Trenzalore - Series 2
Episode 1/6
Footprints in the Snow
Previously:
The Doctor has been sent to a town called Christmas on the planet Trenzalore, where the Time Lords are calling out his name through a crack in the wall. Clara Oswald and the TARDIS are gone, and for company the Doctor has the townspeople. The Doctor meets Archie Sawyer, the old Sheriff of Christmas, and April, his adventurous teenage daughter. Though April takes a liking to the Doctor, Archie blames him for the war and hands him over to the Cybermen. It is only after realising everything that the Doctor has done for Trenzalore that Archie finally gives in, and saves the Doctor by, with Tasha Lem's help - and putting his life on the line - breaking the forcefield. The Doctor is brought back and saves the town against a Cyber-invasion, but not everyone, as Abramal and Marta both die at the hands of the Cybermen. The Doctor and Archie continue to protect the town, working through their differences.
The Doctor has been sent to a town called Christmas on the planet Trenzalore, where the Time Lords are calling out his name through a crack in the wall. Clara Oswald and the TARDIS are gone, and for company the Doctor has the townspeople. The Doctor meets Archie Sawyer, the old Sheriff of Christmas, and April, his adventurous teenage daughter. Though April takes a liking to the Doctor, Archie blames him for the war and hands him over to the Cybermen. It is only after realising everything that the Doctor has done for Trenzalore that Archie finally gives in, and saves the Doctor by, with Tasha Lem's help - and putting his life on the line - breaking the forcefield. The Doctor is brought back and saves the town against a Cyber-invasion, but not everyone, as Abramal and Marta both die at the hands of the Cybermen. The Doctor and Archie continue to protect the town, working through their differences.
Prologue
Snow was falling over Christmas. The blizzard had been raging since daytime, the wind battering the windows of Armelle's house. Her home being on the outskirts of Christmas, behind the bell tower gave her a perfect view of the mountains. She loved watching the snow circling them, and listening to the sound of the wind. For a moment, she thought she heard something else out there; a deep voice whispering in the darkness. She dismissed it. The wind makes all kinds of sounds. She turned away from the window, and returned to her washing.
"Mum!" Her son had jumped up off his chair and was pointing out of the window. She looked back, and saw nothing.
"What are you pointing at?"
"Over there." He looked, but seemed to have lost sight of something. "It was there Mum! The snowman!"
"Snowman? What snowman?"
"The Ad- Abo... The Abominable Snowman."
Armelle sighed, picking up her son and putting him back on his chair. "Now listen to me. There's nothing out there. I am gonna have a word with your father! These stories he tells you, they're just not suitable. There are enough monsters in this world without inventing our own."
She turned away, but the boy continued to stare out of the window.
***
Eliseo hurtled his pike into the ground once more. He was looking forward to finishing there, getting back to Christmas and warming everyone's houses up with all the coal they had mined that week. It was certainly needed tonight. He hit the rock-face again. He had made a hole, and there was something on the other side. He must have knocked through into one of the natural cave systems. Curious, he widened the gap and slid through.
The cave was vast. He looked around confused. A cave that big shouldn't be here, not in this part of the mountain. They would have found it before. Looking around, he spotted something in a corner and ran over.
"What the hell?"
It was about twenty silver spheres, piled up in a pyramid shape. He picked one up and examined it. Sighing, he carried it off back towards the gap. He had to show this to the others.
It was as he walked out and across the freezing cold mountaintop that he began to feel like he was being followed. He looked around, but couldn't see anything. He wiped the snow from his eyes. Nothing. He turned back around. A huge brown mass stood in front of him. He looked up and saw a claw hurtling down towards his head. He screamed, but it was lost in the wind.
"H-"
***
"-appy birthday to you!" chanted the group, raising their glasses. One old man stumbled as he tried to get off his bar-stool. "Happy birthday to you!"
The Doctor looked up at the pictures that hung behind the bar: Abramal and Marta's, its frame now gathering quite a bit of dust, and next to them, Archie. Two very different ways of leaving the world, and three very different but equally important people. Sometimes he would look up and wonder how many frames would be hung behind that bar before - if - he ever left Trenzalore.
"Happy birthday dear April!"
April blushed, fiddling with her necklace, and caught the Doctor's eye on her dad's painting. She looked away, used to those moments of introspection. He seemed to miss Archibald Sawyer even more than she did.
"Happy birthday to you!"
There were cheers all around the bar, and three hip-hip-hoorays.
"Happy birthday April," said the barman, handing April a drink she didn't recognise, probably smuggled in just for the occasion. "Sixty years on Trenzalore."
"Mum!" Her son had jumped up off his chair and was pointing out of the window. She looked back, and saw nothing.
"What are you pointing at?"
"Over there." He looked, but seemed to have lost sight of something. "It was there Mum! The snowman!"
"Snowman? What snowman?"
"The Ad- Abo... The Abominable Snowman."
Armelle sighed, picking up her son and putting him back on his chair. "Now listen to me. There's nothing out there. I am gonna have a word with your father! These stories he tells you, they're just not suitable. There are enough monsters in this world without inventing our own."
She turned away, but the boy continued to stare out of the window.
***
Eliseo hurtled his pike into the ground once more. He was looking forward to finishing there, getting back to Christmas and warming everyone's houses up with all the coal they had mined that week. It was certainly needed tonight. He hit the rock-face again. He had made a hole, and there was something on the other side. He must have knocked through into one of the natural cave systems. Curious, he widened the gap and slid through.
The cave was vast. He looked around confused. A cave that big shouldn't be here, not in this part of the mountain. They would have found it before. Looking around, he spotted something in a corner and ran over.
"What the hell?"
It was about twenty silver spheres, piled up in a pyramid shape. He picked one up and examined it. Sighing, he carried it off back towards the gap. He had to show this to the others.
It was as he walked out and across the freezing cold mountaintop that he began to feel like he was being followed. He looked around, but couldn't see anything. He wiped the snow from his eyes. Nothing. He turned back around. A huge brown mass stood in front of him. He looked up and saw a claw hurtling down towards his head. He screamed, but it was lost in the wind.
"H-"
***
"-appy birthday to you!" chanted the group, raising their glasses. One old man stumbled as he tried to get off his bar-stool. "Happy birthday to you!"
The Doctor looked up at the pictures that hung behind the bar: Abramal and Marta's, its frame now gathering quite a bit of dust, and next to them, Archie. Two very different ways of leaving the world, and three very different but equally important people. Sometimes he would look up and wonder how many frames would be hung behind that bar before - if - he ever left Trenzalore.
"Happy birthday dear April!"
April blushed, fiddling with her necklace, and caught the Doctor's eye on her dad's painting. She looked away, used to those moments of introspection. He seemed to miss Archibald Sawyer even more than she did.
"Happy birthday to you!"
There were cheers all around the bar, and three hip-hip-hoorays.
"Happy birthday April," said the barman, handing April a drink she didn't recognise, probably smuggled in just for the occasion. "Sixty years on Trenzalore."
Footprints in the Snow
Written by Jack Hudson
The Doctor had left the party by the end of the singing, and was heading back towards the bell tower. April's birthdays terrified him. It was as if she was slipping further and further away with each one. Sixty. Archie died at sixty. As he approached the corner heading up towards the bell tower, a man ran up to him, coming down from the road heading out of the town.
"Doctor!" The young man reached him and began to pant for breath.
The Doctor was suddenly all smiles. "Tyckele! Nice to see you back, please bring the coal to the tower first, my feet do seem to get cold lately. Is that an age thing? Well, I don't suppose you'd know, would you? I might be getting old. Haven't done that for a while." He noticed that something wasn't right. "Hey?" He placed a hand on Ty's shoulder. "What is it?"
Ty looked up at the Doctor. "There's been a death. At the mine. I'm... I'm sorry Doctor."
"Why are you apologising to me? It's your friend." He paused. "Who?"
"Eliseo."
The Doctor looked down in mourning.
"How?"
"Something hit him. Something… with a claw, the body was badly scratched. He was clutching this in his hand when I found him." He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out the silver ball. The Doctor grabbed it from him. "Anything you recognise?"
"What? Oh, no, I don't think so..." He stared at it. "I'll take this back to the bell tower.
"Should we be doing anything? Is it another attack?"
"I don't know yet. Just evacuate the mine."
"We can't do that Doctor."
"But you're in danger."
"The whole town is in danger without heat, Doctor. I'll get back there and we'll be done as soon as we can."
"Bu-"
"I’ll look after them Doctor."
"Yeah." He smiled. "And look after yourself too."
"You bet. See ya Doc."
"Doctor!" The young man reached him and began to pant for breath.
The Doctor was suddenly all smiles. "Tyckele! Nice to see you back, please bring the coal to the tower first, my feet do seem to get cold lately. Is that an age thing? Well, I don't suppose you'd know, would you? I might be getting old. Haven't done that for a while." He noticed that something wasn't right. "Hey?" He placed a hand on Ty's shoulder. "What is it?"
Ty looked up at the Doctor. "There's been a death. At the mine. I'm... I'm sorry Doctor."
"Why are you apologising to me? It's your friend." He paused. "Who?"
"Eliseo."
The Doctor looked down in mourning.
"How?"
"Something hit him. Something… with a claw, the body was badly scratched. He was clutching this in his hand when I found him." He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out the silver ball. The Doctor grabbed it from him. "Anything you recognise?"
"What? Oh, no, I don't think so..." He stared at it. "I'll take this back to the bell tower.
"Should we be doing anything? Is it another attack?"
"I don't know yet. Just evacuate the mine."
"We can't do that Doctor."
"But you're in danger."
"The whole town is in danger without heat, Doctor. I'll get back there and we'll be done as soon as we can."
"Bu-"
"I’ll look after them Doctor."
"Yeah." He smiled. "And look after yourself too."
"You bet. See ya Doc."
April had quickly noticed the Doctor's absence at the party. He snuck out perfectly, of course, but you would always notice within minutes that he wasn't there. However full it was, a room felt completely different if the Doctor was not there. She reached the clock tower and looked up. She could see a faint green light reflected on the bell. He was up there then, doing some sonicing. She headed up, remembering the first time she climbed these stairs to see the Doctor at the top. Long time ago now.
She found him at the top, absentmindedly scanning a silver sphere with his screwdriver. But he was staring out over the town, his mind clearly on other things.
"Not enjoying the party?"
The Doctor turned around, again now full of smiles. "April!"
"No, Doctor. Don't do that."
"Don't do what?"
"The smile thing. I know you. I know when you're happy and I know when you're not, and no amount of grinning like a toddler is going to change that."
The smile fades. "Sorry..."
“What’s up?” April huddled up in a blanket and rested her head on the Doctor’s shoulder as they looked out from the top of the clock-tower over Trenzalore. Home. Their home. “You’ve been miles away all day.”
“Sorry,” apologised the Doctor. “I didn’t mean to be.”
“Talk to me”
"Oh, that will be tricky, April."
"Don't think I haven't noticed. You were like this last year. And on my 58th. And don't get me started on my 50th. Didn't crack a smile all day, that is until you got back from one of your 'emergency meetings' with Tasha..."
"Shut up!"
April laughed, and he smiled, for real this time.
"I don't like your birthdays because... I don't want to upset you."
"Because you feel like you're losing me, like we lost my Dad? Or you feel like with each time, you're slowly getting closer to losing me?" She held out her hand for him to take. "I know these hands might be old and wrinkly now, but I am not going anywhere. I'll be here to tell you off for a very long time yet. So, what's that?"
"What?" April indicated the silver ball. "Oh, this. No idea. All scans show nothing, can't open it, can't find out what it's for, if it is for anything."
April was not fully listening, instead she was staring at his face. “Oh, look at you.” April stared up at the Doctor without moving her head. “Sometimes I forget, expect you to have gone grey. When you first told me you never aged I never quite believed it. But you don’t look a day older.”
“Actually,” confessed the Doctor, “I keep finding grey hairs. I just pull them out and bury them in the snow.”
April chuckled. “Your eyes have aged. That’s all. Or that’s all I’ve noticed anyway. They get older every day, deeper.”
“Do you ever resent me, April?” asked the Doctor.
“Don’t be daft. I’m not my dad.” She smiled. “I think he’d have been proud. Look out there. We’ve really built something here, Doctor. Something special.”
The Doctor shared the smile and put his arm around April, making her more comfortable. Within a few minutes, she was asleep. She was always so much more tired these days.
“Happy birthday.”
***
Twenty minutes later the pair were still sitting there contently, the Doctor seeming to have forgotten all about the threat.
"Woah... now that is interesting." The ball rolled off the Doctor's lap, but was not just rolling away. It was heading forwards with purpose, slowly making its way towards the stairs. It began to bump down them. The Doctor jumped up, and April jolted awake. "Come on!"
"Doctor, what is that thing?"
"Ty from the mine found it... Eliseo's dead. Hurry up, we'll lose it."
April looked shocked. "Doctor! That's Armelle's husband and you... You're so... Alien. Don't you care?"
"Of course I care, April, maybe more than you. But if I use too much time to mourn I won't be fast enough to save the next one."
"I... I do understand. But you are changing, Doctor, and I don't think it's for the better."
"Come on!"
"No, Doctor. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not a little girl anymore. You run. But I will always be here when you get back."
He smiled, and bounded off down the stairs.
"Besides." April said to herself. "There's something else I have to do."
***
The Doctor was grateful for the blizzard. The deep snow meant that the sphere was impossible to lose, carving a path in the snow for him to follow. He had quickly realised their destination. The mine. He was already beginning his ascent up the mountain.
When he was nearing the mine he found Tyckele and another man, wheeling a huge crate of coal down the mountain's man-made path.
"Doctor!" Ty rushed to greet him, quickly followed by his friend.
"Get outta the way!" The Doctor rushed past them, continuing on the sphere's trail. "It's heading down there!"
The sphere was tumbling down the rocky mountain side sloping down from the path.
"Is that the silver ball thing-y? How's it doing that?" Said Jin, the other miner.
Ty shrugged.
"Come on. Let's follow him."
The Doctor was carefully but speedily traversing the jagged rock face. Ty and Jin began to follow him down, holding on to each other to prevent themselves from falling.
"Be careful!" Ty shouted to the Doctor who was way ahead of them, trying to catch up with the sphere which was already down to the flat surface beneath them.
"Never!"
Ty sighed, and increased his speed to catch up with the Doctor.
Just as Ty reached the ground a loud roar reverberated down the mountain. The Doctor, who was further away, looked up.
"Ty! Move!" The crate of coal was cascading down mountain down towards them. Jin screamed, as the crate bashed into his head, sending him tumbling down the mountainside. Ty had just enough time to duck to the floor and cover his head before the pieces of coal smothered him.
The Doctor paused for a single moment, taking in the scene, before running over to Jin and Ty.
"Jin!" His head was covered in blood, and a corner of the crate had landed on his chest, crushing his ribs. The Doctor checked for pulse and breath. Nothing. He brushed the black soot away from Jin's face and closed his eyes, before running over to Ty.
Ty was coughing hard. The Doctor heaved the coal off him and sat him up.
"Jin?" Ty said, in between the coughs.
The Doctor shook his head.
"Come on. We need to get away from whatever it was that pushed this crate, and we need to catch up with the sphere."
Ty nodded, and allowed the Doctor to help him up.
***
"The Doctor doesn't know what happened yet, but he's investigating right now. He won't let what happened to Eliseo happen to anyone else."
April finished speaking. She felt as if she was reciting a well-practiced speech. Well she certainly had experience. Telling the family members; ripping worlds apart, had quickly become her role. Largely because the Doctor never could.
She was talking to Armelle and Eliseo's 18 year-old daughter Olevena, who was sat silently, away from her step mother. April looked out into the garden, where Eliseo's son was playing in the snow with his friend. He would soon know too. Armelle looked up, talking through her tears.
"Thank you April."
April knew she was being asked to leave. She stood up and briefly placed a hand on Armelle's shoulder in comfort, and then headed for the door.
***
"I'm alright now, Doctor." The Doctor ceased to help Ty walk. "Look, what's that over there?"
The Doctor and Ty jogged forwards, passing the sphere. They found a huge, seemingly oblong-shaped object buried under the snow. The Doctor bent down and brushed some of the snow away. He found a brown substance covering the object, like hair. He rubbed it.
"Artificial... and underneath, metal."
He jumped up.
"Right, time to listen to what my brain is telling me. 20 da ja vu's in one day is not a coincidence. A small silver sphere that moves on its own. A... creature with a fearsome roar, big claws and mammoth strength. Then this thing... Oh. Ohh no. No no no no no."
"What?" Ty moved behind the Doctor, scared.
"This 'thing' with thick brown fur on a snowy mountain..."
"But this isn't a creature Doctor... It's not big enough to push that crate over."
"Fur, but metal. A robot... It's the yeti!"
The silver sphere came towards them. Something opened on the creature's chest, pushing out of the snow.
"No!" The Doctor lunged forward.
The sphere entered the opening. A claw broke through the snow, before the Yeti stood up, rising out of the snow. It towered above The Doctor and a terrified Ty, but stood motionless, taking in its surroundings.
"When I say run, run." He took Ty's hand. "RUN!"
The Doctor turned and ran back towards Jin's body, pulling Ty along behind him. The Yeti roared, and then began to pursue them.
"Is there anyone else still on the mountain?"
"No, they'll all be down by now, waiting for me and Jin." Ty was gasping for breath and clearly in a lot of pain.
"Then come on!"
They reached where the coal crate had fallen. Suddenly, another Yeti, the one that pushed the crate, dropped down in front of them.
"Argh!"
Ty picked up a large piece of the scattered coal and hurled it at the Yeti. It clanged off, but succeeded in unbalancing the robot for a second, allowing him and the Doctor to rush past it.
As they approached the base of the mountain they spotted two other miners returning with a tractor to collect the final crate of coal.
"Turn the tractor around!" Ty shouted to them.
"What's going on?"
"The Doctor's here, what do you think?"
The Yeti appeared coming down the slope after them and the miners hurriedly turned the tractor around. When Ty and the Doctor reached it they leaped up to stand on the step up, the Doctor grabbing a pike from the back.
"Go!" Ty shouted up to the driver.
The tractor set off but not before one of the Yeti reached it, digging its claws into the wheel. The Doctor raised the pike and brought it crashing down on the Yeti, causing it to lose it's grip.
***
The blizzard had begun to clear and so April's party had spread out of the tavern and into the town square. The whole town was present aside from Armelle and her son. April was feeling very happy, despite the threat she knew the town was under. Over time, she had learnt to simply trust the Doctor in these matters. It was at times like this when she did not regret losing her chance to start a family, and becoming the only Sawyer on Trenzalore; because the entire town of Christmas felt like family to her.
She began to feel a little guilty for her happiness when she saw Olevena approaching her. She stopped some distance away, standing awkwardly and looking at April.
"...Hey."
"Hey." April smiled kindly. "Why don't you come and sit beside me?"
Olevena did so, relaxing into April's company.
"Where's your Mum?"
"At home, telling Vin. I couldn't face it."
"Yeah... I remember when my Mother died..."
"April... I don't think I came here for words."
April nodded in understanding, before pulling Olevena in for a hug. Over her shoulder, she saw the miner's tractor had pulled up just outside the town square. The Doctor jumped down and ran into the square, with Tyckele close behind him. The Doctor spotted April and quickly approached her.
"April! It's Yeti!" She just glared at him so he continued, "You know, the Yeti, Abominable Snowmen? Is that legend big on Trenzalore? I haven't really noticed. Fitting for the whole old fashioned town at the bottom of the mountain thing though right? Apart from the roboty-ness."
April jabbed the Doctor in the ribs, sharply tilting her head to gesture towards Olevena.
"Olevena!? Oh... Olevena." He puts a hand on her shoulder. "I know I don't have the right words for this, just know that I do care, deeply."
April smiled at him.
"Olevena why don't you go and sit down with Ty" April said, kindly.
Olevena didn't look happy, but Ty put his arm around her and led her away.
"So... Yeti?"
"Yep. But they're just foot soldiers, drones. And if they're under the control of who they should be, we are in very deep trouble indeed."
"And who might that be?"
"The Great Intelligence. Pompous name, I know. Last time we met he sacrificed himself for me."
"Erm, isn't that good?"
"Sacrificed himself to try to destroy me, that is."
"Oh. Less good."
"Yeah..."
"So, shouldn't he be well, um, dead?"
"He was. But that's all to come, hundreds of years in the future. And now I know how he knew so much then, because he's already been here now!"
"Wait, what do you mean by that?”
The Doctor realised what he had almost reveled, and didn’t know what to say.
Luckily, he was interrupted by a sound. The wind had been slowly picking up speed again and was lightly howling around the town. However, now it sounded different. There was a voice in the wind, being carried right into everyone's ears.
"Doc... tor... Doc... tooor..."
"That isn't just in my head is it?" the Doctor said, seeming a little scared.
"No. No it isn't."
"You. Are. Surrounded."
"What does that mean?"
Tyckele ran back over, followed by Olevena.
"Doctor, look down there!" He pointed down the road out of the village, where two Yeti were standing, still as statues.
"I suppose they're on every exit?"
"Almost definitely." The Doctor answered with a grimace.
"Follow. Them. Or they will. Make. You."
"I don't respond well to threats from anybody," the Doctor shouted into the air. "But from thin air? Not a chance!"
Nothing happened for a moment. Then, they saw that the two Yeti had slowly began to lumber down the street towards them.
The Doctor stepped forward and straightened his bow tie.
"April, get everyone inside the bell tower."
"You can't do anything against them on your own!"
"Just do it."
She nodded. "Everybody, quickly follow me. Ty, come on, help me."
The square quickly emptied, leaving just the Doctor and Olevena.
"You too Olevena."
"Nah, I'll stick with you Doctor."
"Don't be so stupid!"
"I want to face them."
"You know what, fine. If you want your mother to lose you as well, that's your choice. So... any ideas?
"You mean you don't have one?"
"Not really, no... They're getting quite close now aren't they?"
"You could say that."
The Yeti had entered the square and were still moving towards them.
"...Hello..."
Both Yeti walked straight past them. They were heading for the bell tower.
"No!" The Doctor ran at the Yeti like a fool, and was swiped away by a flick of its arm. Olevena rushed over to help him. He was dazed and could not get up. She looked back over to the bell tower and the Yeti were coming back out.
They carried an unconscious April and Tyckele over their shoulders.
"No! Doctor! Doctor!" Olevena slapped his cheek repeatedly.
"Follow. Doctor. Fo-llow."
***
April awoke with a jump. She was in a cave, almost certainly in the mountain. Tyckele was already conscious examining a pyramid of spheres.
"Tyckele!" she whispered.
"April, you're okay!"
"We're at the mine aren't we?"
He nodded, "Though I've never been in here before. Why are we whispering?"
"... I don't know. I just feel like someone's-"
"Welcome April Sawyer, welcome Tyckele Hope." The voice was different here, booming and filling every corner of the cave. The entity was here with them. "I must thank you for helping me to lure the Time Lord. I will enjoy seeing him before the end."
April stood up with confidence.
"What are you?"
"A most interesting question, but not one even I know the answer to."
"Well whoever you are. You're not the first. I have been kidnapped, stolen, threatened more times than I can remember. And the only thing it means, the only thing that has ever happens as a consequence is that our Sheriff will destroy you twice as quickly because of it."
"You think I'm one of them? Those mortal races are nothing more than you. I am the first being you have met more powerful than your precious Sheriff, Miss Sawyer. Though saying that, all it takes to destroy a puny race is another puny race. And very soon you will have to face them all again April. But this time, together."
***
The Doctor and Olevena had entered the bell tower. There were two dead. A woman in her sixties and a man in his twenties. A warning.
"There's nothing I can do but follow. I want you all to stay here, out of sight. I think the other Yeti will have gone back to the mountain and there's no reason they'll be sent back."
"I'll come too." The others seemed shocked by Olevena. "I can't let them take Ty as well as everything else."
"Ty special, is he?" The Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The, er, the town loves him."
"Ah. 'The town' loves him." He responded, miming inverted commas with his hands. "Come on then."
"No!" Olevena's mother stepped put of the crowd. "She's not going. Your Dad wouldn't have wanted this."
"And do you remember how you and Eliseo… got together, Mary?" The Doctor said, firmly but with kindness. "He saved you. Let your daughter do the same eh?"
Mary nodded and the Doctor left the tower followed by a blushing Olevena.
***
Tyckele and April were walking down a cave tunnel, trying to find a way out into the open.
"You think you can escape?" The thunderous voice returned. "I am everywhere here. You cannot leave my sight."
"Can't exactly do much to stop us though can you? Aside from shouting at us." Ty quipped.
They turned a corner and jumped in shock. A Yeti stood between them and an exit to the open air. It did not move, but trying to get past it would be impossible.
"I think he maybe can Ty."
"The Doctor is being slow. Tyckele. You have fulfilled your function. I have no use for you with April here."
"Function? What function have I ever performed for you?"
"You may as well finally know your part. Tell me, when did Christmas begin to mime the mountain's coal?"
"Erm, er, recently..."
"And what was wrong with the wood you had used before? You have it in abundance and you are not short of the space to store it."
"I don't..."
April was equally confused "What are you saying?"
"You have all been under my influence. Psychic emissions to cloud your perceptions, so that Tyckele and his fellow ‘miners’ have been coming here every day and have been hollowing out the mountain, taking your coal as a by-product so my Yeti can replace it with our technology. This mountain is now the most powerful thing ever to have been on this miserable planet. Volcanic, even. Now, die happy, knowing you have helped condemn your planet to destruction."
The Yeti slowly raised its claw and then lurched forwards towards them. They both began to back away. The Yeti had chance to strike April, but did not, lunging forwards to Ty. He was knocked to the floor.
Just as the Yeti was about to go in for its kill, a rope circle was swung over its head from behind and was pulled tight around it.
"Now Doctor!" Olevena's voice shouted, and Ty saw her behind the Yeti, pressing herself against the cave wall. The sound of engines was heard and the Yeti was dragged backwards out of the cave and then began tumbling down the slope to the bottom of the mountain. The Doctor quickly cut the rope holding the Yeti to the tractor, allowing it to continue to spiral out of view.
"Doctor!" April ran put of the cave, leaving Tyckele and Olevena alone.
"Hey."
"You saved us."
"Yeah, yeah I kind of did didn't I?" She stepped forward and nervously but forcefully kissed Ty.
"Erm..."
They broke away blushing, to see April and the Doctor standing at the cave mouth.
"Right, you three, get to the tractor and get back down to the bottom and wait. Be ready for me, we might need to get away in a hurry."
"We can't just leave you."
"You've got each other now and that's something you need to hold on to. April, look after them."
Ty and Olevena headed out. April stayed for a moment.
"Fine. But you just make sure you do come back down, okay?"
"I'll do my best."
She left, leaving the Doctor alone. He walked further into the cave, straightening his bow tie.
"Well? Here I am!"
Wind began to flow through the cave.
"Doc-tor. Has it been as long for you as it has for me?"
"No. Though not in the way that you think."
"When we last met properly, I wanted your mind. Do you know why?"
"To learn?"
"Yes, Doctor. To learn. I came into this world, nothing but an echo. A reflection of a simple being. But I could see. I could see more than I understood, more than I knew. I had to learn somehow. You would not have died, just reverted. Was it so much to ask of you?"
"Why would I want to help a creature like you?"
"But I did learn Doctor. I stayed on your Earth and feasted on the minds of the humans. Primitive, but together they allowed me to grow. But that was after hundreds of years of confusion and torment. That you could have prevented."
"I was too busy defeating you."
"I was a child!" The wind picked up, howling around the cave and blowing snow inside "AND YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!"
"Only to stop you from killing others!" The Doctor replied incredulously.
"Primitive ants! I am a higher being like you, who is more important?"
"Them. Always."
"Your excuses are pitiful Doctor. And now, after so many years, I will have my revenge."
The noise of hydraulics started up.
"What's that? What's happening."
"See for yourself, Doctor."
He ran out of the cave.
***
April, Ty and Olevena were stood by the tractor at the bottom of the mountain. They had all heard the machinery and were staring up at the mountain.
The mountain top suddenly began to shudder and shake. It slowly separated into 4 segments, each one hanging to the side leaving a hole into the depths of the mountain. Through it rose a massive metal dish which pointed up into the sky and began to fizz with blue energy that was coursing up out of the mountain.
"What is that?" Olevena asked as Ty clutched her in fear.
"An electric field dampener." The Doctor appeared behind them "Capable to ripping apart any force-field. Even Trenzalore's."
"Now you understand Doctor." The voice did not seem to be with them, but was louder than ever, like the entire mountain was roaring. "All those minor races up there. They all know the only thing they need to do for peace is to destroy you. Which is also what I need to do to achieve my peace. Yeti, activate!"
Hundreds of Yeti crawled out from various caves in the mountain, scuttling up and connecting their spheres to machinery which was now poking out all over the mountain.
"Are you ready, Doctor, to face them all?"
"Oh I don't know. But I'll tell you one thing I was ready for. You." The others looked at him in surprise. "I may be getting on a bit, but my memory's not that bad, not concerning you. I didn't let on that I recognised the control sphere because I knew you were listening. I'd been noticing those psychic emissions, trying to play around in my brain."
"What are you saying Doctor?"
"I'm saying, Great Intelligence, that I got very good at messing around with your control spheres centuries ago. And one loose wire is all it takes to topple it all. My Yeti, deactivate!"
The power that had been building up at the mountaintop diminished.
"And, destroy!"
The group could just about see one Yeti move towards the light. A second later the energy seemed to redirect, being pumped down back into the mountain. The whole mountain began to shake.
"Nooo!" The voice sounded as if it is being strangled.
"Run!" The Doctor, April, Ty and Olevena rushed away as the mountain and its base quaked. Snow began to fall in avalanches, smothering the Yeti and knocking them down the mountain to be buried deep under snow. A booming explosion of metal was heard deep within the mountain and smoke came billowing up out of the top.
The group stood and stared for a while, before April spoke.
"Is that him dead then?"
"No." The Doctor said gravely. "He's not even gone. We need to contact Tasha."
***
Tasha's team to deal with the Intelligence had come down in a shuttle. They said they had creatures, genetically engineered like the confessional priests that would absorb the intelligence. The Doctor was dubious and sat watching a way off, on the tractor with April. The creatures were released from the shuttle and the Doctor peered at them closely. They were in black like the priests. They stood around the mountain a circle, and raised their hands to each other. The Doctor looked closer. They wore top hats. He could not see the faces.
No wait, he realised he could see the faces. They had no faces. He knew what they were. He leaped up and ran back towards the mountain.
"No! This isn't going to work!"
The creatures stood with their energy pulsating between them. They began to drag wind in, coming in from inside the mountain. The voice was in the wind, howling. But it turned into a laugh. The absorbing creatures seemed overpowered, stumbling back and forth being knocked by the wind. The energy between them changed colour and as the Doctor grew closer he saw that a face was passing between them, sporting and disappearing on each of the creatures consecutively. The face of Doctor Simeon. They all began to talk as one.
"At the great dawn and at the great dusk, you are my enemy and it will always be thus."
The Whispermen broke up into pieces, like paper, and floated up into the sky and away.
***
“Drinks are on the house for that one!” exclaimed the barman, as the villagers cheered the Doctor into the pub. “Doctor, pint of-“
“-hot chocolate, please,” finished the Doctor. The few villagers who weren’t tired of that joke chuckled.
“Coming right up.”
“Tasha needs to get a move on with my marshmallows…”
“See, Doctor?” said April, sitting herself down on a barstool. “I can still do it. There’s plenty of life left in me yet.”
“Yes,” agreed the Doctor, looking up at the portrait on the wall. “And I think your father would be proud. The question is, do you still want to do it?” The Doctor quietened his voice, so that amidst the celebration, only April could hear him. “Is this the life you can live, or the life you would choose to live?”
“How can I know what I’d choose,” began April, “when this is the only world I’ve ever known?”
The Doctor sat back solemnly. After over fifty years, there were still new things to consider. New ways he’d ruined people’s lives. He might have become their hero, but he’d made the battlefield their playground. He hadn’t even won like they thought he had, not completely. Never completely. And now there was no one to challenge him. No Archie Sawyer. Just the soldiers he’d created. He grimaced, and then turned back, raising his mug of hot chocolate.
“Cheers.”
She found him at the top, absentmindedly scanning a silver sphere with his screwdriver. But he was staring out over the town, his mind clearly on other things.
"Not enjoying the party?"
The Doctor turned around, again now full of smiles. "April!"
"No, Doctor. Don't do that."
"Don't do what?"
"The smile thing. I know you. I know when you're happy and I know when you're not, and no amount of grinning like a toddler is going to change that."
The smile fades. "Sorry..."
“What’s up?” April huddled up in a blanket and rested her head on the Doctor’s shoulder as they looked out from the top of the clock-tower over Trenzalore. Home. Their home. “You’ve been miles away all day.”
“Sorry,” apologised the Doctor. “I didn’t mean to be.”
“Talk to me”
"Oh, that will be tricky, April."
"Don't think I haven't noticed. You were like this last year. And on my 58th. And don't get me started on my 50th. Didn't crack a smile all day, that is until you got back from one of your 'emergency meetings' with Tasha..."
"Shut up!"
April laughed, and he smiled, for real this time.
"I don't like your birthdays because... I don't want to upset you."
"Because you feel like you're losing me, like we lost my Dad? Or you feel like with each time, you're slowly getting closer to losing me?" She held out her hand for him to take. "I know these hands might be old and wrinkly now, but I am not going anywhere. I'll be here to tell you off for a very long time yet. So, what's that?"
"What?" April indicated the silver ball. "Oh, this. No idea. All scans show nothing, can't open it, can't find out what it's for, if it is for anything."
April was not fully listening, instead she was staring at his face. “Oh, look at you.” April stared up at the Doctor without moving her head. “Sometimes I forget, expect you to have gone grey. When you first told me you never aged I never quite believed it. But you don’t look a day older.”
“Actually,” confessed the Doctor, “I keep finding grey hairs. I just pull them out and bury them in the snow.”
April chuckled. “Your eyes have aged. That’s all. Or that’s all I’ve noticed anyway. They get older every day, deeper.”
“Do you ever resent me, April?” asked the Doctor.
“Don’t be daft. I’m not my dad.” She smiled. “I think he’d have been proud. Look out there. We’ve really built something here, Doctor. Something special.”
The Doctor shared the smile and put his arm around April, making her more comfortable. Within a few minutes, she was asleep. She was always so much more tired these days.
“Happy birthday.”
***
Twenty minutes later the pair were still sitting there contently, the Doctor seeming to have forgotten all about the threat.
"Woah... now that is interesting." The ball rolled off the Doctor's lap, but was not just rolling away. It was heading forwards with purpose, slowly making its way towards the stairs. It began to bump down them. The Doctor jumped up, and April jolted awake. "Come on!"
"Doctor, what is that thing?"
"Ty from the mine found it... Eliseo's dead. Hurry up, we'll lose it."
April looked shocked. "Doctor! That's Armelle's husband and you... You're so... Alien. Don't you care?"
"Of course I care, April, maybe more than you. But if I use too much time to mourn I won't be fast enough to save the next one."
"I... I do understand. But you are changing, Doctor, and I don't think it's for the better."
"Come on!"
"No, Doctor. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not a little girl anymore. You run. But I will always be here when you get back."
He smiled, and bounded off down the stairs.
"Besides." April said to herself. "There's something else I have to do."
***
The Doctor was grateful for the blizzard. The deep snow meant that the sphere was impossible to lose, carving a path in the snow for him to follow. He had quickly realised their destination. The mine. He was already beginning his ascent up the mountain.
When he was nearing the mine he found Tyckele and another man, wheeling a huge crate of coal down the mountain's man-made path.
"Doctor!" Ty rushed to greet him, quickly followed by his friend.
"Get outta the way!" The Doctor rushed past them, continuing on the sphere's trail. "It's heading down there!"
The sphere was tumbling down the rocky mountain side sloping down from the path.
"Is that the silver ball thing-y? How's it doing that?" Said Jin, the other miner.
Ty shrugged.
"Come on. Let's follow him."
The Doctor was carefully but speedily traversing the jagged rock face. Ty and Jin began to follow him down, holding on to each other to prevent themselves from falling.
"Be careful!" Ty shouted to the Doctor who was way ahead of them, trying to catch up with the sphere which was already down to the flat surface beneath them.
"Never!"
Ty sighed, and increased his speed to catch up with the Doctor.
Just as Ty reached the ground a loud roar reverberated down the mountain. The Doctor, who was further away, looked up.
"Ty! Move!" The crate of coal was cascading down mountain down towards them. Jin screamed, as the crate bashed into his head, sending him tumbling down the mountainside. Ty had just enough time to duck to the floor and cover his head before the pieces of coal smothered him.
The Doctor paused for a single moment, taking in the scene, before running over to Jin and Ty.
"Jin!" His head was covered in blood, and a corner of the crate had landed on his chest, crushing his ribs. The Doctor checked for pulse and breath. Nothing. He brushed the black soot away from Jin's face and closed his eyes, before running over to Ty.
Ty was coughing hard. The Doctor heaved the coal off him and sat him up.
"Jin?" Ty said, in between the coughs.
The Doctor shook his head.
"Come on. We need to get away from whatever it was that pushed this crate, and we need to catch up with the sphere."
Ty nodded, and allowed the Doctor to help him up.
***
"The Doctor doesn't know what happened yet, but he's investigating right now. He won't let what happened to Eliseo happen to anyone else."
April finished speaking. She felt as if she was reciting a well-practiced speech. Well she certainly had experience. Telling the family members; ripping worlds apart, had quickly become her role. Largely because the Doctor never could.
She was talking to Armelle and Eliseo's 18 year-old daughter Olevena, who was sat silently, away from her step mother. April looked out into the garden, where Eliseo's son was playing in the snow with his friend. He would soon know too. Armelle looked up, talking through her tears.
"Thank you April."
April knew she was being asked to leave. She stood up and briefly placed a hand on Armelle's shoulder in comfort, and then headed for the door.
***
"I'm alright now, Doctor." The Doctor ceased to help Ty walk. "Look, what's that over there?"
The Doctor and Ty jogged forwards, passing the sphere. They found a huge, seemingly oblong-shaped object buried under the snow. The Doctor bent down and brushed some of the snow away. He found a brown substance covering the object, like hair. He rubbed it.
"Artificial... and underneath, metal."
He jumped up.
"Right, time to listen to what my brain is telling me. 20 da ja vu's in one day is not a coincidence. A small silver sphere that moves on its own. A... creature with a fearsome roar, big claws and mammoth strength. Then this thing... Oh. Ohh no. No no no no no."
"What?" Ty moved behind the Doctor, scared.
"This 'thing' with thick brown fur on a snowy mountain..."
"But this isn't a creature Doctor... It's not big enough to push that crate over."
"Fur, but metal. A robot... It's the yeti!"
The silver sphere came towards them. Something opened on the creature's chest, pushing out of the snow.
"No!" The Doctor lunged forward.
The sphere entered the opening. A claw broke through the snow, before the Yeti stood up, rising out of the snow. It towered above The Doctor and a terrified Ty, but stood motionless, taking in its surroundings.
"When I say run, run." He took Ty's hand. "RUN!"
The Doctor turned and ran back towards Jin's body, pulling Ty along behind him. The Yeti roared, and then began to pursue them.
"Is there anyone else still on the mountain?"
"No, they'll all be down by now, waiting for me and Jin." Ty was gasping for breath and clearly in a lot of pain.
"Then come on!"
They reached where the coal crate had fallen. Suddenly, another Yeti, the one that pushed the crate, dropped down in front of them.
"Argh!"
Ty picked up a large piece of the scattered coal and hurled it at the Yeti. It clanged off, but succeeded in unbalancing the robot for a second, allowing him and the Doctor to rush past it.
As they approached the base of the mountain they spotted two other miners returning with a tractor to collect the final crate of coal.
"Turn the tractor around!" Ty shouted to them.
"What's going on?"
"The Doctor's here, what do you think?"
The Yeti appeared coming down the slope after them and the miners hurriedly turned the tractor around. When Ty and the Doctor reached it they leaped up to stand on the step up, the Doctor grabbing a pike from the back.
"Go!" Ty shouted up to the driver.
The tractor set off but not before one of the Yeti reached it, digging its claws into the wheel. The Doctor raised the pike and brought it crashing down on the Yeti, causing it to lose it's grip.
***
The blizzard had begun to clear and so April's party had spread out of the tavern and into the town square. The whole town was present aside from Armelle and her son. April was feeling very happy, despite the threat she knew the town was under. Over time, she had learnt to simply trust the Doctor in these matters. It was at times like this when she did not regret losing her chance to start a family, and becoming the only Sawyer on Trenzalore; because the entire town of Christmas felt like family to her.
She began to feel a little guilty for her happiness when she saw Olevena approaching her. She stopped some distance away, standing awkwardly and looking at April.
"...Hey."
"Hey." April smiled kindly. "Why don't you come and sit beside me?"
Olevena did so, relaxing into April's company.
"Where's your Mum?"
"At home, telling Vin. I couldn't face it."
"Yeah... I remember when my Mother died..."
"April... I don't think I came here for words."
April nodded in understanding, before pulling Olevena in for a hug. Over her shoulder, she saw the miner's tractor had pulled up just outside the town square. The Doctor jumped down and ran into the square, with Tyckele close behind him. The Doctor spotted April and quickly approached her.
"April! It's Yeti!" She just glared at him so he continued, "You know, the Yeti, Abominable Snowmen? Is that legend big on Trenzalore? I haven't really noticed. Fitting for the whole old fashioned town at the bottom of the mountain thing though right? Apart from the roboty-ness."
April jabbed the Doctor in the ribs, sharply tilting her head to gesture towards Olevena.
"Olevena!? Oh... Olevena." He puts a hand on her shoulder. "I know I don't have the right words for this, just know that I do care, deeply."
April smiled at him.
"Olevena why don't you go and sit down with Ty" April said, kindly.
Olevena didn't look happy, but Ty put his arm around her and led her away.
"So... Yeti?"
"Yep. But they're just foot soldiers, drones. And if they're under the control of who they should be, we are in very deep trouble indeed."
"And who might that be?"
"The Great Intelligence. Pompous name, I know. Last time we met he sacrificed himself for me."
"Erm, isn't that good?"
"Sacrificed himself to try to destroy me, that is."
"Oh. Less good."
"Yeah..."
"So, shouldn't he be well, um, dead?"
"He was. But that's all to come, hundreds of years in the future. And now I know how he knew so much then, because he's already been here now!"
"Wait, what do you mean by that?”
The Doctor realised what he had almost reveled, and didn’t know what to say.
Luckily, he was interrupted by a sound. The wind had been slowly picking up speed again and was lightly howling around the town. However, now it sounded different. There was a voice in the wind, being carried right into everyone's ears.
"Doc... tor... Doc... tooor..."
"That isn't just in my head is it?" the Doctor said, seeming a little scared.
"No. No it isn't."
"You. Are. Surrounded."
"What does that mean?"
Tyckele ran back over, followed by Olevena.
"Doctor, look down there!" He pointed down the road out of the village, where two Yeti were standing, still as statues.
"I suppose they're on every exit?"
"Almost definitely." The Doctor answered with a grimace.
"Follow. Them. Or they will. Make. You."
"I don't respond well to threats from anybody," the Doctor shouted into the air. "But from thin air? Not a chance!"
Nothing happened for a moment. Then, they saw that the two Yeti had slowly began to lumber down the street towards them.
The Doctor stepped forward and straightened his bow tie.
"April, get everyone inside the bell tower."
"You can't do anything against them on your own!"
"Just do it."
She nodded. "Everybody, quickly follow me. Ty, come on, help me."
The square quickly emptied, leaving just the Doctor and Olevena.
"You too Olevena."
"Nah, I'll stick with you Doctor."
"Don't be so stupid!"
"I want to face them."
"You know what, fine. If you want your mother to lose you as well, that's your choice. So... any ideas?
"You mean you don't have one?"
"Not really, no... They're getting quite close now aren't they?"
"You could say that."
The Yeti had entered the square and were still moving towards them.
"...Hello..."
Both Yeti walked straight past them. They were heading for the bell tower.
"No!" The Doctor ran at the Yeti like a fool, and was swiped away by a flick of its arm. Olevena rushed over to help him. He was dazed and could not get up. She looked back over to the bell tower and the Yeti were coming back out.
They carried an unconscious April and Tyckele over their shoulders.
"No! Doctor! Doctor!" Olevena slapped his cheek repeatedly.
"Follow. Doctor. Fo-llow."
***
April awoke with a jump. She was in a cave, almost certainly in the mountain. Tyckele was already conscious examining a pyramid of spheres.
"Tyckele!" she whispered.
"April, you're okay!"
"We're at the mine aren't we?"
He nodded, "Though I've never been in here before. Why are we whispering?"
"... I don't know. I just feel like someone's-"
"Welcome April Sawyer, welcome Tyckele Hope." The voice was different here, booming and filling every corner of the cave. The entity was here with them. "I must thank you for helping me to lure the Time Lord. I will enjoy seeing him before the end."
April stood up with confidence.
"What are you?"
"A most interesting question, but not one even I know the answer to."
"Well whoever you are. You're not the first. I have been kidnapped, stolen, threatened more times than I can remember. And the only thing it means, the only thing that has ever happens as a consequence is that our Sheriff will destroy you twice as quickly because of it."
"You think I'm one of them? Those mortal races are nothing more than you. I am the first being you have met more powerful than your precious Sheriff, Miss Sawyer. Though saying that, all it takes to destroy a puny race is another puny race. And very soon you will have to face them all again April. But this time, together."
***
The Doctor and Olevena had entered the bell tower. There were two dead. A woman in her sixties and a man in his twenties. A warning.
"There's nothing I can do but follow. I want you all to stay here, out of sight. I think the other Yeti will have gone back to the mountain and there's no reason they'll be sent back."
"I'll come too." The others seemed shocked by Olevena. "I can't let them take Ty as well as everything else."
"Ty special, is he?" The Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The, er, the town loves him."
"Ah. 'The town' loves him." He responded, miming inverted commas with his hands. "Come on then."
"No!" Olevena's mother stepped put of the crowd. "She's not going. Your Dad wouldn't have wanted this."
"And do you remember how you and Eliseo… got together, Mary?" The Doctor said, firmly but with kindness. "He saved you. Let your daughter do the same eh?"
Mary nodded and the Doctor left the tower followed by a blushing Olevena.
***
Tyckele and April were walking down a cave tunnel, trying to find a way out into the open.
"You think you can escape?" The thunderous voice returned. "I am everywhere here. You cannot leave my sight."
"Can't exactly do much to stop us though can you? Aside from shouting at us." Ty quipped.
They turned a corner and jumped in shock. A Yeti stood between them and an exit to the open air. It did not move, but trying to get past it would be impossible.
"I think he maybe can Ty."
"The Doctor is being slow. Tyckele. You have fulfilled your function. I have no use for you with April here."
"Function? What function have I ever performed for you?"
"You may as well finally know your part. Tell me, when did Christmas begin to mime the mountain's coal?"
"Erm, er, recently..."
"And what was wrong with the wood you had used before? You have it in abundance and you are not short of the space to store it."
"I don't..."
April was equally confused "What are you saying?"
"You have all been under my influence. Psychic emissions to cloud your perceptions, so that Tyckele and his fellow ‘miners’ have been coming here every day and have been hollowing out the mountain, taking your coal as a by-product so my Yeti can replace it with our technology. This mountain is now the most powerful thing ever to have been on this miserable planet. Volcanic, even. Now, die happy, knowing you have helped condemn your planet to destruction."
The Yeti slowly raised its claw and then lurched forwards towards them. They both began to back away. The Yeti had chance to strike April, but did not, lunging forwards to Ty. He was knocked to the floor.
Just as the Yeti was about to go in for its kill, a rope circle was swung over its head from behind and was pulled tight around it.
"Now Doctor!" Olevena's voice shouted, and Ty saw her behind the Yeti, pressing herself against the cave wall. The sound of engines was heard and the Yeti was dragged backwards out of the cave and then began tumbling down the slope to the bottom of the mountain. The Doctor quickly cut the rope holding the Yeti to the tractor, allowing it to continue to spiral out of view.
"Doctor!" April ran put of the cave, leaving Tyckele and Olevena alone.
"Hey."
"You saved us."
"Yeah, yeah I kind of did didn't I?" She stepped forward and nervously but forcefully kissed Ty.
"Erm..."
They broke away blushing, to see April and the Doctor standing at the cave mouth.
"Right, you three, get to the tractor and get back down to the bottom and wait. Be ready for me, we might need to get away in a hurry."
"We can't just leave you."
"You've got each other now and that's something you need to hold on to. April, look after them."
Ty and Olevena headed out. April stayed for a moment.
"Fine. But you just make sure you do come back down, okay?"
"I'll do my best."
She left, leaving the Doctor alone. He walked further into the cave, straightening his bow tie.
"Well? Here I am!"
Wind began to flow through the cave.
"Doc-tor. Has it been as long for you as it has for me?"
"No. Though not in the way that you think."
"When we last met properly, I wanted your mind. Do you know why?"
"To learn?"
"Yes, Doctor. To learn. I came into this world, nothing but an echo. A reflection of a simple being. But I could see. I could see more than I understood, more than I knew. I had to learn somehow. You would not have died, just reverted. Was it so much to ask of you?"
"Why would I want to help a creature like you?"
"But I did learn Doctor. I stayed on your Earth and feasted on the minds of the humans. Primitive, but together they allowed me to grow. But that was after hundreds of years of confusion and torment. That you could have prevented."
"I was too busy defeating you."
"I was a child!" The wind picked up, howling around the cave and blowing snow inside "AND YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!"
"Only to stop you from killing others!" The Doctor replied incredulously.
"Primitive ants! I am a higher being like you, who is more important?"
"Them. Always."
"Your excuses are pitiful Doctor. And now, after so many years, I will have my revenge."
The noise of hydraulics started up.
"What's that? What's happening."
"See for yourself, Doctor."
He ran out of the cave.
***
April, Ty and Olevena were stood by the tractor at the bottom of the mountain. They had all heard the machinery and were staring up at the mountain.
The mountain top suddenly began to shudder and shake. It slowly separated into 4 segments, each one hanging to the side leaving a hole into the depths of the mountain. Through it rose a massive metal dish which pointed up into the sky and began to fizz with blue energy that was coursing up out of the mountain.
"What is that?" Olevena asked as Ty clutched her in fear.
"An electric field dampener." The Doctor appeared behind them "Capable to ripping apart any force-field. Even Trenzalore's."
"Now you understand Doctor." The voice did not seem to be with them, but was louder than ever, like the entire mountain was roaring. "All those minor races up there. They all know the only thing they need to do for peace is to destroy you. Which is also what I need to do to achieve my peace. Yeti, activate!"
Hundreds of Yeti crawled out from various caves in the mountain, scuttling up and connecting their spheres to machinery which was now poking out all over the mountain.
"Are you ready, Doctor, to face them all?"
"Oh I don't know. But I'll tell you one thing I was ready for. You." The others looked at him in surprise. "I may be getting on a bit, but my memory's not that bad, not concerning you. I didn't let on that I recognised the control sphere because I knew you were listening. I'd been noticing those psychic emissions, trying to play around in my brain."
"What are you saying Doctor?"
"I'm saying, Great Intelligence, that I got very good at messing around with your control spheres centuries ago. And one loose wire is all it takes to topple it all. My Yeti, deactivate!"
The power that had been building up at the mountaintop diminished.
"And, destroy!"
The group could just about see one Yeti move towards the light. A second later the energy seemed to redirect, being pumped down back into the mountain. The whole mountain began to shake.
"Nooo!" The voice sounded as if it is being strangled.
"Run!" The Doctor, April, Ty and Olevena rushed away as the mountain and its base quaked. Snow began to fall in avalanches, smothering the Yeti and knocking them down the mountain to be buried deep under snow. A booming explosion of metal was heard deep within the mountain and smoke came billowing up out of the top.
The group stood and stared for a while, before April spoke.
"Is that him dead then?"
"No." The Doctor said gravely. "He's not even gone. We need to contact Tasha."
***
Tasha's team to deal with the Intelligence had come down in a shuttle. They said they had creatures, genetically engineered like the confessional priests that would absorb the intelligence. The Doctor was dubious and sat watching a way off, on the tractor with April. The creatures were released from the shuttle and the Doctor peered at them closely. They were in black like the priests. They stood around the mountain a circle, and raised their hands to each other. The Doctor looked closer. They wore top hats. He could not see the faces.
No wait, he realised he could see the faces. They had no faces. He knew what they were. He leaped up and ran back towards the mountain.
"No! This isn't going to work!"
The creatures stood with their energy pulsating between them. They began to drag wind in, coming in from inside the mountain. The voice was in the wind, howling. But it turned into a laugh. The absorbing creatures seemed overpowered, stumbling back and forth being knocked by the wind. The energy between them changed colour and as the Doctor grew closer he saw that a face was passing between them, sporting and disappearing on each of the creatures consecutively. The face of Doctor Simeon. They all began to talk as one.
"At the great dawn and at the great dusk, you are my enemy and it will always be thus."
The Whispermen broke up into pieces, like paper, and floated up into the sky and away.
***
“Drinks are on the house for that one!” exclaimed the barman, as the villagers cheered the Doctor into the pub. “Doctor, pint of-“
“-hot chocolate, please,” finished the Doctor. The few villagers who weren’t tired of that joke chuckled.
“Coming right up.”
“Tasha needs to get a move on with my marshmallows…”
“See, Doctor?” said April, sitting herself down on a barstool. “I can still do it. There’s plenty of life left in me yet.”
“Yes,” agreed the Doctor, looking up at the portrait on the wall. “And I think your father would be proud. The question is, do you still want to do it?” The Doctor quietened his voice, so that amidst the celebration, only April could hear him. “Is this the life you can live, or the life you would choose to live?”
“How can I know what I’d choose,” began April, “when this is the only world I’ve ever known?”
The Doctor sat back solemnly. After over fifty years, there were still new things to consider. New ways he’d ruined people’s lives. He might have become their hero, but he’d made the battlefield their playground. He hadn’t even won like they thought he had, not completely. Never completely. And now there was no one to challenge him. No Archie Sawyer. Just the soldiers he’d created. He grimaced, and then turned back, raising his mug of hot chocolate.
“Cheers.”
NEXT TIME: SILENT NIGHT(Written by the Genie)
The Doctor is beginning to notice the effects of ageing on April, and wonders how much longer she will be able to stay with him. The Christmas he knew is disappearing. The voices of his friends are echoes, passing on the wind, and on each picture-frame gathers a layer of dust. And it always ends the same way every time. But he isn't the only one suffering - high up the ranks of the Church of the Papal Mainframe, one devastated woman threatens to break the ceasefire altogether. Can Tasha Lem convince her to stay with the Silence, or is she destined for a darker path? |
|