You will probably want to read the Introduction before you start.
Prologue
“Ancient Olympia!”
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS as the heat hit them suddenly. Autumn resented the dress the Doctor had made her wear, feeling herself sweating inside it already.
“Why do I have to wear this thing?”
“Because you’re the Priestess of Demeter Chamyne, otherwise you’re not allowed at the Games unless you’re single.”
“I am single…”
“Yes, and you’re just walking around with a dashing gentleman like myself.” The Doctor adjusted his tunic, getting used to the sense of freedom he had, though it was heavy on his shoulders. “Trust me, it’s better this way. What do you think?”
Autumn took a proper look at the panorama. It was spectacular – ancient temples, shining and populated; not the crumbling and dead victims of archaeology she was used to in her future. The same could be said for the shrubbery; patches of vivid green were dotted between the buildings, somehow thriving in this desert environment.
The TARDIS had made a mundane entrance in comparison to the others. Stately barges glided down a river, all swirling gold insignia, and on the path godly-looking men rode chariots around the outside of the Altis. Others simply walked, obviously exhausted. Their faces were soot-stained, their foreheads clammy.
“They really know how to make an entrance here.”
“The Olympic Truce,” explained the Doctor. “It guaranteed all travellers, rich or poor, a safe journey. All conflicts were averted for this moment of complete union.” He covered the sun so that he could admire the lavishness of the Altis. “Not just sports, Autumn. The Olympic Games were a celebration of art, poetry… of culture, religion, peace…”
“…sexism?” interrupted Autumn, clearly unimpressed.
“The women had their own Games too.”
Autumn tried to imagine competing with other women and was reminded of school PE lessons. Everyone else, apathetic, while she watched the boys at the other end of the field participating in what looked like an act of war, and had the strangest urge to join them. Strength was not everything. It was all about applying pressure in the right places. Though, she was told, that went a little beyond sport.
“Saying that,” continued the Doctor, doubting himself, “Sparta… no, they still didn’t really like Sparta. Excluded them a few times. How well do you know Earth history?”
“Quite well. Earth was practically the Promised Land where I came from.”
The Doctor nodded, understanding. He knew how easy it was to love the planet.
“But we’re not just sightseeing, are we?” asked Autumn, adding: “I’d almost be disappointed if we were.”
The Doctor smiled unconvincingly. “The Hunters are here, somewhere… we shouldn’t have given them that head-start.”
“You’re right, we shouldn’t.” Autumn watched the men entering the Altis. She was sure the Ancient Greeks would be better-looking, but they were all either overweight, bearded or bald. “That really wasn’t our finest act of sportsmanship, was it?”
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS as the heat hit them suddenly. Autumn resented the dress the Doctor had made her wear, feeling herself sweating inside it already.
“Why do I have to wear this thing?”
“Because you’re the Priestess of Demeter Chamyne, otherwise you’re not allowed at the Games unless you’re single.”
“I am single…”
“Yes, and you’re just walking around with a dashing gentleman like myself.” The Doctor adjusted his tunic, getting used to the sense of freedom he had, though it was heavy on his shoulders. “Trust me, it’s better this way. What do you think?”
Autumn took a proper look at the panorama. It was spectacular – ancient temples, shining and populated; not the crumbling and dead victims of archaeology she was used to in her future. The same could be said for the shrubbery; patches of vivid green were dotted between the buildings, somehow thriving in this desert environment.
The TARDIS had made a mundane entrance in comparison to the others. Stately barges glided down a river, all swirling gold insignia, and on the path godly-looking men rode chariots around the outside of the Altis. Others simply walked, obviously exhausted. Their faces were soot-stained, their foreheads clammy.
“They really know how to make an entrance here.”
“The Olympic Truce,” explained the Doctor. “It guaranteed all travellers, rich or poor, a safe journey. All conflicts were averted for this moment of complete union.” He covered the sun so that he could admire the lavishness of the Altis. “Not just sports, Autumn. The Olympic Games were a celebration of art, poetry… of culture, religion, peace…”
“…sexism?” interrupted Autumn, clearly unimpressed.
“The women had their own Games too.”
Autumn tried to imagine competing with other women and was reminded of school PE lessons. Everyone else, apathetic, while she watched the boys at the other end of the field participating in what looked like an act of war, and had the strangest urge to join them. Strength was not everything. It was all about applying pressure in the right places. Though, she was told, that went a little beyond sport.
“Saying that,” continued the Doctor, doubting himself, “Sparta… no, they still didn’t really like Sparta. Excluded them a few times. How well do you know Earth history?”
“Quite well. Earth was practically the Promised Land where I came from.”
The Doctor nodded, understanding. He knew how easy it was to love the planet.
“But we’re not just sightseeing, are we?” asked Autumn, adding: “I’d almost be disappointed if we were.”
The Doctor smiled unconvincingly. “The Hunters are here, somewhere… we shouldn’t have given them that head-start.”
“You’re right, we shouldn’t.” Autumn watched the men entering the Altis. She was sure the Ancient Greeks would be better-looking, but they were all either overweight, bearded or bald. “That really wasn’t our finest act of sportsmanship, was it?”
The Eighth Doctor Adventures
Series 1 - Episode 8
The Anger Games
Written by The Genie
The Doctor and Autumn slept under the stars like the other visitors. There were hundreds of them, so at one with nature. No phones out, tweeting about it, though Autumn kept her sonic blaster in a concealed pocket.
The stars were so bright, gathered around a crescent moon with the odd patches of cloud. Autumn found the moon fascinating. It was so small. Back home, there were other planets in the sky, of stranger shapes and greater sizes.
“Why haven’t we found them?” she asked, laying back and getting comfortable.
“I don’t know.” The Doctor fidgeted next to her. He hated waiting, but Olympia was as good a place as any. “We gave them a head-start. They should be here. They should be detectable. Let’s give it until tomorrow.”
“And they’ll want to kill us, of course?”
“Oh, of course.” The Doctor smiled mischievously. “Who wouldn’t?”
“Have I been forgiven for Professor Ricker yet?” Autumn dared to ask.
“It depends if you’re sorry.”
“I’ll take that as a no then,” she whispered. “It’s fine. You’re a pacifist. I get that.”
“And you were a woman of the law once. What happened?”
“I did something unthinkable for the good of the people I loved.” She stared pensively into the Doctor’s eyes. The Doctor tried, and failed, to understand hers. “This is the condition, Doctor. I travel with you. I learn from you. I save your life and I open your mind. But if I’m to do that, you allow me my beliefs and my way of life. And you don’t ask questions about a sentence I’ve already served. Okay?”
“Yes,” the Doctor murmured. “That’s fair enough.”
***
When morning came, the Doctor dragged Autumn into the Altis, to the most impressive temple, placing a metal strap on a chain around her neck, which, he explained, enabled a perception filter.
The temple had, Autumn estimated, at least thirty enormous columns, and even more marble water-spouts, shaped as lion-heads. A gable depicted mythical battles, bringing the temple to life, but the Doctor was keener to take Autumn inside.
She soon understood why. The inside of the temple was like stepping onto Olympus itself. The light from outside now radiated onto the columns, which reflected it into the centre, shining on the marble floor. And at the end of the temple, a giant golden statue, about forty feet tall, presided over a pool of olive oil where the contestants gathered. The Doctor and Autumn kept back, but it was easy enough to see the statue. The thing was like an actual god, sitting over, almost watching them. They felt its eyes on them, and the sense of discomfort nearly overpowered their logic.
“The Statue of Zeus,” whispered the Doctor, holding out his arm. “One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Completely hollow, believe it or not.”
Autumn noticed that the light seemed to almost curve inwards, sucked up by the statue.
“It survived seven hundred years, but it was destroyed in a fire in Istanbul.”
“You mean they moved that thing?”
“They tried to move it even earlier. Caligula wanted to take it to Rome, but the people who were supposed to be moving it stopped and ran away. They thought they made Zeus angry, whereas in reality, it was just the sound of the wooden beams which supported it. A colony of mice lived inside.”
Autumn chuckled at their ignorance. “Why are we here again?”
“I just thought I’d show you. They’re making an oath, competitors and trainers. That’s how seriously they took the Games. Anyway, we’re going now.”
“What? But the Hunters-“
“Just a day ahead, but they’re not here. Maybe we miscalculated and ended up arriving early. Not a bad thing. Plus, we can arrive in time for the Chariot Races.”
***
Crowds gathered in the hippodrome, preventing any chance of being able to appreciate the architecture. The Doctor and Autumn left the necklaces back in the TARDIS, choosing to leave the perception filter again and become a part of history.
The charioteers were aligned in a triangle formation, like the prow of a ship. At the tip of the beak was a bronze dolphin on a rod; on the other side, an altar, with the statue of an eagle, like the dolphin. Suddenly, the eagle soared up into view, and the dolphin fell to the ground. The crowd gasped but remained calm. Autumn frowned, but the Doctor reassured her. It was all part of the mechanism.
The ropes holding back the charioteers were released, and the horses at the furthest ends of the prow started to gallop, the next ones moving when they became neck-and-neck. It was a perfectly-timed contraption that, Autumn thought, the people of her world would struggle to beat.
The sounds of the galloping horses and moving chariots competed with the sound of the crowds, but to the Doctor, everything was silent except for a sinister buzzing. He knew the feeling – a tangible shuffling sensation at the back of his mind.
There was another Time Lord here.
He looked up to see if he could recognise the source of the sound, and a man in his own box looked back, directly at him. The sensation weakened as they became aware of each other’s presences. The other man – a well-built, bearded man who looked like an emperor – glared back. The Doctor wondered if he’d done something wrong.
“Stay here,” instructed the Doctor to Autumn, then remembered who she was. “Actually… do whatever you like. Explore if you want. Just be careful.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to ask the Time Lord up there what he’s doing at the heart of fixed time.”
***
The Time Lord turned around. He could hear the Doctor perfectly over the clamour, even if they spoke at a whisper. The Time Lords never quite understood how this worked, but put it down to psychic communication.
“I’m the Doctor,” said the Doctor, offering a handshake.
“Ares.”
“Ares?” The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “The Ancient Greek God of War.”
“A strategist.”
“No, no…” The Doctor shook his head. “You got that wrong. Ares was the one who always lost. Athene was the strategist. You were a symbol of violence.”
Ares smirked. “And you; a doctor? But with knowledge beyond this time, I think. You’re overqualified. What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same.”
“No.” Ares’ smile faded into an intimidating no-nonsense look. “This is my patch. What are you doing here?”
“Your patch?” The Doctor chuckled. “What do you think this is?”
“You think I am the first Time Lord to come here? This species have set up their own system of gods. We can step in and out whenever we so desire, and be whomever we chose to be.”
“And you can get them to do anything you like.” The Doctor nodded, understanding but not approving. “Contravening our principle law.”
“I’m not changing time. I’m simply becoming a part of it.”
“You said so yourself, there are more Time Lords here in more civilisations, all at war with each other after the Olympic Truce. That’s competition. Anger games.”
“Anger games?” Ares laughed raucously. “I think the phrase you might be looking for is Power Games.”
“They’re the same thing.”
“How so?”
“Power is about anger,” retorted the Doctor, contemptuously. “You want to be better than others and they want to be better than you. There can only be one winner at one time, and the other party is angrier. They aspire for more, then you’re angrier still.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“You’re right, it isn’t. It’s a cocktail of emotions. Competition, greed, humour, intrigue. But that’s how wars start, Ares. Wars that we should not be a part of.”
“There is always a gain to be made in war. Can you really blame me for exploiting it? Are you really going to bring morality into the battlefield?”
“You might be the God of War, Ares, but I’m the Lord of Time. And mark my words, time always ends wars.”
“We’re all Lords of Time. Both together are powerful.” He paused, watching the chariots completing their third lap. “You spoke of the Olympic Truce, Doctor. You’re familiar with the traditions of this time?”
“I’ve read about them,” lied the Doctor.
“Then answer me this. This afternoon, those athletes will be taking part in the long jump. But when they jump, they hold a weight in each hand. Why?”
“The weight propels them forward; gives them extra momentum, takes them further.”
“No.”
“The weight is a challenge, designed to make the competition harder.”
“No.”
“Okay… why?”
“Because when those very men go out to war and jump over whole rivers, they’ll be carrying things with them. It’s not just a challenge, Doctor. It’s a simulation. All around you is a world preparing for war. The Truce? That’s just a façade. I call myself the God of War because I can recognise that in the world, and I recognised that back on Gallifrey, too. The tension before war. That’s why I left, and I sense why you’ve been distancing yourself too. I’m happy to make you a place here, but Olympia is mine. At least tell me your business.”
“You’re not going to like it,” warned the Doctor.
“Go on.”
“The Hunters of Andromeda.”
Ares shuddered. “I hope you’ve got a twisted sense of humour.”
“They’re here. Right here, right now.”
***
Autumn snuck out of the hippodrome. A group of men gathered outside, helping up a woman garbed in the same long dress as Autumn.
“Priestess,” said one of the men. “It’s wonderful to see you back on your feet again, after such a miraculous recovery. The gods truly are on your-“
He stopped, as he looked up and saw Autumn. The Priestess glared and Autumn gulped.
“I’m single!” Autumn exclaimed, sounding a little more like an advertisement than she’d hoped.
“No – I saw you with that man earlier, and assumed you were the Priestess.” The man stood up, a few inches taller than Autumn. “I think you are a liar, and an affront to the rites of fertility. You are a married woman at the Games, and for such an act of blasphemy, you shall be put to death.”
***
“I can’t detect them.” The Doctor passed his sonic screwdriver to Ares. “Have you got anything better?”
“No, but I can tell you that they are here. Events in Olympia have been strange recently, almost as if fate has played his hand. A shift in the workings of physics is a typical effect of the Hunters’ presence, considering they manipulate their surroundings. Even the Priestess’ recovery from illness was remarkable.”
“Her what?” The Doctor turned and ran.
***
Autumn pulled out her blaster, holding it up at the men who didn’t even retaliate. She realised they didn’t recognise the shape of a gun.
“I’m warning you,” she hissed. “You aren’t throwing me off any cliffs.”
“You have no means of stopping us.” The man grabbed Autumn’s other arm.
“You’ve got three seconds to let go before I kill you,” she uttered.
The man sneered.
“Three… two…”
A glimmer of doubt lingered for a moment, and he turned back to his friends. Their laughter erased the one niggling feeling that could have saved his life.
“One.” Autumn fired, and the man disintegrated into a puff of smoke and fire.
One of the other men turned and tried to escape, but tripped over. Two of the others – wiser, Autumn thought – crouched down and supplicated at her feet. “Forgive us,” pleaded one. “We did not know that you were one of the gods.”
The other dared to look up, inspecting Autumn’s features closer; the shape of them, her poise, and those distinguishable blue eyes.
“Goddess Athene?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” muttered the other one, jabbing his friend in the ribcage with an elbow. “She looks nothing like Athene.”
“She looks exactly like the real Athene – the one spoken about in the lost scrolls of Odysseus. I recall the description to this day. It is her.” He spoke up. “Great Goddess, we are sorry for the trouble we have caused you, but may we ask your business with us? Would you like us to take you to the entrance of the Underworld?”
“The Underworld?” Autumn tried to mask her surprise. “Yes, take me at once. And when you return, you are to shave your face.” She imagined the young man clean-shaven. Maybe Ancient Greeks did have the capacity to be attractive, after all.
“The Gods frequently contact us,” explained the man, leading Autumn into a smaller temple at the back of the Altis. “We discovered this entrance to the Underworld some time ago. Hades has never emerged, but we often sense his presence.”
“Thank you…”
“…Pausanias.”
“Thank you, Pausanias.” She began to journey down the wooden steps towards the light of the fire below. “I can make my own way from here.”
***
“Where is she?” asked the Doctor, searching the exterior of the Hippodrome.
“Are you looking for Athene?” enquired Pausanias, calmly returning. “She headed downwards to the Underworld.”
“Athene…” mused the Doctor. “Yes, I think I probably am.” He decided to go back to the hippodrome. Surely Ares would know all the answers.
***
The Underworld was an enormous cavern, miles long and about twenty metres wide, with natural archways leading into other places. Fervent fires burned sporadically in corners and on ridges, but Autumn sensed it was almost too warm, too ambient, to completely call hell. It would have seemed a natural phenomenon, were it not for the torches on the walls, and the boat sailing along the lava-coloured water, on which a scruffy old man sat, a hood covering the top part of his face. He held out a hand. Autumn used her blaster to push the hood off his head, and he understood what her being there meant.
“Set sail, Captain,” commanded Autumn.
The little wooden boat took Autumn a couple of kilometres, and she admired the small passageways and rivulets it took her through. Patches of darkness became more frequent and longer-lasting. When it stopped, she gathered the man’s silence meant that she’d arrived, and was about to meet Hades – whoever that was. Perhaps he was a Time Lord too. Autumn wondered what secrets the Doctor was hiding, and what plans he was discussing with the other member of his species he’d encountered. One day she’d get him to take her to his home planet. One day.
Autumn stepped off, keeping her balance, and walked through the archway. It had to have been designed – it was like a corridor, now. Eventually, the archway took her into a darkened room, lit a moonlight-blue. Sculptures hung on the wall, and Autumn was started by a figure standing in the centre of the room.
The figure was female; veiled, in a black, glittery dress. She turned to face Autumn, lowering the veil. She had a pale beauty and striking ruby hair, making you somehow want to know more about her. Her beauty was like that of a futuristic mannequin. She was out of place, and Autumn figured, probably felt the same in her own time.
“Who are you?” she asked. She had an accent, perhaps European, but Autumn wasn’t experienced enough with Earth accents to place it. “Why are you here?”
Autumn raised her blaster. It was becoming her new means of identification. “I could ask you the same thing. What’s going on here? Do you know about the Hunters?”
“The Hunters of Andromeda?”
“Yes…” Autumn tried to figure out whether her knowing straight away was a good or bad thing.
“Of course I do. I’m here to kill them. Lily-Rose,” she said, introducing herself. “I’m part of the Order of St Ava. I’m a missionary – and my mission is to wipe the Hunters of Andromeda out.”
“You’re a… nun?”
“I do believe that’s one term for it, yes.”
“And you’ve got the equipment to kill them?”
“I have ideas, and I have this place.”
“Then you’re exactly what we need. Lily-Rose, I’m taking you to meet a friend of mine. He’s called the Doctor.”
***
“The Underworld? I know nothing of it.” Ares secured his armour – preparation for a battle. “But the Hunters must be here.”
“I’m using the sonic to detect them, Ares, the sonic works on everything!” The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, then stopped still. “Everything except… oh, no…”
“What? Doctor, what is it?”
The Doctor swallowed. “Everything except wood.”
Ares realised. “The wooden beams! The statue of Zeus!”
“Forty-two feet of space to hide in, and the most sacred place in civilisation.” The Doctor shivered. “Caligula’s men were right. It wasn’t mice. The Hunters have been here a long time, and they’ve found themselves their very own Trojan horse.”
A shadow appeared over the stadium, and the Doctor zoned out of the conversation with Ares to hear the crowds. They were screaming. The Doctor lost his balance as the ground shook beneath him, and looking up, saw the Statue of Zeus towering above them, alive and furious.
“That’s impossible!” bellowed Ares.
“Look closely at the forehead!” urged the Doctor. “See that box? It’s an enabler. It allows the Hunters to alter the physical structure of the statue. They’re inside, piloting it, and it’s become like elastic. They’re wearing it.”
“The Emperor’s New Clothes…”
The Doctor ran down the staircase, Ares following behind, and onto the racetrack, where the younger horses were hurtling into each other. Ares leapt onto a chariot, throwing the charioteer aside, unharmed. “We’re commandeering a vehicle! Come on, Doctor!”
The Doctor climbed aboard, and Ares directed the chariot through the entrance to the hippodrome, narrowly missing a post. Once outside, they were at the foot of the statue. The statue lobbed a rock thunderbolt at them and it smashed on the ground. Ares swerved to avoid the debris, and the chariot swung right, nearly losing balance.
“We need to get as far away from that thing as we can!”
The Doctor agreed, fastening the reins. The statue stomped towards them. A crack emerged in the ground, and a wheel dipped in, weakening the chariot. The Doctor fell as it tipped, hanging off the side. The ground was inches away from his face, and he could nearly feel the friction.
If I make contact with it…
He pulled himself up, balancing out the chariot again, but the statue was getting closer. The foot would crush them. Ares took a gamble. Faster…
Faster…
The foot grew closer, its shadow looming over the chariot, and Ares jerked the reins. The chariot juddered to a halt, and the Doctor hit the back of the chariot as the statue stumbled over them. The Doctor and Ares both leapt out the chariot and ran backwards, making the most of the time the statue needed to turn around.
“Doctor!” Autumn approached the Doctor, priming her blaster, Lily-Rose behind. The Doctor shot Autumn a confused look which she cast aside.
“I need to get up there and hit the enabler,” said the Doctor, scanning for the TARDIS. It was about a kilometre away.
“No, you don’t.” Ares darted off into a temple, leaving the Doctor exasperated. The statue was heading their way again. In less than a minute, they’d be crushed.
“Lily-Rose,” yelled Autumn, “now’s a time for one of those ideas you’ve been thinking up!”
“I could try and blast it, but from here? I don’t think my aim…”
Her words trailed off as a young, handsome clean-shaven man randomly appeared next to them, apparently with some kind of intent.
“Pausanias?” exclaimed Autumn. “What are you going here?”
“It’s nearly afternoon – I’m practising for the pentathlon.” Autumn ducked as he lifted a javelin and stepped back, taking a run-up and launching it into the air. A leather thong on the javelin unfastened as it spun upwards, keeping it precisely on track.
It was higher than Autumn had imagined possible – just passing the neck, and only inches from bouncing off the face.
But the tip was headed in another direction, as, impossibly, it hit the enabler. The statue stopped still, and could have passed for being an ordinary statue, until its gold colouring faded, and the ivory started to crack. The shell crumbled to the ground, and a strange mass of shadows moved over the undergrowth. The Hunters had left – and they were moving on again.
“I didn’t know you could throw!”
“Neither did I!” added the Doctor. “I thought Pausanias was a travel writer…”
Autumn rolled her eyes. “There can be more than one Pausanias.”
“I see why you asked me to shave now,” said Pausanias. “It must have been a sign to the gods, so that they knew you were acting in my favour.”
The Doctor looked awkwardly at Autumn.
“Don’t,” she hissed, trying not to laugh.
Ares watched the rubble drift across the ground with a solemn expression and a defeated stance. The God of War looked like he had lost.
“They were Anger Games, if ever I saw them. Those things really do hate you, Doctor…” he patted the Doctor on the shoulder. “And now we truly have broken the principle law. We’ve changed history irreparably. A fixed point, in fact. We’ll be put to death.”
“Not necessarily,” suggested the Doctor. “Remember why you’re in charge. Maybe power is different to anger, after all. Maybe power gives you the ability to shape history without anyone knowing you’re doing it.”
***
The crowds gathered silently in front of Ares and Autumn. Autumn had changed to another dress, and wore golden armour across her chest and a heavy crown on her head. She suited royal attire, Ares thought.
“Athene, the strategist, and I, the fighter, have fought today against unthinkable evil!” declared Ares. “In the process, a statue of Zeus, our father, was smashed. But Zeus himself still reigns on high, and deserves our respect. The events of today were terrible, but they are to be forgotten.” He cleared his throat, gesturing for Autumn to give the order.
“You are not to keep record of today or its events!” ordered Autumn. “You are to build a new statue, unbeknownst to the other city states, and reconstruct the temple. Ares and I shall return to Mount Olympus, but we will leave you with this man.” Autumn brought forward Pausanias. “He is a man of divine influence, and will dictate decisions from here. But none of these changes will be made record of. History will continue as originally intended.”
“Athene, I am grateful,” whispered Pausanias, “but are you sure? I nearly agreed to take your life.”
“Yes, I know,” answered Autumn, “but you look really good without that beard, and if more Greeks try to look like you…”
***
“I shall bid you farewell,” said Ares, nodding to the Doctor. “I think perhaps it is time to let another make subtle commands. Pausanias seems like a wise man. I could leave. Although, Gallifrey may not be the place for me anymore. And you, Doctor?”
“Me neither,” the Doctor replied. “I don’t think you need to control people, Ares. You’ve got enough of a gift with your own abilities, eh? Prove how good you are on your own.”
“Yes.” Ares laughed. “Yes, I think so. I’ve learnt a great many lessons today, from you, Doctor, and from you, Athene.” He smiled politely at Autumn.
“Athene…” she repeated it. “Athene. I quite like that name.”
“I’m not letting you call yourself the Goddess of Wisdom,” declared the Doctor. “And then there’s you, Lily-Rose.”
Lily-Rose held up a box. Her veil was over her face again, mystery restored. “I’ve got this. Equipment we can use against the Hunters. If we work together, we might be able to defeat them. It is our duty.”
“Duty, yes,” agreed the Doctor. “There really is war all over the place, and it’s the job of the unfortunate ones to bring peace, whatever the cost. Make the most of the Olympic Truce, Ares,” warned the Doctor, opening the TARDIS doors. “Difficult days are coming.” He turned away and spoke to himself. “For you and me both…”
The stars were so bright, gathered around a crescent moon with the odd patches of cloud. Autumn found the moon fascinating. It was so small. Back home, there were other planets in the sky, of stranger shapes and greater sizes.
“Why haven’t we found them?” she asked, laying back and getting comfortable.
“I don’t know.” The Doctor fidgeted next to her. He hated waiting, but Olympia was as good a place as any. “We gave them a head-start. They should be here. They should be detectable. Let’s give it until tomorrow.”
“And they’ll want to kill us, of course?”
“Oh, of course.” The Doctor smiled mischievously. “Who wouldn’t?”
“Have I been forgiven for Professor Ricker yet?” Autumn dared to ask.
“It depends if you’re sorry.”
“I’ll take that as a no then,” she whispered. “It’s fine. You’re a pacifist. I get that.”
“And you were a woman of the law once. What happened?”
“I did something unthinkable for the good of the people I loved.” She stared pensively into the Doctor’s eyes. The Doctor tried, and failed, to understand hers. “This is the condition, Doctor. I travel with you. I learn from you. I save your life and I open your mind. But if I’m to do that, you allow me my beliefs and my way of life. And you don’t ask questions about a sentence I’ve already served. Okay?”
“Yes,” the Doctor murmured. “That’s fair enough.”
***
When morning came, the Doctor dragged Autumn into the Altis, to the most impressive temple, placing a metal strap on a chain around her neck, which, he explained, enabled a perception filter.
The temple had, Autumn estimated, at least thirty enormous columns, and even more marble water-spouts, shaped as lion-heads. A gable depicted mythical battles, bringing the temple to life, but the Doctor was keener to take Autumn inside.
She soon understood why. The inside of the temple was like stepping onto Olympus itself. The light from outside now radiated onto the columns, which reflected it into the centre, shining on the marble floor. And at the end of the temple, a giant golden statue, about forty feet tall, presided over a pool of olive oil where the contestants gathered. The Doctor and Autumn kept back, but it was easy enough to see the statue. The thing was like an actual god, sitting over, almost watching them. They felt its eyes on them, and the sense of discomfort nearly overpowered their logic.
“The Statue of Zeus,” whispered the Doctor, holding out his arm. “One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Completely hollow, believe it or not.”
Autumn noticed that the light seemed to almost curve inwards, sucked up by the statue.
“It survived seven hundred years, but it was destroyed in a fire in Istanbul.”
“You mean they moved that thing?”
“They tried to move it even earlier. Caligula wanted to take it to Rome, but the people who were supposed to be moving it stopped and ran away. They thought they made Zeus angry, whereas in reality, it was just the sound of the wooden beams which supported it. A colony of mice lived inside.”
Autumn chuckled at their ignorance. “Why are we here again?”
“I just thought I’d show you. They’re making an oath, competitors and trainers. That’s how seriously they took the Games. Anyway, we’re going now.”
“What? But the Hunters-“
“Just a day ahead, but they’re not here. Maybe we miscalculated and ended up arriving early. Not a bad thing. Plus, we can arrive in time for the Chariot Races.”
***
Crowds gathered in the hippodrome, preventing any chance of being able to appreciate the architecture. The Doctor and Autumn left the necklaces back in the TARDIS, choosing to leave the perception filter again and become a part of history.
The charioteers were aligned in a triangle formation, like the prow of a ship. At the tip of the beak was a bronze dolphin on a rod; on the other side, an altar, with the statue of an eagle, like the dolphin. Suddenly, the eagle soared up into view, and the dolphin fell to the ground. The crowd gasped but remained calm. Autumn frowned, but the Doctor reassured her. It was all part of the mechanism.
The ropes holding back the charioteers were released, and the horses at the furthest ends of the prow started to gallop, the next ones moving when they became neck-and-neck. It was a perfectly-timed contraption that, Autumn thought, the people of her world would struggle to beat.
The sounds of the galloping horses and moving chariots competed with the sound of the crowds, but to the Doctor, everything was silent except for a sinister buzzing. He knew the feeling – a tangible shuffling sensation at the back of his mind.
There was another Time Lord here.
He looked up to see if he could recognise the source of the sound, and a man in his own box looked back, directly at him. The sensation weakened as they became aware of each other’s presences. The other man – a well-built, bearded man who looked like an emperor – glared back. The Doctor wondered if he’d done something wrong.
“Stay here,” instructed the Doctor to Autumn, then remembered who she was. “Actually… do whatever you like. Explore if you want. Just be careful.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to ask the Time Lord up there what he’s doing at the heart of fixed time.”
***
The Time Lord turned around. He could hear the Doctor perfectly over the clamour, even if they spoke at a whisper. The Time Lords never quite understood how this worked, but put it down to psychic communication.
“I’m the Doctor,” said the Doctor, offering a handshake.
“Ares.”
“Ares?” The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “The Ancient Greek God of War.”
“A strategist.”
“No, no…” The Doctor shook his head. “You got that wrong. Ares was the one who always lost. Athene was the strategist. You were a symbol of violence.”
Ares smirked. “And you; a doctor? But with knowledge beyond this time, I think. You’re overqualified. What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same.”
“No.” Ares’ smile faded into an intimidating no-nonsense look. “This is my patch. What are you doing here?”
“Your patch?” The Doctor chuckled. “What do you think this is?”
“You think I am the first Time Lord to come here? This species have set up their own system of gods. We can step in and out whenever we so desire, and be whomever we chose to be.”
“And you can get them to do anything you like.” The Doctor nodded, understanding but not approving. “Contravening our principle law.”
“I’m not changing time. I’m simply becoming a part of it.”
“You said so yourself, there are more Time Lords here in more civilisations, all at war with each other after the Olympic Truce. That’s competition. Anger games.”
“Anger games?” Ares laughed raucously. “I think the phrase you might be looking for is Power Games.”
“They’re the same thing.”
“How so?”
“Power is about anger,” retorted the Doctor, contemptuously. “You want to be better than others and they want to be better than you. There can only be one winner at one time, and the other party is angrier. They aspire for more, then you’re angrier still.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“You’re right, it isn’t. It’s a cocktail of emotions. Competition, greed, humour, intrigue. But that’s how wars start, Ares. Wars that we should not be a part of.”
“There is always a gain to be made in war. Can you really blame me for exploiting it? Are you really going to bring morality into the battlefield?”
“You might be the God of War, Ares, but I’m the Lord of Time. And mark my words, time always ends wars.”
“We’re all Lords of Time. Both together are powerful.” He paused, watching the chariots completing their third lap. “You spoke of the Olympic Truce, Doctor. You’re familiar with the traditions of this time?”
“I’ve read about them,” lied the Doctor.
“Then answer me this. This afternoon, those athletes will be taking part in the long jump. But when they jump, they hold a weight in each hand. Why?”
“The weight propels them forward; gives them extra momentum, takes them further.”
“No.”
“The weight is a challenge, designed to make the competition harder.”
“No.”
“Okay… why?”
“Because when those very men go out to war and jump over whole rivers, they’ll be carrying things with them. It’s not just a challenge, Doctor. It’s a simulation. All around you is a world preparing for war. The Truce? That’s just a façade. I call myself the God of War because I can recognise that in the world, and I recognised that back on Gallifrey, too. The tension before war. That’s why I left, and I sense why you’ve been distancing yourself too. I’m happy to make you a place here, but Olympia is mine. At least tell me your business.”
“You’re not going to like it,” warned the Doctor.
“Go on.”
“The Hunters of Andromeda.”
Ares shuddered. “I hope you’ve got a twisted sense of humour.”
“They’re here. Right here, right now.”
***
Autumn snuck out of the hippodrome. A group of men gathered outside, helping up a woman garbed in the same long dress as Autumn.
“Priestess,” said one of the men. “It’s wonderful to see you back on your feet again, after such a miraculous recovery. The gods truly are on your-“
He stopped, as he looked up and saw Autumn. The Priestess glared and Autumn gulped.
“I’m single!” Autumn exclaimed, sounding a little more like an advertisement than she’d hoped.
“No – I saw you with that man earlier, and assumed you were the Priestess.” The man stood up, a few inches taller than Autumn. “I think you are a liar, and an affront to the rites of fertility. You are a married woman at the Games, and for such an act of blasphemy, you shall be put to death.”
***
“I can’t detect them.” The Doctor passed his sonic screwdriver to Ares. “Have you got anything better?”
“No, but I can tell you that they are here. Events in Olympia have been strange recently, almost as if fate has played his hand. A shift in the workings of physics is a typical effect of the Hunters’ presence, considering they manipulate their surroundings. Even the Priestess’ recovery from illness was remarkable.”
“Her what?” The Doctor turned and ran.
***
Autumn pulled out her blaster, holding it up at the men who didn’t even retaliate. She realised they didn’t recognise the shape of a gun.
“I’m warning you,” she hissed. “You aren’t throwing me off any cliffs.”
“You have no means of stopping us.” The man grabbed Autumn’s other arm.
“You’ve got three seconds to let go before I kill you,” she uttered.
The man sneered.
“Three… two…”
A glimmer of doubt lingered for a moment, and he turned back to his friends. Their laughter erased the one niggling feeling that could have saved his life.
“One.” Autumn fired, and the man disintegrated into a puff of smoke and fire.
One of the other men turned and tried to escape, but tripped over. Two of the others – wiser, Autumn thought – crouched down and supplicated at her feet. “Forgive us,” pleaded one. “We did not know that you were one of the gods.”
The other dared to look up, inspecting Autumn’s features closer; the shape of them, her poise, and those distinguishable blue eyes.
“Goddess Athene?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” muttered the other one, jabbing his friend in the ribcage with an elbow. “She looks nothing like Athene.”
“She looks exactly like the real Athene – the one spoken about in the lost scrolls of Odysseus. I recall the description to this day. It is her.” He spoke up. “Great Goddess, we are sorry for the trouble we have caused you, but may we ask your business with us? Would you like us to take you to the entrance of the Underworld?”
“The Underworld?” Autumn tried to mask her surprise. “Yes, take me at once. And when you return, you are to shave your face.” She imagined the young man clean-shaven. Maybe Ancient Greeks did have the capacity to be attractive, after all.
“The Gods frequently contact us,” explained the man, leading Autumn into a smaller temple at the back of the Altis. “We discovered this entrance to the Underworld some time ago. Hades has never emerged, but we often sense his presence.”
“Thank you…”
“…Pausanias.”
“Thank you, Pausanias.” She began to journey down the wooden steps towards the light of the fire below. “I can make my own way from here.”
***
“Where is she?” asked the Doctor, searching the exterior of the Hippodrome.
“Are you looking for Athene?” enquired Pausanias, calmly returning. “She headed downwards to the Underworld.”
“Athene…” mused the Doctor. “Yes, I think I probably am.” He decided to go back to the hippodrome. Surely Ares would know all the answers.
***
The Underworld was an enormous cavern, miles long and about twenty metres wide, with natural archways leading into other places. Fervent fires burned sporadically in corners and on ridges, but Autumn sensed it was almost too warm, too ambient, to completely call hell. It would have seemed a natural phenomenon, were it not for the torches on the walls, and the boat sailing along the lava-coloured water, on which a scruffy old man sat, a hood covering the top part of his face. He held out a hand. Autumn used her blaster to push the hood off his head, and he understood what her being there meant.
“Set sail, Captain,” commanded Autumn.
The little wooden boat took Autumn a couple of kilometres, and she admired the small passageways and rivulets it took her through. Patches of darkness became more frequent and longer-lasting. When it stopped, she gathered the man’s silence meant that she’d arrived, and was about to meet Hades – whoever that was. Perhaps he was a Time Lord too. Autumn wondered what secrets the Doctor was hiding, and what plans he was discussing with the other member of his species he’d encountered. One day she’d get him to take her to his home planet. One day.
Autumn stepped off, keeping her balance, and walked through the archway. It had to have been designed – it was like a corridor, now. Eventually, the archway took her into a darkened room, lit a moonlight-blue. Sculptures hung on the wall, and Autumn was started by a figure standing in the centre of the room.
The figure was female; veiled, in a black, glittery dress. She turned to face Autumn, lowering the veil. She had a pale beauty and striking ruby hair, making you somehow want to know more about her. Her beauty was like that of a futuristic mannequin. She was out of place, and Autumn figured, probably felt the same in her own time.
“Who are you?” she asked. She had an accent, perhaps European, but Autumn wasn’t experienced enough with Earth accents to place it. “Why are you here?”
Autumn raised her blaster. It was becoming her new means of identification. “I could ask you the same thing. What’s going on here? Do you know about the Hunters?”
“The Hunters of Andromeda?”
“Yes…” Autumn tried to figure out whether her knowing straight away was a good or bad thing.
“Of course I do. I’m here to kill them. Lily-Rose,” she said, introducing herself. “I’m part of the Order of St Ava. I’m a missionary – and my mission is to wipe the Hunters of Andromeda out.”
“You’re a… nun?”
“I do believe that’s one term for it, yes.”
“And you’ve got the equipment to kill them?”
“I have ideas, and I have this place.”
“Then you’re exactly what we need. Lily-Rose, I’m taking you to meet a friend of mine. He’s called the Doctor.”
***
“The Underworld? I know nothing of it.” Ares secured his armour – preparation for a battle. “But the Hunters must be here.”
“I’m using the sonic to detect them, Ares, the sonic works on everything!” The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, then stopped still. “Everything except… oh, no…”
“What? Doctor, what is it?”
The Doctor swallowed. “Everything except wood.”
Ares realised. “The wooden beams! The statue of Zeus!”
“Forty-two feet of space to hide in, and the most sacred place in civilisation.” The Doctor shivered. “Caligula’s men were right. It wasn’t mice. The Hunters have been here a long time, and they’ve found themselves their very own Trojan horse.”
A shadow appeared over the stadium, and the Doctor zoned out of the conversation with Ares to hear the crowds. They were screaming. The Doctor lost his balance as the ground shook beneath him, and looking up, saw the Statue of Zeus towering above them, alive and furious.
“That’s impossible!” bellowed Ares.
“Look closely at the forehead!” urged the Doctor. “See that box? It’s an enabler. It allows the Hunters to alter the physical structure of the statue. They’re inside, piloting it, and it’s become like elastic. They’re wearing it.”
“The Emperor’s New Clothes…”
The Doctor ran down the staircase, Ares following behind, and onto the racetrack, where the younger horses were hurtling into each other. Ares leapt onto a chariot, throwing the charioteer aside, unharmed. “We’re commandeering a vehicle! Come on, Doctor!”
The Doctor climbed aboard, and Ares directed the chariot through the entrance to the hippodrome, narrowly missing a post. Once outside, they were at the foot of the statue. The statue lobbed a rock thunderbolt at them and it smashed on the ground. Ares swerved to avoid the debris, and the chariot swung right, nearly losing balance.
“We need to get as far away from that thing as we can!”
The Doctor agreed, fastening the reins. The statue stomped towards them. A crack emerged in the ground, and a wheel dipped in, weakening the chariot. The Doctor fell as it tipped, hanging off the side. The ground was inches away from his face, and he could nearly feel the friction.
If I make contact with it…
He pulled himself up, balancing out the chariot again, but the statue was getting closer. The foot would crush them. Ares took a gamble. Faster…
Faster…
The foot grew closer, its shadow looming over the chariot, and Ares jerked the reins. The chariot juddered to a halt, and the Doctor hit the back of the chariot as the statue stumbled over them. The Doctor and Ares both leapt out the chariot and ran backwards, making the most of the time the statue needed to turn around.
“Doctor!” Autumn approached the Doctor, priming her blaster, Lily-Rose behind. The Doctor shot Autumn a confused look which she cast aside.
“I need to get up there and hit the enabler,” said the Doctor, scanning for the TARDIS. It was about a kilometre away.
“No, you don’t.” Ares darted off into a temple, leaving the Doctor exasperated. The statue was heading their way again. In less than a minute, they’d be crushed.
“Lily-Rose,” yelled Autumn, “now’s a time for one of those ideas you’ve been thinking up!”
“I could try and blast it, but from here? I don’t think my aim…”
Her words trailed off as a young, handsome clean-shaven man randomly appeared next to them, apparently with some kind of intent.
“Pausanias?” exclaimed Autumn. “What are you going here?”
“It’s nearly afternoon – I’m practising for the pentathlon.” Autumn ducked as he lifted a javelin and stepped back, taking a run-up and launching it into the air. A leather thong on the javelin unfastened as it spun upwards, keeping it precisely on track.
It was higher than Autumn had imagined possible – just passing the neck, and only inches from bouncing off the face.
But the tip was headed in another direction, as, impossibly, it hit the enabler. The statue stopped still, and could have passed for being an ordinary statue, until its gold colouring faded, and the ivory started to crack. The shell crumbled to the ground, and a strange mass of shadows moved over the undergrowth. The Hunters had left – and they were moving on again.
“I didn’t know you could throw!”
“Neither did I!” added the Doctor. “I thought Pausanias was a travel writer…”
Autumn rolled her eyes. “There can be more than one Pausanias.”
“I see why you asked me to shave now,” said Pausanias. “It must have been a sign to the gods, so that they knew you were acting in my favour.”
The Doctor looked awkwardly at Autumn.
“Don’t,” she hissed, trying not to laugh.
Ares watched the rubble drift across the ground with a solemn expression and a defeated stance. The God of War looked like he had lost.
“They were Anger Games, if ever I saw them. Those things really do hate you, Doctor…” he patted the Doctor on the shoulder. “And now we truly have broken the principle law. We’ve changed history irreparably. A fixed point, in fact. We’ll be put to death.”
“Not necessarily,” suggested the Doctor. “Remember why you’re in charge. Maybe power is different to anger, after all. Maybe power gives you the ability to shape history without anyone knowing you’re doing it.”
***
The crowds gathered silently in front of Ares and Autumn. Autumn had changed to another dress, and wore golden armour across her chest and a heavy crown on her head. She suited royal attire, Ares thought.
“Athene, the strategist, and I, the fighter, have fought today against unthinkable evil!” declared Ares. “In the process, a statue of Zeus, our father, was smashed. But Zeus himself still reigns on high, and deserves our respect. The events of today were terrible, but they are to be forgotten.” He cleared his throat, gesturing for Autumn to give the order.
“You are not to keep record of today or its events!” ordered Autumn. “You are to build a new statue, unbeknownst to the other city states, and reconstruct the temple. Ares and I shall return to Mount Olympus, but we will leave you with this man.” Autumn brought forward Pausanias. “He is a man of divine influence, and will dictate decisions from here. But none of these changes will be made record of. History will continue as originally intended.”
“Athene, I am grateful,” whispered Pausanias, “but are you sure? I nearly agreed to take your life.”
“Yes, I know,” answered Autumn, “but you look really good without that beard, and if more Greeks try to look like you…”
***
“I shall bid you farewell,” said Ares, nodding to the Doctor. “I think perhaps it is time to let another make subtle commands. Pausanias seems like a wise man. I could leave. Although, Gallifrey may not be the place for me anymore. And you, Doctor?”
“Me neither,” the Doctor replied. “I don’t think you need to control people, Ares. You’ve got enough of a gift with your own abilities, eh? Prove how good you are on your own.”
“Yes.” Ares laughed. “Yes, I think so. I’ve learnt a great many lessons today, from you, Doctor, and from you, Athene.” He smiled politely at Autumn.
“Athene…” she repeated it. “Athene. I quite like that name.”
“I’m not letting you call yourself the Goddess of Wisdom,” declared the Doctor. “And then there’s you, Lily-Rose.”
Lily-Rose held up a box. Her veil was over her face again, mystery restored. “I’ve got this. Equipment we can use against the Hunters. If we work together, we might be able to defeat them. It is our duty.”
“Duty, yes,” agreed the Doctor. “There really is war all over the place, and it’s the job of the unfortunate ones to bring peace, whatever the cost. Make the most of the Olympic Truce, Ares,” warned the Doctor, opening the TARDIS doors. “Difficult days are coming.” He turned away and spoke to himself. “For you and me both…”
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Next Time
Extinction
The chase through history stops, as the team face a moral dilemma worse than anything they've ever encountered and faith is put to the test - for everyone. Episode list: 1. The Time Museum 2. The Adulteress and Her Doctor 3. Peacepoint 4. Earthstop 5. Sunset Forever 6. The Planet Makers 7. Who Watches The Watchmen? 8. The Anger Games 9. Extinction 10. The Quest Through Time 11. A Village Called Nothing 12. Bigger on the Inside 13. Extermination of the Daleks |