by Doctor Who
'A huge tree,' Rory finished Amy's sentence. 'So that's what that was all about.'
'What what was all about?'
'I asked a magic picture to tell me where you were, and it showed me a tree.'
'Magic picture?'
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'Oh, clever ship,' the Doctor stroked the hull. 'You grew all the way under Nathaniel Porter's psychic cage so the Weave could get in and out.' He clapped his hands. 'Right, let's wake these people up.'
3 reached out with his hand, and it started stretching into wool. 'This is dangerous, Doctor, because if I go too far into my true form, the ship will absorb me.'
The Doctor looked at him. 'You know how you told me this was all your fault, and I said not to be stupid, that it wasn't?'
'Yes.'
'Well I lied. It was entirely your fault so, frankly, it's up to you to put it right.'
3 looked at him, and slowly nodded. His woollen form extended, brushing each of the sleeping forms.
Almost instantly, they started to come round.
The Doctor turned to Amy and Rory. 'Get them out of here. Back to somewhere that isn't the Manse, but far away from here.'
'Why?'
'Because if this goes to plan, I'll need this ship to take off pretty quickly. And when it does, it'll take the school, these woods and anything else above the ship with it.'
Rory and Amy started herding the rather confused and woozy Nancy Thirman, Chivers, Marten Heinke and Tom Benson away as fast as possible. 'See you up there,' the Doctor yelled at them.
THE GLAMOUR CHASE
After they'd gone, he turned back to 3. 'This is going to hurt you a lot, isn't it?'
'The ship will try to reabsorb me if I go any further into my own body. But I need to, to wake her up.'
'I need more of you than that. She needs to see you do it, see you get reabsorbed. Because I need this poor old woman to be utterly terrified, shocked.
Sorry.'
3 smiled. 'I know you are.'
And he instantly became Weave, spreading his woollen hands around Mrs Porter's head.
She woke with a start and was about to speak when 3 gave a terrible scream as he was savagely drawn back into the wall of the ship.
As he vanished, Mrs Porter, like any well-bred lady from the rural 1930s just said: 'Young man, kindly tell me what on earth is going on.'
The Doctor stared. 'What? No! Be scared, woman!
Shocked! Amazed! Terrified! Anything! Why aren't you scared?'
'Of what?'
'Oh, blimey, that British stiff upper lip. Well, that was a waste of 3's sacrifice.'
Amy and Rory were helping their three charges stumble through the ship. When they finally reached the rent in the side of the ship, the real Marten Heinke saw the fake Marten Heinke. He punched him.
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And the tableau was broken, as the fake Heinke became Weave historian 41200 and was immediately reabsorbed by the hull of the ship before anyone could speak.
Enola Porter and her team woke up, too, including Walpole Spune, who saw the Weave Heinke vanish and let out a long, terrified scream of fear.
Oliver Marks was kissing his lovely wife Daisy when she vanished. When the whole party vanished.
When the Glamour vanished, leaving him alone in the now empty Manse.
And he remembered everything.
Chapter
17
As the Glamour returned to the ship, the effect was instantaneous. It briefly hovered by Walpole Spune's shaking body for a second but then, as if deciding between his cowardly mind and its natural habitat, it spread itself back into the walls of the ship itself and, within just a few moments, the crew started to re-emerge.
Alive. Well. Safe. And that meant the threat was all over.
Five minutes later, Commander 128, Executive Officer 3 and the rest of the crew were facing the Doctor on the now reassembled bridge.
Enola Porter and her archaeology team were staring in amazement. So were Nancy Thirman, Chivers and Tom Benson.
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The Doctor pulled Amy aside. 'I thought I said get them away from here?'
'The ship hasn't taken off yet.'
'OK, so I may have misjudged that bit, it took longer to put the ship back together now the Glamour has been reabsorbed.' The Doctor looked over to 128. 'By the way, Commander, I can see why the Tahnn wanted it. You think it's a gorgeous high-def 3D cinema, but they saw its potential as a weapon. Remember that when you get home.'
128 smiled sadly. 'I'm not sure we can get home.
The ship can't fly. We have lost three of my crew.
In a normal battle scenario, the ship has enough energy to limp home. But taking off from here, with the thrust it'll need to get us out from underground, without my full complement, it's impossible.'
'I'm not famous, am I, Doctor?' Enola Porter stepped forward. 'In the future I mean?'
'As non-sequiturs go, that's a good one, Enola.
But no, no, you're not, sorry.'
'And I know why.'
'Why?'
'I discovered an alien spaceship. I mean, I should be renowned. But I'm not, which means either I die quite soon after leaving Shalford Heights or something else equally ghastly happens.'
'And your point is?'
'Commander, my name is Enola Porter. I'm an adventuress, explorer and investigator. I know I'm only a human, but if it would help, I'm sure I can 236
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operate some switches or levers. Would my presence aboard your starship help?'
'Probably not,' intervened the Doctor. 'I think you have to be at one with the ship. Made of wool-stuff.'
'Oh.' Enola looked downcast. 'It was worth a try.'
128 shrugged. 'It is worth a try actually. If it fails, you haven't lost anything. If it succeeds...'
'Now hang on,' the Doctor started, but Enola cut him off.
'Thank you, Commander. I would be honoured.'
She looked at her band of archaeologists. 'The other Marten, he told me of wonders, of dreams out there, amongst the stars. And these people need help.
Anyone else game?'
Walpole Spune shook his head. 'Madness, woman, utter madness.'
Christopher Maginn smiled sadly. 'It sounds a great lark, Enola, but no, not me.'
Hamish Ridley and the real Marten Heinke shared a look. Heinke wandered over to Maginn and Walpole. 'Nein.'
But Ridley was looking around the ship. 'Yeah, why not. Customs can't reach me up there in the stars, can they?'
'This is madness,' the Doctor muttered. 'You'll never get back. You'll never see Earth again.'
'Are you sure none of you will join us?' 3 asked the archaeologists. 'We still need someone to replace 6011.'
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'That'll be me, then.' Oliver Marks walked up to the Commander and saluted her. 'If you'll have me, Commander.'
'Oily,' the Doctor nudged him. 'Are you sure?'
'I had a taste of a world with Daisy in, Doctor. It was bloody marvellous, while it lasted, but it wasn't real. I can't ever have my old life back. This? This is an opportunity.'
The Doctor, Amy and Rory looked around the bridge of the Exalted.
'Goodbye and good luck,' the Doctor said and turned and walked away, the other humans following him.
He led them out of the dig tunnel, and away from the school, swiftly catching Nancy Thirman's arm as she tried to get back to her library.
'But my books...'
'Are going to go poof! in about two minutes, Miss Thirman. Possessions aren't worth a life.'
They walked back towards the Manse where the first Mrs Porter and Old John, who was clearly his old, old self again, stood watching. Ever the good servant, despite his long absence, Chivers quickly escorted his mistress into the Manse, while the others stood and watched and waited.
And then, with a sufficiently loud bang, the school vanished completely, taking most of the grounds with it a
s the Weave ship successfully roared away from Earth and out into space.
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'It worked,' Rory said.
'I didn't expect it to, I have to say,' the Doctor grinned. 'Nice to know there are still a few surprises left in the universe.'
They all stood outside the Manse, looking down the road towards the crater where the school had once stood.
'Wow,' said Amy. 'That's a big hole.'
Rory laughed but stopped as they heard a cry from the Manse behind them.
As the group turned, they saw Nancy Thirman was on the ground, Old John collapsed before her, his head resting in her lap, looking up at her.
A tear ran down his cheek as they came over.
'I'm sorry, Doctor,' he said. 'So sorry. I can't move.'
'I half-expected to see you at the ship, with 011y,'
the Doctor smiled. 'You could have seen what you held guardianship over for all these years.'
'And meet my Gods? Face to face. No. No, thank you.'
'Not Gods, John. Just people. Like you and me.'
'One thing I have learned in my long life, Doctor.
Never meet your heroes or gods. They often turn out to have feet of clay.'
'Or,' Amy smiled at him, 'in this case, feet of wool.'
'John,' the Doctor said, taking his hand as he knelt down. 'John, by being guardian to that ship, you helped saved us all. The people of Shalford Heights DOCTOR WHO
have their lives back. And being Great and British, they'll soon get over this. Forget it ever happened.
Rewrite their personal history, claim it was all a bad dream or a collective hallucination. Or something.
Whatever. But the important thing is, we all owe our lives in no small part to you.'
Old John smiled. 'Six thousand or so years, and finally, it's over. They've gone home at last.'
'And you protected them so well all that time,'
said Rory.
The Doctor smiled. 'I envy you all that knowledge you accumulated over the centuries. And I admire the secrets that you've kept.'
'You'll be fine,' Amy added, but Old John's body convulsed. She looked at the Doctor.
'The Weave ship is leaving our atmosphere,' he said.
'And without it, so goes the magic. The Sky Gods are taking back their magic.'
'Now, John, I told you - they're not gods.' The Doctor stroked his hair, gently.
Old John laughed then coughed. 'Ah, but I choose not to agree, Doctor. They were my gods. They gave me life, purpose. Immortality even. And they thanked me. As they took off on their new journey, I heard them.' Old John smiled at that. 'They said,
"Thank you, Owain, son of Wulf".'
And he was dead, the smile still on his lips.
Chapter
18
No one said very much till they were a few metres from the TARDIS, in the sheep field where they'd first landed.
'Rory' The Doctor stopped suddenly. 'What's up?'
'Is that it, Doctor? We came here, something huge happened, people died, people lost their homes, everything they believed in. And we just walk away? Is that how it goes?'
The Doctor fiddled with his bow tie, a sure sign he was feeling awkward. 'It's how life, the universe works, Rory. If we stayed behind after everything we do, we could end up spending days, weeks, years trying to help one community, one world rebuild. But I have to move on, otherwise another 241
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world might fall under the oppressors. We've done all we can here. We need to go.'
Rory nodded. He understood. 'Yeah I know.
There's nothing we can do to bring them back.' He sighed. 'I'm also thinking about Oliver Marks and what post-traumatic stress disorder did to him, and how back in 2010 I could at least give people like him some understanding. There are people stuck here in 1936, after everything that's happened, who will suffer in silence for years. Unable to understand what is wrong with them. Every time they hear a loud bang, or feel a tremor, or hear something in the sky. Or see a ball of wretched knitting wool.'
The Doctor interrupted and hugged Rory very, very tightly indeed, then kissed him on the forehead.
'Keep that in your head, Rory. Always. I need that compassion, that point of view around me. Because sometimes I forget that I've been doing all this for so long, that there are consequences.' He pulled away, leaving Rory rather stunned at this public display of affection.
The Doctor looked at Amy. 'He's a keeper, this one.'
'I know,' Amy said. 'That's why I'm marrying him in about seventy-five years' time.'
The Doctor smiled at his two companions. Then stopped. 'Blimey, this is all a bit touchy-feely isn't it?'
He clapped his hands together. 'Come on, TARDIS
time, quick bath and then on to Rio.'
'Rio? Yeah, right,' said Amy. 'Like that's ever THE GLAMOUR CHASE
gonna happen.'
'Oh ye of little faith,' said the Doctor and promptly vanished from sight.
Rory and Amy scurried over and realised he'd fallen down the same hillock and landed in the same sheep dip.
Baaaa said a sheep.
'Oh, shut up,' said the Doctor crossly.
Rory cracked a smile and then suddenly kissed Amy on the lips. After a moment he started to break away, but she pulled him closer for a few more seconds, then broke away herself.
'What was that for?'
He shrugged. 'Cos I love you. Cos despite what I just said, I do love all this stuff with him-in-the-sheep-dip down there.'
'Well,' said Amy. 'Let's stick at it for a bit longer.
And then we can spend the rest of our lives together, with all these memories, good and bad.'
Rory grinned. 'I like that idea. I like it a lot.
Building memories together. Brilliant.'
A bedraggled, wet, smelly Doctor hauled himself up to the TARDIS, opened the door and stomped in.
'And that,' Amy said as they followed him in, 'is a sight neither of us will ever forget.'
Seconds later, a flock of startled sheep began to run away, as the TARDIS noisily and windily left Norfolk behind and went somewhere else entirely.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Justin, Steve and Lee for their patience.
To Oli, David, Brian and Una for being inspirational.
To Scott, Phil, E Ò ghann and Tony for the essential road trips.
To Shaun, Robbie and everyone for further inspiration at Gallifrey One.
Most of all, to Mark for the important, frank and honest discussions about PTSD. Oh and a fab swimming pool!
Coming soon from BBC Audiobooks: The Hounds of Artemis
by James Goss
When the TARDIS arrives in Smyrna in 1929, the Doctor and Amy find themselves in the middle of an archaeological dig. Soon a terrible chain of events is set in motion, and the Doctor is confronted with an ancient evil...
The Ring of Steel
by Stephen Cole
On Orkney in the near future, the construction of dozens of new electricity pylons is met with local resistance.
Just as the Doctor and Amy arrive, the protestors are terrified to see the pylons come to life and begin to walk...
Available on CD from www.bbcshop.com and all good booksel ers. Pre-order your copy now!
Also available to download from www.bbcaudiozone.com and other audio digital retailers.
Available now from BBC Books:
Apollo 23
by Justin Richards
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07200 0
An astronaut in full spacesuit appears out of thin air in a busy shopping centre. Maybe it's a publicity stunt.
A photo shows a well-dressed woman in a red coat lying dead at the edge of a crater on the dark side of the moon — beside her beloved dog 'Poochie'. Maybe it's a hoax.
But, as the Doctor and Amy find out, these are just minor events in a sinister plan to take over every human being on Earth. The plot centres on a
secret military base on the moon — that's where Amy and the TARDIS are.
The Doctor is back on Earth, and without the TARDIS
there's no way he can get to the moon to save Amy and defeat the aliens.
Or is there? The Doctor discovers one last great secret that could save humanity: Apollo 23.
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Available now from BBC Books:
Night of the Humans
by David Llewellyn
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07969 6
250,000 years' worth of junk floating in deep space, home to the shipwrecked Sittuun, the carnivorous Sollogs, and worst of all — the Humans.
The Doctor and Amy arrive on this terrifying world in the middle of an all-out frontier war between Sittuun and Humans, and the countdown has already started.
There's a comet in the sky, and it's on a collision course with the Gyre...
When the Doctor is kidnapped, it's up to Amy and
'galaxy-famous swashbuckler' Dirk Slipstream to save the day.
But who is Slipstream, exactly? And what is he really doing here?
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Available now from BBC Books:
The Forgot en Army
by Brian Minchin
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07987 0
New York — one of the greatest cities on 21st-century Earth... But what's going on in the Museum? And is that really a Woolly Mammoth rampaging down Broadway?
An ordinary day becomes a time of terror, as the Doctor and Amy meet a new and deadly enemy. The vicious Army of the Vykoid are armed to the teeth and determined to enslave the human race. Even though they're only seven centimetres high.
With the Vykoid army swarming across Manhattan and sealing it from the world with a powerful alien force field, Amy has just 24 hours to find the Doctor and save the city. If she doesn't, the people of Manhattan will be taken to work in the doomed asteroid mines of the Vykoid home planet.
