Focus (Doctor Who)

Focus is the third episode of the first series of Doctor Who produced by The 56Studios.

Story
“Begin.”

Gathering around the large base, the men and women knelt and placed their hands in silver sockets all along the white surface, closing their eyes as they concentrated deeply.

“Focus,” the woman said, standing above them on a balcony. “Open your minds. Think of the other side.”

At that moment there was a spark in the middle of the large ring, blue energy flashing brightly. The woman smiled.

“That’s good,” she continued. “Keep going.”

More and more sparks of light flashed in the center of the ring as they began to grow larger and larger, brighter and brighter.

The ground shook as a vortex appeared suddenly, spinning so violently that it began to pick objects off the floor of the room and throw them around. The people shook, and looked as if they were held in place by unseen force.

“What-?” she asked when she was forced to dive to the ground as a chair flew directly at her head, striking the wall behind her with lethal force.

Getting up again, the woman looked down at the men and women, still stuck in their same position.

“Stop!” she yelled, but none of them heard her.

With a loud crack, the floor began to fragment around them. The portal flashed wildly with light. She was thrown backwards as table struck her, slamming her against the wall.

The whirlwind of energy threatened to destroy the entire building, the roof beginning to give way. Suddenly a chair flew through the air and smashed one of the women in the head, killing her instantly. Her body fell to the ground. In a blast of energy, the portal disappeared, and everything fell quiet.

Weakly and painfully, the woman on the balcony got up and made her way to the ground level, clutching her side. The people were getting up off the ground, holding their heads. Looking down at the body on the floor, she made it a point not to step in the blood pooling around her head, which had been mangled beyond recognition.

“A shame indeed,” she said.

She looked up at them. “Clean this mess up, get ready to do it again.”

“But ma’am-,” one man began to say when she cut him off.

“No buts! You will do as I say. Remember, none of you would be alive without me,” she snapped.

With a moment’s hesitation, they began repairing the laboratory, two of them picking up the deceased woman and dragging out of the lab, blood streaking across the floor as they did so. They threw her in a side room and out of sight, where other red spots lay stained on the floor.

Once the room was cleaned up as best as could be done due to the extent of the damage, they gathered around the pad again.

The woman stood on the balcony, looking over them.

“Begin.”

“Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Clara said, pushing her sunglasses up onto her forehead and looked out from the top deck.

He pulled a lever. “I always know where we’re going.”

She rolled her eyes. “You always say that but we usually end up not where you wanted to be.”

“Usually?” he said, his blue eyes shining. “Name three times that we’ve not ended up where I wanted to be if it happens so much!”

Clara theatrically stroked her chin. “Well, there was that time we wanted to go to Las Vegas and we ended up on a submarine. There was that other time we tried to go to Las Vegas and appeared in Eygpt. And then there was that other other time where we tried to go to Las Vegas and ended up in a star…”

The Doctor stared at her.

“Shut up,” he said, swinging to another side of the console.

The woman chuckled before descending the stairs and joining the gray-haired man at the controls of the TARDIS.

“You’re going to make sure we actually do get to Las Vegas this time, right?”

“Of course.”

“Because I’m dressed for Las Vegas and not anywhere other than Vegas,” she said, indicating her attire, which was a pale blue dress and heels. “This is specifically for Las Vegas.”

The Doctor pulled another lever. “I can guarantee that we will get to Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States of America this time.”

At that very moment the TARDIS lurched violently, knocking them both off their feet. Lights flashed as the console room was illuminated in a red glow.

“What’s happening?!” Clara yelled over the roaring noise that had begun to fill the room.

“I don’t know!” the Doctor replied, trying to get to the controls. “Something’s gone horribly wrong!”

“Obviously!” she said, grabbing hold of the console.

The ship spun madly out of control, sparks flying in all directions. Clara’s head was spinning so fast she was sure she was going to vomit and her brain was going to turn to soup. Fighting to reach across the console, the Doctor managed to force another lever down.

In a shower of sparks, the TARDIS lurched again, sending them both to the floor. The shaking stopped and the lights faded back to their original colors.

Slowly, they both got up off the ground, steadying themselves on the console. Catching their breath, the woman finally managed words.

“What… was... that?”

He pushed himself off the console, walking over to one of the screens mounted at the base of the time rotor.

“I… don’t know...”

“Well that was worse than normal,” Clara said before she noticed a glimmering dancing through the holes in the metal floor.

She tugged at the sleeve of his jacket. “Uh, Doctor?”

The man didn’t look up from what he was doing. “What is it?”

“Uh… what’s that?” she pointed at the flickering light.

Looking up at her with a look of confusion, he turned his gaze to where she was pointing and his blue eyes widened.

“That is… not good,” he said before rushing to one of the sets of stairs that led to the lower deck, followed closely by his female companion.

As they arrived underneath the main deck, they were confronted by a glimmering blue fissure, its ever-changing shape burning itself onto their retinas.

Clara reached her hand out towards it. “What is it?”

The Doctor quickly slapped her hand down, causing her to pull it back and cradle it.

“Hey!” she exclaimed.

“Don’t touch random rifts!” he said. “Haven’t you learned anything?”

She looked at him, to the blue portal, back to him. “Sorry.”

“Now,” the Doctor turned his attention back to the rift. “What are you?”

He reached into his coat and pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver, pointing it at the pulsating energy. The man pressed the trigger on the wand and it began to buzz, scanning the strange doorway. After a moment he stopped and held it up, looking at a panel like he was reading it.

“Impossible.”

“What’s the Sonic getting?” Clara asked, trying to read what the Doctor was but couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

The man lowered the device and stared at the fissure. “This rift… it’s impossible. It cannot exist. Especially not here.”

“But here it is,” she pointed at the glowing lights.

“Of course it is,” he replied. “That’s the problem. It is here. Whatever is causing this is literally ripping a hole in time and space where none had ever been.”

“So we’re breaking new ground?”

“Emphasis on ‘breaking’,” the Doctor nodded to his companion.

Clara Oswald returned her gaze to the portal. “How do we close it, then?”

He ran his hand through his gray hair. “I don’t know, but we’ve got to do something fast. Otherwise we run the risk of the Universe imploding.”

“Yeah that’s probably something we should avoid,” she said as the Doctor ran out from under the main deck and up the stairs, the woman following closely after.

Arriving at the console, he began flipping switches before pulling around a monitor. Several symbols and what appeared to be error signs popped up on the screen. The Doctor scowled.

“What does that mean?” Clara inquired.

“It means the TARDIS doesn’t know what it is, either,” he replied, typing something else into the keypad.

“How do we find out what it is, then?” she looked down at the glimmering light.

The Doctor looked at her, and she looked back. He smiled his devious grin. “We go in it.”

“You’re insane,” she replied.

“Insane is a relative term, my dear,” the Doctor said, running up one of the sets of stairs leading to the upper level. “For example, I could call you insane for thinking me insane.”

Clara crossed her arms as she watched him rifle through the boxes up above. “You’ve literally called yourself a ‘mad man in a box’.”

“That was the other Doctor,” he said, looking up at her with his pale blue eyes. “I’m a different man now.”

“And what kind of man is that?” the woman asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

“So you want to find yourself by jumping into a portal that you have no idea where it goes?”

“Pretty much.”

Reaching into a large box, he pulled out a black harness and quickly descended the stairs back to his companion. She looked at it with uncertainty.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” she said.

“Of course I’m sure,” he replied. “Mostly sure, anyway.”

“Doctor, I’m not sure about this...” Clara followed him as he descended the stairs back to the fissure.

He began strapping the harness to himself. “Well, how am I supposed to fix this if I can’t find out what it is?”

“Couldn’t we just dematerialize?”

“The thing is: I don’t know what will happen if we try that. It could either destroy the TARDIS or rip a bigger hole in the fabric of space and time, or both.”

“Fair point,” she conceded. “But this is crazy.”

“So is everything else we do,” he tied the line from the harness to the railing of the staircase, making sure it was tight. He turned back to the tear.

The Doctor looked at Clara, who was watching with obvious anxiety. “Don’t worry,” he assured her. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

“I can think of a lot of things that can happen,” she said.

“That’s the fun of it,” the man grinned before jumping into the fissure.

“Doctor!” the woman yelled as he disappeared into the glare.

The grass crunched after his feet hit the ground. Taking in his surroundings, the Time Lord was surprised to see where he had landed.

He whirling around, taking in his new environment as fast as he could. Obviously, there was air, because he wasn’t suffocating. The next thing he noticed was that he seemed to be in a woods, trees for miles around. Above the trees he could see that the sky was gray and clouded. Looking back he saw the fissure was still open, oscillating slowly.

“Well, that answers that question,” he said to himself.

Reaching in his jacket, he produced the Sonic Screwdriver. Pressing the button, a soft humming noise issued from the device as he held it to his mouth.

“Clara? Can you hear me?”

Back in the TARDIS, Clara had been watching the rift, waiting for the Doctor to reemerge when she heard his voice coming from the top deck. Running up the stairs, she came to the console. She heard a small amount of static coming from it.

“''Clara? Can you hear me? This is the Doctor,''” his voice came over the speaker.

Holding her finger on a button on one of the panels, she spoke into what she hoped was a microphone.

“Doctor? Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Oh, hello Clara,” he replied. “''Apparently the rift leads into a forest on some world. There’s also air.''”

“I kind of figured that,” she said. “Do you know why there’s a portal to the TARDIS?”

“''Not yet. I’m still working on that. I’ll call you when I know more,''” the Doctor’s voice came through the speaker.

“Alright,” Clara nodded. “Stay safe.”

He chuckled. “''Oh, you know me, Clara. I’m always careful-''.”

There was a crackling noise before the feed cut out. She pressed several buttons, trying to restore it but to no avail.

“Doctor? Doctor?”

“Clara? Hello, Clara?” he spoke into the Sonic. “Are you still there?”

All he heard was static. Lowering his device, he looked around the forest and then back at the portal. Its form shimmered before closing on itself. His tether was burned off, cutting his connection to the TARDIS.

“Well, I can’t say I didn’t see that coming.”

Detaching his harness, he dropped it to the ground and looked around. It served him no use now. Now his priority was figuring out what this place was and how he could return to the TARDIS. And Clara.

The ground crunched beneath his feet as he walked through the forest. It was strange. This world seemed very Earth-like – almost too Earth-like – but something felt horribly wrong. It was staring him in the face, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

After a while, he broke through the edge of trees and came into a large field. Looking up, he saw that the sky was completely overcast, the clouds swirled and dark. A gentle breeze swayed the treeline around him, the tall grass shifting slightly.

“Huh. Ominous,” he muttered. “I hate ominous.”

Trudging into the field, he pushed his way through the grass. A trail followed him as he crossed the valley. Above him, the cloudy sky shimmered and shifted oddly, unlike anything he had ever seen. Stopping, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver. Pointing it up at the sky, he began to scan.

Reading the results, he found that it had detected nothing wrong.

“Nothing wrong?” he said to himself. “How is there nothing wrong?”

Continuing his journey, his foot suddenly struck something in the tall grass. Swearing loudly, he looked down and saw that he had come into contact with a very old well. It had been weathered down by centuries of neglect, and was little more than a hole with some rocks around it. Inside the hole was complete darkness, the bottom black.

“I guess this is supposed to be unsettling or something,” he muttered.

As if on cue, a powerful blast of wind came rushing through the field, knocking him off-balance. The roaring wind continued, trying to sweep him up and take him away.

After several seconds it stopped. Slowly, he looked around before getting up off the ground. Straightening his coat, he pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver again.

“I hope that’s not a regular occurrence on this planet,” he said aloud.

There was a click behind him which was accompanied by a voice.

“It is.”

Turning around, he saw a woman pointing a gun at him. She appeared to be in her late-thirties and was dressed in dirty pilot’s gear. Her hand shook slightly as she held her weapon.

He regarded her gun coldly. “Hello.”

“Who the hell are you?” she asked, her voice distinctly American.

“I’m the Doctor,” he replied. “You?”

“Lieutenant Ellie Fays, United States Air Force. How did you get here?”

“Same as you, I’m assuming. Blue glowing rift in time and space?”

“I saw the rift,” Ellie said. “Don’t know about the time and space part, but it’d make sense.”

“What happened to you?” the Doctor asked. “How did you get here?”

“Hey, Scottish,” she held her gun a little higher. “I’m asking the questions here.”

Rolling his eyes, he sighed. “Okay.”

“How did you get here?”

“A rift in the fabric of time and space appeared in my inter-dimensional ship while my English school teacher friend and I were trying to get to Las Vegas in the 1970s,” he said.

She stared at him for a moment in disbelief. “I was on a routine training procedure when that rift you talked about appeared in front of me and I went through. Next thing I knew I was crashing through the forest. I ejected just before my plane went up in flames.”

“Lucky you,” he remarked.

“Not really,” Ellie replied. “I’ve been hunted in this forsaken place since I arrived.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Hunted?”

She nodded. “By a monster. I have no idea what it is.”

He paused for a moment. “Let me help you.”

“How am I supposed to trust you?” she asked. “And how would you know what to do?”

“Because, my dear,” he grinned. “I’m the man who stops the monsters.”

Ellie glared at him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Again!” the woman barked.

The men and women looked up at her, loathing in their eyes. But they, not wanting to invoke her wrath, did what they were told. They knelt down around the base, hands together on the inlets, their eyes closed.

She smiled. “Good. Now, focus.”

Concentrating, energy sparked above the base, flashes of light illuminating the room. The smile on her face broadened. Slowly, it began to take shape, forming into a sliver of light in the air. It then began to spread out, becoming a circle of blue energy. Her eyes glowed with excitement.

Around the room, objects began to shudder as the portal strengthened. The woman’s knuckled grew whiter as her grip on the railing tightened. It was happening. It was really happening.

The middle of the ring began to spark, before a ball of energy materialized. It slowly began to expand, filling the circle.

“Focus...”

“What does this monster look like?” the Doctor asked.

“Tall, slender, completely black. Its form is unstable, like it’s not quite in focus when you look at it. It moves really, and I mean really, fast. I’m not sure how it hasn’t gotten me yet.”

“It’s probably toying with you.”

“Thanks for adding to my anxiety.”

“You’re welcome.”

She glared at him. “Do you know what sarcasm is?”

“Yes, but I’m ignoring it,” he said, looking around. “Primarily because I’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

“Like what?” she raised an eyebrow before the ground began to shudder underneath them. The trees shook and the wind began to blast through the field. The dark sky swirled.

Something then moved out of the corner of their eyes. Turning, they saw a flickering shape appear against the treeline. It became a dark figure, with a thin body and long lanky limbs. It had no eyes, but they knew it was looking at them.

“That,” the Doctor said grimly.

Ellie pointed her gun at it. “Run! I’ll hold it off!”

It began to approach slowly.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” the Doctor replied. “You can’t fight it!”

“But I can keep it back long enough for you to escape.”

“That’s suicide! You’ll be dying for no reason at all!”

The creature continued to come closer. Its form flickered in and out of focus.

“It’s my duty to protect the innocent,” she argued. “I will gladly die for that!”

It was close now, and they could feel cold washing over them. Groaning, the Doctor grabbed Ellie’s arm and broke into a run, dragging her along.

“Hey!” she yelled, trying to get her balance.

“Didn’t I mention?” he asked. “I also save people.”

Behind them, the creature shimmered before speeding forward after them. Ellie, breaking into her own run, followed the Doctor as they pierced the treeline and ran through the forest. The creature continued to chase them, getting closer by the second.

“We’re not going to make it!” she panted.

His face was grim. “We have to.”

They ducked under branches and weaved through trees. Yet this did not make any difference to the entity, as it continued its pursuit of him.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light ahead of them. The glare fading, they saw a circle of light growing in the middle of the forest.

“What the hell is that?” Ellie gasped.

A smile broke across the Doctor’s face. “Salvation.”

It had been twenty minutes since she had lost contact with the Doctor. And, in that time, she had tried everything should could think of to find him.

“Come on!” Clara slammed her hands on the console. “There has to be something you can do to find him!”

The lights above the console merely flickered in respond. The woman rolled her eyes and fell into one of the chairs near the edge of the platform.

“How’s the Doctor supposed to get back when he’s stuck who knows where?” she said aloud. “It’s not like I know how to fly you.”

The ship buzzed its response.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Clara leaned her head back when the TARDIS shuddered. Standing up, she looked around when she caught a flicker of light out of the corner of her eye. Looking down, she saw the same shimmering glow she had seen when the rift first appeared.

Rushing downstairs, she was met with the familiar flickering rift of energy that the Doctor had stepped through. It burned its shape onto her eyes. She held out her hand to block the light when the tear began to shimmer. Suddenly, it began to widen into a ring.

“That’s different,” she said.

Inside of the ring, a ball of energy appeared. A moment later, it seemed to catch fire. The blue ball of flame spread outwards, meeting the edge of the circle. There was a flash, and the woman was presented with a floating circular window into a forest.

Brushing the hair out of her face and behind her ear, she slowly approached it. The edges shuddered slightly as if it were unstable, the force maintaining it struggling to hold it open.

Looking through, she saw movement in the distance. It was a large dark object moving through the trees. Squinting, she saw that it was a large slender figure, made a shifting black substance. Looking ahead of it, she saw a man in a suit and a woman wearing pilot’s gear running towards her as fast as they could.

“DOCTOR!” she yelled through the portal. “DOCTOR!”

The Doctor and Ellie rushed forward towards the portal. On the other side, they could see a woman in a pale blue dress looking out at them.

“DOCTOR!” she yelled.

“Who the hell is that?” Ellie asked.

He smiled again. “Clara!”

“Is that the school teacher you mentioned?”

“Indeed.”

Now it was Ellie’s turn to smile. “She’s hot.”

“Quiet,” he cast a sideways glance.

Behind them, the creature continued to bridge the gap between them, the air growing cold as it did.

“Doctor!” Clara yelled as they drew closer.

The creature was catching up, barely touching the backs of their shoes. They was so close to the portal to the portal now. Just a little more…

Together, the two jumped through the air. There was a flash of light, and they came crashing down on the lower deck of console room. Clara rushed to the Doctor’s side.

“Doctor? Are you okay?” she asked.

Springing up, he bolted up the steps to the console. He began flickering switches and turning knobs. Through the portal, the creature of shadow was rushing at the opening, just a few seconds away-.

“Boom!” he yelled from the console.

An instant later the doorway snapped shut, a flash of light blinding them. Stepping back down underneath the main deck, they saw that there was no trace of the opening, nothing at all. The three looked at each other.

“What was that?” Clara asked.

“A monster,” he said. He noticed that his companion was looking curiously at Ellie.

“Oh, and this is Ellie,” he introduced her. “She’s American.”

“Ah,” she nodded before holding out a hand. “Clara Oswald.”

“Ellie Fays,” she took her hand. “A great pleasure.”

“Enough flirting,” the Doctor said, turning away. Quickly, the two let go of each others’ hand.

“Did you find out what’s generating those portals?” Clara asked.

“No, but I know how we can.”

Ascending the stairs back to the main deck, the Doctor walked over to the console, followed by his companion and the pilot, who was looking around in awe. Pulling one of the monitors over, he began typing into one of the keyboards. The picture of the band of a galaxy disappeared and was replaced by several moving Gallifreyan symbols.

“The portals were open long enough for the TARDIS to gather a reading on its energy,” he explained as he continued. “If I can isolate the energy signature, I can most likely trace its origin.”

“Clever,” she said.

“It’s a relatively simple principle, really,” he shrugged. “Of course, I am pretty clever.”

She rolled her eyes before the screen flashed green.

“What does that mean?”

A broad smile broke across his face. “It means we got them. And take a guess where it is.”

“Earth?”

“Bingo.”

“Then let’s go.”

Hitting a few more keys and turning a few more knobs, the Doctor made his way around to the other side of the console. Wrapping his hand around a larger lever, he grinned at his companions. They returned it. Looking up at the time rotor, he slammed down the lever.

And they were off into the time vortex.

Energy shot around the room from the portal, burning black marks on the walls and floor. Objects were flying around the room as the lights flickered rapidly.

The woman ducked as a chair flew overhead. Below, the men and women were stuck in a trace, the rift widening and growing more violent by the minute. Cracks suddenly appeared across the floor, walls and ceiling, bits of rubble falling down.

Realizing that the whole building was going to come down if the portal wasn’t closed, she leaned over the railing and called to them.

“Alright! That’s enough! Close the rift!”

But they didn’t hear. It was as if they were again frozen in place, no more than statues. Another object came hurling at her, and it struck her in the head, sending her flying backwards and into a wall, a sickening crack sounding as she did.

The portal continued to fire bolts of energy and shake the room. A moment later, above the whirling noise, came a wheezing noise, before the TARDIS materialized on the balcony overlooking the room below.

As soon as it landed, the door opened and the Doctor, Clara, and Ellie rushed out. Taking in the scene, they were nearly blinded by the glaring rift of energy in the middle of the room. It was like the one that had appeared in the ship, but much more massive.

“I think we found our source!” Clara yelled over the roaring noise.

“What the hell?” Ellie saw the TARDIS from the outside. “It’s smaller on the outside!”

“You get used to it,” Clara replied.

In the chaos, the Doctor saw the woman lying on the ground. He went over and crouched over her, checking her pulse. Her white clothes had red stains around her collar.

“And I found our creator.”

Her eyes widened. “Is she dead?”

“No,” he got up. “Just knocked out. The gash on her head probably has something to do with it.”

“So,” Clara said, turning back to the portal. “What do we do about that?”

They approached the railing, and looked out over it. They saw flashes of the forest appear in the energy. Below the rift, they saw the ring of people around the base.

“Wow,” Ellie’s widened

“Oh my,” the Doctor said, rushing down the stairs, followed by the woman.

Avoiding several bolts of energy as well as a few objects, they made their way to the people. They were kneeling, their eyes shut and sweat running down their faces. They were all dressed in white clothes.

“What’s wrong with them?” Clara asked.

“They’re the source of the power. That woman, I’m presuming, is using them to power this portal,” the Doctor explained.

“Wait, so they’re using their minds to open the portals?”

“It so seems.”

“How is that even possible?” Ellie was bewildered.

“The human brain is an incredible thing,” he answered, pulling out the Sonic Screwdriver and scanning one of the men. “Don’t underestimate your species too much.”

Another bolt of energy flew between them, causing them to step backwards. Clara turned back to the Doctor.

“So how do we wake them up? If they’re generating it, then waking them up fix it, right?”

“This is absolutely nuts,” the pilot shook her head.

He ignored her. “Potentially. That, or it’ll fry their brains and kill them.”

“We should probably avoid that second one,” Clara replied.

“Now is not the time, miss Oswald,” the Doctor said sternly.

“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

He glanced at her before crouching in front of a panel on the front of the base. Pulling it off, he revealed several rapidly blinking controls and a lever.

“This looks like a kill switch if I ever saw one,” he said to himself.

Wrapping his hand firmly around the handle, he tugged it downwards. The flickering lights of the console instantly died, but the rift was still open. Pulling it back up, he slammed it down again. Still, the portal stayed open.

“That’s… not good,” the Doctor said.

“What now?” Clara asked as she ducked a chair that nearly took her head off.

The Doctor looked around, cultivating his options. In the room he could find nothing that could help him close the portal.

“Couldn’t you use the TARDIS to close it like you used it to close the paradox thing?” she suggested.

He shook his head. “No. That would be too dangerous. But we have to close it now. If that thing finds this portal...”

“It could come to Earth,” Ellie’s eyes widened, to which he nodded.

“It, or whatever it’s part of, would decimate the planet.”

“Then how are we going to close it?”

Turning his head, his eyes fell upon the men and women kneeling around it.

His eyes lit up. “I’ve got it.”

“What?” both women asked.

“They’re the key,” he gestured to them. “The key to closing it.”

“And how are you going to use them to close it? We can’t get through to them,” Clara replied.

“Correction: you can’t. I can,” he tapped his right temple with his index and middle fingers. “Remember, Time Lords are very psychic.”

“So you’re going to communicate with them telepathically?”

“That’s the idea.”

Another massive bolt of lightning shot past.

“Well, hurry up and do it now!”

“Already on it,” he said, moving closer to the circle of people.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ellie asked.

“He’s going to connect with their minds,” Clara explained.

“Is he an alien?” she looked at the woman.

“Big time.”

Ellie turned back to watch him. “Well that explains a lot.”

Grabbing onto one of the pairs of hands that were clasped together, the Doctor tried to pull them apart. However, he quickly found that they were as unmovable as their owners.

“This just keeps getting better,” he muttered.

Rubbing his hands together, he reached them out and pressed his index and middle fingers and his thumb on the sides of a man and woman’s faces. Concentrating, he suddenly felt himself falling. Looking, he saw that he was in an endless void of darkness, with nothing around him.

An instant later he hit the ground, even though there was no ground to be seen. Pushing himself up, he saw that he was the only thing illuminated in this place. Everything else was black.

“Hello?” he called out. His voice echoed.

No answer.

“Hello?” he called again.

This time something came rippling through the dark, a desperate cry that he felt in his very being.

“Help me...” the cry said. It sounded like the conglomeration of a dozen voices, all equally desperate.

“I’m Doctor,” he took a step forward, even though it meant nothing. “I’m here to help.”

“Help me,” the conglomeration said again.

“The rift you opened,” he said. “The rift that woman. I’m presuming, forced you to open, needs to be closed. If not, it will let a powerful force into the world. Worse, it could tear apart the fabric of the universe.”

There was silence before the voices replied.

“We… can’t...”

“Sure you can,” he said. “I know you can.”

“We… we… can’t…” they repeated. “The… darkness… it’s… it’s coming for us...”

“The darkness?” the Doctor looked around the blackness.

“We can… feel it… all around...” the voices strained.

He thought for a moment. “How do I get you out of here?”

“There is no way out.”

“Oh come on,” he chuckled. “There’s always a way out.”

“There isn’t.”

“I believe you can. You have the power. The human brain is a marvelous thing. I mean, look at all you’ve accomplished. You’ve made it to the stars. You lot have opened a portal across space and time,” the Doctor said. “You just have to believe you can.”

“How?”

The Doctor looked down before snapping his gaze back up.

“Focus. Focus on the sound of my voice. I can pull you out.”

There was silence before they replied again. “We can’t,” they repeated.

“Just focus,” he said, reaching his hand out into the black. “Focus. I know you can. Just… focus.”

Silence again, but this time he could feel something, a definitive change in the atmosphere. Suddenly, he felt as if everything in the darkness was vibrating.

“Yes! Yes!” he exclaimed. “That’s it! Good! Keep going!”

The plain continuing to shake. Looking down at his hands, he saw that they were blurring out of focus, as was the rest of his body. He smiled before he saw a group of men and women shimmered into view. They were seated in a circle, hands clasped together and all wearing white.

Stepping towards them, he saw them all turn their heads toward him. They didn’t have to say anything for him to know that they were completely terrified. Doing his best, he cast a reassuring smile on his face.

“It’s okay,” he said, trying to be gentle. “I’m here to help.”

“She…” their collective voices said, coming from all around them while their mouths stayed shut. “She… made us open the rift...”

“I know, and I’m here to fix that,” he crouched down next to them. “But I need you to focus, and close the portal.”

They stared at him before nodding.

“Okay.”

Closing their eyes, their grips tightened as they concentrated. He watched as everything continued to shimmer when suddenly there were flashes of light. He looked around as they grew brighter, and brighter. Everything was shaking now, blurring out of sight.

An instant later there was a loud bang before he fell backwards and hit the concrete floor. Clara and Ellie rushed to his side, helping him up.

“Doctor!” Clara said. “What happened?”

Looking up, he saw the form of the portal ripple and contort before drawing into itself.

“What’s happening?” Ellie asked.

“They’re doing it,” he smiled, looking at the men and women. “They’re actually doing it.”

The rift continued to close, energy streaking through the air. There were blinding flashes of light, forcing them to cover their eyes. There were bolts of lightning when suddenly the portal snapped shut, disappearing as if it had never been.

Released from its grip, the men and women fell backwards from the base. Rubbing their heads, they looked around and saw the Doctor, Clara, and Ellie sitting there.

“You...” one of them, a man, said. “You saved us.”

“Yeah I do that a lot-,” he said when Clara struck him with her elbow. “Ah, oh yes. You’re very welcome.”

Getting up, they looked around the wreckage.

“What was going on here?” the Doctor asked. “Who’s that woman up there?”

“We don’t know her name,” one of the women said, running her hand through her brown hair. “She recruited us from the school, saying that we were going to be part of some great revolution.”

“She believed that humans could harness cosmic energy and fuel a portal to other worlds. She believed that the climate was going to kill us and that we need a viable alternative,” said another man.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Well that’s an idea that’s been going on for a very long time.”

“That’s amazing,” Ellie said.

“This technology is quite advanced,” the Doctor ran his hand along the base. “Tell me, what year is it?”

The group looked at each other in confusion, before looking back at him as if he were from another planet.

“Don’t you know?”

“Just answer the question,” he snapped.

“2238,” the first man replied.

“Ah. Still, quite impressive.”

“What are we going to do, Doctor?” Clara asked.

He put his hands behind his back. “We do nothing. We’ve done all we needed to here.”

“No, you haven’t,” said a chilling voice from above.

Looking up, they saw the woman, blood streaking across her face, looking down on them. At the end of her outstretched arm was a silver gun, trained on the gray-haired man. Everyone raised their hands except him. Ellie glanced at the gun she had tucked in her belt.

“Good to see that you’re awake,” he said, his pale blue eyes fixed on her sapphire ones.

“Who are you?” she asked, finger around the trigger.

“I’m the Doctor,” he replied.

She let out a laugh. “The Doctor? You can’t be serious. He’s a myth. Folklore.”

“That’s my name,” he walked to the front of the group, who still had their hands raised. “And what’s yours?”

“I am Henrietta Jacobson,” she said boldly. “The most revolutionary mind of the twenty-third century.”

“Quite arrogant of you to say that,” the Doctor replied.

“Says the one who claims he is the most legendary defender of the universe,” Henrietta shot back.

“Good point,” he nodded. “But this experiment of yours is one of the most dangerous I’ve ever seen. I mean, you nearly died yourself.”

“Progress requires discovery, discovery requires experimentation, experimentation requires sacrifice,” she said. “This is the only way to advance the human race.”

“No, it’s not,” he approached the stairs, putting one foot on the first step as she trained her gun on him.

“Yes, it is.”

“That’s how it always has been,” she said. “That’s what my father believed, and his mother, and her father, and his father, and his father, and his father all throughout my bloodline. Science is my legacy. Humans have the capacity to change the very fabric of reality. They just have to harness it.”

“But forcing people to do your bidding is wrong,” the Doctor growled. “And it’s my duty to stop people like you.”

“I’d like to see you try,” she smiled.

Behind him, the men and women looked at each other. Nodding, they closed their eyes, concentrating. Clara and Ellie looked at them when suddenly objects strewn around the room began to shake before being lifted into the air and spinning around. The Doctor and the woman watched them rotate through the air, watching the light glint off of them.

One item, a pipe that had broken off the wall, swung around and aligned its tip with the woman. The Doctor realized what was about to happen, and turned towards the men and women.

“Don’t-!” he yelled.

He was too late. The pipe shot forth, and with a clang, it struck the wall directly behind her. Blood shone its surface. The woman’s face was one of shock and terror. Her eyes shook in their sockets before she looked down. The pipe had gone straight through her torso and into the wall. Her white clothes became scarlet.

Clara, Ellie, and the Doctor watched in horror as her body went limp, hanging there suspended by the pole. The men and women opened their eyes and looked at their handiwork. Slowly, the Doctor turned around, his expression dark.

“Good job,” he said, sarcastically clapping his hands. “Good job indeed! You have successfully become as bad as she was! Fantastic!”

“She was a monster. She lost the right to live,” the lead man argued.

“And who appointed you judge, jury, and executioner? Who gave you the right to play God?” he spat. “You sicken me.”

Turning away, he walked up the stairs, Clara, and Ellie looking at the group before following. As they reached the top, the woman covered her mouth as she got a closer look at the body. The Doctor, seeing this, stretched out his hand towards her.

“It’s okay, Clara. It’s okay,” he said quietly as she took his hand.

Leading her into the TARDIS first, followed by Ellie, he turned back and looked at the group. They stared up at him. His eyes were full of anger before he disappeared into the blue box.

Closing the doors, he walked over to the console and began flipping switches and pulling levers. Clara sat on one of the chairs on the outside edge of the deck, holding her head in her hands. The Doctor glanced at her before continuing to pilot the ship. Ellie leaned against the railing with her arms crossed and her head down.

For a while they said nothing. The only sound breaki

Taking her head from her hands, Clara looked at the Doctor.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to get Ellie here home,” he glanced at the pilot. “Then I’m going to try to get us to Vegas,” he said, pulling a lever.

“You know, I’m not really feeling Vegas anymore today,” she replied.

He nodded. “I know. That’s why we’re not actually going to Vegas.”

“I wanted to go to Vegas,” Ellie protested.

Clara chuckled. “Although I could use a drink.”

“That sounds like it could do some good,” he said.

Leaving the console, he walked down one of the sets of stairs. Coming to one of the hexagonal panels on the wall, he pulled it open to reveal several glasses and a bottle of liquor. Grabbing the bottle and three glasses, he came back up to the console and over to the women.

Handing them each a glass, he poured them some of the brown amber liquid before doing the same for himself. The Doctor set the bottle down on the floor and leaned against the console. Clara smiled before taking a drink. The man did the same. Ellie, looking around in confusion, took a drink also.

They drank as the TARDIS continued through the vortex.

Characters

 * Twelfth Doctor
 * Clara Oswald
 * Henrietta Jacobson
 * Ellie Fays
 * The Creature
 * Several men and women

Trivia

 * Ellie Fays is an LGBTQIA+ character, and the first one that Invader39 has written.