PART FOUR: THE BROKEN WORLD
“I don’t understand,” said Zeela. “Why would they go to the trouble of putting fake bodies here?”
“You’re right, Zeela,” said Garon, sitting himself down on his old chair that had been covered in dust, “it makes no sense.”
“These people were here. They were killed.”
“Were they?” said Mary.
“What do you mean?” asked Zeela.
“Well what exactly do you remember?” asked Mary. “You told me the story, but are you sure that’s what happened?”
“Yes,” said Zeela, looking a little puzzled with Mary’s question. “The Rathtokians attacked and we escaped to the vault.”
“And, strangely, when you come back up after seven months there are fake bodies lying around and no clean-up operation.”
“Maybe the entire planet has been devastated,” said Garon, shrugging his shoulders.
“That still doesn’t explain the fake bodies,” said Mary.
Cobalt, who had been keeping quiet with her arms folded, walked over to them. “Mary is right. There is something that we are missing here.” She closed her eyes. “We were here though. That much is certain.”
“Were you?” came the Doctors voice from the doorway.
The group looked up as he strode in, Bren marching behind him holding a gun to the back of his head.
“Bren, what on Hallean - ” said Zeela.
“Be quiet, creature,” said Bren.
“Oh, no,” said Cobalt, shaking her head. “How could I have been so stupid…?”
“What happened to his beard and hair?” asked Mary, getting up.
“Stay put and do not move!” growled Bren.
“This, my dear friends, is not Bren. This gentleman’s real name is Oberen.”
Cobalt shook her head. “That’s a common Rathtok name.”
“And the baldhead…” trailed off Mary.
“He’s Rathtokian, isn’t he?” said Zeela. “He’s a Rathtokian spy.”
Oberen’s lips twisted into a smile. “Oh, you people have such little understanding on what is going on here.”
“The flash…” said the Doctor, trailing off and looking into the distance.
“I beg your pardon?” said Zeela. “The flash?”
“That’s right,” said Mary, twigging on to what the Doctor was saying. “You said there was a flash and then you all woke up in here.”
“Yeah,” said Garon. “The flash of the bomb blast. We were unconscious for only a few minutes after the initial attack.”
“I think that flash was something else entirely,” said the Doctor.
Suddenly a booming voice filled the room causing the survivors to look all around them and Oberen to frown.
“This is Watch Commander. Operator Oberen, time to bring them in.”
“But sir…”
“The experiment has failed. Bring them in.”
Oberen sighed and then looked at the Doctor. “You are all under arrest.”
“Listen to me,” said Garon, edging closer to the bald man, “I don’t know who you think you are-”
“I am Operator Oberen of the Rathtokian Special Watch.”
“Oh, goodness me,” said Cobalt. “We need to get out of here now.”
“What? Who are they?” asked Mary.
Oberen was about to raise his gun when Cobalt, moving like lightning, threw a punch towards the man. With one strike to his chin Oberen fell back, the back of his head striking a partially crumbled marble pillar, knocking him out cold.
“There’s no time to explain now,” said Cobalt. She grabbed Mary’s hand. “We all need to stay together. Doctor, are you any closer to finding your craft?”
“There were faint signals a few streets away.”
“Then we need to follow that signal now.”
“Wait a minute,” said Garon, “what the hell is going on here?”
“Isn’t obvious, Mr Tor?” said the Doctor, as they began making their way towards the exit of the bank. “None of this is real. This is all some experiment.”
“And if the Watch are involved, then we are very much in serious danger,” said Cobalt.
The Doctor had led them through various rubble-strewn streets and avenues, all the time checking the readings on his sonic screwdriver. Eventually they reached the edge of a road and beyond there was a darkened park. There was a high-pitched sound coming from the screwdriver.
“I don’t understand,” said the Doctor, “the TARDIS should be right in front of us.”
Cobalt frowned and placed her hands, palms-out, in front of her. Zeela nearly laughed – she looked like one of the street mimes she had seen in the city centre every weekend. It was as if her hands were pressing against an invisible barrier.
“This is as far as we can go,” said Cobalt.
“Listen,” said Garon, becoming angrier and angrier, “I need you to explain to us exactly what’s going on here.”
“It’s a bubble isn’t it?” said the Doctor. “We’re in a bubble.”
Cobalt sighed and sat on the edge of the road. “The Rathtokian Special Watch is a intelligence operative group on my home planet. They run scenarios and situations and test subjects to see how they respond and react. They operate entirely separately from the government.”
“That still doesn’t explain what’s happened to us,” said Zeela. “We were attacked in the bank. What about the fake bodies?”
“The flash you experienced. Everything happened after the flash, didn’t it?” asked the Doctor.
“That’s right,” said Zeela, realisation beginning to dawn on her.
“It’s how they operate,” said Cobalt, coldly. “The flash wasn’t an attack at all. The flash was you, Garon, Mrs Yaltos, Bren and myself being teleported from the bank to this place.”
“An exact copy of the bank and the area around it,” said the Doctor.
“A testing arena,” said Cobalt.
“Very clever deductions,” said Oberen as he emerged from the darkness, covering them with a gun.
“And you? What was your story in all this?” asked Garon, trying his best not to explode at the man who had assumed was just a stupid, homeless old fool.
“This is Watch Commander,” came the booming voice again. “Prepare to shut down simulation.”
There was a flash and the park beyond the barrier blurred and shimmered. There was another flash and everything went dark. They were now standing in a huge, dark dome adorned with deep blue lights. Where the park had stood was the Doctor’s TARDIS and beyond that a door.
The door slid open and three bald-headed Rathtokians wearing white tunics emerged followed by a bald-headed woman in a black tunic and white cape.
“I’m sorry,” said Oberen.
The woman walked up to Oberen and shook her head. “Well, it worked for a while at least.”
“Who are you?” asked Zeela.
“Watch Commander Vira.” She eyed up Zeela, Garon and then turned to the Doctor and Mary. “You two are not from Hallean or Rathok. How did your craft get into our arena?”
The Doctor glanced over to his TARDIS. “It’s a ship capable of dematerialising in one place and materialising in another.” He raised his eyebrows. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Everything on our planet is our business.”
“Except things that don’t come from your planet,” said the Doctor. “What on Earth have you done to these poor people?”
“I can see you’re a learned man,” said Vira. “Come with me.”
“We will all come with you,” said the Doctor.
Vira looked back at the group of tired, dishevelled people. “Very well. You were all part of the experiment after all.”
Vira led the group through the door and into a large control room. The Doctor commented that it looked a lot like NASA’s Mission Control, with rows of desks and banks of computer monitors, but it was lost on everyone. Even Mary. It was after her time.
Vira stood at the front of the control room and dismissed all the white-tunic operatives. When the room was clear she indicated for them to sit down.
“Please be aware that we bare you no ill-will.”
“No ill-will?!” gasped Zeela. “You’ve had us locked in a tunnel for seven months. Mrs Yaltos died because of your experiment.”
“And for that I apologise,” said Vira, “but it is all in the name of progress for our two planets.”
“Explain yourself,” said the Doctor, folding his arms.
“The tensions between our two peoples have been building for many generations. It was our intention to run an experiment to see what would happen if we did attack and how resilient you would be.”
Vira turned to a large monitor dominating the front wall. It showed Mrs Yaltos’s body lying in the middle of the large dome.
“Operator Oberen was installed to watch you all closely, impersonating a Hallean vagrant.”
“But how did you teleport us out of our own bank?” asked Zeela, shaking her head.
“Oberen was the catalyst. He was able to remotely activate the transport system. The flash, as you have already surmised, was you being teleported.”
“You created an exact holographic replication of the bank and surrounding areas,” said the Doctor. “Fascinating.”
“That explains why the escape tunnel didn’t lead to the countryside,” Cobalt said glumly.
“And the synthetic bodies,” said the Doctor.
“To be fair we didn’t expect you to be in the tunnels for so long,” said Vira. “We expected you to find a way out long before you’d realise the bodies weren’t real.”
“I guess we are all just stupid then,” said Garon. He then barred his teeth and got up from his chair. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Sit down, Mr Tor,” said Oberen.
“Actually,” said Garon, rounding on Oberen, “I’ll kill you first.”
“You’ll kill nobody,” said the Doctor. He turned to Vira. “But you will be brought to justice.”
“But you’re all free to go,” said Vira. “This was merely an experiment.”
“An experiment that has scarred these people for life,” said the Doctor. “And also resulted in the death of an innocent woman.”
“And what’s it all for?” asked Mary.
“To ascertain whether we should invade your planet or not.” Vira spoke so matter-of-factly that she almost seemed surprised that there would be any other reason for it.
“And what has the Watch decided to do?” asked Cobalt. “Please bare in mind that there are a number of our own people on the planet.”
“You were all useless,” said Vira. “I will recommend to the government that we invade.”
“You’re insane,” said Garon.
“Not insane,” said the Doctor. “Just cold and calculated.”
“Vira, 67% of our people watch us to find peace with the Halleans.”
“Then 67% are wrong, young woman.”
“Doctor, there has to be some way to help them,” said Mary. “To stop this.”
The Doctor was now the one to get up out of his seat. “Listen to me, Madame,” he said, stepping a little forward. “I believe this animosity between your two races is all because of a single moon. Is that correct?”
“That may be the catalyst, but - ”
“But is that a reason to go to war?”
“This would not be a war, merely an occupation. We need that moon to power our cities.”
“And currently,” said the Doctor, “the Halleans have control of it, yes?”
“That is correct.”
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and then turned to Zeela, Cobalt and Garon. “You have to find some way to work together. You have to.”
“How can we after this?” said Garon. “They kidnapped us. Tested us.”
“But this isn’t the Rathtokian government talking,” said Mary. “This is a separate group. They don’t speak for all of you.”
“Exactly. And the important part of this is your 67%.”
“The wrong ones.”
The Doctor turned around furiously to the Watch Commander. “You do not speak for those people. You speak for none of them, do you hear me?”
“They need the moon and we need the moon, Doctor,” said Zeela. “How do we reconcile? It’s not a never-ending supply, you know.”
The Doctor narrowed his eyes and then smiled to himself. “No. It’s not a never-ending supply. So what do you intend on doing once that supply has gone?”
Zeela looked to Garon and then they all looked to Vira.
“We shall cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“So,” said the Doctor, “you’re willing to invade, kill and occupy an entire species just for a short-term plan at getting your hands on these crystals?”
Vira didn’t respond.
“Madame, am I on the understanding that my friend and I can leave whenever we want?”
“Of course,” said Vira. “You are not a part of this conflict.”
“Thank you,” said the Doctor. He grabbed Mary’s hand. “Come on, Miss Auckland.”
“Wait, where are we going?”
“I’ll show you.”
Cobalt, Garon, Zeela, Oberen and Vira looked on in bafflement as the Doctor and Mary marched back towards the arena and the waiting TARDIS.
The TARDIS had materialised in a huge, glowing, crystal cavern. When Mary stepped outside she looked around her in awe. It was like being stood inside a giant crystal, the walls glittering and shining and casting rainbows all across the floors.
“I thought you couldn’t control the TARDIS,” said Mary.
“It seems that the little hops across space aren’t the issue. It’s when we actually enter the space/time vortex when the ‘uncontrollable’ aspect begins.”
“So this is the centre of the moon?”
“That’s correct,” said the Doctor. “And in a few generations the whole moon will be mined. The moon will be a dead, hollowed out husk and that is much more dangerous to the planet then them not having Sipher crystals.”
“And you’re sure this is the only way?”
“The one thing, other than hatred, that’s causing this conflict is these damned crystals. So if they no longer have any crystals…”
“There shouldn’t be a conflict. At least not one involving this.”
“Bingo, Miss Auckland.”
The Doctor ducked back into the TARDIS and pulled out a cylindrical device. It was made of glass and contained a dark red liquid. “It’s called VX-251-C. It’s essentially a poison. It was used by the Sontarans to cripple enemy spaceships. What it should do is poison the crystals and make them inert. They wont be able to mine them anymore.”
“Are you sure about this?” Mary peered down at the liquid. “I mean, what are they going to do to power their cities without the crystals?”
“Mary,” he said, crouching down and placing the cylinder on a pile of the crystals, “your planet has had to think fast when looking for new power alternatives. Hydro-power, solar-power, wind-power. I can help both races, but they will just have to find another way.”
“And I suppose, like you say, the moon will die in a few generations if they hollow it out.”
“Causing untold damage to both planets.” He sighed as he opened the cap on the top of the cylinder. “This is the only way.”
Slowly he poured the liquid out of the glass tube. It trickled over the glowing crystals and after a few moments steam began to rise from the liquid.
And slowly the crystals began to go dark…
Vira stood looking at the readouts on the huge view screen, a look of horror on her face. “What gave you the right to interfere with our planet?”
“What gave you the right to interfere with the Halleans?” said the Doctor.
She turned to face him. “You’ve sentenced us all to certain doom.”
“No,” said the Doctor. “I’ve given you all a chance at living your lives. I can give you some tips towards finding a new energy source. And you will all be fine.”
“But you have to stay and help us,” said Zeela.
“I can’t interfere in your planet’s development. I can only give you a little push.”
Garon shook his head. “But how do we move past all of this?”
He looked between Garon and Cobalt and smiled. “You two are the future.”
“I beg your pardon?” said Cobalt, her hands on her hips.
“You’re the future. You represent the ones who want to progress.”
“But they argue like an old married couple,” said Zeela.
“Exactly. And that’s what you need. Because despite the arguments and the disagreements, you both worked with each other at that bank for years and you survived the worst part of your lives for seven months in that tunnel. If you can survive that then your two races can survive anything.”
“And we can get you back to Hallean,” said Mary.
“I’m sorry but the Watch are not finished with you yet,” said Vira.
“Watch Commander, please look me up. I’ll in the Universal Databank under Doctor. Once you’ve looked that up then please have another think about trying to stop my friends from leaving.”
“Should I stop them, sir?” asked Oberen.
Vira didn’t know what to say. The Doctor smiled at her sadly as he indicated for the group to head back towards the arena and the TARDIS.
“Well?” said Cobalt, as they approached the TARDIS.
“We can give it a shot,” said Garon.
Cobalt extended a hand and Garon took it.
“The first handshake of many handshakes,” smiled the Doctor.
“Do you think they’ll be okay?” asked Mary, as the three co-workers entered the TARDIS.
“I think they’ll be okay,” said the Doctor. He took one last look at the arena and shook his head. “They have to be. For both races sake.”
The End
Next time....The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Mary to a cemetery in the far future...
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