghost, who said, “Thank you, Doctor, thank you so much,” and hugged him. The Doctor hugged back, grinning. “Another hugger! Brilliant.”
“What now?” Amy asked.
“I’m going to find Brian, the owner of all this. If he hasn’t got something to do with this I’ll eat my hat. We need someone to take Ghost back to her friends, so I’m going to go for the logical choice of the doctor and the nurse. Martha, Rory, see her to safety and-”
“Let me come,” said Ghost.
“Sorry?”
“You saved my life. Whatever’s going on, let me help! My friends won’t even notice I’m gone.”
“I doubt that,” the Doctor said, “but, ok, the more the merrier. Now, before I was hit on the head, I noticed all the cameras were heading to the tower, the top window of the tower. I’ll willing to bet a lot of money that that is where we’ll find Brian.”
“What do we need to bring?” Mickey asked.
“Nothing. Just your brains.”
*
Brian Wilkinson (that was his full name) was bored. There weren’t any more torture sessions scheduled, and he had nobody around he could talk to, largely because he’d killed them all.
He eventually sauntered out of the main control room and down the corridor to where the cameras and screens were kept. He sometimes kept someone around to review them, but today only he hadn’t been bothered.
“Let’s see the Doctor, then,” he said to the empty room.
One of the screens flickered to an image of the Doctor, Martha, Amy, Rory, Mickey and Ghost heading to the tower. Brian tapped the keyboard nearby.
“Who are his friends?”
The camera ran back through the footage it had gathered, of the Doctor and the others by the map, and managed to connect each name it had to its owner.
AMY
MARTHA
MICKEY
RORY
“Right, thanks, computer,” Brian said idly, and kept his eye on the screen.
*
“This might get dangerous. There’s a dangerous man up there. Ghost, are you sure you want to come?”
“Yes.”
“Right, I guess I can’t stop you.”
“You’re not even trying to stop her,” Rory said in exasperation.
“You, zip it. Let’s go, everyone.”
“How are we getting to the top window of the tower?” Mickey asked.
“Good question, very good question. Martha, hand me that zipwire thing.”
Martha reached into her pocket.
“Doctor, I don’t even know what this is. It’s from UNIT.”
“Luckily, I know what it is. It’s designed to move people-” he threw his arm out in a gesture to them all- “from one place to the other. Handy for letting whole armies cross rivers, get out of holes, that sort of thing. It can easily get six people to one window. Let’s have it!”
Martha handed it over. It seemed to be little more than a length of rope in a ball.
“Another time,” he said, examining it, “I would warn you about the dangers of carrying around technology you know nothing about. But we’re busy right now so I’ll lecture you later.”
“Can’t wait,” Martha said, almost sarcastically.
The Doctor poked it with the screwdriver and announced it ready for use. “Right. I’ll just throw it up here-” he said, and threw it towards the window. It was a spectacular throw, but fell short. “Right,” he said. “Okay then-”
Ghost suddenly took the rope from his hands and threw it. It was a amazing throw, and the rope shot into the air and attached itself to the window. The other end of the rope dangled down for them to hold onto.
“Wow,” said the Doctor. “We’ll leave all the throwing-in-the-air jobs to you from now on.” He reached out and touched the rope.
“Everyone hold on,” he said. “Just hold on, that’s it. Honestly, it’ll work.”
So they all held on. And suddenly, in a flash, they were hanging just below the window.
“Okay,” the Doctor said, “keep holding on, everybody.”
He reached up with the screwdriver and unlocked the window. “Right. Everyone. Be careful and put one hand on the windowsill and raise yourself up, okay? Go.”
*
Brian Wilkinson came sauntering down the corridor to meet them. He’d called down to the theme park and got a few of his more devoted followers to provide backup. They waited in the corridor with guns, a few of them nervous but the majority not in the slightest.
Brian walked into the main control room just as the Doctor and the others were falling through the window. And the Doctor didn’t see him look at Ghost in a way that made it very clear he knew who she was.
The Doctor looked up. “You must be Brian,” he said. And then, in a much darker voice, he said, “We want a word with you, Brian.”
“I’m sure you do, Doctor.”
“Yes,” the Doctor said, thrown. “Yes, I am the Doctor. How…did you know that?”
“Oh please. Everyone knows you. These little cameras of mine…” He looked around the room for one to gesture to, realised none were there and continued without missing a beat. “they’ve been wired up for years and years to alert me to anyone…timelordy. We know we’re doing bad. We knew you’d come to stop us. Unfortunately we’re one step ahead of you.”
“In what way?” said the Doctor, and he cast a silent look at Martha.
“You can’t reach us. We’re…unreachable. Nor you, nor your little gang of wide-eyed innocents can talk us out of it. We torture people, creatively, in order to make money. We use people and toss them aside. We are very much the bad guys, us TomorrowCorp men, and you’ve never met anything like us before. I killed three people before breakfast today, and you can do nothing about it.”
Martha slid behind him and shot him with the stun gun. He fell to the floor unconscious.
“Thanks, Martha,” the Doctor said, and turned to Ghost. “By the way, I want to make it clear that I don’t advocate violence, but that was a special case.”
Ghost nodded, her eyes oddly vacant.
“Doctor,” Mickey called. “There’s people coming down the corridor, with guns!”
“That’s bad,” the Doctor said. “Close the door!”
Mickey closed it. The Doctor jumped forward and locked it with the sonic screwdriver.
Everyone in the room was silent.
“Now we’re trapped in the room!” Amy howled.
“Don’t worry, I have a brilliant plan,” the Doctor said. “It should occur to me in a couple of seconds.”
There was a hammering on the door, and then someone started shooting.
“Now what?” Rory said.
Ghost suddenly and unexpectedly burst into tears.
“You didn’t say it’d be like this!” she screamed. “I don’t want to die!”
“You won’t die,” the Doctor said.
“You’re not going to be a dead Ghost,” Amy said, but the humour was lost on the girl in question.
“Rory,” the Doctor hissed, “you’re good with people, calm her down.”
As the shooting continued, Rory slid towards Ghost. “Hey, hey, you’re not going to die, alright? We’ll all get out of here fine. The Doctor doesn’t let anyone die.”
“Liar!” Ghost whispered, suddenly a completely different person.
“What?”
“Liar! He let you die!”
Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the door flew off its hinges. The Doctor instantly raised his hands, and gestured for everyone else to do the same.
“Your leader on the floor there isn’t dead, he’s just unconscious,” he announced. “…Please don’t kill us.”
“I second that,” said Amy.
“Yeah, and I third it,” said Mickey.
The man in front, who was carrying a huge half-gun-half-flamethrower, slowly lowered the weapon.
“On the floor, all of you!”
They all hit the floor.
“Doctor,” the man said. “You’re coming with me. And your companions are going to stay here, in this room. When Mr Wilkinson wakes up things are going to be very interesting.”
“No,” the Doctor said. “No, you’re not going to do that.”
“Hit him,” said the man.
Someone hit the Doctor very hard on the head. And the whole world turned black as night.
July 28, 2010 @ 6:14 am
Oh my god! This is AWESOME! I’m seriously riveted, and very sad that the rest of the story isn’t up yet… Please post again soon?
July 28, 2010 @ 11:34 pm
I like how this reads like a script with all of the dialogue. Good job :)