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…