A Snowflake Fell (2018 Christmas Special)

Mary stared in wonderment at the object on the television screen. It looked like a giant, crystal snowflake, except it was lying horizontal and suspended in the blackness of space. She wasn’t sure exactly how big it was, but it seemed rather vast. There were lights glowing inside the crystal structure, but they were flickering a dimming.

“She seems to have settled for now,” said the Doctor, as he finished checking the readouts. They had only left Kettleworth Woods a few hours ago and Mary hadn’t yet gotten used to being in this strange place that he called the TARDIS.

“Is that really space out there?” asked Mary, her eyes still fixed on the screen.

The Doctor smiled at her and nodded. “Indeed it is, Miss Auckland. And it feels good to get back out here again.” He looked down at the console. “Even if it does mean that I’m not in control of you at the moment.”

“So what’s that outside?” she said, turning to look at him.

“Well,” said the Doctor, rubbing his hands together, “this is something I’ve read about but never had the chance to witness myself.” He adjusted a dial on the console and the screen zoomed in closer to the snowflake. “It’s the year 3325. December 25th to be exact, and that is one of the Crystal Stations.”

“The year is 3325…” she trailed off, mulling it over in her mind. “Goodness me, that makes me…well, very, very old.”

“And yet you don’t look a day over 24, Mary,” smiled the Doctor, his eyes twinkling.

“And it’s Christmas Day?” She looked into the distance. “It was summer only a few hours ago.”

“That’s time travel for you.” The Doctor winked at her. “Merry Christmas, Mary.”

“So they still have Christmas in the future?”

“There will always be a Christmas,” said the Doctor. “Well, some variation at least. Any chance for a good knees up and your race will take it.”

“This is quite frankly the most unbelievable thing I have ever witnessed.” She smiled at him.

“There’s more to come, believe me,” he said.

“So, what’s a Crystal Station?”

“If memory serves then this should be orbiting one of the Earth colonies.” He adjusted the scanner and the view tilted down to show a red and white planet down below. The Crystal Station appeared to be orbiting the planet. “Ah, yes, the planet Tiski. One of your Earth colonies should be down there somewhere.”

“Earth colonies…? So Human kind takes themselves out into the stars.”

“Absolutely,” he said, turning the view back to the Crystal Station. “For a short period of time the Crystal Stations were designed to draw power from star, sun and moonlight. Much like solar power panels of the 21st century.”

Mary looked confused.

The Doctor waved it away. “It doesn’t matter. But what matters is that these Crystal Stations orbited each colony world and absorbed the light from celestial bodies. It was then beamed down to the planets to keep the colonies going.”

“You said for a short period of time?”

“Yes.” The Doctor looked sad. “They soon became unstable, unable to hold so much power, and were eventually shut down. After a while their power would fade and the dead stations would fall to the planet below.”

“It looks beautiful,” said Mary, “but it doesn’t look like it’s got much power left in it.”

The Doctor noted the flickering lights in the crystal. “Yes, it’s on its last legs, isn’t it? Sad that we’re the only ones here to witness its end.”

“Well, us and that man out there.”

The Doctor frowned. “What?” He peered at the scanner and sure enough there was a man in a yellow spacesuit, complete with rocket pack, floating towards the Crystal Station.

“Who is he?” asked Mary, “and how come he’s not dead.”

“He’s wearing a protective suit to keep him alive,” said the Doctor as the man arrived at the outer shell of the Station. He seemed to be fiddling with a control panel on the side of the station and then a door opened and the man went inside.

“The fool,” said the Doctor, “he’s going to end up trapped when that thing falls.”

“Should we go and help?” asked Mary. “I mean surely your ship can take us a little bit further across.”

“Let’s find out, shall we?” said the Doctor.





The inside of the station was completely different to the outside. Inside was gleaming white with metal floor plates with the odd occasional window looking out of the corridor into space. The TARDIS materialised in the corridor and the Doctor and Mary exited.

Although the inside of the station was spotless, the lights were faltering and flickering and the air was cold. Very cold. Mary could see her breath.

She gazed around herself in wonderment and the Doctor patted the side of the blue box. “Good girl.” He smiled at Mary. “She always seems to know when someone’s in trouble.”

“This is a bit disappointing actually,” said Mary, folding her arms and looking up and down the corridor.

“What were you expecting, the inside of a snowflake?”

“Well something a bit more…crystal-ly.”

The Doctor laughed. “The crystal panelling outside was designed that way purely to absorb the starlight. The inside always had to be functional. And this is just an outer corridor. There’ll be living quarters and mess halls and allsorts the deeper we go.”

“So people lived on these things?”

“Up to 40 per station,” said the Doctor. “Families as well.”

Mary shivered. She was still wearing her dress from the 1940’s. The Doctor went inside the TARDIS and pulled out an old coat. “This used to belong to a friend of mine called Amy. It’ll keep you warm.” He also handed her a rainbow scarf. “Let’s go. We’ll sort you out with something more function later.”

As they made their way along the corridor the lights continued to flicker and the internal structure of the station groaned and creaked.

“The dying groans of a dead space station,” said the Doctor.

Eventually they reached an internal door. The Doctor pressed his hand against a black, glass handprint panel and the door swished open. It led to another corridor and at the end of that corridor another door. They opened the second door and stepped into a circular room adorned with computer screens on the walls and a column of crystal running through the floor to the ceiling.

“One of the collector rooms,” said the Doctor.

There was a clattering sound across on the other side of the room. The man in the spaceship was standing there, emerging from behind a large computer console. This time he’d removed his rocket pack and helmet. He had white hair and a short white beard and looked scared.

“Hello,” said the Doctor.

“Stay back!” said the man.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” said Mary.

“Who are you?” asked the man, backing himself up against one of the large monitors.

“Just travellers,” said the Doctor. “Travellers simply passing through.”

“No. No, I don’t believe you,” said the man.

“Well I’m sorry to hear that,” said the Doctor, looking downhearted, “but it’s the truth.”

“No, you’re from the government. I know.”

“You mean from Tiski?” asked the Doctor. “No, believe me we’re not from Tiski. My friend Mary is from Earth and I’m from-“

“Don’t lie to me,” shouted the man. He looked very distressed. “I’ve already told you lot that I’m coming here and they can’t stop.”

“Why are you coming here?” asked Mary.

“To get what I left behind.” He screwed his eyes shut and then shook his head. “I have my mission and you will not stop me. I don’t care if you send me to prison.”

“Believe me, sir, I wouldn’t dream of stopping you, but this station is about to fail. It’s about to fall.”

“All the more reason why you need to stay back and let me do what I need to do.”

“If we could just-” started Mary.

But before she could finish the man had pulled out what looked like some advanced form of gun and pulled the trigger. The light blinded them and then nothing…



When Mary woke up the Doctor was examining the monitors. She had a slight headache, but other than that she felt quite well.

“Ah, you’re awake,” said the Doctor.

“What happened?” asked Mary, unsteadily getting herself to her feet and then crossing over to the monitors. “Did he shoot us?”

“In essence, yes,” said the Doctor. “It was a very low-level stun gun. Knocked us out for about ten minutes. Well, me for around 7 minutes and you for ten minutes. Just enough time for him to get away though.”

“Down here I presume?” said Mary, noticing that a panel had been removed from the floor next to the column of crystal.

“Yes. He seems to be heading down through the station.” The monitors flickered and fizzed. “I’m afraid there’s not much power left here.”

“What’s he after though?” said Mary. “He seems really frightened.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” said the Doctor, indicating the access hole in the floor panels.

“You can’t seriously be wanting us to follow him? You said this place is about to collapse.” She shivered again.

“We have two choices, Miss Auckland,” said the Doctor. “We either follow him down there and get him to safety, or we leave and go on our merry way.”

“I suppose this is the part of the day where I let me conscious get the better of me?” She smiled at him. “Well, if I’m going to die it might as well be in a huge, crystal snowflake hundreds of years from home.”

“You’re not going to die, Mary,” said the Doctor as he peered down the shaft. The crystal column ran through the floor and down the shaft and there appeared to be metal framework leading down into the bowls of the station.

“So he’s gone down there?” said Mary, peering down the shaft.

The Doctor nodded. “Follow me and keep a tight hold of the frame work,” he said as the station creaked and groaned again and more lights flickered out.



The climb only took about five minutes, but for Mary it felt longer. When they reached the bottom of the shaft she rubbed her hands together. They were sore from gripping to the framework so tight.

“You all right?” asked the Doctor, who was already scanning the brightly lit room.

“I used to go climbing the trees with Hannah Carpenter,” she said, nodding, “much to my mothers horror. Broke my arm once cos of those blasted trees.”

“It’s bright down here,” said the Doctor, noticing lumps of broken off crystal strewn over the floor.

“And warm. Too warm.”

“Considering this is where the energy is pumped through it’s bound to get a bit overheated. Underneath these floor panels is nothing but space. The starlight is channelled through the crystal columns that are placed around the circumference of the station and converted to energy, which is then beamed from the underside of the station.”

“I told you not to follow me,” came the same man’s voice.

He was standing, once again with his stun gun aimed at them, a look of determination on his face.

“Whatever you’ve come down here for is not worth it,” said the Doctor.

“You know nothing!” the man spat.

“Listen, Mr…we don’t even known your name.”

“Henry. Henry Tomlinson.”

“Well, Henry, the Doctor has told me some pretty scary things about this station. He says it’s about to crash down to the planet below. You need to come with us.”

“You don’t understand,” said Henry. He was beginning to get more and more frustrated.

“Then tell us,” said Mary.

He looked to his right and nodded to something behind some jagged crystals. A blonde woman and two little boys emerged, looking worried.

“This is why you came down here?” asked the Doctor.

“Why else?” said Henry. “But you already know that.”

“For the last time,” said the Doctor, “we’re not for the government.”

“Maybe we should listen to them,” said the woman.

“Fiona, we can’t trust them.”

“Listen,” said the Doctor, “why don’t you tell us what happened?”

Henry looked at Fiona and then back to the Doctor and Mary. “All four of us used to live on the station. When it started to go into shutdown a few days ago we were ordered to evacuate. I had to leave first with some of the equipment whilst the Fiona and the boys were loaded onto the family transports.”

“Except we weren’t,” said Fiona. “There must have been some confusion because the transports left without us.”

“I didn’t even realise until we got back to Tiski.” He shook his head. “I tried to get back up to the station but they wouldn’t let me. Said it was too dangerous. I begged and pleaded with them, but.... It’s a criminal offence to set foot on one of these once the evac orders been given.”

“So you took it upon yourself to get back up here to them?” asked Mary. “And you’ve been living down here?” she asked Fiona.

“It was the warmest place,” said Fiona. She stroked her boy’s hair. “We just waited and hoped that someone would come.”

“I stole a rocket pack and made my own way,” said Henry. “I’ll go to prison, I know it.”

“But how were you going to get them back to Tiski?” said the Doctor. “You only have one rocket pack.”

Henry shook his head in frustration as the crystals in the chamber flickered and dimmed. “I don’t know, I don’t know…”

“Look, we can get you out of here,” said the Doctor. “I have a ship.”

“It’s true,” said Mary. “And we can take you back home.”

“I can’t go back. I’ll be arrested.”

“Then I can take you somewhere else. Somewhere were you can start a new life.”

“Are you serious?” asked Fiona.

“Absolutely,” said the Doctor. The station creaked again and the lights flickered. “But we need to leave now.”



The climb back up the shaft wasn’t as hard as the climb down. Mary suspected it was more because it was a matter of urgency. The station was now starting to tremble and vibrate and the lights were nearly all out. Mary went first, followed by Fiona with the Doctor and Henry each carrying a child on their back, the children’s arms wrapped around their necks.

“Keep going,” shouted the Doctor up to the rest of them. “This place doesn’t have long left.”

They finally emerged into the upper control chamber and got their breaths back.

“We lived here for five years,” said Fiona, looking around the control room. “Five years.”

“You’ll have many more years to come, Mrs Tomlinson. You, your husband and your boys.” He tussled the hair of one of the youths who smiled up at the Doctor.

The station lurched to the side and they were nearly thrown off their feet.

“We better get a move on,” said Mary.

The crystal running through the station began to crack and disintegrate. They Doctor nodded. “Come on.”



They ran through the linking corridor and back to the outer corridor until the familiar site of the blue TARDIS appeared before them. A steel girder came crashing down, just missing the Doctor, as he fumbled for the key.

“Please cooperate for us again, old girl,” said the Doctor as he ushered them all inside.



A few minutes later the ship was hanging in space once again, watching the station flicker before finally going dark. There came a huge groaning sound from the internal structure of the station and slowly the giant, crystal snowflake began to fall towards the planet below.

“What about the people on Tiski?” asked Mary, looking worried.

“The government will have predicted planet fall and evacuated the area.”

The station continued to fall towards the planet gathering more and more speed as it entered the atmosphere. Now its crystal panelling was burning off the structure leaving only the dull, grey metal of the inner hull.

Mary, the Doctor and the Tomlinson’s watched as the station became a flaming speck against the red and white colours of Tiski before finally disappearing from view.

“It’s done,” said the Doctor, rubbing his hands together. He looked at the Tomlinson’s who looked sad. “I can’t promise you I’ll get you to a better planet. My ship’s been playing up since I got her back.”

Henry smiled. “Anywhere’s gotta be better than down there. And I’ll be with my family as well.” He hugged as wife tightly.

“Pot luck it is then,” said the Doctor, pulling the lever to dematerialise the ship. “Take us somewhere nice. Family friendly. Centre Parcs maybe,” he said.

Mary and the Tomlinson’s frowned at him.

“Take us somewhere peaceful.” The Doctor looked at Mary. “Oh, and Merry Christmas to you all.”

“Merry Christmas, Doctor,” she laughed.



A few corridors away, in the TARDIS medi-bay, the teenage Kyla slept in her stasis tube, but she was smiling. It was a contented smile. “Somewhere peaceful,” she whispered in her sleep. “Merry Christmas…”



And then all was silent again.




The End

Coming in 2019...

As we draw towards the end of 2018 and I plod along (in a good way) through the second Elysium story, I thought I'd share a few draft plans of where I'm going as we head into 2019.

As I said earlier in the year we're going to re-visit a few old friends and tie up some loose plot threads. I really do envisage Elysium as being the final series in the "Future Doctor" series. With that in mind I actually just want to take some time, enjoy writing again and play around with some of the characters and situations I created since the entire saga started in 2012.

So here are some sketchy thoughts and plans going forward (and it contains spoilers for "The Girl in the Woods")

The second story is coming along nicely and is titled "Hell". It is another four-part story and each part has a different "flavour" to it. It tells the story of a group of aliens trapped in a small, cramped tunnel and how the Doctor, Mary and the rest of them try to escape.

There's another potential companion on the horizon as well. But let's see where that goes first...

Talking of TARDIS travellers, we haven't seen the last of Kyla, as she sleeps on board the newly reborn TARDIS. And those epilogues at the end of "The Girl in the Woods"...it's may not be what it seems. No more spoilers for that though.

As far as future stories are concerned - I'm aiming on writing a story called "The End of the World II", which will see the Doctor land on Earth just before it gets roasted. As the Ninth Doctor and Rose watch above on Platform One, the planet turns out to not be as uninhabited as the Doctor thought.

I'm also revisiting, once again, the Dalek Invasion of Earth with a sequel to "Before the Dawn", which will be called "A Town Called Freedom". It'll feature some characters that I introduced during that story and features elements that I was going to include in the aborted Apocalypse series. In fact I have quite a bit of writing that I did for Apocalypse sat in limbo that I might incorporate as an extended prelude to "A Town Called Freedom." We'll see. I'm not really setting anything in stone just yet.

We'll also pay visits to UNIT:X, Holly and Lilly again and finally find out exactly where Caroline Fieldgate-Parker went after the end of "The Edwardian Way". Talking of Caroline, there may be a mini Christmas episode on the horizon, but we'll see.

I also have a side project I'm looking at which involves some very, very old stories from back in 2003. More on that next year.

So that's about it for now. "Hell" is likely to be uploaded some time in January and I'll keep you posted about any Christmas special. Stay tuned!

The Girl in the Woods, Part Four

Part Four: Kyla

At the bottom of Kettleworth Lake, the lump of black coral had gotten bigger, the crystal consumed by it. It was now pulsating with orange light, smoke rising from within it. It was getting larger and larger. It was growing.



The Doctor and Mary had finished looking around the abandoned building, but they were no closer to discover a solution to what might be able to save the little girl.

Mary was busy flicking through old black and white photos of blurs and light flares whilst the Doctor paced up and down the room, his hands in his pockets.

“So what are we going to do?” asked Mary. “We can’t just sit here waiting for her to turn up.”

“No,” said the Doctor. He stopped on the spot. “No, we can’t. We need to find a way to bring her to us.”

“What if we dug deeper into this Torchwood Institute?” said Mary. She shrugged. “We’ve got to pick up a thread from somewhere.”

“No, they’re too secretive. We’ll never find anything linking us to where they are now.”

“Well we’ve got to do something.” Mary was getting frustrated.

The Doctor turned to look at her, a strange look in his eye. Mary realised that he wasn’t actually looking at her, rather through her.

“Doctor, are you ok?” she asked. She turned to look behind her, almost expecting to see the little girl, but there was nothing there.

He put a hand to his chest, his lips curling into a very slight smile. “I’m…I’m fine.”

“You look…well, you look distant.” Mary got to her feet and looked up at him.

“I feel warm.” The Doctor looked down at her and grinned.

“What? You feel warm?”

“Something is stirring.” He grinned. “She’s coming back.”

“The girl?” said Mary, suddenly feeling cold, looking around the room.

“No-” said the Doctor.

But he didn’t finish his sentence. As if to punctuate Mary’s question there was a rumble of thunder from outside of the bunker.

“She is back!” said Mary.

The Doctor reached out and grabbed Mary’s hand. “Come on.”



By the time to two of them were outside the sky had turned grey again. The rain clouds hung heavy in the sky and it was starting to rain. Mary pulled the Doctor’s jacket tighter around her.

“Right, what can we ascertain from this?” asked the Doctor, pointing to Mary.

Mary felt like she was back in school. “We know that when the weather is bad that the girl appears.”

“Exactly,” said the Doctor. “So what does that tell us?”

“That the two are connected.” Mary looked up at the clouds. “But ghosts don’t live in clouds.”

“I keep telling you she’s not a ghost,” said the Doctor. “She’s trapped.”

“But that’s what spirits are, aren’t they? They’re trapped.”

“Not the same thing,” said the Doctor. The rain was becoming to come down heavier now. Large drops of water splashed down on them.

“Shouldn’t we get back inside?”

“No, no, no,” said the Doctor. He looked at the clouds. There was another clap of thunder. “The refugee ship must have been passing by. Now, if it was a medical ship…think, Doctor, think…” He balled up his fist and closed his eyes, knocking his fist against his forehead. “Medical ships are fitted with transmat devices.”

“Hang on, you’re losing me now.”

The Doctor span around to face her. “Spaceships - some spaceships - have the ability to transport people from one place to another. They effectively disappear from the spaceship and reappear somewhere else.”

“A bit like an illusion.”

“Yes, except this is science, not trickery.”

“But, hang on…” Mary closed her eyes and put her hands to her forehead, “…I’m still trying to understand the concept of a space ship. A craft that flies through space and contains beings from another world?”

“That’s correct.”

There was a flash of lightning followed, a few moments later, by a huge clap of thunder.

“Surely it’s all just fantasy though. I mean none of this could ever be real, could it? We would have see such beings had they existed. Surely they’d be all over our planet by now.”

“In the future the people of your world will see much, much more of these beings. All sorts of beings.”

“Your world?”

“About that…” The Doctor was starting to look a little flustered.

“Okay, okay,” said Mary. “Clearly there are things I don’t quite understand, but maybe we should deal with the task at hand.”

“Exactly my thoughts.”

“I can’t say I don’t have more questions though.”

“And I’ll try to answer them when all this is over.”

“So you say this space ship must have transported this girl?”

“That’s my theory. The spaceship obviously isn’t here. We’d have come across some trace of it or at least remnants in the bunker by now.” The Doctor looked up to the sky. The rain was now pounding down harder and harder. “For some reason this young girl was transported down from the spaceship. Someone was likely trying to save her.”

There was a flash of lightning and Mary felt the air go cold. She could see her breath in front of her and when she turned to look back at the bunker there was the little girl again. She backed away, but somehow felt a little less frightened this time.

“Hello,” said the Doctor, stepping past Mary and towards the girl, her face still glowing brightly. “Are you able to communicate with me?”

The girl reached out her arms towards the Doctor.

“You were in an accident, weren’t you?”

The Doctor stepped a little closer, Mary just behind him. The closer they got the more Mary could see. There were tendrils of light flowing from the girls face.

“What happened to her face, Doctor?” asked Mary.

“Someone was trying to save you, weren’t they?” asked the Doctor. He was now right in front of her. He knelt down in front of the little girl. “If you are what I think you are then you should be able to show me.”

The girl reached her hands out further.

“Be careful, Doctor,” said Mary, warily.

“It’s ok. It’s ok.”

He closed his eyes as the girl touched his temples.



There was a flash…



She was being carried through darkened corridors, their metallic panels occasionally lit up by flashing red lights. Her father was a handsome man, but he was also a concerned man. There were people collapsing around him. A deadly gas had been released inside the ship. He had covered his own face and his little girls face, but she was already drifting in and out of consciousness.

There was a loud explosion from somewhere towards the front of the ship.

“We’ve lost the bridge, Captain!” shouted one of his officers.

He didn’t look at the man. He carried on running. “Get everyone who can’t walk to the transmat pads now!”

He turned the corner and entered the circular room. The transmat pad was set into a large, circular alcove surrounded by glowing, round circles.

Kyla was already unconscious as he laid her down on the transmat pad. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I love you.”

Her eyes fluttered momentarily and then he stepped back towards the controls.

“Sir, the ship is going critical!” said an officer in a grey tunic and black helmet.

“Abandon ship!” yelled Jericho. “The planet down below can offer us shelter until we can find a way out of this.”

“We don’t have the time.”

There was another rumble of explosions. This time from the aft of the ship - the engines.

“Oh, my sweet Kyla,” said Jericho, activating the transmat, “I hope you find someone out there to help you.”

As Jericho activated the transmat the little blonde girls face began to glow, golden light began to spew from her hands.

“No, not now!”

“Sir, if she regenerates while she’s transmatting down-”

“I can’t stop it.” Jericho watched in horror as his daughter began to disappear. He didn’t get to see her disappear completely. A huge explosion ripped through the ship and the room exploded in front of him.



The Doctor staggered back from the little girl who hung her head sadly.

“What happened?” asked Mary. “What did you see?”

The Doctor looked to Mary and then back at the little girl - back to Kyla. “Give me your hand.”

Kyla reached out and the Doctor took her hand. “I know what happened.” The Doctor smiled again. “And we need to get to the lake.”



Mary was amazed to discover that the little girl, whom the Doctor had named as Kyla, had not disappeared all the time she had held the Doctors hand. She held on tightly and walked slowly. The weather continued to rage above them and the three of them were soaked through to the skin, but the Doctor had a new determined look on his face.

“Her name is Kyla,” the Doctor had said. “Her people have the ability to completely repair their bodies if they are dying. They are able to regenerate themselves and heal. Kyla was on board a refugee ship that was under attack. Her father teleported her down to the surface of your planet. As she teleported three other things happened - she began to regenerate and the ship she was on exploded. Her atoms, whilst regenerating, were caught between the exploding ship and the planet Earth and passed through a storm.”

“So she was…I don’t know, scattered through the atmosphere?”

“That’s right,” said the Doctor. “Scattered in the immediate area but unable to reform back into a solid state.”

“The poor thing.” Mary shook her head. “This is just so…fantastically unbelievable.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

Mary had a thought. “Hold on, why are we heading to the lake?”

“Because something is at the bottom of the lake that will help her.”



They arrived at the banks of the lake. The storm was beginning to ease off, but Kyla was still there, holding on to the Doctor tightly. There was a faint orange glow coming from the centre of the lake.

“That’s where you said you were fishing,” said Mary.

The Doctor looked at her and then knelt down in front of Kyla. “You should be close enough now for you to stay held together.”

Kyla nodded and tentatively let go of the Doctor’s hand. She fizzed and crackled, but remained solid, albeit her face still glowing white.

She put one foot into the lake and then slowly began walking.

“Doctor-” said Mary.

The Doctor held up his hand to stop her. “She’ll be fine.”



Kyla headed out into the lake until she was fully submerged. She began to swim down and down towards the surface. She swam towards the orange glow. Eventually she arrived at a huge, almost square lump of coral, the orange glow emanating from it. She reached out her hand towards the coral. When he hands touched the slimy, rocky surface it began to glow brighter and brighter. Kyla gasped as the glow completely covered her.



Mary and the Doctor watched on in silence. There were no sounds. The storm had gone. Mary was about to speak when suddenly a large shape broke through the surface of the water. A large, black lump. There was a faint orange glow about it as the lump remained floating on top of the water.

“Yes!” shouted the Doctor, punching the air in delight.

“What is it?” asked Mary, frowning as the lump began to reshape itself into more of a rectangle shape.

“Kyla’s people are connected to their spaceships.”

“So that’s her ship down there? I thought you said it exploded.”

“That’s not her ship, but it comes from the same place.”

“The explosion in the lake…”

“Mary,” said the Doctor, turning to her, “I think I need to explain a few things to you.”

“I don’t know if my brain can take much more of this strangeness, Doctor!”

“Myself and Kyla are from the same planet.”

Mary didn’t say anything.

The Doctor took that as his cue to continue. “That lump of coral slowly reforming itself into a box is my ship. It was critically damaged. It shouldn’t still be here, but the presence of Kyla has caused it to reignite and regenerate itself.”

Mary watched as the coral box finally finished reforming and standing there on the surface of the water was…a police box…

“Hang on…” Mary looked at the Doctor with a frown.

“I’ll try and explain the police box thing.”

“Please do,” she said, flashing him a smile. “But where’s Kyla?”

“Shall we find out?”



Mary didn’t mind the swim across the lake. She was already soaking wet so it didn’t make much difference. The Doctor arrived at the ledge of the box first and hauled her up to the doors.

He rummaged around in his pockets until he pulled out a key. He flashed her a grin and then unlocked the door. There was a strange humming sound coming from the box. The Doctor took a deep breath and then went inside.

Mary couldn’t believe her eyes. At first she had to shield them against the light, but once they had adjusted she felt quite taken aback.

The inside was much larger than the outside. Too large to fit inside the blue police box. The room was white with its walls adorned with grey, indented circles. Across the far side was a bank of computers and a door leading off to, what she assumed, was further parts of this strange spaceship.

In the centre of the room was a six sided, green-tinted console with a glass cylinder running through the middle of it. Above the console was a large, hexagonal device that hung from the ceiling.

“Amazing,” said the Doctor, as he gazed around in wonder, “she’s reset herself to the default design.”

“Default design?”

“Kyla!” said the Doctor, ignoring Mary’s question. Lying down on the floor of the spaceship was a young girl - but she looked different. She had light, brown hair - a little like Mary’s, but it was shorter. She looked older as well - maybe about 13 years old - and she was sleeping soundly.

“Is she okay?” asked Mary, her concern for the girl overshadowing her complete bewilderment of the spaceship she was standing in.

The Doctor knelt down beside the young girl. “She’s alive, but very, very ill.”

“She looks different. She looks older.”

“That’s regeneration for you.” The Doctor picked her up in his arms. “She could have easily have turned into a teenage boy!”

“What?” Mary was confused.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters now is getting this young lady the help she needs.”

The Doctor started making his way, with Kyla in his arms, towards the inner door. He then turned back to Mary. “Please, sit down Miss Auckland. I’ll go and pop the kettle on.”





The Doctor had returned - without Kyla - with two steaming hot mugs of tea. Mary had sat down on an old, wooden chair and was nursing a headache. The Doctor sat cross-legged on the floor and handed her the tea.

“Mmmm, that’s good,” said Mary.

“You have questions,” said the Doctor.

“I do,” said Mary. “Where did you put Kyla?”

“She’s in a stasis tube.” Mary looked confused. “She’s healing but it’s going to be a little while before she’s up and walking about.”

“The poor thing - and you think she lost her entire family?”

“Her father’s ship exploded. There were no other survivors.” He sipped on his own tea. “I just wonder what they were running from.”

“You said they were refugees. Was there a war on your planet?”

“There have been many wars,” said the Doctor, looking distant, “but I won’t know until I get back there and find out.”

“I still can’t quite believe you’re not from this world.”

The Doctor took another sip. “I truly am sorry for not telling you everything, but I never expected for this to happen.”

Mary put her cup on the floor and got up from her seat, walking around the large, white room and taking in every detail. “This place is truly fantastic, Doctor. I…how does it work?”

“You’d need a good few years of dimensional engineering classes to even come close to understanding how it works. The TARDIS is truly a miracle machine.”

“TARDIS?” said Mary.

The Doctor sighed. “I’d forgotten the questions that come with new visitors to the TARDIS.”

“Well, I’m sure you can tell me all about it.”

The Doctor finished his tea and got up to check on the console. It was then that Mary noticed how concerned he looked. He was looking at a particular dial on the console. “That’s odd.”

“What?” she said, crossing over to him.

“That dial shouldn’t be set to those numbers. Not unless the ship has been pre-programmed to take off. I’ve not touched anything yet.”

There was a sudden low thump from the depths of the ship.

“No!” said the Doctor.

A lever - on its own - moved downwards. Lights started flashing and the central glass column began to move up and down. There was a loud grating of what Mary could only assume were engines from all around them. The ship began to vibrate and Mary felt unsteady. She fell back into her chair.

“What’s happening?!” she shouted.

“The TARDIS - it’s taking off.”

“We’re travelling into space?”

“Not only space,” said the Doctor, turning to her, “but time as well.”

“Time? It travels in time?”

“Again, I think we have a lot to talk about, Miss Auckland.”

“But I’ve got a job to get back to. My mum is going to wonder where I’ve gone!”

The Doctor shrugged as he checked the console readouts. The TARDIS seems to have other ideas. He looked sheepishly at her. “Welcome to the TARDIS, Mary.”

Epilogue 1

He could feel his chest thumping faster and faster. He could feel something flaring up inside of him. Something he had not felt before. Well, at least not for a long time. It didn’t feel right. It felt unnatural to him.

He brought his fist down on the controls. “Control yourself. Control yourself!”

He suddenly broke free, stepping back from the console. “Control yourself, man, control yourself.”

The ship rocked again.

“CONTROL YOURSELF!”

The ship vibrated. It was almost in anger. It was as if it was reacting to the anger he felt.

“No. No, no, no. What’s going on? What’s going on?”

He fell to the floor, his knees wet in the already partially flood ship.

He balled his fists up and pressed them against his temples. “This cannot be happening. What is happening?” He looked up to the ceiling. “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!”

He screamed out in agony and fell to the floor. With a anguished cry he got to his feet and headed to the console. There were still vestiges of power inside the console. The TARDIS was dying. He reached out and flicked the door switch.

The doors swung open and he turned to face the rush of water that awaited him. It never came. Outside was a beautiful summers day. The birds were singing and there was a light breeze. The TARDIS was balanced just slightly below the surface of a large lake and it was sinking, but he was still able to clamber out. He crossed the threshold and began to swim across the lake all the time his head pounding and the anger flaring up in him.

He managed to crawl across to the bank where he saw a woman in a sunhat and a dress cycling past.

“Woman!” he shouted. “Woman, help me!”

The woman stopped and lifted the brim of her hat. She was an attractive woman in her early 40’s with long brown hair and a summer dress.

“Hello? Can I help you?”

“That much is obvious,” he said, getting to his feet.

The woman looked across the lake just in time to see the box sink below the surface. “What’s happened here?”

“Never mind that. What year is this?”

“The year?”

“The year and the exact date, woman,” said the man.

“Don’t you talk to me like that!” scolded the woman.

“Please,” he said, trying to dampen the anger, “what is the date?”

“July 16th 1949,” she said. “Have you been in an accident.”

“Of sorts,” said the man. He looked about him. “Where am I?”

“Kettleworth Lake,” said the woman. “In Saxerby.”

“Earth I presume?”

“Earth? Of course. Listen, I’m on my break from work and a need to get back to the post office. If you’d like I’ll ask PC Forrester to send for a doctor.”

“What’s your name, woman?”

“Patricia. Patricia Auckland.”

The man nodded and continued to look around. “And you say there is a village nearby?”

“Indeed there is.”

“Miss Auckland, I’m not feeling very well. I wonder if you could help me to the village.”

“Of course I can. That’s if you’ll stop being so horrible. If my husband was alive…”

“Please, Miss Auckland.”

She got off her bike and walked over to him, taking his hand and guiding him towards her bike. “You have been in the wars, haven’t you?”

“Something just doesn’t feel right.”

“What’s your name?”

“My name? It’s the Doctor. Doctor John Smith.”

“Well, John, let’s get you somewhere that can help you, shall we?”



Less than a mile away Mary Auckland, Patricia’s daughter, and her friend, Betty, were settling down for a picnic.

Epilogue 2

The TARDIS was in flight and the Doctor had made Mary another cup of tea. He had made his way through the corridors of the TARDIS towards the medi-bay where Kyla was safely tucked away in a stasis tube. He looked down at her as she slept soundly.

“She helped you to heal, old girl,” said the Doctor, looking up at the ceiling. “And you helped her. But why are you sending us in flight now?”

There was no answer.

“You know I’m going to have a hell of a time trying to control you now? Back to how it used to be a suppose.”

The Doctor smiled down at Kyla and then stared ahead. Something wasn’t right. Something felt amiss. He couldn’t put his finger on it and he guessed it must have been down to the newly regenerated TARDIS, but there was something not quite right.

And there were white curtains billowing in the sunlight.

And once again he felt like he had forgotten something….





The End

The Girl in the Woods, Part Three

Part Three: Kettleworth Woods

Torchwood Institute, Harry Lockhart’s Personal Log: 22.3.43

Project: Lightning



“Today, after six solid weeks of observing the surrounding area, we managed to contain her. I say contain - she’s not contained any longer, but for ten solid minutes we trapped her like a moth trapped in a lamp. We were not able to fully communicate with her, and my colleague, Miss Wilkins, was only able to ascertain certain words from the child’s mouth. A long time ago I would have obliged the child, but in this darker world words like “Help” don’t always mean a lot.

And then like a candle being extinguished she was gone again. Miss Wilkins and myself will continue to watch for her.”



The Doctor and Mary had made a left turning from the usual track. Here the woods were denser and the tree canopies seemed to block out even more of the already darkening sky. Mary was starting to feel chilly and she had to un-snag her dress from even more twigs and bushes.

“This dress is ruined,” she said, sighing.

“I’ll buy you a new one,” said the Doctor.

Mary arched her eyebrows, but continued to follow him, trying to also ignore the scratches on her legs and the ladders in her stockings.

“So are you actually going to continue?” asked Mary.

“Continue?” said the Doctor as they approached a small stream.

“You said you knew recognised the name Kettleworth Woods and that I wouldn’t like it. Then we turned and you didn’t say another word. I mean how long does a girl have to wait for a conversation to continue?”

The Doctor crouched down and looked into the stream. He seemed to be staring at his own reflection in the still, dark water. He frowned at himself and then shook his head, blinking rapidly.

“We need to go across.”

“And how do we do that?” asked Mary.

“We jump of course,” said the Doctor.

“Me? Jump? In these stockings and shoes?”

The Doctor looked down at her dainty little black shoes. “Yes, I can’t say that you chose the best footwear for a trek into the woods.”

“Let me correct you,” said Mary, “a trek down a well-beaten trail into the woods. I didn’t expect to be clambering through all of this.”

“The well-walked path is always boring,” smiled the Doctor, “this is much more fun.”

“Oh, I like a good adventure,” said Mary, “but I like to be dressed for it. A good pair of trousers and a cardigan.”

“Love a nice cardigan,” said the Doctor, edging closer to the edge. “It’s not a great distance. About five foot. I reckon we could jump it.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“If we’re to get to where I think we need to get to then yes, we need to jump it. I assume this stream leads to the lake?”

“Yes. We could follow and go around.”

“That’d take a lot longer.” He scratched his head and then jumped up and down on the spot. “We need to get across now.”

“So what do we do, take a run and jump?” asked Mary, looking from side to side.

“You took the words right out of my mouth.”

There wasn’t much clear land around the banks of the lake, but there was enough for the Doctor to get a good run. He just hoped his untested legs would make it. He hadn’t tried running yet. Swimming, yes, but running…well, it was something he always seemed to be doing anyway so he really needed to get these new legs up to speed.

Mary stepped back as the Doctor backed up, closed his eyes, mumbled something - she assumed a quick prayer - and then sprinted forward. For a moment she thought he was going to run straight into the lake, but instead he leapt into the air, sailing over the stream and landing on the other side with relative ease.

He steadied himself and turned to face her, a grin on his face.

“You made it look easy,” said Mary, frowning and looking down at the river.

“I’ll catch you,” said the Doctor.

“If an older gentleman like yourself can make it across then I’m sure I can.”

But Mary realised that the Doctor wasn’t looking at her anymore. He was in fact looking past her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and those familiar goose pimples reared their heads again.

“What is it?” she said, slowly turning around.

She realised it had gotten dark now and very, very cold. She gasped. Standing right in front of her was the little ghost girl, her face glowing once again.

“Mary, don’t panic.”

Mary daren’t blink. She daren’t move as the ghost girl held out a hand towards her. She could hear a faint crackling sound coming from her and could hear her voice, but it sounded faint, almost as if it was lost on the wind.

The ghost girl jerked forward and Mary stepped back. Her foot slipped on the muddy bank and she fell back towards the river.

She felt the back of her head hit something as she hit the water and then everything went blurry.



At the bottom of Kettleworth Lake a lump of black smouldering coral lay amongst the silt and the dirt. The water down here was murky and dark and in amongst the coral was a dead, cracked crystal. And then, inexplicably, a faint orange light glimmered from within the crystal…



“Mary…”

She opened her eyes. She was lying down on the ground. It was freezing cold and she could hear thunder in the distance. The ground was a little damp - it had been raining - and she was covered over by her father’s old mac. She could still smell his cigars on it and she floated back to memories of playing at the bottom of his armchair whilst he told her stories of dragons and fairytales.

“Mary.”

Mary’s eyes focused on where the sound was coming. A blurred figure wearing a grey tweed suit and a green tank top. Had he come back to her?

“Daddy…” she murmured.

“I’m afraid not, Miss Auckland,” said the Doctor.

He came into focus and her heart sank. No, it wasn’t him at all. He was still lost to her.

“What happened?” she asked, feeling the pain at the back of her head throb.

“You fell into the river and banged your head. Luckily I was able to reach in and drag you out.”

“I’m soaking wet,” she realised, her dress clinging to her.

“And you’ll catch your death if we don’t get you inside.”

Mary shivered and tried to look around her. They were underneath some trees next to what looked like the entrance to a stone bunker. “Where are we?”

“We’re at the reason why I remembered the name of Kettleworth Woods,” said the Doctor, looking up at the ominous structure. “The Torchwood Institute.”

The Doctor helped Mary to her feet and held her closely to keep her warm. She normally would have felt uncomfortable being held this way, but she was too cold to care. He led her to an iron double door. He ran his hand along the old door and pointed to a white logo - the outline of a hart with a hole in the centre.

“What’s the Torchwood institute?” asked Mary, trying to stop her teeth from chattering.

“All in good time,” said the Doctor. “Let’s get you in first.”

The door was bolted with a large, iron bar. He pulled a strange, cylindrical device, not much longer than a pen, from his jacket pocket and aimed it at the bar. It made a high-pitched whirring sound and slowly the bar began to slide across.

Mary felt too groggy to even question what he was doing as the bar fell away and the Doctor pulled the doors open.



Inside was dark and dingy and the Doctor had to use a torch to light their way. A set of steps led down under the ground and to a long, dark corridor built with grey breeze blocks. At the end of the corridor was another set of double doors covered in cobwebs.

“This place hasn’t been used in years,” said the Doctor, shining his torch around.

They opened the double doors until they were standing in what looked like a disused laboratory. Half of the room was covered in paperwork and hastily cleared filing cabinets and furniture. On the far side of the room was a window that looked in on an empty chamber.

The Doctor spotted an upturned chair and guided Mary over to it. He took off his jacket and put it around Mary.

“What is this place?” she asked.

“It’s a lab,” said the Doctor, sadly. “A lab for conducting scientific experiments.”

“So you’ve heard of the Torchwood Institute before then?”

“Oh yes!” He picked up a clipboard. It showed a black and white photograph of the glowing ghost girl. “The Torchwood Institute was formed during the late 1800’s. They used to hunt down aliens and use their tech to help the Human Race. They had four main bases of operations but also operated out of satellite locations. I remember Kettleworth Woods as being one of their testing grounds. During the war they did everything they could to combat the Nazi threat. Bad things happened. Incredibly bad things.”

“Sounds a bit strange,” said Mary, shivering and pulling the jacket tighter around her. “I suppose it’s hard to imagine a world were bad things were done to help win a war.”

“Bad things are always being done to win wars,” said the Doctor. “The good guys don’t always do good things.”

He passed her the clipboard with the picture. “Here you go. Patient 475X. Our ghost girl.”

“It’s a photograph of her,” said Mary, wide-eyed.

“It looks like they trapped her in that room. Flip through it,” said the Doctor, turning to face the room. “There’s a whole load of notes on her.”

“But…what is she?” asked Mary, turning through the pages. “There’s nothing about where she came from.”

“Except that she arrives when the weather turns bad.” He turned back to Mary and looked again at the photo. “That’s interesting.”

“What is?” asked Mary.

“Look at her dress.”

Mary peered down at the grainy black and white photograph. “Oh yes,” she said. “It has some sort of black triangle in the top left corner.”

“I recognise that symbol,” said the Doctor. “And it’s all starting to piece together now.”

“Well don’t keep me in suspense,” said Mary.

“The black symbol is the medical symbol for a group of…well, let’s call them refugees.”

“From where?”

“Yes…well, this you may find a little harder to accept.”

“Doctor, I’ve seen this ghost girl two times today. I think I can handle more surprises.”

“They’re refugees from another planet.”

Mary didn’t respond.

“How do you feel?”

“I can maybe accept ghosts, Doctor, but not beings from other worlds.”

“Well you can choose to accept or deny it, but that black symbol means the little girl belonged to this group of refugees. The name of the planet doesn’t matter and neither does the reason they were refugees. What matters is that somehow she has become trapped here on this world.”

“And she needs our help.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “Regardless of where she comes from, she needs our help.”



Sometime ago…



“My name is Captain Jericho. This may well be the last log I ever record for this ship. We are under attack once again. We have travelled such a distance and have lost so many along the way. Our crew used to number in their hundreds. Only twenty souls remain onboard this ship now.

We managed to access to the vortex and we are now approaching a small, low-developed planet in the Sol system. It seems to be capable of providing safe refuge for us. We have little choice anyway. Our ship is crippled beyond repair and I must get my people to the planet below. The first to evacuate will be the sick and the injured.”



Captain Jericho made his way along the once-gleaming white corridor of the starship Fellfall until he reached the medi-bay. The medi-bay was lined with beds, each of them occupied, but on one of them lay a pretty blonde girl in a white medical gown. She looked to be in some distress.

“How are you feeling, Kyla?” asked Jericho.

She turned and looked at him. “I feel ill, Daddy.”

“I know you do, sweetheart,” he said, wiping the sweat off his furrowed brow as the starship shook again. “We have found a planet.”

“But they’re looking for us. They’re going to find us.”

“We can hide amongst the people, Kyla,” said Jericho. He clasped her hands in his. “We can hide from them and live our lives.”

Kyla cried out in pain and clutched at her stomach. “I can feel it coming.”

“Then you have to let it happen.”

“But I’m too young. I don’t want to go through with it. I’m frightened.”

“Listen to me, Kyla.” He edged closer and smiled at her. “When I made the deal to get you altered I did it so I could keep you safe.”

“But it might not work. What if I look horrible? What if you don’t love me anymore.”

“Oh, Kyla,” he said, brushing her hair out of her face and kissing her on the forehead. “I will always love you. No matter what.”

“I’m scared, Daddy.”

“I know. So am I.” The ship shook again. “But we need to teleport you and the other sick people down to the planet right now.” He sat her up. “And you, sweetheart…you need to change.”

Kyla nodded as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Will you come with me Daddy?”

“Yes, eventually,” said Jericho. “But I’ve got to make sure everyone else is safe first.” He helped her off the bed and then lifted her into his arms. He looked down into her blue eyes as he noticed her skin starting to glow a faint orange. “And no matter what happens, Kyla, you must regenerate. You must regenerate!”

To be concluded...

The Girl in the Woods, Part Two

Part Two: The Little Girl

“Who is she?” asked the Doctor, peering between Mary and Betty.

“The girl in the woods,” said Mary.

“Well, she’s a girl and she’s in the woods,” said the Doctor, “but what exactly is she?”

“She’s a ghost,” said Mary.

“Nonsense,” said the Doctor. “I don’t believe in ghosts.”

Mary looked away from the girl and back at the Doctor. “It looks like your disbelief has been proven wrong then.”

“But it’s impossible,” said the Doctor.

The girl began to raise her arms. They were reaching out towards them. She started to walk towards them. Her movements were jerky and uncoordinated and every step looked awkward.

“Oh no,” said Betty, burying her head on Mary’s shoulder and closing her eyes.

“What does she want?” said the Doctor. “Tell me about her.”

Mary was sure there was no way out of this. She was about to close her eyes as the girl got closer to them, but without warning the sky brightened. The clouds were clearing and a large band of sunshine spread across the woods and came up behind the girl. It was as if she had sensed the emerging sun. She stopped and put her hands to her glowing head and let out a scream. The scream sounded distant, but Mary still covered her ears. As the sunlight hit her the girl disappeared in a huge flash of light.

When the light had cleared she was gone and all that was left was the sound of birds tweeting in the trees above and Betty sobbing into Mary’s shoulder.

“Goodness me,” said the Doctor. “How fascinating.”

Mary turned to face him. She couldn’t work him out. Why hadn’t he been as terrified as her and Betty?

She was about to ask him when there came a ding-ding of a bicycle bell and PC Forrester came peddling through the uneven wooded ground where the girl had been stood. He was a burly man in his late 40’s with a greying moustache and an almost bald head save for a few strands of hair that hung limply over the top of his head.

“Good afternoon ladies…and gent,” he said, noticing the Doctor, still soaking wet in his charred suit. “Is everything okay up this way? We heard an explosion. The Sarge sent me.”





The Doctor emerged from the police station - still wearing his not-quite-so-wet-now suit - and shook his head. The sun was blazing down again and Mary was leaning against the wall across the other side of the street, still holding the picnic basket that Betty had hastily handed over to her before heading home, her face as white as a sheet.

“Mary. Still here?” said the Doctor, spotting her across the road.

“Still here,” said Mary. “I wanted to know what PC Forrester had said.”

The Doctor smiled, put his hands in what remained of his pockets and crossed to her side of the road. “Well he’s going to take a look at the lake, but I doubt he’ll find anything. The…ahem…bomb pretty much obliterated everything.”

“If you don’t mind me saying, sir, you don’t seem at all concerned that you were nearly killed.”

“Please,” said the Doctor, holding his hand up and smiling warmly at her, “you don’t have to call me ‘sir’. The Doctor will do just fine.”

“Very well…Doctor,” said Mary. “But I’m still curious. You were nearly blown to kingdom come.”

The Doctor nodded. “And as I told PC Forrester, I’ve been involved with…incidents before.”

“During the war, you mean?” asked Mary.

“Yes, during the war. A few actually. One more old bomb going off isn’t going to shake me.”

“Hmmm,” said Mary as she and the Doctor began walking down the cobbled street. The street itself was the main road through the village. Here there was a small shop, Allbrights, as well as the post office that Mary worked at, owned by her mother, Patricia Auckland, the police station with it’s ivy-covered walls and a garage for motorcars. It was a fairly quiet affair in Saxerby. Everyone knew everyone else and if you had a secret then you could be sure it’d get found out by the rest of the village.

“You sound like you doubt me,” said the Doctor, looking down at her.

She looked up at him and smiled “Just wondering, that’s all.”

“What about?”

Mary stopped and leant against the low brick wall that stood outside a very rickety looking three story grey-stone house. It was the butcher, Mr Garnet’s house and he rarely made any improvements to the building. In fact Mary could have sworn she saw some roof tiles fall down in the bad storm they had at the beginning of the year.

“Why a bomb would be in Kettleworth Lake in the middle of such a tiny village like Saxerby.”

The Doctor didn’t reply. He just stared down at her.

“I know it wasn’t unheard of for the Nazi’s to drop bombs in the countryside, but it was rare.”

“You know your history, Miss Auckland.”

“History? It was only a few years ago.”

“Yes, of course,” said the Doctor. His eyes darted from left to right. He needed to get a grip. “Well, look, perhaps it was a faulty plane that happened to drop the bomb.”

“Maybe,” said Mary, but she narrowed her eyes and smiled up at him, “or maybe there’s something else going on here.”

The Doctor wasn’t smiling anymore. He was looking concerned. “I think what’s more important is the apparition we saw out in the woods.”

Mary knew full well that he was trying to change the subject, but then realised that what he said was very true. The three of them had just witnessed a full-on manifestation of…something. Something that was fast becoming a serious concern around Saxerby.

“You’re right,” said Mary. “Tell you what, I’ll meet you at Rossiters in 45 minutes and I’ll tell you all about it.”



Rossiters was a very small café a few streets away from the main shopping street. It was set inside a little cottage next to an old windmill that hadn’t been used in years. Mary and Betty often frequented the place in their lunch break (Betty worked as a secretary at the local school) and their blueberry muffins were always popular with the locals.

When Mary got there the Doctor was already sat drinking lemonade and finishing off his third muffin.

“I got you one but I couldn’t resist the urge to eat it,” said the Doctor. He wrinkled his nose. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise, Doctor,” said Mary, pulling out a chair beside an old wooden table and sitting down, “you didn’t need to buy me anything.”

Mary ordered a cup of tea and then placed her hands in front of her on the table.

“After you, Miss Auckland,” said the Doctor, gesturing for her to begin.

“Well,” said Mary, a glint in her eye, “it all started about six years ago, back in ‘43. It was during a cold night. There was a terrible storm - lightning, thunder…you know the type. It was Norman Jackson‘s barn that caught fire after a bolt of lightning struck it. The villagers all headed up to the farm to help put it out.”

“Good old British spirit,” smiled the Doctor.

“Well apparently it was during that time that she was first seen. It was Mr Gibson that saw her first. Apparently she just appeared. He said he thought it was one of the villagers that had gotten lost but said it couldn’t be because her head was glowing.”

“And what did he do?” asked the Doctor, taking a sip of his lemonade and smacking his lips. “Lovely.”

“He said she just sort of floated towards him. He panicked and turned and ran. Everyone thought he’d gone mad and I think after a while Mr Gibson thought he had imagined it until Jennifer Buttersby and her five children saw her one night when their dog, Jet, had run away.” Mary’s blue eyes were wide with amazement. “She was beside the small wall across the road from the woods.”

“So I’m taking it that after then people kept seeing her more and more frequently.”

Mary nodded.

The Doctor leaned in towards her. “Mary, all of these incidents seem to occur in or around the woods.”

“That’s right,” said Mary.

He smiled and drained his glass of lemonade. “How do you fancy a trip into the woods tonight?”

Mary sat back in her chair, shaking her head. “Oh, no, sir. No I don’t think that would be a good idea at all. I’ve got a job to get to.”

“In the post office?”

“In the post-” She frowned. “How do you know?”

“I did my research.” He winked.

“You spied on me,” she said, folding her arms.

“No,” he laughed, “I just asked PC Forrester, that’s all.”

Mary shook her head. “PC Forrester was never very good with letting information out. Loose lips and all that.” She frowned again at the Doctor. “But why me? Why are you wanting me to come to the woods with you?”

The Doctor shrugged. “You just seem like you could do with a bit of excitement in your life, Mary.”

Mary frowned at him. “I’m very happy working at the post office.”

“But what do you intend on doing with your life? With your future?”

“I…well, I don’t know.”

“Becoming a doting wife to a hard-working husband at some point in the next five years?”

“And what’s wrong with that?” said Mary, folding her arms.

The Doctor folded his own arms and looked down his nose at her. “I don’t think that life is for you, Mary.”

Mary broke off her gaze with him and sighed. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to run away into Kettleworth Woods with a complete stranger in the middle of the night.”

The Doctor smiled at a distant memory. “I had a friend once, a long time ago, who said the same thing. Her life changed so completely…” He frowned. “Just a minute. Kettleworth…Kettleworth…” the Doctor muttered under his breath. “There’s something about that name…something familiar.”

“If you live in the area then there’s nothing strange about remembering the name of the woods.”

“No,” said the Doctor. “It’s more than that.” He tapped his chin. “Listen, is there somewhere I can perhaps get a change of clothes? I’m…ah…not planning on heading home for some time and this suit has well and truly had it.” The Doctor looked back at Elsie Rossiter who was standing behind the counter cleaning a tea cup and looking suspiciously at him.

“I think I can help,” said Mary. “But don’t tell my mother.”



The Doctor looked himself up and down in the long mirror. Mary had taken him back to her house - a small two-up, two-down a few streets away. Her mother was working and the house was empty.

The Doctor was standing in what he assumed was the master bedroom. He examined his new clothes - a greyish-tweed suit complete with a green waistcoat, white shirt with brown pinstripes and a black tie.

It wasn’t exactly his cup of tea - mind you, he wasn’t entirely sure what his cup of tea was now or whether he preferred coffee to tea - but it’d do for now. At least he was dry.

He smoothed his hair down and headed back downstairs.

Mary was sat in the tiny living room, her hands in her lap. It was a tidy but small setting with a small window overlooking the micro front garden, two green armchairs, a wooden table set between them and a coffee table in front of them. Against the far wall was a sideboard with a wireless sat on top of it.

A door led from the living room to the kitchen and another door to the left led to the entrance hallway and the stairs to the first floor.

She heard the creaking of the stairs and stifled a gasp when the Doctor walked into the living room wearing one of her fathers old suits.

“How do I look?”

“It’s like seeing a ghost,” said Mary.

“Quite apt considering what we saw earlier,” said the Doctor. He noticed Mary glancing away to the side. “I’m sorry.”

“I miss him. I miss them both.”

“War does terrible things to people,” said the Doctor, sitting across the room in the armchair.

“They were stationed in Coventry when it was hit in November 1940.” She closed her eyes at the memory of PC Forrester breaking the news to she and her mother. “There was nothing left of them.” She looked back at the Doctor. “Oh, goodness,” said Mary, putting her hand to her mouth and blinking back tears. “You almost look like him.”

“A handsome, silver-haired devil, eh?” said the Doctor, winking and smiling at her and trying to lighten the mood.

Mary cleared her throat and smiled. “But you’re not him. And we have things to do.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet and patting down his suit, “we do indeed. Where‘s your mother by the way?”

“Not sure actually,” said Mary. “Well, she was at work but was out for a bike ride on her lunch break. She’ll probably be out shopping now. Just as well you missed her. I wouldn’t want her seeing you in father’s old clothes.”



The sun was beginning to set by the time Mary and the Doctor had reached the outskirts of the village. It was a warm, summer evening, but there were clouds hovering over the hills to the East.

The birds were sounding their evening chirps and Mary was now wearing a jacket with her dress. The Doctor, meanwhile, was wearing a brown mac - another of her fathers items of clothing - over his suit.

The trail into Kettleworth Woods was the same route they had taken earlier on to get back to the village. The well-walked track was clear through the tall trees. They seemed to be walking for hours, but in reality it couldn’t have been much more than 30 minutes.

“So, come on,” said Mary, “what are you hiding?” She felt a little more comfortable with the strange man now. She wondered if it was him wearing her fathers clothing that made her feel at ease.

“Hiding?” he said, glancing back at her momentarily. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“You’re clearly not your average, everyday villager, are you?” said Mary, un-snagging a twig from the bottom of her dress. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“I told you, I’m-”

“The truth, Doctor,” said Mary. She stopped walking and stood just behind him her arms folded. “The truth or…”

“Or?” said the Doctor, turning to face her.

“Or I head back.”

“Okay,” said the Doctor, nodding to her. “Feel free.” He turned and began to walk again.

“What?” she said, frowning and continuing to follow him. “Hang on a minute. This isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, Miss Auckland,” said the Doctor, turning to her and raising his eyebrows. “If life was fair I wouldn’t have ended up in that lake.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Mary as they clambered over a fallen tree. “I knew something was off about it all. You were never fishing in that suit and there wasn’t a bomb, was there?”

The Doctor stopped, wiped his hands with a handkerchief and then smiled at her, his grey eyes burrowing deep into her own. “There are things I can’t tell you because it probably wouldn’t make much sense.”

“Try me,” said Mary, folding her arms again.

“Not yet,” said the Doctor, “but I can tell you this - there is more to this world than you are aware of. More to this life than you know.”

Mary didn’t answer, she just continued to stare at him.

“I am a…well, let’s call me a traveller, shall we? I travel the…world investigating strange occurrences. Strange happenings.”

“Like the girl ghost?”

“Exactly like the girl ghost,” said the Doctor.

“And do you see many ghosts?”

“Not so much ghosts,” said the Doctor, “and they’re never really ghosts anyway. There’s always a scientific explanation behind them, but there are other, much more frightening things out there.”

“Mother used to say that Hitler dealt in the occult and the supernatural.”

“Oh, old Adolf was always meddling in things he didn’t understand.”

“You knew him?”

“I punched him once.”

Mary’s eyes widened and she stifled a giggle.

“But, Miss Auckland, I’m afraid the time for chit-chat is long gone. We need to get a move on before we lose our way.”

“But the track’s easy enough to follow,” said Mary, nodding towards the bare dirt through the long grass between the trees.

“We’re not following the track,” said the Doctor. “We’re taking a little trip sideways.”

“Okay,” said Mary, nodding. “Can I ask why?”

The Doctor smiled. “Absolutely. I’ve just remembered where I’d heard the name Kettleworth Woods before, and you’re not going to like it.”

To be continued...

The Girl in the Woods, Part One

Part One: Stranger in the Lake

He opened his eyes with a start. He was lying down on a bed, a set of large, white curtains where billowing in front of an open window. It was sunny outside and he could hear the sound of birds chirping. Physically he felt absolutely fine, apart from a niggling pinprick of pain in his left thigh. Mentally he felt that something wasn't right.




He felt like he was forgetting something. And then it clicked. It came flooding back into his head just like the water that had poured in and nearly drowned him. Like the water he was now waist-deep in. He shook his head and tried to clear the brain fog that was still lingering. His ship - his TARDIS - was damaged and had come crashing down to...well, somewhere. He wasn't exactly sure where he was.




As the strange images of the sunlight and curtains faded he scrambled to his feet. He felt better than he usually felt after a regeneration. Usually he would feel groggy and disorientated and needing to find himself. Right now he felt fit as a fiddle. He laughed inwardly. It was just as well that he felt better because the console room was rapidly filling up with water and he needed to get out.




He idly scratched at the itch in his leg and then got to his feet. He felt a little unsteady at first and then felt the strength in his new legs. He clapped his hands together and laughed. "Onwards!".




The Doctor waded through the cold water and reached the remains of the console, the burnt out insides still sputtering sparks and hissing like a angry swan. “Oh, my old girl,” he said, “what are we going to do with you?”




As if to answer the Doctor's question the console exploded in a flash of light and fire throwing him backwards and into the water. He pulled himself out of the water and coughed and spluttered. “Thanks, old girl,” he said, now thoroughly soaking wet. “I suppose we'll have to do this the old way,” he said, giving the obliterated console a knowing nod.




He waded through the water once again until he reached the other side of the console room. He reached down into the water, his other hand pressing against one of the walls. His hand slid down the wall. He glanced up at where his hand had been. The wall looked like it was melting. It was like he had pushed his hand down a wet slab of clay. This time the Doctor looked genuinely concerned. The TARDIS had recovered from disasters before and rebuilt herself, but this time the internal dimensions were failing and if they failed with him inside it would rip him apart.




He went back to what he was looking for and hefted a large, wooden chest out of the water, putting it down on a step that led to an inner doorway. He opened the chest and rummaged through the collection of water-damaged objects - an old map of a dead city, an ornate crown, a late 20th century mobile phone - before he finally found what he was looking for. It was a thin metal bar that resembled a starting handle for an old car. He smiled sadly at the object and then waded back towards the doors.

As he reached the doors the inner wall he had been standing next to cracked and split, crumbling down into the rising water.

The Doctor took a moment to survey the damage behind him and then reached down into the water. He felt around for a few seconds before he finally found the socket that the handle slotted into. He gripped the handle firmly and began to turn. He hadn’t opened (or closed) the doors like this for centuries so it took a while to get going.

There was another shudder from somewhere deep within the TARDIS. The cloister bell was now tolling deeper and more frequently than it had ever done before.

“Come on!” he said as he tried to turn the handle faster. The doors were slowly, very slowly, opening, but the gap wasn’t wide enough for him to slip through.

The TARDIS was now starting to shake violently. He knew he had to get out in the next few seconds or it’d be over.

The water was now gushing in through the narrow opening in the doors and the console room was growing darker and darker. A deep rumble was coming from somewhere deep within the old time ship. It was now or never.

With one more great turn he widened the doors some more. But the handle was jammed.

“COME ON!” he yelled, trying to force the handle. But it was no good. He turned back to the back wall of the TARDIS which had now completely gone giving way to a dark, black void. The dimensions were collapsing, the engines were gone. A horrible, howling sound was coming from the darkness.

He grabbed the door and pulled and pulled and pulled. The more he pulled the more the water gushed in. It was now or never. With one great heave he yanked them open.

The last thing he remembered was fire behind him and water in front of him.




And then nothing…




Saxerby, Saturday July 16th 1949




“Well?” said Betty as she sat down on the blanket next to Mary.

“Well what?” said Mary, blushing.

“Oh, come on, Mary,” said Betty, giving her a knowing look, “you can’t fool me. How long have we known each other now?”

“Since we were four years old,” said Mary, as she opened up the picnic basket and took out the ham sandwiches and two bottles of lemonade.

“Exactly,” said Betty. “Twenty years.”

“I can count you know,” said Mary.

Betty flicked her long, curly blonde hair over her shoulder and then crossed her legs. “So?”

“So what?” said Mary, not meeting her gaze.

“Oh, let’s not start again,” said Betty. “So what did you say?”

“About what?”

“Mary Auckland you know exactly what about,” she said. “Tell me.”

“Okay,” said Mary, looking her friend directly in her blue eyes. “I said no.”

“NO?!” said Betty. A flock of birds vacated the tree above them, flying off into the blue summers sky, alarmed at Betty’s high-pitched voice.

“Sush!” said Mary.

“I will not sush,” said Betty, flabbergasted. “Arnie Potter - the most handsome, most…most…well, most handsome man in the village asked you to the village dance and you said no?!”

“That’s right,” said Mary.

“But…why?” said Betty, a pained look in her face. “I’d have given anything to have been on his arm at the dance.”

“And that’s exactly why I said no,” said Mary, as she unwrapped the sandwiches. “I’m not the sort of woman that needs to go to a dance with a man, especially one who has the eye of all the other young woman in the village.”

“You’re not one of them are you?”

“One of what?” asked Mary, frowning at her friend.

“You know…you don’t want to be the prince instead of the princess, do you?”

Mary gave a withered look to her friend. “Even if I did what would it matter to our friendship?”

Betty didn’t know how to answer.

“Look,” said Mary, “Arnie Potter is a very handsome young man, but I’m just not interested in dancing. It’s never been my thing, you know that.”

Betty shrugged her shoulders and nodded.

It was true - Mary had never been interested in learning any kind of dance. The one time she had actually gone dancing was at another village dance around ten years ago. Her mum had made her dance with one of her cousins and she’d clumsily stepped on his foot. Her cousin, Frank, had howled in pain, stepped back and fallen into a table full of homemade cakes that her aunt had baked.

It had nearly caused a family incident. Nearly.

After that Mary had decided against ever attempting anything so graceful as dancing again.

“You can’t blame everything on 1939, you know?” said Betty knowing exactly what her friend was thinking.

“Maybe not,” said Mary, frowning, “but I still don’t want to dance. Besides, I‘ll never forget the look on Reggie‘s face when Aunt Jeannie‘s dog started licking cream cakes off him.”

Betty shook her head and then smiled inwardly to herself. “Maybe I’ll ask Arnie Potts out then.”

“Be my guest,” said Mary quickly.

“Oh, you’re no fun,” laughed Betty.

“I am hungry though,” said Mary, laughing along with her friend.

They were about to tuck into the sandwiches when there came an almighty explosion from the other side of the field towards the lake followed by the sound of splashing water.

Betty looked terrified and looked up at Mary. “What was that?”

“Maybe another unexploded bomb?” said Mary. They had discovered one in Norman Jackson’s field back in ‘46. It had nearly blown up half of his sheep.

“Should we go and tell PC Forrester?”

“Well an explosion like that would have been heard for miles. People will already be on their way.” Mary took a quick swig of her lemonade and then got to her feet.

“Where are you going?”

“To investigate,” said Mary.

Betty got to her feet. “What? Shouldn’t we wait for PC Forrester first?”

Mary looked back at her friend. She loved Betty, but she was also a very nervous woman. Mary on the other hand had had to grow up fast after her brother and father had been killed in the war. Mary liked to think that nothing phased her. “Someone could be hurt. You wait here for PC Forrester and I’ll go and investigate the lake.”

Betty nodded, concern in her eyes. “You be careful though.”

“I will. I’m not letting you take Arnie Potter to that dance without a fight.” She smiled cheekily at her friend.

Betty smiled nervously back.




The lake wasn’t too far from where they had been sat. Through the trees and over a fence, the lake was set down between hills. It wasn’t a very large lake, but it was home to wild geese and ducks.

Mary stood on the top of hill looking down at the water. A small plume of smoke rose from where she assumed the bomb had gone off. Her eyes surveyed the entire lake and it was then that she saw a figure struggling to the bank.

“Are you okay?!” said Mary, cupping her hands to her mouth, hurrying down the hill and towards the figure - a man - who had pulled himself out of the water. “What happened?” she asked.

He had short grey hair, a slightly large nose and a deeply furrowed brow. He had a kind face, but one that looked like it had seen the horrors of war. A bit of a world-weariness about it. He didn’t look too old - maybe late 40’s, early 50’s - and was dressed in a soaking wet grey suit. Mary noticed that the suit also looked burnt and charred, but strangely there was no evidence of any burns on his skin.

The man was on his back, propping himself up on his elbows and trying to catch his breath. “These arms,” he said - he had a well-spoken voice - , “I haven’t grown into them yet. Makes swimming rather difficult.” He turned and smiled up at Mary.

“I beg your pardon, sir?” said a bemused Mary.

“Nothing, my dear,” said the man. He took a moment to catch his breath again and then turned over and sat with his legs splayed out in front of him. “This suit has had it,” he said, fiddling with his cufflinks and what little remained of his shirt cuffs. “I suppose everything outlives its usefulness in the end.”

“Was it a bomb?” asked Mary, staring out across the lake.

The man looked at her, his eyes scanned over her rapidly, but not in a creepy way. It was as if he was trying to take in everything about her. She was wearing a white and cream dress adorned with small, pale green flowers. She had worn her hair down today and her long brown hair fell down over her shoulders.

“Mid twentieth century clothing,” he muttered to himself. “Late 1940’s, yes?” He looked up at her.

“Surely you must know the year,” she said crouching down beside him.

“I was in an…accident,” said the man.

“So it was a bomb?” asked Mary.

“Sort of,” said the man. “I was…ah…I was in my fishing boat. I must have struck the device. It exploded beneath my boat.”

Mary’s eyes scanned the lake. There was no wreckage. It must have totally destroyed the boat. “Isn’t it a bit odd to go fishing in a suit like that? Are you injured?”

“Apart from my suit, no,” said the Doctor. “Thankfully. But thank you for asking.”

Mary looked up as the sun disappeared behind the clouds, casting a shadow on the both of them. “You asked about the year?”

“Ah, yes,” said the man, tapping on his head. “Just a bit disorientated. That’s all.”

“Well maybe we should take you in to see Dr. Wood.”

“I’m sure that’s not necessary,” said the man. “I’m feeling quite fine now, although I could do with a new set of clothes.”

Mary frowned. Something still didn’t sit right with her. She’d lived in the village since she was born. She worked at the local post office and she was confident that she knew virtually every single person that lived in the village. She had never seen this man before.

“Where do you live?” she asked.

“Ah,” said the man, looking a little bit put on the spot, “I don’t live in this town.”

“Village,” corrected Mary.

“Yes, village.” He cleared his throat.

“Do you even know where you are?” asked Mary.

“Of course I do,” said the man, getting to his feet and feeling a little unsteady.

Mary grabbed his arm to steady him. “You’re in Little Thumbleton.”

“Exactly,” said the man. “Lived here my entire life. Good old Little Thumbleton.”

Mary looked disappointed. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said, sadly, “but this isn’t Little Thumbleton.”

The man looked like he had just been caught out. “I’m sorry?”

“Little Thumbleton was a place myself and my friend, Betty, made up when we were children for our dolls.”

“Oh, very clever. But I assure you it’s just the concussion,” said the man. “I had a dolls house once, you know!?”

“Then you really do need to see Dr. Wood.”

“I really don’t,” said the man. “I’m fine. Please trust me Miss…what’s your name?”

“Mary,” she said. “And your name?”

“John. Doctor John Smith.”

“Oh, so you’re actually a doctor yourself? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m absolutely fine.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Dr. Smith.”

“Please, just called me the Doctor.”

Mary shivered as she realised the sky had grown a lot greyer since she had been stood beside the lake. The sun had now gone in and her bare arms had goose bumps on them. “We really need to get back to the village.”

“Agreed,” said the Doctor. “I may not need to see your Dr. Wood, but I’m certainly not going to risk shivering myself to death in these wet clothes.”

“MARY!” came a frightened voice from the top of the hill.

Mary and the Doctor both looked up. Standing there was Betty. She had the picnic basket under her arm and was shivering in the cold air, her blonde curls blowing wildly in the wind.

“Betty, what’s wrong?” asked Mary, as she and the Doctor made their way back up the hill.

“It’s her. She’s coming again. We need to get out of here!”

“Who?” asked the Doctor.

Betty glanced momentarily down at the Doctor, but was that frightened she didn’t even bother to ask who he was.

“Betty, calm down,” said Mary, putting her hands on her shoulders. “It’s the middle of the day. She won’t come during the day time.”

“She won’t come during the day when the sun is out,” said Betty, her frightened eyes looking all around her. “Look at the sky.”

Mary and the Doctor looked up at the sky. The sun was well and truly obscured by the clouds now. Thick, dark rain clouds had rolled in and where threatening to burst at any point. The wind was whipping up and the Doctor was getting colder and colder in his wet clothes.

Mary gasped and then looked down at her breath. “It’s like winter,” she said, fear now creeping into her own voice. She didn’t get frightened very often.

“What is this?” asked the Doctor, frowning at the two young woman.

“There’s no time to talk. We need to get out of here now.”

Mary and Betty turned to leave and the Doctor grabbed Mary’s arm.

“But, wait…”

Mary turned to him. “If you really lived in Saxerby you’d know exactly why we don’t have time to talk. We need to get back to the village now!”

The Doctor didn’t argue as Mary snatched her arm away. He ran as best as his legs could take him behind the two girls.

They climbed a small, wooden fence and then passed through a line of trees into an overgrown meadow. As they closed in on another line of trees the Doctor looked back at the gathering storm clouds, the rain beginning to spit down on them. He nearly collided with the back of Mary but managed to stop himself in time.

The two woman were standing stock still right at the entrance to the woods. The Doctor followed their gaze to where they were looking. Standing a little way into the trees was a little girl - maybe around 10 years old - wearing a long white dress down to her ankles and a pair of white shoes. Her arms hung limply at her sides and she didn’t move. But it was her face that was the most unnerving. She didn’t have one. Where her face should have been was a glowing light. It illuminated the dark trees around her.

“I told you,” said Betty. “It’s her. The girl in the woods. She’s come for us.”

To be continued...

Preview: The Girl in the Woods

Saxerby, July 16th 1949

Mary Auckland is enjoying a picnic out in the woods with her friend Betty when they hear a loud explosion coming from the vicinity of Kettleworth lake. When Mary investigate she discovers a strange, grey-haired man on the banks of the lake, his suit burnt and charred.

The man introduces himself as the Doctor, but any more questions are put on hold by the appearance of a ghostly girl with a glowing, blank face.

As the Doctor begins to weave his way into Mary's life, the pair soon discover that the ghostly girl may not be all she seems. What lies in the heart of Kettleworth Woods and what exactly is the Future-Hart Institute? And when all of this is over, how will Mary get back to her old life?

This is the first in a series of ongoing adventures for the Doctor (Sean Pertwee) and Mary Auckland (Antonia Clarke)

Doctor Who: Elysium - Coming Soon...

Welcome to the third and final chapter in the "Future Doctor" saga. Following on from "Darkpaths" and "Resurrection" comes "Elysium".

The series has been in limbo for a good nine months mainly due to a huge bout of writers block as well as changes to my personal life, namely a new addition to the family.

I'd like to say I'm fully over my writers block, but it always tends to flare up when I least expect it. I'm not going to go into how and why things have taken so long to get up and running, but I am going to tell you what to expect.

"Elysium" follows on directly from the end of "Resurrection" with Sean Pertwee taking up the role of the Doctor. The new companion, Mary Auckland, will by "played" by Antonia Clarke. This new Doctor is a little more reserved a secretive with his feelings, but he is also desperately missing his two former companions. Mary is a wide-eyed young woman in her early 20's, living in a small village at the end of the 1940's. She
too is suffering from loss - her brother and father were killed during the war.

The story format will be varied. Currently I'm aiming on writing four-part stories (like the last series of "Darkpaths"), but I've not really got a huge plan. I'm just going to write as and when I can. The first story, "The Girl in the Woods" is nearly complete, but it might be a while before I get round to a second story. There may be small little stories as well - short character pieces or micro-adventures. It all depends on how I feel.

What can you expect from "Elysium"? Well I'd like to say it's a jumping on point for new readers, but it's also a series designed to tie up all loose ends from the entire saga. I'll be revisiting a few old friends and finishing other stories off completely. I'd never say never with continuing anything beyond "Elysium" as I've planned to end things before, but for me this is likely going to be it. A trilogy of series just feels right to me.

So that's all for now. I'm hoping to have the first story up and running very soon, but for now you can hop over to the menu and check out the character profiles section as well as the blurb for "The Girl in the Woods".