Beneath the Stone - Part 4

BENEATH THE STONE
Part 4
BY BERNIE FISHNOTES

The Doctor stepped forward. “I wish to parley under section fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation, This is a level five planet, under protection by galactic law.”
There was silence from the ship. Then the speaker crackled back into life. “Very well. State your name and by what authority you make such demands!”
“I am the Doctor, I’m a Time Lord, I’ve saved this planet more times than I care to remember, and if you want a higher authority, there isn’t one!”
“Is that meant to be impressive?” Caudatus’ voice replied mockingly. “Because if it is, it didn’t work. I may be a bit behind the times, but even I know that the Time Lords are extinct. If you are a Time Lord, you won’t interfere with my work.”
“Do you wanna bet?” The Doctor said.
“Leave the planet, Doctor, this is nothing to do with you.”
The Doctor was about to say something when Ben pushed him aside. “Caudatus, My Name is Ben Chatham, and I represent the Human Race. Leave this planet, or be destroyed.”
“Ah, destruction and violence. That seems to be how you humans solve all your problems.”
“You are a threat to this planet…” Ben started, but Caudatus interrupted;
“No, human, YOU are a threat to this planet. You detonate nuclear bombs in your atmosphere, you commit genocides and other atrocities, and you don’t deserve to be called a civilisation!”
“You go to planets uninvited, steal their history, killing anybody who gets in their way and enslaving a good proportion of the rest. You’re murderers, thieves and bullies!”
“If you are trying to anger me, Doctor, you are not going to succeed.”
“Oh, I think I am!” The Doctor shouted back. “You say I haven’t got the right to stand up for this planet, what gives you the right to plunder it?”
“I am an archaeologist, from the Dalmanite Empire. We are advanced enough to appreciate history, and feel that lesser races deserve to have it preserved on their behalf.”
“By taking it away?”
“They can come and see it when they are ready to understand it.”
“And who decides that? You?”
“Who else is there. We rule over half of Tarron’s Spiral, and always will! I think that proves we are superior!”
“I hate aliens with a superiority complex.” the Doctor said to Ben, then turning back to the ship. “So, is there anything I can do to stop you declaring the Earth a free-for-all?”
“No.” Caudatus replied.
“Then I’m sorry, we have nothing more to say.”
“Indeed” Caudatus agreed. The speaker crackled, and went silent.
“Well, that went well.” The Doctor said.
“Well? He’s still going to summon their fleet!”
“Not if I have anything to do with it!” The Doctor said. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out, and walked over to the ship. The gun turret turned with him, keeping him covered. He pointed his screwdriver at it, and pressed the button. The turret flopped down, dead. “Gonna have to try harder than that!” The Doctor shouted at the ship, and found the entry hatch. He got to work.

Katie and Kyle were still in the holding room, but they were not being idle. Katie had guessed that the teleportation had brought them to the surface, so escape was now possible.
Kyle was trying to force a panel off the wall. It was corroded and stiff, but he could feel it move. Katie wasn’t sure what they could do once the panel was removed, but it was better than just sitting there. They could escape, or they could just sabotage the ship. Suddenly, the panel fell of, clanging on the floor. Katie and Kyle both winced, surely Caudatus had heard that. There was no sound from the door, so they looked into the space behind the panel. It was nothing but circuit boards and wires. Katie had been hoping it might be a ventilation shaft, but this would have to do.
“Would Madame like to start pulling stuff out, or shall I?” Kyle asked.
“You’re the experienced vandal,” Katie said with a smile, “I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”
Kyle was about to grab one of the circuit bards when Katie grabbed his shoulders. “Wait!” she said “Those circuits might be live!”
“Thanks!” he said. He picked up the geophys machine, and pointed it at the electronics. “Cover your eyes!” he warned, and thrust the geophys machine into the circuits. There was a blinding flash, and Kyle was thrown across the room. Katie lowered her arm, and saw Kyle lying on the floor. As she reached him he opened his eyes. “Did it work?” he asked, a crooked smile on his face. Katie slapped his arm. “Stop scaring me like that!” she said, helping him up. They went over to the open panel, and saw that whatever Kyle had done, it was not going to be easy to repair.

Caudatus was still fuming that the Doctor had disabled his external defences when a warning light started flashing on the internal sensors. A massive systems failure had occurred in the holding room area. It had to have been the humans. He wasn’t going to let them ruin his mission. He pulled out his gun, and made his way down to the hold.

The Doctor and Ben entered the ship. It hadn’t taken long for the Doctor to get the door open, and they were climbing up a ladder when they heard footsteps. The Doctor poked his head up through a hatch and saw Caudatus leaving the cockpit. He didn’t look well, the Doctor thought, probably due to the long period of hibernation. He looked down at Ben. “Come on.” They climbed up, and stood in the cramped corridor, the walls dark and corroded. “What’s the plan?” Ben asked.
“I’ll go to the cockpit, see if I can do some damage, you go and see where he’s going.”
“What about Kyle and Katie?” Ben asked.
“With any luck, that’s where he’s going. Oh, and Ben?”
“Yes Doctor?”
“Be careful. He’s armed and ill. Never a good combination.”
“Thanks Doctor.” Ben went through the door the Doctor had seen Caudatus go through, and went down the ladder behind it.
“Right,” the Doctor said to himself, “time for some sabotage…” he clapped his hands together, and headed towards the cockpit.

Caudatus opened the door to the holding room, and found Katie sat on the sofa. He quickly turned to where Kyle was hidden, wielding the geophys machine. “Put it down!” he shouted. Kyle considered for a moment, looking at Caudatus’s gun, and did as he was told, leaning it against the doorframe. “Sit!” Caudatus ordered, and Kyle moved over to where Katie was, sitting next to her.
“Do you two know what you’ve done?” He said angrily.
“Fucked up your plans, I hope!” Katie said defiantly.
“You’ve knocked out the life support systems for the ship. If we take off, everyone in the ship dies.” His head tilted, “At least, everybody outside the cockpit. And I so wanted you as live subjects…” He waved the gun at Katie and Kyle. “It’ll be a slow death for you, but I’m not completely heartless. I can end it quickly now…” He held the gun at arms length. “Which of you will be first?” Kyle stood up, and Caudatus steadied his gun “Why not just let us go?”
“Partly because I want something to take back to Dalmanite, but also punishment. You’ve damaged my ship, and I can’t let that go.”
“Then I’ll go first.” Kyle said. Katie tried to stop him, but he held his arm out, stopping her.
He stood, defiant, as Caudatus held the gun to his face. He closed his eyes, wishing that he’d had a chance to say goodbye to his mum, when he heard a loud thump, followed by a crumpled noise and something falling against him. He opened his eyes, and saw Ben stood in the doorway, holding the geophys machine like a club. Caudatus was lying on the floor, his gun still gripped in his hand. “A thank you would be nice!” Ben asked, indignantly.
“Nick of time or what!” Kyle said, relieved. “Where’s the Doctor?”
“Up in the cockpit, doing something clever, no doubt.” Ben answered. He tried to prise Caudatus’s gun from his hand, but it wouldn’t budge. Stepping over him, they left the chamber, and started climbing up the ladder.

The Doctor had managed to climb into the cramped cockpit, and was sitting in the pilots chair. He looked at the long-range communications systems, but they were damaged irreparably. If Caudatus was going to tell his people of Earth, he would have to do it in person. He tapped at the panels, turning off the teleport, thrusters and warp drives. The ship was disabled, but not permanently. It might take Caudatus a few minutes, but it would be operational again. Well, so he’d think...
He checked the life support, and saw that it was irreparably damaged. Caudatus would be protected by his cryochamber, built into the cockpit, so he wouldn’t be bothered about fixing that. The Doctor brought up the controls for the cryochamber, and got to work…

Ben managed to get Kyle, Katie and himself out of the ship without getting lost, and they emerged into the sunset. Katie looked around in horror at the ash-covered landscape. “What happened?” she asked.
“The Doctor set off a self-destruct mechanism in Caudatus’s probe. We hid in the TARDIS” he pointed at the TARDIS, which was still stood where it had been before.
“Where’s my car?” she said in horror. “The caravan, all gone! They were University property!”
“Don’t worry,” Ben said, “Operation Delta should be able to replace most of it. Anyway,” He added, “it was all going to be junked if you didn’t use it!”
“My car wasn’t!” she said. “It took me ages to save up enough to buy that old thing!”
“Don’t worry about it.” Kyle said. “We’re alive, we’re free, that’s good isn’t it?”
“I suppose…” Katie said. But she was still upset. She’d loved that land rover.
“Where’s Anselm?” Kyle asked, “He wasn’t…” he tailed off.
“He’s in the TARDIS” Ben said. He was still angry with him, so he’d left him in there.
“So what do we do now?” Katie asked.
“I don’t know about you,” Ben said, “but I’m going to phone UNIT. They can sort this mess out.”
“Really wouldn’t do that!” came a voice from behind them. Ben turned and saw the Doctor climbing out of the hatch.
“Why not?” Ben asked “Surely getting in professionals is the best thing in this situation.”
“Ben, that ship may be two millennia old, but it can still defend itself against anything you lot can throw against it. Nobody has died today, I’m not going to let that change.”
“What about Caudatus?” Ben asked. “If he gets back to his homeworld, they’ll ravage the Earth!”
“Don’t worry, I’ve thought of that.” The Doctor said, smiling…

Caudatus woke, and scrambled to his feet. He saw that the humans had escaped, and swore. Still, they were irrelevant now. He just needed to get back to the cockpit, take off and contact the institute back on Dalmanite. Then the humans would be sorry…
He made his way back to the cockpit, and checked the instrumentation. The Doctor had obviously tried to disable the ship, but it was laughably easy to repair. The brought all the systems back on line, plugged his suit into the cryochamber, and activated the thrusters.
Soon he would be home, and the Earth would be preserved.

Outside, the ship started to hum. The Doctor, Ben, Kyle and Katie all ran to the TARDIS, and watched the ship. The air filled with static as it violently trembled, and the ship exploded in a white flash, which knocked everybody to their feet. There was silence, and they got to their feet. The ship was still there.
“Nothing happened!” Kyle said.
“Yes it did!” the Doctor said. He pointed at the ship. “Look at it closely.”
Katie moved towards it, brushing ash off her coat. “It’s granite!” she said. “The ship’s been reburied!”
“About three miles down.” The Doctor said, a small smile on his face. “Shouldn’t be discovered for a while, anyway.”
“What happened?” Ben asked, brushing off the ash from his jacket. It was probably ruined, and it had cost him nearly £200.
“I re-arranged some of the drive systems. The takeoff thrusters must have been switched with the teleport. Still, he should be alright, I souped up his cryochamber, he can survive down there for millions of years now.”
“So he’s still alive?” Ben asked.
“Oh yes!” The Doctor said. “Like I said, nobody dies if I can help it!”
“What about my car?” Katie said.
“Won’t the insurance cover it?” Ben asked.
“How do I prove it’s gone? It’s been vaporised!”
“Hold on…” The Doctor said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out some keys. “Go to the lockup on Martill Road in Maidstone, Number 12. There should be a land rover in there, have it.”
Katie took the key. “Really? I can have it?”
“I never use it. Might want to get it MOT’d though, its tax disk has probably run out too, but it’ll still run.” The Doctor gave her a big smile.
“Thank you!” she said, hugging him.
Once she’d let go, The Doctor turned to Ben. “Ben, I’m sorry for snapping at you. It’s been a stressful day, I was in a bad mood, you know how it is. Well done on rescuing these two.”
“All in a day’s work!” Ben said, soaking up the praise. “Sorry for calling you away from that museum.”
“That’s alright. I might be able to get back in, there’s a woman on the academic staff, Professor Song, who might be willing to let me visit again.” His eyes showed he was remembering something sad, and then brightened again. “Oh, that reminds me.” He pointed at Ben. “Ha!” he laughed.
Ben looked offended. “What was that about?”
“Private joke.” The Doctor said. “Actually, I have something you might find useful in the TARDIS library. Come on, I’ll give you a lift home, and see if I can find it.”
They entered the TARDIS, which started to shudder, the wheezing, groaning noise fading away with it, leaving the granite spaceship standing on a sheet of ash in the middle of the English countryside.

Anselm was in the TARDIS library when the Doctor and Ben came in. “Hello Anselm, feeling better?” The Doctor asked.
“Yes, thank you.” Anselm answered. “I’ve just been perusing these fine publications. You have a very impressive library.”
“Yeah,” the Doctor said, wondering why Anselm was talking like that. “Just don’t read anything that hasn’t been written yet.” He went over to one of the shelves, and pulled out a small leather-bound book. “Here you go Ben!” he said, handing it over.
Ben looked at the cover. “All the Strange, Strange Creatures?” He read from the cover. He opened it up, and saw it was an electronic book.
“Excuse the colourful title,” the Doctor said. “It’s a guide to aliens. Almost every alien race is in there, with strengths, weaknesses, everything. Might be useful for saving the world.”
“Thanks!” Ben said. “How does it work?”
“Either type in the name, or used the check list. It usually gets it right that way.”
“Are humans in here?”
“Yeah…” The Doctor said.
Ben typed in Human, and read the description.
“Mostly Harmless?” he raised an eyebrow at the Doctor.
“Yeah, sorry, I wrote that one. But the rest are more precise. Try the Dalmanites”
Ben did so, and the page filled with writing, and a picture.
“Doctor, do the Dalmanites ever find the Earth?”
“Yes, they do, in about a hundred and fifty years time. Not a good time to visit the Earth.”
“Why?”
“Cos it’s right in the middle of the Dalek Invasion. Some say the entire Dalmanite fleet was destroyed in a matter of minutes...” He looked sad. Even though they were planning on ravaging the Earth, nobody deserved to die, not when there was a choice.
“Anyway,” The Doctor said. “Come with me, you two, we’ve got to get you home.”
He put his arms round Ben and Anslem’s shoulders, and led them back towards the console room.

Kyle and Katie were both sat on the pilots chair in silence. Katie broke the silence. “You’re not that bad.” She said.
“You’re not bad either,” Kyle said.
“Thanks,” Katie said. She leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek, but pulled away sharply as The Doctor, Ben and Anselm entered the room.
The time rotor shuddered to a halt, and the Doctor announced they had arrived. Ben lead the way to the doors, and opened them to find himself in his flat. They all stepped out, leaving the Doctor stood in the doorway. “Right, I’ll be off then. See you around!” the Doctor said, then ducked inside the TARDIS, closing the door behind him. The TARDIS started to shudder, and then faded from view. Ben looked at the book he’d been given. This would be vital for his and Operation Delta’s fight to protect the Earth from whatever may threaten it…

Beneath the Stone - Part 3

BENEATH THE STONE
Part 3
BY BERNIE FISHNOTES

Katie and Kyle were still in the chamber, unaware that Caudatus had just decided the fate of humanity. They hadn’t said anything for a while, when Katie suddenly spoke.
“Kyle?”
“What?” he answered grumpily.
“Why were you trying to protect me?”
He looked at her. “What?” he repeated.
“When Caudatus arrived, you tried to keep me behind you, putting yourself in danger. Why did you do that?”
Kyle looked at her, as is surprised she was asking. “I dunno, instinct I guess. Anybody else would have done the same.”
“Ben never does.” She said softly.
“Yeah?” Kyle said “Well, I’m not Ben.”
“That’s true…” Katie said absently.
“Why, cos I’m ‘Captain Chav’?” he retorted.
“No, it’s not that…”
“What then?” he asked.
Katie tried to put her finger on it. “You seem to care more. I’m not saying Ben doesn’t, but you seem to care about everybody. You wanted us to find another way to stop those possessed chavs when Ben was all for shooting them.”
“I seem to remember you being on his side in that!” Kyle said.
“I know, and I was wrong.”
Kyle adopted a look of mock astonishment. “You were wrong? Bloody hell, that’s a first!”
Katie shot him a withering look. “Do you want a compliment, or not?”
“Well, it’s rare we get to see a side of you that isn’t the sarcastic bitch from hell!”
“Has Ben every told you that I had a mental breakdown a few years ago.”
Kyle looked at her, astonished. “No, he hadn’t” he said, stunned.
“It was after we’d dealt with some mad computer in Scotland. I’d been put under hypnotic control, and needed a rest. Well, that’s what I told Ben…”
“What was it really?” he asked. He knew that this probably wasn’t the best time to be asking, but there was nothing else they could do.
“I had a… thing about Ben. Was devoted to him, and he treated me like a whore. He’d claim not to be interested, and then we’d end up in bed together. He knew how I felt, and he didn’t care. He’d use me, and then chuck me out onto the street.” Tears started to appear in the corner of her eyes, and Kyle put his arm over her shoulder. She found herself embracing it, rather than shrugging it off. “I went into a clinic to try and get over him, saw a psychiatrist, everything.” She felt it was wrong to mention that the clinic had turned out to be a cover for yet another sinister cult, and that Ben had got the Doctor to blow it up. “I thought I was over him, but I wasn’t. He kept on using me, but then you came along, and he stopped using me.”
Kyle didn’t know what to make of this, but he nodded accordingly. He’d quite a reputation amongst his mates back home for being a listener, not that his mates were really ones for talking about their problems.
“So what does that have to do with you being so bitchy?” He asked.
“I’ve been trying to get Ben’s attention, but it hasn’t been there.” She smiled slightly. “It has meant, though, that I’ve been able to get my life back on track. My work at the university has improved greatly, I’m no longer behind on my credit cards, I’ve even made a start on my book.” She looked into Kyle’s eyes “And it’s all been down to you.”
Kyle suddenly felt very nervous. Was Katie coming on to him? She was clearly in a vulnerable state, and he didn’t want to take advantage of her. Sure, she was fit, and he couldn’t deny that he hadn’t thought about it, at least until he recalled her personality, but it wouldn’t be right.
“Katie…” he started, when the door started to creak open again. He pulled away from Katie, and Caudatus entered the room.
“I have decided to place a preservation order on the Earth.” He announced. “As soon as I can get my ship in orbit, I’ll send for the fleet.”
“What will they do?” Katie asked. “Protect the planet from alien invaders?”
“No,” Caudatus said. “They’ll select the finest artifacts humanity has produced, and take them to Dalmanite!”
Katie was outraged. “What!” she shouted, leaping up. “You can’t do that! They’re ours!”
“Yes I can.” Caudatus replied calmly. “It’s for the best, they’ll be protected for future generations, and it will do much to improve our understanding of the history of the lesser known planets”
“You’re nicking our stuff though!” Kyle said.
“We are taking it for its own protection.” Caudatus said. “You people are clearly unable to protect it, with your war-like ways”
“War-like ways?” Kyle said, “I’ll show you war-like ways!” He launched himself at Caudatus, but wasn’t quick enough. Despite his frailty, Caudatus pulled the gun from his belt and shot Kyle. He fell to the floor. Katie screamed, and ran to him.
“He’s not dead.” Caudatus said. “I’m not as brutal as you people. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to prepare.” He went to the door. “I might take you two back to Dalmanite, as examples of humanity. Maybe even start a breeding program…” He closed the door behind him, the hydraulics screeching.

The Doctor was crouching by the probe, pointing his screwdriver at the spikes. “What are you doing?” Ben asked.
“I’m seeing if I can get a message down to the pilot.” The Doctor said through gritted teeth. “With any luck, he’ll fancy a chat!” Suddenly, the spikes started to glow brighter.
“Oh, that is not good!” the Doctor said, falling back.
“What?” Ben asked.
“It thinks I’m attacking it. It’s going to self destruct.”
“How big will the explosion be?”
The Doctor looked around. “Big. Won’t reach any houses, but this field, plus the surrounding ones, will be flattened.” He looked at the caravan. “We need to get Anselm out of there.”
“How long do we have?” Ben asked, concerned.
The Doctor scanned the probe “About a minute.”
“I’ll try and get him out.”
“No you don’t.” The Doctor told him. “Get in the TARDIS, I’ll get him.”
“He’s my boyfriend…” Ben protested.
“Ben, the longer we stand here, the less time I have to save us all.” He pointed at the TARDIS. “GO!” he shouted, and Ben did as he was told, muttering to himself.
The Doctor went to the caravan door, and knocked. “Anselm, it’s the Doctor. You need to come out of there.” No answer. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the lock, and opened it. Anselm was sobbing in the corner, behind the desk. The Doctor went over to him, and tried to get him to move.
“Leave me alone!” he wailed. The Doctor sighed. He had twenty seconds. He grabbed Anselm, dragging him to the door.
Ten seconds.
He swung him over his shoulder, and carried him to the TARDIS door.
Five seconds.
He opened the door, and dropped Anselm’s sobbing form to the floor.
One second.
He slammed the door shut.
There was a terrible roaring noise from outside, and the TARDIS shook violently. Ben grabbed one of the large coralline buttresses, and held on for dear life. Almost as suddenly, it stopped, and everything went silent.
Ben looked at the Doctor, his arms and legs braced against the TARDIS doors. He was listening, considering, then let go. He went over to the console, swung the scanner screen round, put his glasses on and began flicking switches, squinting at the screen. “Quick check for radiation…” he said, by way of explanation, and straightened up. “All clear!” he said, walking back to the door. Ben followed him, leaving Anselm sitting on the floor.
The Doctor opened the door, and a strange sight met them. The entire area was covered in ash, there was no sign of the nearby trees, the caravan or Katie’s land rover, and the monolith was now lying on it’s side fifty metres from where it had been. Ben stepped out, looking across the surreal landscape. It seemed to stretch for about a mile in every direction, suddenly stopping and being replaced by green fields and trees. The TARDIS was where it had been, covered in ash but undamaged. The Doctor patted the side, leaving a blue handprint. “Knew you wouldn’t let me down!” he said. He looked across to where a fence had been. “There was a horse in that field…” he said sadly.
“So, now we’ve destroyed half the English landscape,” Ben said “What are we going to do now? You’ve destroyed the probe, we have no way of contacting Kyle or Katie or even the pilot of this ship. Frankly, Doctor, you’ve made a complete mess of things. I knew I should have phoned Torchwood instead!”
The Doctor turned on Ben, a look of anger, and walked up to him, kicking up clouds of dust. He pointed a finger at Ben’s face, eyeballing him, then dropped it, huffing. He went over to where the monolith had been, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the ground.
“Now what are you doing?” Ben demanded.
“Contacting the pilot” The Doctor snapped. “With the monolith out of the way, I can get a better signal!” he turned the sonic slightly, the tip flashing intermittently…

Caudatus had been surprised to see the self destruct mechanism in the probe set off, but didn’t let it bother him. Whatever had set it off would have been destroyed by now, he was still safe. What did bother him was that a minute later a message had started coming through. It was faint, and a basic sequence of pulses, but it was a signal. Could it be the humans? He considered asking the humans in the hold if they knew who it might be, but decided not to. They wouldn’t be helpful, they’d already tried to attack him, and his low-frequency psychic abilities would be useless at gaining anything other than basic intent, especially from creatures as bloody-minded as these. He had no more probes to send, so any kind of long-range transmission was out of the question, and he didn’t want to risk transporting himself above ground unprotected. He had one option.
He had to take the ship to the surface.
He checked the systems. They seemed to be intact, a few diodes had blown on the port side, but they were easily fixed, and had nothing to do with the teleportation systems. He primed the transmitters, and initiated transference.

Kyle had recovered to find his head resting on Katie’s lap, her watching him with relief in her eyes. He was about to speak, when he felt his stomach tingle. Katie felt it too, and they both grabbed each other. They were being teleported again…

The Doctor was starting to think he was being ignored when he suddenly noticed the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. This, he though, meant one of three things. Either there was a powerful telepathic presence (which he dismissed, as he knew Dalmanites only had limited psychic powers), there were Daleks near (again, dismissed because there was no sign of them otherwise) or that there was a lot of energy in the air, almost as if… Matter transmission! The pilot was bringing his ship to the surface! He leapt to his feet, and rushed back to where Ben was stood. The air shimmered, and exploded in bright light. Standing where the monolith had been was a large, gun-metal grey spaceship. A turret on the side turned and faced The Doctor and Ben, and a speaker crackled into life.
“I am Caudatus of the Dalmanite Institute for Universal Antiquities. This planet is now under the protection of the Dalmanite Empire. You will co-operate, or be destroyed!”

Beneath the Stone - Part 2

BENEATH THE STONE

Part 2

BY BERNIE FISHNOTES

Anselm was sifting through the papers on the desk, feeling depressed. After Ben had caught him with Simon Sandringham, life had been difficult. He’d told Simon to leave, and had promised never to speak to him again, but that wasn’t enough for Ben. He’d insisted on knowing where Anselm went every time he left the flat, and had even followed him on at least one occasion. He would find his e-mails had been read, and his Facebook account was clearly being accessed by someone in Ben’s flat. Anselm knew that he’d done wrong, Ben meant the world to him, but sometimes, Ben was just…

He stopped. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about his personal problems, he had a job to do. He looked out of the window, and saw Kyle and Katie carrying the geophys machine. Katie had been loving every minute of the last few weeks. She still liked Ben, and wasn’t going to let him forget how he’d been wronged. Kyle had said noting on the subject, but hadn’t spoken to Anselm since.

As if thinking about the Doctor caused him to appear, he heard the thunderous roar of the TARDIS, and it appeared exactly where it had been a few minutes ago. The door flew open, and the Doctor had shot out of the door, a look of panic on his face. At the exact moment, Katie and Kyle had exploded in a bright flash of light. Anselm covered his eyes, expecting the glass of the caravan window to be blown in, but it hadn’t. He leapt up, and ran out of the cabin.

“What happened?” Anselm shouted, rushing towards where Katie and Kyle had been. The Doctor was already there, scanning the ground with his sonic screwdriver. Ben hung back, in case it happened again. The Doctor gave a loud grunt of annoyance, and leapt to his feet.

“Ungh!” he said angrily. “Idiot!” he kicked the monolith, then started hobbling, his foot hurting.

“What happened” Anselm repeated.

“There is a ship underneath this monolith,” Ben said. “It must have mistaken the geophys signal for a transmission.”

“So they’ve been beamed down?” Anselm asked, relieved. He’d feared the worst…

“Well, it certainly looks like it!” Ben said.

“Can we rescue them?” he asked.

“I’m sure the Doctor can get us down there in the TARDIS” Ben replied.

The Doctor clutched his head, messing up his hair. “The TARDIS won’t fit.” He said in annoyance. “Anyway, we don’t know the exact depth.” He rested the back of his head on the monolith, and stood there, silent. He’d gotten them into this mess, and he hoped they’d be alright…

Kyle and Katie both awoke in a metal chamber, about two metres by two, with a small door recessed into the far end, all corroded with age. Opposite it was what looked like a sofa. Kyle sat down while Katie examined the geophys machine.

“Oh brilliant!” she said “all the wiring’s burnt out. It’s useless.” She threw it to the floor. She ignored the laptop, which was smoking slightly, and sat down next to Kyle. “You got your phone with you?” she asked Kyle.

“Yeah,” he said, pulling it out. It was warm, and the screen was black. He tried turning it on, but nothing happened. “Bugger,” he said “it’s knackered. Must have been the zapping we got.”

“Well dur!” Katie replied sarcastically.

“Where’s yours then?” he asked accusingly.

Katie said nothing. It was on the table in the caravan, but she didn’t want to admit it.

“Well this is just fecking marvellous” she said. “I’m stuck down here with Captain Chav!”

“Well, it ain’t exactly a picnic for me neither” Kyle retorted. “trapped with the Bitch Queen of Cambridge.”

“Well,” Katie said angrily, “at least it can’t get any worse…”

Almost as if fate was demonstrating how lax its willpower was, there was a noise form the door. It was slowly creaking open.

Kyle stood up, moving forward to get between Katie and whatever was coming through the door. He picked up the geophys machine, hoping to use it as a weapon. There wasn’t enough room for a good swing, but he could at least try.

The door slid open, squealing after millennia of disuse, and a figure appeared. It was a small, wearing a brown overall, covered in badges and symbols. It’s head was like that of an insect, with large, crescent-shaped compound eyes and antennae. The hard carapace was covered in dust, and there were areas peeling around the eyes. It was clearly having trouble breathing, and it was shaking somewhat. As soon as it saw Kyle I reached for a device on it’s belt and pointed it at him.

“sktzkstkzsktswkzstkztskztskztskzkstkztskztsktzsktktktks!” it screamed at Kyle.

“What?” Kyle said in reply.

“I don’t think it speaks English” Katie said from behind him.

“Language assimilated” the device said, and the alien put it back on his belt. “What are you doing in my ship?” the creature said accusatively “And what have you done to my cryo-system?”

“We ain’t done nothing to your stinking cryo-system!” Kyle said, raising the geophys machine.

The alien pulled another device from its belt, and pointed it at Kyle, who backed away, still keeping himself between Katie and the alien. “Why am I in such bad health? Where is the rescue ship?”

“What rescue ship?” Katie said, trying to get round Kyle. But he wasn’t letting her.

The alien looked at Katie. “You deny knowledge of the rescue ship?”

“We don’t know anything about a rescue ship. We don’t even know anything about this ship!”

The alien looked at her. “What is your planet of origin?”

“This one, Earth.” Katie answered.

“Nonsense!” The alien said. “I surveyed this planet from orbit before I landed, the inhabitants are primitive, pre-industrial…”

“You’ve been down here a while then!” Katie interrupted. “Humanity has developed industry, travelled in space, formed great civilisations…”

The alien stared at Katie. A mild telepathic field washed over her un-noticed. It could detect no sign of deceit, could it be true?

It lowered the weapon. “Then I apologise. Be seated, and tell me more.”

“Who are you?” Kyle asked, not trusting the alien.

“My name is Caudatus, and I am an archaeologist from the Dalmanite Institute for Universal Antiquities.”

“I’m also an archaeologist, Katie Ryan, from Kings College, Cambridge.”

Caudatus pointed at Kyle with a clawed hand. “And what of your servant?”

“I ain’t her servant!” Kyle protested.

“Life partner?”

“NO!” they both said in unison

“Sorry, I assumed from the way this human protected you that he was either in servitude or intending to breed with you. That is how many primitive races behave.”

“I ain’t breeding with her, mate” Kyle muttered under his breath.

“No, he’s just a friend.” Katie said.

Caudatus considered this. “You people are strange. I must make a note of this.” He pulled what looked like a PDA from his belt, and started scraping his finger across symbols at the side. “So, tell me of this planet’s history…”

The Doctor hadn’t said anything for nearly an hour, and this was making Ben nervous. He’d tried phoning them, but Katie’s phone was in the caravan and Kyle’s number kept going to voicemail. Anselm was lurking by the office, not knowing what to say or do. Ben went over to him. “They’ll be alright” he said.

“Ben…” Anselm started. A lump was forming in his throat.

“Yes Anselm?”

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“You’ve said that so many times, and I want to believe it.” Ben turned his back on him. “But how can I? I’ve been hurt before, and I really had high hopes for us. How could you?”

“I… I don’t know.” Anselm said. But he did. Ben was attractive, he had learning and a taste for the finer things in life, but his life was so difficult.

“Is it me?” Ben asked. He couldn’t see how it could, but he’d heard someone say it on Coronation Street, and it usually got a self-pitying answer.

“No,” Anselm said, predictably. Ben felt vindicated. “But in a way it is.”

“What do you mean?” Ben said, horrified.

“This lifestyle!” Anselm said. “All the monsters, and aliens, and deaths.” tears appeared in his eyes. “It’s too much for me. I just want a normal life, where I know that nobody is going to try and kill me.”

“Then why did I find you in the arms of that Sandringham person?” Ben shouted.

“It was a moment of weakness.” Anselm said. “I needed someone to be with, and you were nowhere to be seen.”

“I was solving a case, remember!” Ben said. “I had to debrief with Jack and the others.”

“And that took five hours?”

“It was a difficult case!”

“In a winebar?” Anselm said, accusingly. “You went out with everybody else, and got pissed. You even let your teenaged nephew get drunk, and never even thought to call me!”

“So you were jealous” Ben said. He rolled his eyes, “You want the world to revolve around you!”

“No,” Anselm said. “I want you to realise the world doesn’t revolve around you!”

Ben was shocked at this. Did Anselm really think that he, Ben Chatham, was so egotistic?

“Are you calling me selfish!” Ben shouted.

“Frankly, Ben, Yes.” Anselm shouted back, tears streaming down his face. “Everything is about you, and what you want, and how things effect you. Once, just once, it’d be nice if we did something I want to do!”

The Doctor wandered over. “Everything alright?” he asked.

Anselm muttered something, and stomped into the caravan, slamming the door behind him. The Doctor put his hand on Ben’s shoulder.

“Ben, I know you’re having problems, but they really need to wait. Kyle and Katie need our help, and you two arguing isn’t helping.”

“You’re right” Ben said, turning away from the caravan. It was probably best to let Anselm calm down before continuing this conversation

Katie sipped the drink Caudatus had offered her. It was very bitter, and tasted a bit like lemon, but for once had decided to bite her tongue. Kyle had refused a drink, and was sat next to her, bored to death. For the last hour (well, he assumed it was an hour, his watch just showed a blank screen) Katie and Caudatus had been discussing history. Kyle had attended a lecture with Ben once on Palaeolithic bowls, and had been asked to leave for snoring. Caudatus had been taking notes the whole time, and had been enthralled by what Katie was saying.

“So many cultures, so much history!” he said, overjoyed. “This could be the thing that makes my career!”

“Well, I’m glad to help!” Katie said. “It’s nice to find someone who actually has an interest in the past!” she added, glancing at Kyle.

“I’m interested in how your culture preserves your history. Do you have any organisations dedicated to preservation.”

“Loads” Katie said. “I’m a member of about ten of them!”

“Really,” Caudatus said. “Well, this has been very interesting. I’m going to have to verify everything, naturally, and send up a probe.”

Katie didn’t like the suggestion that her knowledge wasn’t sufficient, but she said nothing.

Caudatus left the chamber, and closed the door behind him. Kyle opened his eyes and looked at Katie. “You finished?”

“If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that I had!” she snapped.

Kyle sighed. “Well, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Telling Caudatus all that stuff.”

“He’s a historian” Katie snapped “He wants to know about our history.”

“If you say so.” Kyle said, closing his eyes again.

Katie began to wonder, maybe Kyle had a point. Still, how often was he right?

Regret began to form in Katie’s mind…

The Doctor was pacing up and down when there was a sudden flash. Where Katie and Kyle had vanished from appeared a brass-coloured sphere covered in spines.

The Doctor rushed over to it, and pulled out his sonic. He ran it across the spines, pointing it at the tips, which glowed faintly.

“What is that contraption?” Ben asked.

“It’s a probe. The Dalmanite pilot must still be alive.”

“If the pilot is still alive, that means we can contact it, and get him to return Kyle and Katie.” Ben said.

“It’s not that simple” The Doctor said.

“Well, I know it’s going to be upset about missing out on nearly two millennia, but we can take it home, can’t we?”

“That would be a bad idea.” The Doctor said, putting away his sonic screwdriver. “If the Dalmanites find Earth, you’re in trouble.”

“But you said they were academics, interested in history and alien cultures.”

“They are, in a way.” The Doctor said. “And that’s why we have to stop them”

“You are speaking in riddles, Doctor!” Ben said, getting annoyed again. “Just tell me what’s so wrong with the Dalmanites taking an interest in Earth’s history.”

“Because they have an overactive superiority complex” The Doctor said. “They’ll find the Earth, see if it needs protecting, and begin the preservation process.”

“But why is that a bad thing?”

“Because if they decide that you lot are incapable of looking after your history, they’ll have to confiscate it.”

Ben couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “They’d steal our history!”

“Fleets of ships will come, taking the pyramids, the ziggurats, the castles and manor houses. All the historic documents, all the artefacts from every age. Everything will be taken away, and placed in museums on Dalmanite.”

“Well, it’s lucky that we can look after our history” Ben said. “With organisations like the National Trust, English Heritage and the World Archaeological Society, I think humanity is perfectly capable of protecting historic items and sites, and have done for nearly a hundred years!”

“Let’s hope the Dalmanite sees it that way.” The Doctor said, looking at the probe.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ben asked indignantly, but the Doctor was staring at the probe.

Caudatus looked at the data that was coming in from the probe. A nearby dwelling had a connection to a global information database, protected by a security system so primitive it actually made him laugh. The database confused Caudatus, so many illustrations of humans in strange postitions, but he found what he was looking for. Firstly, from the movement of the stars, he was able to calculate that he’d been buried for nearly 2000 years, which alarmed him. Still, he thought, the Dalmanite Empire would still be going. Still considering this, he got to work. The history of this planet was far greater than the human Katie had said, and there was so much of it preserved around the world. Then he found what he was looking for.

War.

Every country had had a war, and many were fighting one as he read. The humans were war-like, and seemed proud of their destructive tendencies. They built memorials to the dead of their wars, rather than denying them, as they did on Dalmanite, they had museums of war, they played war games.

Then he found pictures that really disturbed him. Museums with their roofs blown out be aerial bombs. Statues being blown up in remote areas. Ancient tombs being flooded to provide power for modern cities. Historic buildings being demolished in the name of progress…

This was it. Caudatus knew what he had to do.

Earth would need a conservation order put on it…

Beneath the Stone - Part 1

BENEATH THE STONE
Part 1
BY BERNIE FISHNOTES

Katie, Ben, Anselm and Kyle stood around the site. Dark clouds hung over them, and a strong, cold wind was blowing in. But they still waited. “He’s not coming” Anselm moaned for the umpteenth time. Ben reassured him. “He always comes”, he said.
Ben was just beginning to lose hope when gently, on the wind, he heard a gentle electronic twittering. His face lit up as it was joined by a wheezing, groaning noise, building up to a crescendo as the fabric of space and time was ripped open and the large blue box faded into existence before him. There was a loud thunderous boom, as the noise diminished, and the door opened. Out rushed a man in a tight brown suit, his hair stylishly messy, a look of determination on his face.
“Sorry I’m late”, The Doctor said, hurriedly, “What’s the emergency?”

Ben had finished explaining the problem, and the Doctor had been huffing all the way through. He jiggled his feet on the table in Katie’s site office, and glared at Ben. “Ben, Have you ever heard of the Catalogue of Shere Thar?” Ben had to admit he hadn’t. “It’s a marvellous place, every thing that has ever existed, and even a few things that haven’t, has an example in storage. Well, almost,” he said, looking at the TARDIS out of the window. “You can only look round it once, and I’ve never got round to visiting it, so I though this would be the chance. So I’m inside, looking at the last remaining painting of the Cathedral of Chalesm, when I get a text message.” He pulled out a battered mobile phone from his pocket, and read out the message. “Doctor. Please could you come back to Earth and help us, we have a mystery to solve. Ben.” He dropped the phone onto the desk. “Nice use of proper English, by the way. Anyway, I now have a choice. Do I stay in the Catalogue, enjoy myself, and generally get over everything I’ve been through in the last few months, or do I rush off and help my friend with his mystery.” He held his hands out, in a “here I am” attitude. “But what do I find? Your Geophys machine is on the blink.” He took his feet off the table. “Ben, give me one good reason why I should help you?”

Ben gulped. The Doctor was angry with him, and he didn’t like it. He thought, and hit upon an idea. “Well, how many times have we investigated strange events at archaeological sites?”
The Doctor could see where this was going, but he played along. “A few.”
“And how many of those times has it turned out to be part of either an alien invasion, or a doomsday cult?”
The Doctor sighed. He hated to admit it, but Ben was right. He pushed himself out of his chair. “Alright,” he said reluctantly “I’ll help. But,” he added “If this is a wild goose chase, I’m changing my number!”

He followed the gang out onto the site, and surveyed the landscape. It was a largish field, near a large old barn, over which he could make out the spire of the church. Trees lined the area, and in a neighbouring field a horse was watching them. The site itself was your typical archaeological site. As well as the tatty brown caravan there was a slightly battered land rover, which belonged to Katie, parked to one side, nearby which was an awning over a pair of picnic tables covered with flat trays full of bits of pot. A shallow trench, lined out with string and pegs made a dark brown rectangle in the grass. What really stood out was the large rock in the middle of the field. About 12 metres tall and 6 metres wide, it dwarfed the caravan and the TARDIS, and had been severely weathered over the years. It was an orangey-red colour, and the Doctor could see several of the stones in the barn were the same material. It stood out like a sore thumb, as the rest of the barn was made of the beige limestone that was common in this area. The boulder wasn’t here by natural means; it had probably been brought here. He went over to it, stroking the rock, even licking it. He could see that people had carved their names into it, as well as the people they had been there with. The Doctor thought back to Bad Wolf Bay, where he had left his alternative self with Rose, and though of their life together, and sighed. Work to do, though, he thought, banishing the thought of Rose from his mind.
“You say that the geophys is picking up an anomaly under this monolith?” he said.
“That’s right” Ben confirmed “it’s quite deep, but we get a very clear shadow within a 12 metres diameter”
“We were wondering if the monolith went deeper, but boreholes gave us nothing up to two metres below the surface” Katie added, feeling left out of her dig. She had organised this operation, she’d arranged the facilities and organised the schedules, yet as soon as something unusual had turned up, Ben had taken over. “It must be deeper though, mustn’t it?”
“Possibly…” The Doctor said. He was on his knees, peering at the monolith through his glasses. “Is this Triassic sandstone?”
“It seems to be” Katie replied. “It’s not exposed anywhere around here though, so it must have been transported from somewhere in the Bristol area, about 30 miles away.”
“I thought that,” The Doctor said, “But it’s huge as it is, and if there’s more beneath the surface, this thing must weigh over 10 tonnes. Even modern methods would have trouble moving that.” He looked at the monolith, and ran his fingers through his hair, leaving it looking even messier than before. He had no idea what was going on.

Anselm and Kyle were stood back from the Doctor, Ben and Katie. Neither of them knew much about archaeology, and were only there because Ben had insisted. Kyle didn’t get on with Katie, she’d always looked down on him, treating him like a lesser person. She was like this with most people though, so he didn’t take it personally. Anselm knew why Katie didn’t like him. She had a history with Ben, he’d found that out soon after he’d first met Ben, and although she rarely mentioned it, she still held a candle for Ben, and saw Anselm as an obstacle to that, and ever since Ben had caught him with Simon she’d been unbearable. “So, that’s the Doctor.” Anselm said to Kyle. Kyle found it hard to believe that Anselm hadn’t met the Doctor yet, it seemed that the Doctor was always popping by, yet Anselm always seemed to miss him. “Yep” Kyle said. “Bloody good bloke, if a bit weird. Still, what he don’t know ain’t worth knowing, and he’s saved our lived more times than I can remember!”
Anselm watched the Doctor. He could see why Ben liked the Doctor, he was quite attractive, if a bit geeky. Still… He realised the Doctor was walking towards him. “Hello” The Doctor said. “You must be Anselm. I’ve heard all about you”
“Hello” Anselm said. The Doctor was even more attractive close up.
“I’ve got a job for you.” The Doctor said “I want you to go to the village library and see if they have any books on the monolith.”
“Katie has already done all the research” Kyle interjected. “It’s all in her office” he added, pointing at the caravan.
The Doctor thought of the huge messy piles of paper that littered the caravan. Rather you than me, he thought. “Well, saves you a journey.” He said with a grin. “See if you can find any pictures of the monolith as it was. I want to see how big it was.”
Anselm nodded. He suddenly noticed Ben giving him the evil eye, and rushed off to the caravan. “Shall I give him a hand?” Kyle asked.
“Nah,” the Doctor replied “I’ll have a job for you soon enough.”

The Doctor had asked to see the geophys equipment, and Katie had obliged. It was a long, tube-like box, with a smaller box at the top with switches, a small orange light and sockets for attaching it to a computer. He was examining the electromagnetic emitter, and tutting. “Is this the best you can get?” he asked, disbelievingly. Even by twenty-first century standards, this stuff was old.
“It’s the best the faculty could spare” Katie admitted “They’re using the best one elsewhere. This one was about to go in the skip before I requested it.”
“Well, we can soon sort that out!” The Doctor said, pulling out his Sonic screwdriver. He held it to the emitter, and pressed the switch. Blue light shone across them, as the crystalline structure of the focusing apparatus realigned. He then moved up to the control box, and gave that a zap too. He passed it to Katie. “There ya go!” he said, breezily, “Good as new! No, Better than new!” he added with a grin.
“What have you done?” she asked, looking at it closely. It looked exactly the same as when she’d handed it over to him.
“Bit of jiggery pokery, improved the resolution a bit. Should be more use now.”
“Thanks” she said. “I hope it works”.
“Of course it’ll work!” Ben said “The Doctor is a genius!”
“Well,” the Doctor said, modestly.
Any further backslapping was prevented by Anselm rushing out of the caravan holding a piece of paper. “Doctor, I’ve found one!”

He handed the piece of paper to the Doctor, who held it out so everybody could see. “It’s from a woodcut in the sixteenth century,” Anselm said “about two hundred years after the village was founded.”
Ben looked at the picture. The monolith looked different to how it was now. Rather than the blank, smooth pillar he saw in front of him was a rather ornate object. Although it clearly showed signs of having been broken up by that point, it clearly had ribbing down it’s length, and circular markings. Every so often there were stubby arms sticking out.
“I don’t like the look of this” The Doctor said. He turned to Katie. “are there any older pictures?”
“Not that I can remember.” She said.
“Anselm,” The Doctor said, turning to him. “Get back in there, and see if there is anything older than this.” He turned to Katie and Kyle. “You two, I want you to do your geophys.”
“What are you going to do?” Ben asked.
“We,” The Doctor said, putting his arm round Ben’s shoulders “are going to cheat.”

Ben entered the TARDIS, and looked around the large, domed control room. He’d travelled in it numerous times, yet he still found it amazing. The Doctor was already at the circular console, leaning over the controls, staring at the small screen that protruded from the central column. “So, the village was found in the thirteenth century, so the monolith was probably being broken up by then” he was saying, possibly to himself. “So if we give ourselves a good margin of error…” He threw a lever, and the TARDIS began to vibrate, the crystalline central column pumping up and down.

As the TARDIS wheezed out of existence, Katie and Kyle got to work, setting up the geophys equipment in silence. Katie was holding the emitter, connected via a short cable to a laptop computer Kyle had on a tray supported round his neck. Katie glanced at the screen, and was amazed by the clarity of the picture. Nice one Doctor, she thought to herself. “Let’s collect some data”, she said to Kyle, who responded with a fake smile. They set off across the site, towards the monolith.

The trip had been bumpy, but it was now over. Ben picked himself up, brushed himself down and went to the door. The Doctor was already there, opening the door. “Here we are, the year 100.” He held out an arm “Tiberius Avidius Quietus has just ended his governorship of the British Isles, the Romans have started using bricks, and some clever chinaman has stuck a wheel on the fulcrum of a type one lever and invented the wheelbarrow.” He emerged from the TARDIS “and the monolith is… Oh.” Ben followed, and saw what the Doctor saw. The landscape was similar, but different. The contours were there, but instead of green fields there were forests, and the village was nowhere to be seen. The monolith was the only familiar thing, and yet it was different too. It was weathered, but it still displayed all of the details that had been partial visible in the woodcut.
“That’s amazing!” Ben said. He could see the ribs, the arms, the fins… “It’s a statue of a spaceship.”
“No it isn’t” the Doctor said, distracted.
“What do you mean?” Ben said “You’re not telling me that that is a real spaceship, made of stone”
“No, it’s not that either.”
“Then kindly stop gaping and explain what it is then” Ben said testily.
“There are some races that are nervous about landing on alien planets. They think that the natives will steal their technology. And most of the time, they’re right!” He looked at the monolith. “They’ve adapted their teleport technology to create a perfect hiding place, where they can only be reached via an internal teleport system.”
“Where?” Ben asked. He wished the Doctor would stop giving lectures and get to the point.
“Underground.” The Doctor said. “They transport the ship underground. Of course, they can’t just materialise underground, or there’d be all sorts of reactions as molecules try to occupy the same place as other molecules.” He pointed at the monolith. “They swap a similar area of the strata beneath them as they transport, so the ship is where the rock was, and vice versa.”
“So the ship is still down there? What happened?”
“Must have been damaged.” The Doctor said. He walked round the monolith, and pointed. “There”, he said, pointing at an indentation near the top of the monolith. “Guidance systems were knocked out. Had to make an emergency landing.”
“I guess it didn’t send a distress signal”
“Luckily for you, no.”
Ben looked at the Doctor. “What do you mean, luckily for me?”
“This is an Dalmanite ship.” The Doctor said urgently. “They find new planets, and preserve their heritage.”
Ben didn’t understand “But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Not the way they do it.” His face dropped. “Oh no…”
Ben was about to ask what the Doctor meant, when he was grabbed and dragged back into the TARDIS.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked, adjusting the collar of his shirt. It had cost him nearly seventy pounds, but luckily it didn’t seem damaged.
“Ben, we need to stop the surveying NOW!”
“Why” Ben asked, annoyed that the Doctor was attempting to stop vital archaeological work.
“The Dalmanite ship is awaiting an electromagnetic signal sent through the earth.”
Ben knew where the Doctor was going with this “The Geophys machine!” he stopped. “But we used it before, it didn’t set anything off.”
“It hadn’t been boosted then” The Doctor said, wrestling with controls on the TARDIS, the glass central column pumping up and down. “As soon as they get over the area where the ship is…”

The TARDIS thudded to a halt, and the Doctor ran to the doors. He threw them open, and saw Katie and Kyle walking towards the monolith. “GET BACK!” he began to shout at the top of his voice, but it was too late. As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a blinding white flash, and Katie and Kyle were gone.

Shadows in the Dark - Public Opinion

Reviews for "Shadows in the Dark" from the Mythmakers section on the Doctor Who Forum.

Originally Posted by Sontaran General Very good start. It's nice to read a good BC fic.

Originally Posted by The_Void Now, I want you to go to the highest room in your house, find the highest window, and leap out of it. Then I want you to fly to Jupiter. Now, you might be saying "That's impossible" but that doesn't matter, because you've already done the impossible tonight. You have made a Chatham fic good. Not just good, but very good. A story, with Ben Chatham in it, that's good. My friend, you deserve a medal.

Originally Posted by noseofsauron Top stuff. Those creatures had the makings of a real classic monster. All the dialogue flowed nicely and Ben and Kyle sounded like real, flawed people. Im really looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Originally Posted by TheExterminater Good work Bernie. Those Shadow people give me the creeps though!

Originally Posted by Dalek Warhol Nice one. Chatham lives. After years of poor characterisation and unrealistic dialogue, Ben Chatham has emerged from the lemon-scented ashes as a really believable character. It's just a shame he's only going to be like that half the time. I also liked the resolution, it was nice to have the situation totally out of the heroes' control. I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, that this is the best Chatham story ever. And I'm not just saying that because you used my title

Originally Posted by Lemon Bloody Cola Exactly what I want from a Ben Chatham story. As I said the other day, Ben stories tend to work best as character driven pieces and the way you've captured the odd but real chemistry between Ben and Kyle was great. There were some genuinely funny moments in there and the Ben and Kyle in bed together scene would delight Chathamverse shippers if such a thing exists (other than me). I like the photoshop header thingy as well. You should do a second one with Craig (Dario Coates), Isobel (Hannah Murray) and erm the bloke who plays Anselm and thrill my fan boy heart. I'm somewhat gutted now that I've let myself down as a fan boy there by forgetting the name of the actor who plays Anselm.

Originally Posted by Cameron J Mason Brilliant stuff. A good story with good characterisation and prose style, and yet it still manages some gentle mocking of Ben. Cameron

Originally Posted by LeeRatbag Mr Fishnotes, I salute you. Your work is everything that Sparacus's fails to be. The characters are three-dimensional and believable, their more negative quirks facets of their personalities rather than the whole extent of their being. The dialogue is naturalistic and beautifully crafted. Excellent.

Originally Posted by person112 Congradulations, I particularly like what you did with some of the less likable characters like Katie, Craig and Anselm. The story is good, the characters likable and 3D and I'm enjoying myself. Basically you've done the opposite to everything Spara does. Good on you, I look forward to you next chapter!

And, what some might consider the most important one, from Ben Chatham's creator himself...

Originally Posted by sparacus EXCELLENT stuff. This story has all the right elements: spooky haunted hotel, Ben in underpants,an archaeological dig, undercurrent of menace. I'm very pleased. Perfect for Halloween.

Shadows in the Dark

SHADOWS IN THE DARK

By Bernie Fishnotes

Fosham Barrow, Hampshire

“So what we lookin’ for” Kyle asked for the third time. Ben sighed. “We are here” he replied, for the third time, “to investigate this old barrow.”

Kyle looked around the small stone structure. It was a typical barrow, a central passage leading into two chambers off to either side. Shadows clung to every corner, but sunlight shone in through the entrance. “What’s to investigate?” he asked. “There’s nuffin ‘ere. An’ if there was, your lot ‘ave nicked it all.”

Ben looked at Kyle accusatively. “What do you mean, ‘My lot’?”

“Ya know, Archaeologists.”

“Archaeologists do not ‘nick’ things” Ben said indignantly “We remove artefacts for their own protection.”

“There’s still nothing to see though?”

“That’s as maybe,” Ben retorted “but there is still the mystery of the grazes.”

“What grazes” Kyle asked.

Ben sighed again. He’d explained all this before they’d set off, and once again when they arrived. Kyle had clearly not been listening. “People visiting this barrow have reported suffering from mysterious grazes on their skin. It’s like they’re been badly sunburnt, or in some cases rubbed with sandpaper, and blood has been drawn. Nothing too bad, but Operation Delta think it might be extraterrestrial in nature, and want us to check it out.”

With the mention of Operation Delta, it was Kyle’s turn to sigh. “Those idiots?” he said.

“They are not idiots!” Ben said angrily. “I’ll have you know that they are a highly trained team of paranormal investigators!”

“Why aren’t they here then?” Kyle asked.

Ben hesitated. “Corrine fell over last night leaving a nightclub. She can barely walk.”

Kyle grinned, the sort of grin you want to punch when it’s aimed at you. “Yeah, very professional” he sneered. He held up the hammer and chisel Ben had made him bring. “What do I need these for?” he said

“We may need to take some samples” Ben replied. He wished he could have brought one of the others along, but Katie was busy with sorting out some collection donated to the University, Craig had school and Anselm had not wanted to go digging in a field. Ben got a feeling that Anselm wasn’t really into archaeology. To be honest, nor was Ben, at least not the digging aspect. True archaeology, he felt, was done in the library, not out in the field. Kyle had been the only person who he could persuade to come, and he just didn’t seem to care.

Ben pointed at a wall at the back of the barrow. It was made of limestone rocks cemented together by lime mortar. The weathering on the rocks showed that nothing had disturbed these bricks since they were originally set, over two thousand years ago. “Right,” Ben said. “I want that one removed.”

Kyle looked dubious. “Are you sure Ben,” he said “Isn’t this a bit illegal?” He remembered seeing signs outside saying that the area was protected by the National Trust, English Heritage and numerous other organisations.

“Kyle, just do it.” Ben shot back. He was surprised that Kyle was bothered by potentially breaking the law. A chav like him, with a sense of right and wrong? Maybe there is hope for the world, Ben thought with a smile. “Anyway, this could be important to the safety of the human race.”

Kyle whacked the hammer against the chisel, and made a small chip in the mortar. “These cavemen knew how to make cement!” he said.

“They weren’t cavemen,” Ben began to lecture. “Palaeolithic man had left the caves behind, and had started a magnificent culture, evidence for which is spread out across…” he gave up. Kyle wasn’t listening, and he was bashing away at the wall. Eventually, he had loosened one of the rocks, and it fell from the wall, landing at his feet.

“’Ere, look at this!” Kyle said, pulling something out of the hole he’d just made. He held it up the light. “looks like a big marble.” Ben snatched it from his hand and also held it to the light. It was an almost spherical rock, completely black. It wasn’t jet, the way light seemed to bend through it made Ben think it was glass, but he never liked to assume things, at least not where strange objects found on archaeological sites were concerned. He pulled out his pocket Geiger counter and held it near the rock. It showed only basic back-ground radioactivity. He held it to his head, hoping to detect if there was any malignant psychic influence within the stone. He thought he could feel a tingle in his forehead, but that might just have been a headache from Kyle’s whinging. He held it on his hand, seeing if it had any unnatural coldness. Nothing.

“Probably just a lump of volcanic glass” he said dismissively, throwing it back to Kyle. “Keep hold of it though, just in case.”

Kyle unceremoniously shoved it into his pocket, noticing a dull pain on the back of his hand from the material. “Why do you think it was hidden there?”

“Probably coincidence” Ben replied. “This area is near an extinct volcano, you find bits of volcanic glass all over the area. Still, it could be important.” He popped the broken limestone in a plastic bag. “We’d better take this to Operation Delta.” They emerged into the fresh air, and saw that the sun was setting behind them, long shadows stretching out from the barrow. “Tomorrow” Ben continued. “It’s getting late. Let’s find a hotel and get some sleep.” As they went back down the path to the car, they didn’t notice the long shadows moving round, following them…

It was dark by the time the racing green Lotus drove up the short drive of Witheridge House hotel. As it drew up near the main door it had started to rain. Ben and Kyle ran from the car, and entered the foyer.

The house was clearly very old, all half timbered and narrow brickwork, and all the fittings appeared to be genuine. Two staircases ran up either side of the hallway, and a small desk had been erected near the door. A man in a navy blue blazer was sitting down reading a book with a gothic mansion on the front. Ben coughed, and asked for two rooms.

“Of course sir, just for the night?”

Ben agreed.

“That’ll be £150 each.”

Ben’s face dropped. £300? He didn’t have that sort of money at the moment. His allowance wasn’t going to come through for another week, and Katie hadn’t been able to arrange anything for him to do at the university. He looked at Kyle, who was picking up leaflets from the front desk. He wouldn’t have any money. Ben made a decision.

“Do you have any twin rooms?”

“We do sir, £180 a night.” It was still pricey, but Ben agreed. He could get Operation Delta to pay for it on expenses, he hoped.

When Ben had signed and paid for the room, they took the key and made their way up the narrow staircase on the left. It led to a dark hallway, with doors leading to other rooms and another staircase leading upwards towards an attic room. This was to be their bedroom for the night.

They entered the room, which was quite long, with low, sloped ceilings and bay windows. It was sparsely furnished, with two beds, an armchair, an ornate dressing table, a large wooden wardrobe that looked as old as the house and a small en-suite bathroom. As Ben switched on the lights, Kyle walked across the room, the floorboards creaking beneath his feet, kicked his trainers off and fell onto the bed. He was looking though one of the leaflets he’d picked up. “Ere’ Ben” he said. “Guess what?”

Ben wasn’t in the mood for guessing games. He just wanted to have a drink. His flask was empty, and the room didn’t have a minibar, but, Ben thought, maybe that was for the best. He’d yet to find a minibar that had anything cheap in it…

“What is it, Kyle” he said, admiring his reflection in the mirror on the dressing table.

“This place is haunted” Kyle said. “Every room has a ghost apparently!”

“Nonsense” Ben replied. “There’s no such thing as ghosts!”

Kyle tried to think of an example from Ben’s history, but couldn’t think of anything. He tried to make a point anyway. “What, like aliens, or time travel, or…”

“That’s different!” Ben snapped “They have a scientific explanation, while ghosts are just nonsense, stupid people’s way of scaring each other with tales of the dead coming back to haunt the living.” He shook his head. “Not very likely, is it?”

Kyle was surprised at Ben’s scepticism. “Oh, I dunno, I’ve seen some weird things in me time.” He went on. “A mate of mine lived in a haunted house.”

Ben laughed “Really? He probably made it up so he could get a better one off the council”

“Nah,” Kyle said “They refused, said they’d warned him about it before he moved in. Anyway, he used to see shadows moving around in the night, and stuff would be moved around in the morning.”

“He was probably drunk, and doing it himself.” Ben replied. “Or out of his head on drugs.”

“Nah, he was clean” Kyle said. “He invited a load of us round to see it for ourselves. Ooh, that was a creepy night. I was in the kitchen, right, and when I turned from the fridge, I saw this figure moving past the door. It wasn’t one of the lads, cos it was too quick, and I could ‘ear them in the other room. It was tall, completely black, and kinda’ see-through. Freaked me out no end.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Of course it did.” He couldn’t believe Kyle though he’d seen a ghost. It probably was one of his associates playing a prank on him, or Kyle had probably been high or drunk, and imagined it.

“Kyle, it’s late, and we need to get up early tomorrow.” Ben took his iPhone from his pocket, and set the alarm. “Let’s have no more nonsense about ghosts, and settle down for the night.”

Ben was unable to sleep. He lay there, only wearing his M&S underpants, covered with a bedsheet. Kyle had insisted on sleeping in his clothes, and had tutted when Ben stripped off. This had annoyed Ben. Kyle still had an annoying homophobic attitude, which Ben had long put down to repression, after all, most men Ben met ended up sleeping with him. The room was dimly lit by a lamp post outside the window, and long shadows were cast by the wardrobe, the branches of the tree outside occasionally tapping on the window, but the rain had stopped. Ben looked at his phone. Midnight. He closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep.

He suddenly felt much colder, as if a window had opened, and felt a hand moving across his neck. Ben was surprised by this, the door was locked, and the only person it could be was Kyle. Has Kyle decided to make a move on Ben? He opened his eyes, and saw Kyle lying on his bed, his mouth open snoring silently. Ben was concerned. Who was holding onto the back of his neck? He tried to move his head, but couldn’t. He was completely paralysed. He tried to fight back panic, but it wasn’t easy. Was there someone else in the room? Had he been drugged by an assailant who was now going to assault him? He laid on the bed, fear-stricken, the hand pressing down firmly on the back of his neck, when he heard Kyle start to choke. Kyle’s eyes shot open and he was gasping for air. Ben could just make out his eyes darting left and right, meeting Ben’s, and seemingly asking “What’s happening?” Kyle was clearly scared, but there was nothing Ben could do to help. He’d heard of sleep paralysis, but synchronised between two people?

He suddenly noticed movement in the shadow being cast by the wardrobe. It seemed to be getting darker. Something was moving in the shadow. No, Ben thought, the shadow itself was moving, swirling pools of darkness coalescing into the form of a man. It began to stretch out, and extended long, sinew-like limbs. The featureless head moved from side to side, yet Ben could feel it looking at him. It began to move, its long, slender legs allowing it to cross the room within a few strides. It walked like a puppet, weightless, silently, its feet not making a sound on the wooden floorboards. It had a purpose, and whatever that was, it involved Ben and Kyle. Ben closed his eyes, summoning up the courage to look. Eventually he did, and found the face of the creature inches from his own. Ben could just about make out Kyle though the shadowy form, but was too busy panicking. He’d encountered some terrifying creatures in the past, but this was something else. It moved its hand towards Ben’s face, and placed it on his cheek. Ben could feel his skin tingle, as if someone was rubbing sandpaper over his skin. It was icy cold, yet despite the pain, there was no feeling of weight. The pain reduced as the creature removed its hand from Ben’s face, and it moved away from him, and made its way over to Kyle. Ben felt relief that the creature had lost interest in him, but was concerned for Kyle. What if it didn’t let him go? Kyle was having real problems with his breathing now, and the creature was climbing onto the bed, kneeling over Kyle’s heaving chest. Kyle’s eyes were wide open with terror as the creature reached out a long, talon-like hand towards his face, and it gentle caressed his cheek. Ben could just about make out a reddening of the skin beneath the shadow, as if Kyle was being burnt. The hand moved, and the redness spread with it. Ben selfishly though for a second about how the burns on his cheek would ruin his looks for a few days, but realised that Kyle was in real trouble. The shadow creature was moving Kyle’s head left and right, and seemed to be examining his closely. It raised its other arm, and brought it down on his chest. Kyle let out a stifled cry, and went silent. Ben wanted to shout out, tell this creature who it was messing with, but he couldn’t, and the hand was still there, holding him, stopping him.

Suddenly, without warning the creature leaped off Kyle’s chest and landed silently on the floor between their beds. It looked at Ben, and despite its lack of a face, Ben could sense it was angry. It reached out to the cabinet between the beds, and opened the drawer. It pulled out the black stone that Kyle had found, held it up between its long fingers, and with tilted its head, apparently checking it was what it was looking for. To Ben’s relief, it was, as it clasped its hand around the small stone, and strode across the room, climbed into the shadow, and dissipated, almost as quickly as it has appeared. Ben felt the pressure on his neck lift, and tried wiggling his fingers. They moved. He pushed himself up on the bed, and though of checking his face for abrasions, when he realised Kyle wasn’t breathing. He rushed over to his bed, and put his head on his chest. His heart was still beating. That was good. He remembered his First Aid training from his college days, and began mouth to mouth.

Kyle spluttered into life, and opened his eyes, to see a nearly-naked Ben Chatham leaning over him. “Get off me, you bummer!”He cried, pushing himself away across the bed.

“Kyle! You’ve alright!” Ben said, letting that insult go. Despite his crudity, his lack of manners and refinery, Kyle was probably the truest friend Ben had, and probably had ever had. Not that Ben would admit it.

“What happened to your face?” Kyle asked, then his eyes opened wide. He remembered. “Oh my God, that thing!” He leapt out of the bed and turned on the light, banishing all the shadows in the room to oblivion. “Where is it?” he asked, staring at the wardrobe.

“It’s gone” Ben explained. “After it knocked you out, it took that black stone you found. It must have been from the barrow, come to retrieve it. Still, it’s got it now, so we shouldn’t have any more trouble.” Kyle was not moving from the door. “I ain’t staying in ‘ere no more” he said, and opened the door.

“Well, I’m not booking another room” Ben replied. He wanted to leave the room too, but he felt that he should make the most of it. The creature had what it wanted, and was unlikely to return. Kyle was having none of it, though, and went to sleep in the car. Ben was sure the creature wasn’t going to come back, but he left the lights on anyway when he went to bed.

Kyle came down the stairs two at a time as he made his way into the foyer, and saw that the night porter was still on reception, reading his book. The porter looked up, and saw Kyle. “Thought one of you’d be down” he said, returning to his book. “Why?” Kyle asked, although he had a feeling he knew the answer.

“That room’s supposed to be the most haunted room in the house.” He said. “Most people don’t stay all night. That’s why we got you to pay before you went up.”

“Right.” Kyle said. He had thought it odd that Ben had had to pay straight up like that.

“So, what was it?” The porter said. “The night strangler, or the shadow man?”

“Pardon?” Kyle asked, surprised.

“People tend to have one of two experiences up there. Either they get that sleep paralysis thing, where they get’s strangled, or they get watched by the shadow man.” The porter shivered. “That shadow man gives me the creeps.”

“Erm, both”

“Bloody hell” the porter said softly, a look of shock on his face. “No wonder you’re leaving.” He looked at the staircase “What about your friend?” He asked. “Is he staying up there?”

“Yeah,” Kyle said.

“Rather him than me!”

“Too right mate” Kyle said, “Good night” he added, as he went out to the car.

The porter returned to his book, missing the dark shadow that followed Kyle out of the door.

At the barrow, the shadows were throbbing, patches of darkness expanding and contracting, lightening and darkening. A fieldmouse had wandered in earlier to get out of the rain, and they had finally managed to overpower it. As they fed, slowly tearing microscopic pieces of meat from its skin, it got darker. The tall, black figure of the shadow creature loomed through the entrance, and reaching out with its long, slender arm, placed the black rock gently back where it had been found. The rock shimmered for a fraction of a second, and sent a wave of gratitude to the creature. It withdrew from the barrow, shedding patches of darkness as it left, which flowed down the walls and joined their brethren in their feast. The shadow creature turned, and headed back to the hotel, where it would return to its vigil over the living…