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RF #57
THE BRIDGE HOUSE

Episode 1 by Kilduskland
Episode 2 by BlameLewis
Episode 3 by Kilduskland
Episode 4 by BlameLewis
Episode 5 by Kilduskland
Episode 6 by Trivial Keithy
Episode 7 by Kilduskland
Episode 8 by Mark Simpson
Episode 9 by Kilduskland
Episode 10 by Mark Simpson
Episode 11 by Trivial Keithy
Episode 12 by Kilduskland
COMPLETED




Episode One
by Kilduskland

The white Ford Orion acted like a cramped cocoon, sheltering its four occupants from the harsh, wet night outside. The driver, Graham, was shouting above the volume of the music, telling his friends how wonderful his new car CD player was. What no-one voiced was the unfortunate manner with which the squeaking of the windscreen wipers interfered with the rhythm of the blaring rock music. The CD player was obviously the newest thing in the old vehicle.

"Where the hell are we?" asked Paul, from the passenger seat. Graham bit at the inside of his cheek. "Don't worry, I know where we're going." He turned the car around a corner, but was going a little too fast, and his passengers were rocked about a little as he adjusted the steering wheel to compensate.

Suddenly the car started slowing of its own accord. Graham thumped on the accelerator pedal, but it just bounced back at him, powerlessly. Graham cursed, loudly. "Why are we slowing down?" asked Sheryl, the youngest of the group, from the back seat. "Graham, what's wrong?" added Lori, from beside Sheryl. Graham steered the car into a ditch, where it ground to a graceless halt. He turned the ignition, but he knew this would be a difficult job anyway with the ignition starter motor on it's last legs. There were no streetlights outside, so they were in total darkness. He cursed again.

"Has your clutch gone?" asked Paul. "It looks that way," replied Graham. "Might just be a spring in the accelerator pedal. I hope so, cause a new clutch will cost a fortune, especially out here." He switched on the dim roof light and started rooting about in the glove-compartment in front of Paul. He dug out a torch and switched it on. The batteries still had enough power to produce a decent beam. Another curse; this time a grateful one. He switched the roof light back off.

"How far are we?" asked Lori, ready to make the best of the situation. "Dunno," replied Graham. "Maybe a mile or two. We're still in the middle of nowhere."

"We'd better get the jackets out of the boot then," she replied. A reluctant moment passed. The rain was hammering noisily on the roof and windows. "What was that?" asked Paul, suddenly. He pointed out the window. "I thought I saw a light there. Somewhere ahead of us."

"Another car?" asked Sheryl, sounding a little scared by their situation.

"A bit like ... a distant window."

"Could be a farmhouse," said Graham, hopefully. "Where was it? Somewhere ahead of us?" Paul nodded, frowning. "Okay, here goes nothing," said Graham, opening the door. The cold rain showered down on him relentlessly as he ran round to the cars boot, opened it, and pulled out his leather jacket. He slammed down the boot, and with torch in hand he splashed passed the car, and down the single track road. A jacket without a hood, a pair of sports trainers, and a shirt and jeans were hardly protection against this sort of oppressive rain. He added his fondness for self-image to his list of everything else that was curse-able that night.

The others watched the lonely torch-light vanish into the mist of rain. "I hope you were right about that light," muttered Sheryl. There was a pause before Paul replied. "So do I," he said.

* * *

Graham almost stumbled across the old house. It sort of just appeared out of the darkness on his right hand side as he passed the fenced fields. Shining his torch over its walls, it looked to him to be some sort of old farmhouse. But the windows were all bleak and bare. No lights, no curtains, no signs of life.

He went up the couple of steps to the wooden front door, and knocked. No answer. Instinctively he tried the door handle, and to his surprise the door opened. There was the highly predictable squeak. Shining his torch inside, he saw an open porch leading into a cobwebbed hallway, and a large staircase leading to darkness that his torch could not penetrate from where he was standing.

"It'll do," he muttered to himself. He left the door ajar, and ran back down the steps and along the road to his car. It seemed to take forever to get back to it, and a strange feeling deep within him just wanted to get it that car, and stay there till morning. But when he opened the drivers door and saw the other three faces, he decided to follow the first plan. "Okay, there's a house all right. Big, dry and disused, but we've got the sleeping bags in the back so we may as well camp down in there instead of in here."

"Right, lets go," Lori decided, airily. Graham smiled at her. The ever capable Lori; she took everything in her stride. They got out the car, collected their belongings from the boot, and set out for the house. Graham returned momentarily to lock the car doors, though the likelihood of anyone stealing the car on this island seemed pretty remote. He ran to catch up with the others, and a minute later they were at the open doorway.

Graham went in first, shining the torch around the hallway. Old dust rose from their feet, as they walked over the wooden floorboards. "You sure about this?" asked Sheryl. Paul whistled the theme to the twilight zone. "Shut up, you lazy oaf!" growled Lori, suppressing a smile.

"No-one's lived here for years," said Graham, examining the peeling, damp wallpaper. He looked into a neighbouring room. "Hey, there's an old fireplace here. Should we take off some of these stair banister rods and light a fire?"

"You can't do that!" whispered Sheryl, scandalised. "Well if the keepers not here, the finder has it," said Lori, digging out her lighter from her handbag. "Look at the place, anyway. It's falling apart. Of course we can!"

"And I've got today's newspaper. We can use that to light the wood."

They set to it, and in five minutes they'd made the uncurtained room their own, with a fire burning, and a flask of coffee with sandwiches being split between them. After they'd eaten they settled into their sleeping bags, the boys having stripped down a bit, the girls having not gone further than their jackets and shoes, despite male encouragement! The fire crackled as they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Sheryl dreamed that night, and her dream took on a life of it's own...

* * *

A gunshot woke them in the middle of the night. Only Sheryl remained sleeping. Graham grabbed the torch, and ran barefoot out into the hall, shining the torch about wildly. Paul and Lori followed him out. "It was upstairs," whispered Lori, tensely.

* * *

On the landing, just out of sight of the trio, a sharp-dressed man and woman materialised out of thin air. "What was it?" asked the man, who wore a grey business suit. "A gun being fired," replied the blonde woman. "But it does not belong here." They walked across the dark landing and stood, business-like, at the top of the stair. Three teenagers stood at the bottom of the stairs gazing up at them, horrified.

"There is a fourth," said the woman. She wore a shimmering blue dress, the cut of which looked oddly timeless. She started walking down the steps.

"There was a gunshot," said one of the young men at the foot of the stair. "There was the sound of a gunshot, yes Graham," replied the woman, as if lifting the name straight from his mind. "But the sound was merely an echo from a past event. Now if you'd excuse us, your sleeping friend may be in some danger."

The man and woman walked passed the astonished trio, and into the room with the dying embers of a fire. The woman knelt down by Sheryl, and cradled the sleeping figure's head in her hands. Suddenly the woman's eyes lit up, shining like sapphire jewels. She spoke to the man.

"Steel, it has become impossible for this woman to be awaken here. Her mind has been released into another time. It's the same building, but sometime in the past."

"Can you bring her back?" asked Steel.

"No, she's become involved in events there." "Is she alone?"

"No, there's at least one other person with her. A man."

"Sapphire, can you identify the man? Describe him." Sapphire's eyes returned to normal. She put the girl's head down gently and stood up.

She looked at Steel, gravely. "The Doctor."




Episode Two
by BlameLewis

Sheryl runs through the empty hallways and hollow rooms of the old house. Frightened, unable to find her friends. She'd woken, alone, in the room where they had all been asleep. She'd assumed they'd moved for some reason, but after wandering through a few of the rooms in the cold, old house, and finding no-one...

She runs into the hallway where they had first entered the house, and slows to a walk there. And now...

She stops, and turns. Something... something about the door, the front door is drawing her attention now... The way the grain in the wood panelling shines in the dim moonlight filtering in through the tall windows. The windows... She goes now to the window on one side of the door, and peers through it at the landscape beyond. The land is spread before her, lit by slivers of silver moonlight. The air outside is shifting, sparkling and it takes her mind a second to recognise it as rain. Sheryl blinks as she realises what she is seeing. Two landscapes, or rather, the same landscape in dry quiet moonlight, and in torrential rain.

Through the rain is coming a figure. Hunched and bent, it approaches the house.

A flash of light stabs out towards her and Sheryl ducks back into the window alcove. Silence, stillness as the light crosses between the huge windows either side of the door. It disappears, and Sheryl hears herself breathe. She daren't move. She can only stare at the door... the grain of the wood, the smell of the wood through the dust. She's staring now, at this door and she sees the wood twisting in front of her... she's looking so hard she can see the shaking of the electrons in the atoms of the fibres of the grain of the panels of the wood of the door of this house.

The crash of a fist against the wood jolts her mind back from inside the door. The knock echoes through the hall.

"Do not open that door."

Sheryl's eyes dart to the voice - standing right beside her - he's short, eyes hidden by the brim of the hat he wears. He regards her coldly, removes his hand from her mouth, turning it into a finger at his lips. She only now realises that he had covered her mouth, so gentle was his touch. As powerful as his command. Shhh.

The door creaks open. The light flashes into the room and across the hall to the stairway. Like a distant echo a voice from the door says: "It'll do." Running feet can be heard from outside, now - retreating, soon swallowed by the silence of the house.

Sheryl looks at the strange little man, wide eyed with recognition of the voice from the door. Wide eyed and wordless with what it must mean. The man nods. He leans forward and whispers...

"Time has broken through."




Episode Three
by Kilduskland

Graham crossly walked over to Sheryl's sleeping figure to try and wake her. He didn't know what these people were talking about but he had had enough of their creepy carry on, whatever it was. "See to the fire, would you Paul?" he asked. The man and woman were still talking to each other, seemingly understanding whatever they were discussing.

"Incarnation?"

"Seventh," replied Sapphire.

Steel grunted. "Oh. Him."

"He has the insight worthy of some of our own specialists. He could be a useful tool if he were to join us."

"Ask a so called lord of time to join us?" Steel chided. "That little race is nothing but a bunch of nave ice skaters on the frozen lake of time. They have no comprehension of the depths that lie underneath the ice. The nature of time. The danger that constantly watches for cracks in the ice. Ways to break through."

"Yes, but the Doctor is something more than just a Timelord. His origins -"

Steel interrupted. "I'll accept that in his seventh enigma, the Doctor has a little more understanding than most of his kind. But a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing."

"Unless you were to upgrade him to a -"

It was Lori who interrupted now when she put her hands on her hips and opened her mouth. "Right, that's enough," she shouted. "I've had enough. I don't know who you people are, but you can stop your Rocky Horror Picture Show right here, right now!" Sapphire and Steel looked at her, but showed no surprise or concern.

"Lori," called Graham. "Sheryl isn't waking. There's still a pulse, but ..." He looked at the strange duo. "Something's not right sure enough." He crossed over to his sleeping bag and pulled on some clothes, including an old sweater from his overnight bag. Lori was staring at the duo, fury flashing in her eyes, her face no doubt red with rage, if only there was enough light to see her by!

"Find where in the house she is now," Steel instructed. Sapphire walked towards the door. Lori glanced at Graham, and tilted her head, as if to indicate that he should follow her. Slightly put out at Lori's temperamental bossiness, Graham nonetheless obliged - now was not the time to argue with her. She always got him to do just what she wanted; whether it was giving her and her mates a lift home from the pub on a Saturday night, or letting her in on his feelings for Sheryl. He grabbed his torch and left the room.

There was a haunting quality to Sapphire, Graham decided as he followed her though the hall, and down a corridor that led to what must have once been the kitchen. Sapphire moved ahead with out a torch, seemingly knowing her way. The circle of torch-light picked out the blue paint of the door ahead, and it struck Graham how the colour blue seemed to suit this woman. Like her name.

He caught her looking at him, and was oddly alarmed. She smiled knowingly before opening the door. It opened grudgingly into what must have once been the kitchens. "How old is this house?" asked Graham. "The house is Victorian," she said, in that husky voice. "Built in 1864. The land has been inhabited for hundreds of years before that." The wall ahead of them was dominated by a large black iron cooking range. A window dominated the wall to their right; blackness outside with the torch light bouncing off the thin glass. Sapphire moved to a small door to their left. It opened outwards to reveal an old wooden staircase that curved upwards.

"Is Sheryl in danger?" he asked, before she proceeded any further into this dead building. "I mean, what's going on here?" Sapphire turned to him, her tone serious. "There is a corridor ... and the corridor is time. It surrounds all things, and exists in all things. You can't see it; only sometimes. And then it's dangerous."

"But time is something we just travel through," Graham said, impatiently. "From the past and into the future. It isn't ... alive."

"Time is alive, and normally that sentient character is locked out of the dimensions you exist in. But sometimes the fabric of that corridor gets thin, and time can break through. Take things. Take people."

"Sheryl? But she's still here. In the here and now."

"Her body is, yes. But the mind and the brain are easily separated. And Sheryl's mind has been displaced in time as well as space."

* * *

Having got the fire flickering back into life, Paul stood up stretched. He didn't like too much work during the day, but chores during the night was well out of order! He crossed with a sigh to Sheryl and moved to stroke her face. He gave a slight call of alarm as his hand passed right through her.

Steel knelt down, beside the sleeping ghost. Lori did likewise, before she fell down with shock. "Oh my God!" was all she could say, so stunned was she by the sight. "We thought that it was just her mind that had been taken into the past," said Steel. "Like a poltergeist. But now it seems her body has slipped through as well, leaving a ghost of who she once was. A ghost in her own future."

* * *

The wooden steps led to a landing, and one door from there led to what must have been the master bedroom. Sapphire froze in the doorway between them. "Wait!" she warned. Graham was trying desperately not to be spooked. "What is it?" he asked, gripping the torch tightly. Telepathically, Sapphire was told by Steel of the changing state of Sheryl; but she interrupted him, speaking aloud her mental message. "There's a powerful sense of ... fear ... and hatred. The whole upper floor here is charged with it." Sapphire let out a sharp intake of breath moments before the sound of a gunshot rang through the room. Graham's torch dropped on the floorboards, and rolled into the skirting.

The room was empty, but for a single stain of blood on the floor.




Episode Four
by BlameLewis

Imagine, says the Doctor, that you are light. Travelling light...

You can't see - all the rest of your kind are moving just as fast as you, sometimes in opposite or tangential directions - and when they meet you there's a glimpse of... something; but it's not seeing.

You're heading somewhere though - as fast as anything. To be met by something and then - what? Reflected, or absorbed... Knocked back in another direction, or diffused into something else, changed, no longer the same.

Story of my life, says Sheryl.

He just smiles. Consider yourself refracted. Come with me.

They climb the stairs. Sheryl watches as the old wood moves itself past her feet. She pushes down another step and the whole house moves backward under her, then another step - she pushes the house around under her feet, to bring the upstairs landing to her. Now she feels the weight of it.

I don't want to go up there, she says - still, on the top stair. The Doctor turns back to her, eyes dark. Behind him, a room lies dark and open.

You're already there, Sheryl, he whispers slyly. She turns cold at his voice, and forms a question in her mind.

What do I want from you? Merely to... recombine you. You're up here, in this room behind me. Come and be whole again.

A tear falls from Sheryl's cheek, but now she's just climbing a staircase. Just taking a step up, that's all. She stands on the landing as all the light rushes out of the room ahead, leaving it black. There's a gun in the Doctor's hand.

They step into the room, it surrounds them. Sheryl sees the Blue Lady from her dream standing in the corner, seemingly the only source of light in the room.

Hello Sheryl. Her voice is warm, calm, but Sheryl panics.

Where am I Doctor? You said I was here. You told me I was in here but I'm not and she is and I'm not and-

The Doctor isn't listening. Sapphire, he says.

Doctor. You can't keep doing this, you know. You mustn't just reach in and take things like this.

Things need rearranging, he says, with a glance at Sheryl. That's all. It's no concern of the elementals. He peers around the greyer corners of the room. I trust that your colleague is with you as usual?

Steel isn't here now, no. He'll arrive with me in about Three and a half hours. Just after you fire the gun.

The Doctor turns back to her. The time is out of joint indeed, he mutters. I suggest we talk. We have just under three and a half hours to kill, after all.

Sapphire nods, and looks at Sheryl. The Doctor turns to look at her also.

Yes, he says - still looking at Sheryl. There's time yet.




Episode Five
by Kilduskland

The woman had gone and he felt colder than he had felt that whole night. Colder even than when he was running through the rain approaching the house. Colder than when he had realised that Sheryl wasn't going to wake up. Colder than he had ever felt in his life. He didn't even realise Steel had arrived beside him. He simply saw him walking into the room out of the darkness at the edges of the torch's beam of light.

"Woman... floor," was all that Graham could stammer.

"Graham?" called a voice from elsewhere in the building. Paul. Graham recognised the voice with a wave of hope.

"Up here," he called. There was thumping on the main stairs. Graham looked at Steel who's face was set in concentration. "She's gone," Graham said by way of a more comprehensive explanation than he'd previously given.

Steel shook his head. "No," he growled. "She's still in the room."

"Sapphire's still here? Where?"

"1939. Sixty years ago."

"1939 my arse!" boomed Lori as she barged in. She looked around the room and then at Graham. "Where is she?"

Graham felt slightly thrown by the question, and looked at Paul as he shuffled in after Lori. "Well there was that sound of a gunshot again, and then she took a sharp-intake of breath, and ... well, I dropped the torch and she was gone. There was a bloodstain on the -" He pointed to the floorboards, but the stain was gone.

Steel suddenly turned to address them. "You arrived three and a half hours ago?" he demanded, briskly.

"I suppose so," said Graham. He looked at Lori and she shrugged in a 'how are we supposed to know?' way.

"Why, are you going to charge us rent?" asked Paul, a little nervously.

Steel walked around the room, addressing the three like a schoolmaster. "Three and a half hours between your arrival and the sound of a gun being shot. A gunshot that was fired sixty years ago."

Graham tried to compute what Steel was saying, tried to make some sort of sense of what they were being told. It reminded him of what the woman had said of a corridor with thinning fabric. "Sapphire's gone back in time to when the gun was fired?"

"She was sucked through to after the event yes. Now she has gone back three and a half hours on that evening to investigate the events that led to it."

Lori put her hands on her hips. "What the @#%$ has this got to do with Sheryl?"

"Hey, should someone not be down keeping an eye on Sheryl?" asked Paul. Lori and Graham looked at him and then the slightly rotund boy clearly wished he'd kept his mouth shut.

"There's not much point," said Steel. "Even her ghost has disappeared now. She has been completely transferred into 1939. Back to a time when this house was lived in. So what's so special about this girl called Sheryl?"

On impulse Lori flippantly replied that he should ask Graham. Graham glared at her. Could the girl not keep a secret? Lori glanced at Paul. "Sorry," she muttered to Graham.

"Come on Graham," Paul muttered. "I wasn't born yesterday, and you say enough when you're drunk."

Steel stared at the trio witheringly. "Humans and their little lives," he murmured wearily, before walking past them and out of the room. He started down the small landing staircase to the kitchens when there was a thumping sound from another room. Something small being hit against glass.

"Why didn't we just stay in the car?" Paul moaned.

The three quickly followed Steel down the stair, through the kitchen, and the hall beyond it, which led to the main staircase back upstairs. The room they had been in seemed to only be accessible from the kitchens. An architectural oddity. Shadows were thrown all over the dusty cold building as Graham ran behind the other two with the torch. Steel was moving purposefully ahead without the apparent need for a torch. Did his eyes light up too, like Sapphire's? Paul broke the tension completely when he likened this rushing through a haunted house like being something out of Scooby Doo. But then they came to the door of the room.

Steel stood there listening to the rhythmic thumping. He turned to the three and opened the door. It was another dark, soulless room with a imposingly black window. Rain was hitting the window on the outside. Steel walked into the room slowly. The three stood in the doorway, and jumped as something fluttered around their heads. Steel didn't even flinch as it passed his head. It thumped against the glass of the window. A bird.

The relief of the humans was palpable. Lori walked over to the window, intent on opening it. "Come on little bird, lets get you out of here." She unclipped the lower case of the sash and case window and tried to thrust it up, but it wouldn't even budge. Lori grunted. "Old window probably hasn't been opened in years. Okay, Graham. Flex your muscles!"

Graham grinned and crossed. He gripped the upper frame of the lower case and put his strength into moving it. Nothing. He set his back, and pressed his trainers onto the floor trying to use his legs as leverage also. The window gave a slight movement. Then another. "Paul find something to wedge it open with can you?" he asked. Paul waited until Steel passed him, the latter leaving the room apparently uncaring of the bird's plight, and then inspected the room. A small old-fashioned alarm clock - the old sort of wind-up ones - stood on the mantelpiece of the room. He picked it up and, coming to the window squeezed it into the small gap. The cold air was blowing into the room, and it made the room seem a little less dead.

Lori finally caught the panicking bird - a blackbird, and let it out through the gap. Having achieved something positive had raised the trio's spirits. Paul extracted the alarm clock and asked aloud where Steel had gone. They wandered out onto the landing and saw him standing, leaning over the banister looking below.

"Hey, that's where the bird got in!" exclaimed Lori looking up at a hole in the ceiling. It showed a further hole in the building's roof, and a gap in the heavy clouds beyond that. An odd gap of stars surrounded by heavy wet clouds.

Suddenly, a screeching sound of machinery filled the air. It was coming from the room the bird had been in. Steel was first back in the room, followed by the humans who felt a little braver now. It sounded industrial and totally out of place. A light filled a corner of the room - the source of the sound; and out of thin air an object filled the space. The sound died.

Steel gave a rare, ironic smile. "A TARDIS," he said, looking at the blue Police Box.




Episode Six
by Trivial Keithy

A few hours before.

A poorly illuminated corridor, inside a pocket dimension that was shaped like a police telephone box and was adrift in time and space, was currently occupied by Benny and Chris.

Benny was a medium sized woman who was one of her century's most respected and occasionally feared archaeology professors. She was a futuristic Indiana Jones but with more common sense a proper haircut and some notoriety in certain circles. Chris was a giant of a man with short blonde hair. He was a former Adjudicator which were his generations version of Judge Dredd. He had discovered corruption at the heart of his organisation and accepted an invitation from the Doctor rather than get a bullet in his head one night on patrol. He had left with his then beat partner Roz. They had become firm friends and their mutual respect blossomed into a close tenderness but then she was killed in battle and the last of Chris' naivety died with her.

They were fellow travellers and friends of a mysterious time traveller known simply as the Doctor. His current whereabouts were a mystery to the two people. They had been exploring the darkened corridors of the Doctors craft, which was known as the TARDIS, for what seemed to be days. In reality Benny's watch showed that it was only six and a half hours since they started searching the many corridors and rooms for their erstwhile companion.

Something had happened during the night because when they had woken up all the lights were turned off and they refused to come back on. They managed to navigate in the near dark environment thanks to a dull greenish yellow glow that was emitted from the roundels along the corridor walls.

"I hope the Doctor is okay," Benny said for the umpteenth time. "He was taking me to that Archaeology seminar on Paran VI. I hated to leave Jason keeping an eye on that dig for me but he understands. He said he wouldn't interfere and let the others get on with the actual work while he read a book or something."

Chris ran theories and scenarios through his mind that could explain their current predicament. Unfortunately they all involved the Doctor being captured by a hostile force. "I'm sure he'll be all right Benny, he always is." He tried not to let his bitterness about Roz seep into his voice. "Jason's a lucky bloke and he's so willing to drop a few days from his hectic lifestyle to cover for you. I guess you're both lucky, lucky people."

Benny picked up on Chris's feelings. "If he could have saved her he would have, you have to believe that Chris. He feels her absence too. We both do." She put her arm around his waist as they continued down the main corridor towards the console room.

* * *

"Oh dear, that's not it."

There was a stranger in the TARDIS console room, operating many of the different controls. He was talking to himself as he worked.

"Dimensional stabiliser? Pah, a child's play toy."

Benny gawked when she saw the stranger. There was no one here when they checked an hour ago. Could the Doctor have regenerated and found his way here, she mused before asking. "Doctor, is that you?"

The stranger turned around. He was a thin middle aged individual dressed in a very well made light grey suit and sporting a silvery grey waistcoat. His hair was dark brown and quite long with a slight curl in it.

"Have you regenerated, Doctor?" Benny asked.

He smiled. "Ah, hello. I sensed there were still people on board and I hoped you'd turn up before I was ready to proceed. I thought there were more of you though. Not to worry, the name's Silver by the way. I've drawn the short straw with this assignment it would seem. Antiquated machinery like this should be kept in proper working order." He turned back to the TARDIS console. "Yes, very primitive indeed and dangerous. Time travel always is to ephemeral beings. Did you know this guidance system is almost worn out?"

"What are you doing here Mr. Silver?" Chris' Adjudicator training made him suspicious and he demanded answers.

"I'm sorting out your problem, Christopher Cwej." He pronounced Chris' surname as "Shevay" which was the correct way. "Why else would I be here? Now my dear..." He turned to Benny and smiled. "Bernice, yes that's your name. Such a nice name but you prefer to be called Benny by your friends. I do hope we can be friends Benny."

"Charmed I think," Benny said off hand. "I'm a married woman by the way so don't even think of going there." Benny flashed her ring at Silver who simply continued to smile.

"Merely pleased to make your acquaintance my dear," Silver stated. "I think I've got a handle on the problem. Your friend the Doctor decided rightly or wrongly to put this primitive, obsolete machine outside of the space-time continuum while he stopped off to sort out an anomaly he discovered. The trouble lies here." He pointed towards a set of buttons.

"In his haste he mistyped a critical integer and as a result sent it spiralling towards a soft spot in the fabric of time. As we speak there is a pressure point building up fast and if it breaches before I can dematerialise this quaint little vehicle there will the most disastrous consequences. You see for a time break to occur there must be what's called a trigger. This can be a time of day, an object a place or even a person. The trigger punches a hole in time much the same as if you were putting a nail in a wall to hang up a picture. With the stress of this vessel on the time stream any time break is going to be exponentially increased. It's like putting a pin in a balloon. So much of Time released into a small location can prove disastrous. Even in here the feedback will be quite dangerous as well, for you two anyway, the walls of this shack will crumble under the onslaught."

Silver's look of concern made Benny believe him. "Ok, then how do we stop this breach from happening?"

"Can you prove what you are saying is true?" Chris asked.

"Of course I can." He activated the display screen and showed them an image of the Doctor talking to Sapphire. "There you go there's your friend the Doctor, talking to my friend Sapphire. I wonder where Steel has got to, though?" He stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Who is Steel?" Benny asked.

"He's Sapphire's partner, they work together as a team. They're two of our best Operators, they're obviously engaged in the same anomaly the Doctor is investigating. I wonder why she's there and Steel is not?"

"He makes it sound like he enjoys our company Chris," Benny joked.

"Yes, obviously," Chris added.

"I am a Technician, a Specialist to be precise," Silver said jovially. "My particular speciality is locks and barriers. Things that keep people in and things that keep people out usually for a very good reason. Even so I think I can get you out of this situation and return you to the Doctor, but only with time to think and a lot less questions to answer." Silver returned to operating the controls.

After a few more minutes he threw his hands in the air and gave a shrill whistle. "Got it." The light came back on inside the TARDIS.

"Cool. You took how long to find the light switch?" Benny teased.

"I have just saved this obsolete crate and your lives. I think a little gratitude is in order." Silver looked put out.

"Sorry," they both muttered.

"Oh don't worry about that." He pressed a few buttons and the main console started to rise and fall. "Time to get you back I fancy."

"You're really clever Silver, a genius," Benny cooed.

"Thank you my dear Bernice, your words are refreshing and well received." Silver grasped her hand gently and kissed it. "I can't wait to see the look on their faces, especially Steel."

* * *

Now...

The three people emerged from the TARDIS.

"Silver? What were you doing in that, thing?"

"Oh just my job Steel. How's Sapphire?"

Perhaps we should share our knowledge.

Alright.

"Well that makes things very clear, Steel." Silver put his hands in his pockets.

"Look I don't know what is going on here but..."

Steel cut Lori off in mid sentence."No, you don't. None of you do." He left the room leaving behind an air of solemn silence. Silver introduced himself to the others before chasing after Steel.

Benny and Chris felt uncomfortable. Benny was about to speak when beams of gold light shone brightly through every window in the upper floor. A low rumbling noise got louder and louder until it was a piercing shriek. The light vanished and every single window on the upper floor shattered simultaneously.




Episode Seven
by Kilduskland

The vehicle has stopped.

Check connections. Connections okay, but... vehicles sensory and conscious abilities have been frozen.

"Show me!"

Question asked at the vehicle's mind, but we sense that it is intended for us. A woman's voice asking. We can sense her eyes burning into the mind of the vehicle, seeking us out. Hide!

"Show me more!"

She is reading the vehicles memories, reading them backwards. The vehicle and the Graham human; such inhibited and tentative passions!

"I said show me!"

Birth cry and before. No! She is tracing the original connection! Embryo.

"Show me more!"

The birth of the vehicle's consciousness, the first spark of life in this vehicle when still in the womb. The entry point for us! She cannot see us but she must sense the pinprick in time when we slipped through. We must create a diversion, stop her!

* * *

"Found it yet?" the Doctor asked quietly.

Sapphire's eyes continued to shine brightly as she kept Sheryl frozen in time. "Do you know what it is?"

"Perhaps."

* * *

We can sense nothing about this woman. We can sense this Doctor is alien, a possible vehicle even, but the woman? She does not seem to exist in time at all. It is as if she exists over time rather than in it. Method of diversion decided. Connecting us into the vehicles dormant psychic abilities. Eject raw energies!

* * *

A sudden burst of yellow light escaped the frozen form of Sheryl and hovered above the trio's head. But Sheryl didn't belong to this past time; she had been taken back against her will. The psychic energy found itself being released to her home time.

* * *

Silver had just arrived with the Doctor's TARDIS when the yellow light burst into life outside the house. The psychic force shattered the windows before it extinguished itself.

* * *

Sapphire released Sheryl, unable to trace the creature any further. Sheryl blinked, looking about her. "What happened? Did something happen? I feel as if I blacked out for a second." Sapphire simply smiled at Sheryl before looking at the Doctor.

* * *

We hide in our new host. The release of energy disguised the jump from Sheryl to the Doctor. He followed us through time, hunted us down to our hiding place in the Sheryl vehicle, attempting to prevent our destruction of linear time.

"Something lay dormant in this girl from the moment of her birth."

The woman's telepathic voice again, this time asking a question to the Doctor's mind. She cannot detect our presence! Excellent.

"It was awoken when the girl slept in this house in the present day," the woman's voice continued. "Why then and there? And why did it bring her back here?"

"Why indeed," replied the Doctor.

And the new host is ignorant of our presence too. Better still!

* * *

They had heard the windows shatter. Seen them even. But now the glass was once more as it was, and there was no broken glass on the floorboards. Carpet even. Carpet?

"Wait a minute, the place is furnished!" exclaimed Benny.

Steel headed down the staircase, but stopped midway when he saw Sapphire, Sheryl and the Doctor. "It seems everyone is being gravitated into the past," said Steel.

"So where are the occupants of this house? The occupants who belong to this time."

Silver leaned over the bannister from the landing, a whimsical look on his face. "Well perhaps they're the one's who are sleeping now."




Episode Eight
by Mark Simpson

They were all looking at Silver when the front door creaked open.

"It's beginning," said Sapphire.

"About bloody time," Lori commented. Paul shushed her.

They watched from the landing and the stairs as a young woman, about twenty years of age, eased the door open. She would have shut it just as carefully, had not a gust of wind taken it out of her control. It slammed, shaking the house.

A startled noise came from the room where the four friends had camped for the night. It was followed by a shout.

"Shirley! Is that you, girl? What time do you call this?"

The girl winced. Her face turned pale.

A man stormed out of the room, into the hallway. He was wiping sleep from his eyes but his face was flushed with anger.

"You've been with that soldier boy again, I know you have, so don't deny it."

"His name's George and I've not seen him in a week," the girl replied.

"Liar!" the man said, slapping her across the face.

"Oy! Stop that, you pig!" screamed Lori, starting down the stairs.

Sapphire put a restraining hand on her shoulder. Lori tried to shrug it off, but found she couldn't.

"He can't hear you," she told Lori. "We are slightly displaced from their point of view. We can see them, but they can't see us. Neither can we interact."

"He still a pig," Lori grumbled, subdued.

Shirley was now crying. "I'm not lying, Dad," she sobbed. "You've got to believe me."

"Well, I don't," her dad replied. "That boy is nothing but trouble and I don't want you going anywhere near him."

"But I love him," Shirley blurted, then instantly wished she hadn't.

Her father exploded. "So you were with him. You trollop!" He slapped her again.

Lori growled but Paul nudged her.

Shirley had turned to the displaced travellers. She ran for the stairs.

"Don't think you've heard the last of this, girl," her father bellowed after her as she ran up the stairs, passing Steel and the others on the landing. She ran into the room opposite the one where Sapphire said the gunshot had come from.

Her father had retired to the front room. Steel turned to Sapphire.

"Can you do it?" he asked.

"Yes, I think so. But we need to be in the room."

Steel turned to the others. "Right, everybody in the parlour. Now."

"Who died and made you God?" Paul asked.

"Just do as he says," Graham told his friend.

"You would do well to listen to him," Steel told Paul. Paul pulled a face in return.

As they all descended down the stairs, The Doctor paused for a word with Benny and Chris.

"Are you two alright?" he asked, concern shining in his eyes.

"Fine," said Benny, "for someone who has been kidnapped by a strange man who finds the TARDIS, quote, 'antiquated, primitive and dangerous', unquote."

"Did you say that, Silver?" The Doctor asked as the specialist passed him.

Silver frowned slightly. "It was something along those lines," he confirmed. "You really should keep it properly serviced, Doctor."

"And I always thought you were the reasonable one," The Doctor sighed.

"But I am," Silver replied, flashing a dazzling smile as he continued down the stairs.

"Come along, Doctor," called Steel from the hallway.

The Doctor descended the stairs, the last one down. As he reached the bottom, he raised his hat to Steel.

"Hello, Steel. Long time, no see."

"Not long enough," Steel muttered. The Doctor smiled.

They all trooped into the room, where Shirley's father was stoking the fire vigorously, obviously still angry.

"You're sure he can't see us," Sheryl asked Sapphire.

"Positive," she replied. She then moved into the centre of the room and started composing herself for some reason. When she seemed relaxed, Steel turned to her.

"Now, Sapphire. Take time back."

* * *

As Sapphire moved into the centre of the room, the four friends who had set out for an evening's adventure stood at the back of the room, watching events unfold.

"Are you with them?" Paul asked Benny and Chris, who were stood nearby. He indicated Sapphire and Steel.

"No," Benny replied, "we're with him." She nodded toward The Doctor, who was stood next to Silver.

"But isn't he one of them?" said Graham.

Benny laughed. "I don't think The Doctor is one of anybody. He's possibly the most unique individual I've ever met." She offered her hand. "I'm Bernice, by the way, but my friends call me Benny. This is Chris."

Greetings were exchanged between the four youngsters and the two time travellers.

"Now what?" asked Lori.

"Now we sit back," Chris told her, "let them sort things out and then we tell them what a great job they made of it."

"You know," Benny said to him, "you're getting very cynical in your old age."

Chris smiled. "I had a good teacher." Any reply was cut off by Steel's voice.

"Now, Sapphire. Take time back."

* * *

Sapphire stood ramrod straight in the centre of the room. Her eyes changed, from a natural blue to an unearthly bright one. Around them, things changed.

The fire went from roaring flame to glowing embers. Shirley's father, who had been rummaging in a cupboard, was now dozing in the chair by the fire, a newspaper dropped on the floor beside him.

A faint creaking sound could be heard from the corridor, as the front door was pushed open.

"Right on cue," smiled The Doctor. Steel shot him an icy look.

As if to confirm The Doctor's statement, the door slammed shut. Shirley's father spluttered awake from his slumber and looked up at the clock above the mantelpiece.

"Shirley! Is that you, girl? What time do you call this?"

"It's happening the same as before," said Sheryl, her voice catching in her throat. Graham placed a comforting arm around her shoulders. She smiled at him, making him feel less awkward.

"I think that's the idea," Benny replied. "We're seeing the same scene from the father's viewpoint."

Shirley's father was heading for the door, his face already turning red.

"You've been with that soldier boy again, I know you have, so don't deny it.

The scene played out exactly as before. Sheryl winced as Shirley's father slapped her the second time. Graham squeezed her shoulder in sympathy.

"Don't think you've heard the last of this, girl," her father shouted after her as Shirley ran upstairs. Then he turned on his heel and returned to the parlour, where he started stoking the fire.

Sapphire, who had seemed to be holding her breath throughout the exchange, relaxed and almost stumbled. Silver was there in an instant to support her.

"Well, that didn't tell us much more," Steel commented. The parlour had returned to the way it had been before, the fire roaring and Shirley's father returning to his seat with his find, a bottle of spirits. He was muttering to himself, loud enough for his unknown audience to hear.

"Damn the girl. She's never been the same since her mother died." He collapsed into the chair and started swigging the contents of the bottle.

Sapphire was feeling stronger now. "Maybe we should try the girl," she suggested.

"Good idea," said Steel. "Come on." He led the way out into the hall and up the stairs.

Shirley was face down on her bed, sobbing. Her bedroom door was wide open, but only Sapphire, Steel and The Doctor entered, it being too small for everyone. The others watched from the landing.

Steel turned to Sapphire. "Are you fit enough to probe her mind?" Sapphire smiled and nodded.

She moved to stand beside the bed and her eyes glazed slightly. "She was lying to her father. She has been with George this evening. They made love under the stars."

"What else?" Steel asked.

Sapphire was about to speak when suddenly things changed. Shirley disappeared from the bed and was now standing by the window, looking out into the night.

"What happened?" Steel demanded.

"Time moved forward," Sapphire told them. "We're now less than thirty minutes from the event."

"Can you hold back time, Sapphire?" Steel asked.

"I think so," she replied. "It won't be easy, but I should be able to hold it for a while."

"Let's hope it's enough."

Shirley turned from the window and headed out of the door.

"I think someone should watch her," Steel said.

"I'll go," The Doctor volunteered. Steel did not look happy, but he nodded anyway.

"I'll go with you," Chris said.

"Shall I watch the father?" Silver asked. Steel nodded again.

"Want some company?" Benny asked Silver.

"That would be very nice, Bernice," he replied.

Benny nudged Sheryl and Graham. "Come one, you two. Let's see what we can do to help."

"What about us?" Paul inquired, indicating himself and Lori.

Steel thought for a moment. "Search the house. See if anyone else is living here." The two young people disappeared along the landing.

Alone, Sapphire and Steel set up a telepathic conference.

"It's some sort of mind parasite," Sapphire told him.

"Where is it?"

"It was in Sheryl's mind."

"Was?"

"I think it jumped. I lost contact when the rest of you turned up."

"To who? The Doctor?"

"He was the only one with me and the girl."

"Can you access his mind?"

"No, it's too complex. It's a job for a specialist."

"I was afraid you would say that."

There was the hint of a smile in Sapphire's thought. "You know she likes you."

Steel's thought had a hint of resignation. "I know. I'll get Silver to contact her."

* * *

Downstairs, Silver received Steel's telepathic request.

"She's on her way," he thought back, smiling slightly.

* * *

The Doctor and Chris had followed Shirley to a walk in cupboard along the landing. They watched as she went inside and started searching through some boxes.

"What do you think she's looking for?" asked Chris. The Doctor just shrugged.

Chris sighed. And he thought he'd been moody since Roz's death! He was just coming round to the fact that The Doctor missed their friend as well.

The Doctor did not seem to be taking much notice of what was happening, as if his thoughts were turned inward.

Shirley finished her search and started replacing boxes. Chris heard voices down the landing. From the look on his face, The Doctor heard them too.

"Who is it?" asked Chris.

"Steel talking to someone."

"Sapphire?"

"No. I don't recognise the voice. Someone else has arrived."

In the corner of Shirley's bedroom Sapphire stood stock still, a sheen of perspiration on her forehead.

"Is it working?" Steel thought.

"I can keep time on it's proper course. No more sudden jumps."

"Is that all?"

"It's the best I can do."

"It will have to do. Now, maybe we can sort this mess out."

There was a slight cough from behind Steel. He turned to see a woman, clad in tight black leather trousers, black polo neck sweater, black leather boots and black three quarter length leather coat. A mane of black hair cascaded down her back, framing her pale face. She was smiling.

"Hello, Steel," she said, her voice soft and silky.

Steel groaned inwardly. "Hello, Jet," he responded.

* * *

Shirley was now searching her fathers room, the one where the noise of the gunshot had been heard sixty years later.

"I wish she would hurry up and find what she wants," Chris commented. The Doctor just tapped a finger to his lips.

As Shirley moved to the bedside drawers, The Doctor let out a gasp. Turning, Chris saw his eyes glaze over and a moment later the Time Lord crumpled to the floor.

Chris quickly checked his pulse. Both stable. His Adjudicator training kicking in, Chris decided he needed help. Leaving The Doctor on the floor and Shirley to her search, he headed downstairs.

* * *

Steel and Jet walked into the parlour to find Shirley's father in a drunken stupor. Silver, Bernice, Graham and Sheryl were sat round a table, talking.

"Where's the Doctor?" Steel asked.

"Don't know, he's following the girl," Benny replied. "Who's your friend?"

Silver was already on his feet, embracing the woman. She grinned.

"This is Jet," said Silver. He introduced Bernice, Sheryl and Graham.

"I didn't get that sort of welcome from you, Steel." Steel just sighed.

"I'm not surprised," Silver said.

"Keen on Steel?" Benny inquired. "I thought he was a bit of a cold fish."

Jet smiled, a twinkle of mischief in her black eyes. "I like a challenge."

At that moment Chris came rushing in.

"Quick. The Doctor's collapsed."

* * *

They found the Doctor where Chris had left him, out cold.

"Can you reach him?" Steel asked Jet.

"Yes," she replied, now all business.

"Who's the babe?" Chris whispered to Benny.

She smiled. "Down, boy. She's one of them." Chris looked disappointed.

Jet had placed her hand on The Doctor's forehead. She closed her eyes.

"I'm getting something. Something powerful. Something that does not belong. It's very..."

Steel was getting impatient. "Very what?"

In reply Jet's already pale face went bone white. Her eyes flew open and she screamed.




Episode Nine
by Kilduskland

Silver motioned Graham and Sheryl to oversee the sleeping father while he and Benny hastened into the hall to find out the reason for Jet's scream. They remained on the lower stairs looking up at the scene...

* * *

The Doctor's eyes darted open. "Is it now in you?" he asked Jet, in a growling whisper.

Jet frowned. "It attempted to cross, but failed," she replied.

The Doctor looked to Steel and then back at Jet. "Are you sure?"

"It doesn't need to hide in a mind anymore," interrupted Sapphire, sensing the air around her. "It inhabits the entire house; from the grain of the wood to the fibres of the carpets. The very structure of the house is charged with it; it's like being inside a sealed box."

The Doctor rose to his feet. "Yes, well we're not quite ready for our coffins yet," he crumbled, shaking his clothes free of the dust with his hat. "You should have left it with me, you know. It's for that creature that I first sought out Sheryl as soon as she was due to arrive here."

As Sapphire passed them to go into Shirley's room, Steel turned to the Doctor. "For that creature?" he asked.

The Doctor looked at him darkly, eyes once more shadowed by the brim of that hat. "I'm no-one's servant Steel if that's what you're asking. Or at least no more than you are."
Steel simply grunted.

Jet, who had seemed oblivious to this conversation, rose slowly and faced him. "You're incarnation is more than just a Time-"

"Yes," interrupted the Doctor loudly, evading her gaze. "Well we all have a job to do, don't we?"

Sapphire returned and closed the door to Shirley's room after her. "The daughter is sleeping. She has her father's service revolver under her pillow. World War One. Still in working order."

Chris broke the silence. "That must have been what she was searching through the boxes for. Her Dad must be violent pretty often if the poor girl is that desperate."

* * *

Silver made temporary telepathic contact with Jet. He turned to Benny. "She's okay," he said.

The noise of a small object falling to the floor brought Silver and Benny through to the kitchen where they found Paul eating a scone and Lori sitting cross-legged in front of the warm black range, fag in hand.

"Very cosy," observed Silver, pleasantly.

"Yeah, well if there's food to be found, Paul will find it!" muttered Lori, shuffling closer to the heat of the range, shaking back her red head of hair. "And I needed the range to light up; I had a ciggie in my pocket but the lighter's back in 1999, on top of the mantelpiece after we lit the fire."

Benny walked up to Paul, looking at the scone dubiously. Paul offered it in her direction and she snapped off a piece, popping it in her mouth. "Thank you!" she whispered, winking at him. She turned to Silver. "Why did you have to come and move the TARDIS from where the Doctor had left it?"

Silver smiled a little bashfully. "By the time I arrived it was rather obvious that this year would be the flashpoint. So I was sent to ensure that the creature in this year - 1939 - would not get it's hands on the Doctor's craft. It's potential to cause chaos is bad enough without it getting it's hands on that! That is assuming it has hands ..."

"So if all of you have special abilities, what was that new girl doing?"

Lori interrupted. "Yes, I'd like to know that as well. I mean, what are you four? There will be more of you lot than there are of us at this rate! Granted that at least you Silver speak to us properly. As far as I'm concerned the other pair,
Sapphire and Steel or whatever they call themselves, could be a double-headed dildo for all the sense they make!"

Silver couldn't hold back a shocked smile at the description.

"Go on Lori," said Benny with a broad grin, "tell us what you really think!"

* * *

Sheryl pulled the curtains of the sitting room back slightly and looked out at the moonlit countryside. The storm had passed; if what she had seen earlier had been a storm. She recalled seeing the ghostly image of Graham entering the house. That was when the Doctor had arrived, covering her mouth and saying something about time breaking through. She looked round at the sleeping figure slumped in the chair. The violent father. She thought back to her own Dad.

"I had a right job trying to convince my father to let me come away for a few days," Sheryl admitted, as she walked over to the dresser where Graham was examining an old fashioned radio. The radio itself was very large with two dials on the front below the speaker.

"What? Doesn't your Dad trust me or something?"

"Well he doesn't know you want to winch me if that's what you mean!"

Graham looked round shocked and embarrassed. Sheryl laughed. "Don't worry!" she soothed.

"Lori told you that?" exclaimed Graham, a look of humiliation on his face. "I was drunk ... her big mouth, why do I tell her anyth-"

"Oh Lori and me talk about everything, stop worrying." She paused, a little doubt on her face. "You do ... I mean you ... like me, don't you?"

"Course I do." He sounded awkward.

She smiled. "Good."

He looked at her and smiled. His smile grew into a confident
grin.

She folded her arms and shivered. "Give us a hug, I'm suddenly very cold," she said. Her sentiment was genuine. He willingly wrapped his arms around her. "This house... There's something about this house," she continued. "I can feel echoes. Echoes from other times. As though we're out of place."

"It's probably all this talk of war with Germany," said Graham.

* * *

Sapphire suddenly froze.

Steel sensed the movement and turned to her. "What is it?"

"The chain of events," she said tensely. "Time has become involved directly."

"And the present?"

Sapphire's face was grave. "1939." The duo walked briskly down the stairs.

Chris caught the Doctor's eye, and the TimeLord gave a rare, if fast, explanation to the big man. "You, Benny and I travel through time, be it in the past, present or future. However time itself still has a linear path to take, advancing through the years, turning the present into the past, and the future into the present, and so forth. The present was 1999, but a crack in time has sent that line tumbling down to 1939.
Everything that has been set in ice over these 60 years could be swept away by events unfolding here."

"And much more besides," added Jet.

"Ah yes, of course," muttered the Doctor. "You four represent those mysterious forces that control the very dimensions themselves, handling the irregularities."

Jet turned to him in surprise. "Who told you that? Those within the dimensions cannot possibly know of such things."

The Doctor simply smiled that unfathomable smile. "A. N. Other!"

Silver, Benny, Paul and Lori came out to the hallway as Sapphire and Steel reached the bottom of the stairs. The Doctor, Chris and Jet watched from the landing.

Steel advanced to the door of the sitting room and reached out to the handle of the closed door. The handle wouldn't budge.

"It's sealed by time," exclaimed Sapphire.

"Graham and Sheryl are inside there," shouted Paul frantically.

Steel stepped back. "Bridge it," he ordered her. "Find out what's happening on the other side."

Sapphire's eyes shone like jewels of her name, and a ghost of herself left her body and melted into the door.

* * *

Graham turned the radio on, and soft easy swaying music brought the muted colours of the room to life. They danced as one. Sheryl ran her fingers over the buttons of his uniform jacket. She looked so proud, so scared and so hurting.

And oh how he wanted her too.

"Are you sure you're father's not coming back tonight?" he asked.

"Positive," she replied.

They stared into each others eyes, their bodies swaying easily together.

"We should maybe ... watch the moonlight ..." he suggested.

She smiled. "From upstairs?" she added.

* * *

Sapphire's mind appeared through the barrier in time, represented by a ghostly image of her body. What she saw on the other side was an overlapping of two time periods. The image was mainly that of 1999, with the hollow room lit by the dying embers of the fire and four sleeping figures in separate sleeping bags lying on the floorboards. It's almost three and a half hours since their arrival, she recalled.

However, over that image was another less distinct one. It showed the room as it was in 1939, only the father was no longer in his chair. Sheryl and Graham were dressed in the clothes of 1939, Graham in military uniform, Sheryl in a dress, and both sporting hairstyles of the time also.

Observing this effect of her own mental time displacement, she looked at the 1999 version of the sleeping Sheryl. The girl would no doubt have suffered a similar double vision on first waking out of her own body.

Meanwhile Graham and Sheryl in 1939 - oblivious to her presence - walked towards her and right through her. The door to the hall was now open and they headed for the stairs.

Sapphire attempted to follow, but she walked into a seemingly invisible barrier where the closed door would have been. She put her hands to it, only to see an image of the door appearing where her fingers contacted the barrier. The wood was shifting and sparkling.

"Steel," thought Sapphire, trying to make telepathic contact; but no response came. Nor could she sense his presence. She had crossed the bridge, but now she was trapped and separated from her own body.

Suddenly she became aware of footsteps approaching the house from outside. She looked to the curtained window. One image of it was curtained; another black bare glass. Which period of time were the footsteps coming from?

Sapphire watched the door; watched it until she could see the very electrons of the wood. It finally opened to show Shirley's father.

"He must have shot Shirley's soldier boyfriend," Sapphire spoke aloud. "And Graham and Sheryl ..." She looked round to find that the 1999 image had disappeared. All she saw was the room as in 1939. A room she was trapped in. In her mind she screamed Steel's name but she was alone.

* * *

Steel was the first to sense it. It appeared as a sharp edged cut in the fabric of the air. It was accompanied by a howling noise as it passed from the closed front door to the landing before vanishing.

"A time-break!" announced Silver.

"And Sapphire isn't here to hold anymore of these back."

Lori pointed to the statue-like figure of Sapphire, whose eyes were still glowing. "Who's that then?"

"Her mind is on the other side of that door," explained Silver.
Steel headed for the stairs. "The girl," he shouted.

The Doctor threw open the door to Shirley's room only to find the girl coming towards the door anyway. She was wrapped in her dressing gown. "Who are you?" she exclaimed, horrified.

"You see me?" asked the Doctor, surprised.

Chris headed for the bed, and pulled back the pillow. "The gun's gone, Doctor."

Silver arrived in time to hear this.

"What gun? Who are you people?"

The Doctor saw Benny hovering outside the room. "Benny, take Shirley downstairs please. Calm her down."

Benny complied, taking the terrified girl by the hand down the smaller staircase to the kitchen.

The Doctor turned to Steel. "So where's the gun?" he asked.

* * *

Shirley's father flung open the door to her room. Sheryl's dress was unzipped, a shirtless Graham kissing her bare shoulder passionately. She opened her eyes and her sensual smile dissolved in horror.

"No!" she screamed as she looked down the barrel of his gun.

Graham looked round and had seconds to push himself and Sheryl to the bed, but the bullet tore into his shoulder before they were clear.

* * *

The two time breaks re-joined, and Graham tumbled to the floor, his own blood soaking from his shoulder. The father turned and fired again. Steel appeared between Graham and the bullet, and the metal bounced off the cold elemental agent. The Doctor grappled the gun from the shocked father.

Sheryl looked at the scene around her, unaware of how she had come to be there, and screamed.

The Doctor looked at the gun. "It's the wrong one," he growled.

* * *

Benny suddenly found herself facing a gun produced by Shirley from her pocket.

"Get out of my way," said Shirley, heading for the small staircase.

"What are you doing? Is the creature in you?"

"I sent my boyfriend home tonight," she said. "You see we've been given a second chance. And all I have to do in return is fire one more bullet."

* * *

"Steel," cried Silver running into the room. "It's broken through."

Steel and the Doctor followed Silver onto the landing and looked over the banister to a sea of blackness. It was spreading from the frozen door of the sitting room and had spread to the stairs where it was up to the waist of
Sapphire's body, the statue-like body of their colleague. And the blackness was spreading outwards over the hall.

Jet walked down the steps towards Sapphire when suddenly a finger of blackness shot out from the pool and dragged her into it. Jet screamed before being consumed.

"I miscalculated," announced the Doctor. "With all this pressure the creature's managed to break the seal of Time."

He looked at Steel. "That was supposed to be your department."

* * *

Paul had kicked the father in the privates, and toppled him to the ground.

"Where is my daughter?" he cried.

"Where you'll never get her," Paul shouted back.

Chris pulled fabric's of his shirt and wrapped them round Graham's bullet wound.

"I thought that man out there was the Doctor?" asked Lori as she comforted Sheryl.

"I don't know if dealing with gunshot wounds was in his training but it was in mine," replied Chris.. "Besides, he's always got more important things to worry about than human life," he added bitterly.

Suddenly Benny entered the room walking backwards. Shirley advanced behind her with the second gun.

* * *

The Doctor watched Steel's impassive face as Sapphire was consumed by the rising tide of chaos. "I'm sorry," said the Time Lord.

"One more bullet," shouted Shirley, before turning, aiming at the Doctor, and firing.




Episode Ten
by Mark Simpson

Jet fell through the blackness into what appeared to be a howling gale. Wind whipped around, blowing her long coat and hair out behind her. She had collided with Sapphire's statue-like body, the only thing unmoving in the maelstrom.

Grasping Sapphire's shoulders, she propelled her friend down the stairs. Sapphire moved like an automaton, her mind still inside the front room.

Jet could feel the chaos trying to pull her into itself. She knew that would be the death of her, so she wrapped one arm round Sapphire's waist and reached for the door handle with the other. She could feel the metal tingling under her hand.

"Sapphire?" Jet called mentally.

The reply nearly knocked her over. "Jet! How did you get through? Where's Steel?"

"I got sucked in," Jet told her. "Steel's still on the other side. There's been a time break."

"I know," Sapphire replied. "I'm stuck in the front room. Can you help?"

"I hope so. Sapphire, place your hand on the door handle. Then relax."

On the other side of the door Sapphire did as her friend instructed. She too felt the tingling.

"Now," said Jet, "let your mind follow my mind. Let our thoughts flow together. Imagine me entering the room."

Sapphire felt the metal give under her fingers. Her palm touched Jet's and the other woman grasped her hand. Sapphire pulled and Jet, along with Sapphire's real body, almost fell into the room.

As Sapphire's mind and body reintegrated, Jet slid to the floor in a black heap. Sapphire rushed to her side.

Jet shook her head. "The effort weakened me," she told Sapphire verbally. "Good job you were here, or I'd still be trapped out there."

"What's happening out there?"

"It's rather like a black hole, sucking everything into it. I couldn't have survived much longer against it."

"I must say I'm glad to have my body back."

"All in a days work for your friendly mind expert," Jet quipped, trying to stand. She was only partly successful, leaning heavily on Sapphire.

"You should go back," Sapphire told her. "You could be vulnerable in this condition. And we don't want the creature inhabiting someone with our powers, do we?"

Jet nodded weakly. "Will you be able to stop it?"

Sapphire smiled. "I think so. I've got an idea."

* * *

"One more bullet," shouted Shirley, before turning, aiming at the Doctor and firing.

At the moment she fired Benny barged into her, spoiling her aim. The bullet blew the Doctor's hat off. The Doctor ducked involuntarily, even though the bullet had already smacked into the far wall.

Benny struggled with Shirley for possession of the gun, but it was an uneven contest. The girl threw Benny off as if she were a rag doll.

Chris stepped in to grapple with her as Benny collided with the Doctor, sending them both sprawling. Even his strength was not subduing her, so Paul came to his aid. But it took the added assistance of Silver before they wrestled the gun from her and forced her to the ground, still struggling.

"Now what?" asked Paul.

"I suggest we find something to bind her," said Silver.

"Good idea," commented the Doctor, helping Benny to her feet. "Thank you," he said to her.

"All part of the service," she replied, bowing slightly.

Steel had been watching impassively as events unfolded. "So, what was that all about?"

The Doctor examined his hat, with a still smoking bullet hole in it.

"I would have thought that was obvious," he told Steel. "The creature sees me as a threat. It wants me dead! And unlike you people I'm mortal, so it can quite easily achieve it!"

While Steel and the Doctor were discussing the motivations of the creature, Chris took Benny to one side.

"What is he playing at?" Chris hissed.

"Who?"

"Our mutual friend, of course. He didn't even notice Graham had been shot!"

"He's trying to resolve this whole mess," Benny commented reasonably. "Don't forget, he sees the bigger picture."

"It would be nice if he occasionally noticed the small details," Chris grumbled, his anger dissipating slightly with his friend's calming words.

"That's why he keeps people like us around, to look after the human element."

"I'm just saying it wouldn't hurt him to show a little more feeling now and then."

Benny smiled at him. "A wise person once said, 'We're just the small cogs that drive the bigger wheels of the Universe'."

"Who said that?"

Benny's face split into a grin. "I did!"

Chris laughed despite himself.

* * *

With Shirley secured with strong twine and her father locked in her room with Sheryl, Graham and Lori for company, the Doctor prowled onto the landing. He gazed down into the sea of blackness. Silver came and stood beside him.

"It's stopped moving," the Doctor commented.

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing," said Silver.

The Doctor raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Well, it could be conserving it's strength, planning our downfall or trying to lull us into a false sense of security."

"Or all of the above," the Doctor added.

Silver smiled. "That's what I like about this incarnation of you, Doctor. The boundless optimism."

* * *

Steel was alone, examining the gun, when the thought arrived.

"Steel?"

"Yes, Sapphire, I'm here. Where are you?"

"Still downstairs."

"And Jet?"

"I sent her back. She helped me reunite my mind and body, but it weakened her. We decided she made too tempting a target for the creature."

Steel nodded, despite the fact there was nobody there to see. "It could cause havoc if it took one of us over."

"Quite."

"Can you rejoin us?"

"Not yet. I'm conserving my strength. And I think I have a plan."

"What sort of plan?"

"I'll tell you later. Down here the creature may be able to hear our thoughts."

"Right. I'll see you later."

* * *

Sliver opened his eyes and smiled at the Doctor. "Sapphire is safe," he announced.

The Doctor smiled too. "Good. And your friend Jet?"

"Returned to base. So, Doctor, what is this creature?"

The Doctor's eyes darkened. "I don't know much more than you, except that it doesn't belong here. It's out of place."

Silver could tell the little Time Lord was lying, but all he said was, "As are we all."

"How's the wound?" asked Sheryl.

"Hurts like hell," Graham told her through gritted teeth.

"The bullet's still in there," commented Chris, who had joined them after his talk with Benny. She and Paul were watching Shirley. "We'd cause more harm than good trying to remove it ourselves," he continued.

"Still hurts," said Graham.

Shirley's father spoke up. "I'm sorry, lad. I thought your girlfriend was my Shirley and you were that soldier boy she's taken up with."

"And I suppose you were going to shoot her next," Lori challenged.

"Of course not! I would never hurt my Shirley!"

"Then why hit her, you chauvinist pig? For her own good?"

"Yes," he replied genuinely. "She doesn't know her own mind. I'm trying to teach her right from wrong."

"Unbelievable! Hello, we're living in the 20th Century here!"

Shirley's father snorted. "Looks like your father doesn't hit you enough!"

For once Lori was lost for words.

* * *

"Steel?"

"Yes, Silver."

"I'm with the Doctor. I asked him about the creature and he claims to know little more than we do."

"But?"

"But he's lying. Or at least being evasive. You know how this version likes the air of mystery."

"Don't I just. I'll be there shortly."

"Right. I'll go and check in with the humans. Nice to let them see we care."

"Is it?"

* * *

"You won't stop us," said Shirley. "We're going to change it all."

"Yeah, yeah, heard it all before." Benny yawned. She glanced over at Paul, asleep in the chair and wished she could be too. "The Doctor and his mates will cut your friend down to size and throw the bits out with the rubbish. When they get round to it."

"No they won't, because my friend's powerful too. Showed me the future and how to avoid it. Showed me how to change things permanently."

"By killing the Doctor?"

"He's dangerous. My friend said to kill the little man in the hat, then we could both be free."

Silver entered the room in time to catch the last part of Shirley's statement.

"Your 'friend' won't be going anywhere, young lady," he told her. "Not if we have anything to do with it."

She smiled wolfishly. "But you don't. Only the little Doctor has the power, and he won't use it."

"Why not?" Benny asked.

"Because he believes the sacrifice would be too great!"

* * *

Elsewhere, forces too alien for most to comprehend were drawing strength, ready for the final victory over the forces of order.

"Ah, Steel. I wondered when you would turn up. Come to grill me over the creature?"

"Would it do me any good?"

The Doctor shook his head. "But feel free to try anyway."

"You said earlier you had miscalculated. That's beginning to happen rather a lot to your current persona."

"What do you mean?"

Steel allowed himself a small smile. "You nearly lost control of your encounter with Fenric in 1943. You were not expecting him to be so powerful."

"How do you know that?"

"We were keeping a close eye on that situation, just in case we had to go in and clear up your mess. You were lucky. If Fenric had got free, it's chaos would have unravelled more than just the mere web of time. The very fabric could have gone with it."

"Everything was under control," the Doctor replied, evasively.

"Oh yes? Just like the first time when you only managed to trap it in a flask? You play dangerous games, Doctor, and take considerable risks in the playing of them."

The Doctor smiled darkly. "Yes, well we can't leave it all to 'outsiders', now can we? Agents such as yourself are only interested in the fabric of time, not in the countless beings who live and die within it's walls."

Steel turned to him, matching his stare. "As you said yourself, Doctor, we all have a job to do. Just be aware that you are spreading yourself a little thinly over the tasks you take in hand. You might drop something rather precious if you're not careful."

The remark seemed to sting the Doctor. Memories of Roz made him look away and his gaze fell into the swirling darkness below.

* * *

Sapphire opened her eyes. She had been conserving her strength, ready for the battle ahead. Now she sensed forces moving.

"Steel? What's happening?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary that I know of. I'll check and get back to you."

Sapphire closed her eyes again, content in the knowledge that Steel would contact her at the first sign of trouble.

* * *

"Trouble?" the Doctor inquired as Steel came out of his telepathic conference.

"Sapphire sensed something. I'm going to check on the girl."

"I'll look in on the father," the Doctor said and they both headed off in opposite directions.

* * *

"...And that's how I came to be naked and drunk, standing in the fountain in the academy gardens, singing the hymn of graduation!" Chris said. He had been telling stories of his days as a trainee adjudicator.

"Not a pretty sight," the Doctor commented, breezing into the room.

"Oh, I don't know," Sheryl replied, glancing over at Chris. Graham scowled. Lori laughed out loud.

"Everything alright in here?" asked the Time Lord.

"All under control," Chris told him. "Why, what's up?"

"Sapphire thought something was wrong, that's all."

"She's back then," said Sheryl.

"No," the Doctor told them, "but she is in touch."

* * *

"Don't you ever knock?" protested Benny as Steel entered the room.

"I've never needed to," he replied curtly. "Anything happening?"

"No, just Missy over there mouthing off. Why?"

"No reason." With that he left again.

"And I thought the Doctor was evasive," Benny muttered.

* * *

Silver, Steel and the Doctor met on the landing.

"Anything?" Steel asked. The Doctor shook his head.

"Nothing in the other parts of the upper floors," Silver told them.

"Did anybody check the stairs?" asked the Doctor. He could see by their faces that they had not.

Moments later they were staring down at the dark mass. It was boiling and churning like a rough sea.

"What's it doing?" breathed Silver.

"It's powering itself up for a final onslaught," The Doctor replied. "Waking up hungry, getting ready to devour us all!"




Episode Eleven
by Trivial Keithy

Silver pulled an ornamental pocket watch out of his waistcoat pocket and looked for the hour and minute hands. They were missing. "Is it bad? I mean its not very good news but at the same time is it necessarily bad news?" He showed his watch to Steel.

The Doctor turned at looked at Silver with genuine astonishment. "Of course it's bad news." He berated the aloof specialist with his soft Celtic brogue. "Can't you feel the power drawing up? It's, it's Evil."

"I think you're both right." Steel took charge of the situation as he always had to when Time was threatened. "Whatever it is it's after us not because it wants to kill us but because we're in its way. We just need to convince it otherwise, then we can stop it forever."

* * *

Chris noticed it first. A subtle chilling of the room. Soon his arms felt numb and tired. This was as nothing compared to the sensation of having his body freeze solid yet he was still alive.

"Sorry about that, residual temporal energies or something equally grandiose sounding. You're all frozen until I decide otherwise ok? I wonder why it's only affected your bodies though and not your minds? Maybe with a bit more practice I can freeze you forever." She looked at the frozen figures as she passed by them. "Time is such a delicate thing really, like a small child or a veil of lace. So strong and full of life but so easily damaged. They think they have to control it, manage it, maintain it so that" She put her hands on her hips. "Tell me if I'm boring you."

Chris couldn't talk but he tried to blink in Morse code.

"Help me? Why should I help you Christopher Cwej? You don't belong here; you're not of this time. Why should I help you?"

With a great effort Chris managed to force his mouth open and uttered a long drawn out obscenity or two."

"Well then if you're going to be like that I think I'll go and see how Steel's doing. I hope he hasn't figured it all out it would really be a pity if I had to kill him. Oh and by the way I'm not your friend Sapphire." She closed the door behind her and locked it. "Don't want them to rescue by accident now do I?"

* * *

Silver yawned. "How can we reason with it?"

The Doctor arched his fingers and thought some more. "What we need to do is understand what it wants, exactly. No guesses, we have to ask it face to face."

"Yes, why don't you do that?" Steel tried to smile.

The Doctor replaced his damaged hat on his head and picked up his umbrella. "I might just do that."

"What would you ask it Doctor?"

"Sapphire, welcome back. We were all worried, especially Silver."

"Hello Sapphire." Silver's fruity voice was even more cheerful.

"What kept you?"

"I'm sorry Steel but there were one or two things to sort out first."

* * *

Sapphire found herself inside a room of statues. No, not statues, people. "Why are you all standing around like idle children? Is this a game of statues? Come on, there really isn't time for games." Realisation took hold of her. "You're not playing games are you?" Sapphire looked at the frozen figures. "What did this to you? Show me."

Sapphire watched as the events reversed themselves. There was a shape that moved among them, it had been here. There was something very familiar about it. "Show me more." The darkness slipped away to reveal the face, the face of the darkness. It was using her own face. "No." Sapphire almost doubled over in shock. She clasped her hands to her face as if trying to stop herself from shouting.

* * *

"So what do we know Steel?" Sapphire asked.

"Very little I'm afraid. We have a gun, a soldier, a girl in love and an angry father. We know there's going to be a time break but we're not exactly sure when it will occur. There are also a lot of unnecessary people in my way." He looked at the Doctor as he said the last few words.

"Oh don't mind me, think of me as a motivator. After all you'd rather get the job done yourselves wouldn't you?" He started to juggle two apples and an orange from the fruit bowl.

Steel grabbed an apple as it was tossed into the air. "I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to let us do our jobs?" Steel paced around the room, his footsteps echoed unnaturally loudly.

"The Doctor could be useful Steel. Remember he does know a lot about time and he does have a particular insight into time that we tend to overlook." Silver, tried his best to calm things down.

"Silver is right Steel. We need the Doctor, he is vital to the situation."

* * *

"Hmmm, not perfect but it will have to do." She freed the others from the temporal paralysis. "Benny look after these people until I return."

Benny almost flopped to the floor before she remembered the secrets of balance. "Is it too much to ask for an explanation? Nothing grand, just a few pointers would do." Benny jumped back as Sapphire's eyes glowed bright blue for a brief second. "On second thoughts ignorance is most definitely bliss."

"Stay here, for now. I have to warn the others." With that she closed the door.

When Benny tried the door she discovered it was locked. "But she didn't unlock it." She searched her pockets for the hip flask. This was one of many, many occasions where it was most definitely needed.

* * *

"So how does the Doctor fit into the solution Sapphire?"

"Simple, that last bullet should have wounded his arm. If we take time back and arrange it so that he is wounded his blood will be spilled and the dweller upon the portal can feed on it. The Doctor's blood is alien to its nature and it will be banished. Then we just have to seal the tear and we can go home.

"I'm not sure I like my part. Can't I swap with Silver?" The Doctor jumped up and headed for the door. He opened it to see Sapphire. "Ah Sapphire good, although you should try to be only in one place at a time. I've often found that running into my previous or future selves is something best avoided."

"That's not me Doctor." Sapphire pointed to the identical Sapphire standing by Silver and Steel.

"This is a trick." The Sapphire standing by Silver and Steel replied.

"Yes it is. A very clever and infinitely subtle trick. Copy me and infiltrate my friends."

"If you're the real Sapphire." The Doctor began. "Then what is that?"

"It, the bogey man, the dweller upon the portal. It is before names."

"I can relate to that, so what do we do about it?"

"A simple spot analysis will prove I'm the real me. Come on Silver you can manage it."

As Silver walked over towards the second Sapphire the Doctor walked over towards the first Sapphire and Steel. Suddenly the Doctor tripped over the edge of the carpet and fell bodily into Sapphire's arms. Her image flickered like ripples in a glassy lake.

"As I was saying, that's not me." The real Sapphire pointed at the imitation.

"Curse you blundering insects, now I shall destroy you all."

"Talks a good fight doesn't it, talking of talking, run!" The Doctor led the retreat.

They all bustled towards the door. The Doctor and Silver grabbed Chris's inert body and dragged it with them. Steel jammed the door behind them. "That should hold it for now. Sapphire, find the others and get them out of here."

* * *

Sapphire returned to the room where she had locked the others. She unlocked the door and went inside. "Come on, we're evacuating the place."

Benny relaxed, well as best she could with no more alcohol to soothe her nerves. "Come on Doctor or it's a fortnight holiday inside Vaux breweries this time." She looked at the display of her digital watch it changed from six oh five to a blank display. "Cruck, take cover everyone." She dived under a low table just as a wind blasted straight through the walls and slammed her head against the opposing wall heavily.

* * *

The Doctor felt a great pain tearing through his head. He was a natural time sensitive but Steel and Silver were even more closely tied to it and they were thrashing about almost unconscious, blood pouring out of their noses and ears. "What do you want?" He yelled out before the relief of unconsciousness.

* * *

The room stopped spinning at last and when she finally dared to open her eyes Benny wished she hadn't. It seemed as if the entire room had been changed somehow, altered in small ways. Nothing identifiable on an individual level but added all together it was crucking crazy. It was like a nightmare, no worse than a nightmare. You could wake up from nightmares. "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home." She even tried clicking her heels together three times but nothing happened. "Where the cruck am I?" A shape moved over to her right so she hit it twice with a piece of wood. It sounded like Chris's voice.

* * *

The Doctor helped the others to their feet. "Another time shift and a big one. I think we're almost at the threshold. Temporally speaking of course. Another push and the time break will occur."

Steel dusted his suit down with the Doctor's clothes brush. "Of course. We need to get that thing closed and closed soon. Once Sapphire returns we can stop this thing before it even started."

"That's the problem with time, there's not enough of it to go around." The Doctor started to dust Silver's suit arm down.

Silver looked around and saw a few rays of flickering purple light edging slowly towards them. "I don't want to worry you two but running does seem to be in order."

* * *

"What the fragging oh, it's you. What happened, Benny?" Chris pulled the heavy ash grey blanket from his back and paused as the surge of blood to his brain made him a little giddy. "Woah, the room's spinning again."

"No, just you fortunately. Wait until it passes and then try not to scream."

"I hope so." He turned onto his back and looked up at the ceiling then he started screaming. Sapphire, Shirley and the others had been nailed to the roof timbers with sharp stakes of wood. Their blood dripped down like a red rain.

* * *

They ran down the corridor, purple shadows flickered in their wake. Suddenly the Doctor stopped and listened. "What's that sound?" The Doctor paused suddenly.

Silver listened. "I can't hear anything. Shall we continue?"

Steel listened. "Shhh, he's right. It's coming from in here." Steel tried the door handle; it was locked. He pulled and the whole doorframe splintered as the force he exerted tore it open.

"Sapphire!" Steel exclaimed as his badly wounded colleague and the humans fell from the ceiling and onto the floor, blood spurted everywhere forming a huge pool around their unmoving figures. He looked back up at the ceiling to discover it was undamaged. "Enough of this." His voice was cold and dark, full of venomous anger.

The Doctor turned around to see the purple light shining in the doorway. The silhouette of a man shaped figure could be seen and when the light of the room resolved it everyone could see it was the soldier. He raised the gun and aimed it at The Doctor.

"George, no. Don't fire."

Benny tried throwing a piece of wood at it but it crumpled into power on contact. "Doctor, how do you know his name?"

"Put the gun down George, we can talk this through. If you fire then time has beaten us all."

Sapphire lifted her head and looked at the soldier. She tried to stand and Silver helped her up. "He's being used Silver, stop him."

The soldier cocked the gun. "It made me a better offer Doctor, I can have her forever once you're dead." He fired it point-blank at the Doctor's chest.

Chris tried to dive in front of the bullet.

Benny screamed.

Chris was too late.

The Doctor clutched at his blood soaked chest and fell to the floor. "Is this death?" He asked in a scratching autumnal voice. His face started to glow pink and orange and yellow.




Episode Twelve
by Kilduskland

A sound broke out throughout the building. Persistent and shrill. An alarm from an old fashioned wind-up clock, small in size but loud in ring.

Although it was in the sitting room, and the sound could not travel through the black pool of chaos in the hall, it did travel through the timbers and walls of the building.

It continued ringing, second by second, beating out the passing time. Linear time.

The sound of the clock carried to the rooms on the upper part of the home, bridging the two parts of the building which had been divided by the black crack in the hall.

* * *

Blue eyes. Shining. Pushing the chaos back; reversing the time breaks. Shades of purple blades cut through the air, retreating.

* * *

Silver took out his pocket watch. The hands had reformed on its face. He exchanged looks with Steel and the pair vanished from the confused scene of bleeding people. Suddenly the dying Doctor dissolved into nothing and the bloodied bodies of the humans vanished.

* * *

The false Sapphire, the "the dweller upon the portal", stood on the landing and screamed out it's rage. It fell backwards over the banister, and liquefied before being re-claimed by the pool of blackness below.

The purple blades - the many cracks in time - withdrew to the landing, following the impostor. Blue eyes watched as they were once more absorbed by the black pool of chaos at the foot of the stairs.

The real Sapphire - the blue eyes shining - materialised at the top of the stairs looking down.

* * *

"You set an alarm," the Doctor said approvingly to Sapphire, as he approached her unscathed. "That's the sort of thing I would have done!"

"I left the alarm set to go before I broke free of the barrier in the sitting room," Sapphire briefly explained. "It was the temporal equivalent of book-marking a moment in time! When the alarm went off it allowed me to turn the pages back to the moment I set the bookmark."

"Oh call back yesterday, bid time return," said the Doctor, quoting Shakespeare.

"Now it's your turn Doctor," Steel instructed, returning their thoughts to the task in hand, "we know you made a pact with the soldier, and he will betray and kill you. Summon him."

"I assume you will shield me?" replied the Doctor, looking down at the darkness.

Steel nodded.

* * *

The humans had all gathered in Shirley's room, all totally confused by the last few minutes of chaotic events that had now not happened to them.

"Would someone switch that bloody alarm off?" yelled Lori, angrily.

"I wonder if it's from that alarm clock we wedged the window open with," said Graham, still nursing his bandaged shoulder. "Remember? The one we released the bird with. Must have been in this very room - in our year."

* * *

"George," called the Doctor, standing a few steps from the precipice. "I call upon you from the back of time. Appear."

* * *

Shirley's father was searching for something recognisable from the maelstrom around him. Even his daughter was no longer who she was. Then he heard a name. A hated name. He then knew what emotion to feel.

Hatred.

* * *

The grey figure of a young soldier rose, step-by-step, out of the blackness and faced the Doctor, gun drawn.

"I told you what would happen if you survived," the Doctor told him.

"You lied. The creature has told me that Shirley will be absolutely fine."

"Not when you betray your country she won't. If you survive tonight, the war will be won by the Germans thanks to you, the Nazi spy."

"Yeah, well I guess betrayal just must be in my nature," retorted the soldier, before firing the gun at point blank range.
The Doctor flinched.

Steel appeared and vanished in the blink of an eye, scooping the bullet in his hand before it hit the TimeLord.

Seeing his failure, George brought his hands up and took a strangle hold on the Doctor's neck.

* * *

Shirley's father, having deftly reclaimed his gun which had been abandoned in the aftermath, suddenly bolted from the floor and dived out of the doorway onto the landing. He heard a gunshot as he skidded to a halt at the banister, aimed his own gun, and fired.

* * *

George got the bullet in his chest. He cried out, losing his grip on the Doctor's throat, and fell back into the darkness. There was no splash as he was absorbed by the pool.

The Doctor looked up angrily, and his eyes locked on Steel's impassive gaze.

The white natural winds of time began to surround all the time agents - including the Doctor - as he shouted up "You knew that would happen."

"I knew it had to happen, as it should happen. As it did happen," replied Steel, before even they were engulfed by the full circle of proper established time.

* * *

Shirley cried in her room that night. Bitter, hopeless fearful tears. Her lover had been shot by her own father. Her horrible, horrible father. Little did she know that she would get the last ironic laugh, when her child was destined to be born on the night her father would drink himself to death.

* * *

It was 1999, and a night silent but for the steady rain outside. The Doctor patted the Police Box gently on the side.

"Chris and Benny are still inside?" he asked.

"Oblivious to anything having happened at all," confirmed Silver, who was examining the old alarm clock on the mantelpiece.

The Doctor smiled. "You know, I never did quite work out how the creature ever came to be in Sheryl in the first place?"

"How does time ever break through?" replied Sapphire. "It just finds a weak point in time, a link either in the past or the future. And the fact that Shirley was of Sheryl's grandparents generation ..."

"Ah, of course! Well, goodbye Sapphire, Silver, Steel. I don't suppose my memories of you three will resurface until next we meet."

"If," corrected Steel.

The Doctor smiled that infuriating smile and disappeared into the Police Box.

"Time to go," said Silver before vanishing.

Sapphire and Steel walked out of the dark room and onto the unlit landing and stood, business-like, waiting. The sound of the TARDIS dematerialising filled the upper part of the house.

"What was that?" whispered a boy from downstairs.

"Just the wind," grumbled a girl. Lori.

"Go to sleep," mumbled another boy.

The boy who had spoken first appeared outside the sitting room door, clad in shorts and socks, and shining his torch upstairs. Suddenly he winced as he got a twinge of pain in his shoulder. But there was nothing there. Just as there was nothing - and no-one - upstairs.

(Anymore)

"Graham?" called a sleepy sounding Sheryl from within the room. "Come back in here."

Grinning, Graham went back into the sitting room, and pushed over the door.

* * *

And when daylight broke the next morning, and everything was fine in that dusty old house, a white Ford Orion stood parked in a ditch; ready to start up perfectly the next time the ignition was turned.