Prologue
It had been a good day. A quiet day, a calm day. Which for most people isn’t an extraordinary thing, but then most people didn’t travel through a universe of time and space with the Doctor from Gallifrey.
A good day for Lizzie and the Doctor usually meant no monsters, no planet or civilization facing extinction, no running for their lives or fighting for the lives of others.
But this day had been a particularly good day because the Doctor had taken Lizzie to visit some of her favourite places in her own time and in her own country: they’d stood in silence before the mystery of Stonehenge and for once the Doctor didn’t try to tell her it wasn’t a mystery, that he knew the whole story behind it. They’d walked the Cobb in Lyme Regis and looked out across the English Channel to France, in silence, the ocean waves crashing up and over the great stone breakwater in explosive majesty. They’d visited the home of Jane Austen but again in Lizzie’s time, not in Austen’s, and the Doctor refrained from mentioning the times he had spent with Miss Jane in the past.
Today they’d been tourists and all was beautiful.
Then, as it does all too frequently when you travel with the Doctor, everything went sideways.
Everything changed in a footstep and a key turned in a lock, when Lizzie unlocked and stepped through the door of the TARDIS, and it slammed shut before the Doctor could follow her in.
She whirled around in surprise and called out to him. “Doctor!? Are you OK?”
“Yes Lizzie, I am … OK,” he responded while patting his arms and legs in a quick survey of any possible damage or missing parts. That was how firmly it had closed, inches from his body. “I’m right here, Lizzie, on the other side of the door. All of me. In one piece.”
“I can barely hear you, Doctor.”
“I can’t hear YOU very well either…” He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and attempted to magnify the sound of their voices so they could be heard more clearly through the door.
“How’s that?”
“Better, Doctor.”
“Just a minute, while I get out my own key.”
Silence followed, for several very long seconds.
“Doctor? What’s wrong?”
“My key isn’t working, Lizzie. For some reason, it won’t even slide into the lock … I’ll scan the door and the TARDIS and see what’s going on.”
Lizzie could hear the shrill buzz of his sonic screwdriver, and then silence again.
“Doctor?”
“Everything registers normal but the door will not open for me for some reason. Can you try it from your side? Maybe just give it a pull, really hard, and see what happens.”
Lizzie had already begun pulling after she’d heard the sonic’s whirr. The door was having none of it and didn’t even wiggle with all her effort. “It’s not budging. Has this happened before?”
“Not to me, no, at least not that I can remember.” Silence again. “Look, Lizzie, give me a moment.”
She could hear him talking, saying something, softly, like “What’s wrong old girl?”
“Is there someone out there with you?“
“No…sort of…well, not exactly...”
Lizzie had heard the Doctor “talking” to the TARDIS like this before, more than once actually, usually at the console though, not to the door, not outside, like this. She’d always found it a bit unsettling but she figured that at least in part, it was just a way for the Doctor to think out loud rather than simply conversing with his ship. But now he was speaking louder, addressing her, Lizzie, very clearly.
“Lizzie, I need your help. Walk over to the console and try the door switch….” But his words were drowned out by the loud BONG of the cloister bell, an unmistakable warning of danger, a sound emanating from deep inside the TARDIS.
“Doctor? The cloister bell, that’s not good, is it?”
Instead of hearing the Doctor, Lizzie heard a new voice, a woman’s voice, loudly and clearly, and audible even above the cloister bell.
“Don’t listen to him, Lizzie.” It said. He’s an impostor. That’s why I locked him out.”
“What?? Who are you? Where are you?”
“I am the TARDIS. You know me. I am all around you. I take you and the real Doctor through time and space. I take care of both of you. I will protect you from the impostor. I will find the real Doctor.”
“DOCTOR! The TARDIS is talking! She’s never talked before, has she? Can you hear her? She says you are an imposter.”
“She’s lying, Lizzie.”
“NO, I am NOT LYING,” the TARDIS voice replied most emphatically.
“Why would she lie?” continued Lizzie.
“I have no idea.”
And then the Cloister bell stopped ringing in mid BONG and all was silent.
A good day for Lizzie and the Doctor usually meant no monsters, no planet or civilization facing extinction, no running for their lives or fighting for the lives of others.
But this day had been a particularly good day because the Doctor had taken Lizzie to visit some of her favourite places in her own time and in her own country: they’d stood in silence before the mystery of Stonehenge and for once the Doctor didn’t try to tell her it wasn’t a mystery, that he knew the whole story behind it. They’d walked the Cobb in Lyme Regis and looked out across the English Channel to France, in silence, the ocean waves crashing up and over the great stone breakwater in explosive majesty. They’d visited the home of Jane Austen but again in Lizzie’s time, not in Austen’s, and the Doctor refrained from mentioning the times he had spent with Miss Jane in the past.
Today they’d been tourists and all was beautiful.
Then, as it does all too frequently when you travel with the Doctor, everything went sideways.
Everything changed in a footstep and a key turned in a lock, when Lizzie unlocked and stepped through the door of the TARDIS, and it slammed shut before the Doctor could follow her in.
She whirled around in surprise and called out to him. “Doctor!? Are you OK?”
“Yes Lizzie, I am … OK,” he responded while patting his arms and legs in a quick survey of any possible damage or missing parts. That was how firmly it had closed, inches from his body. “I’m right here, Lizzie, on the other side of the door. All of me. In one piece.”
“I can barely hear you, Doctor.”
“I can’t hear YOU very well either…” He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and attempted to magnify the sound of their voices so they could be heard more clearly through the door.
“How’s that?”
“Better, Doctor.”
“Just a minute, while I get out my own key.”
Silence followed, for several very long seconds.
“Doctor? What’s wrong?”
“My key isn’t working, Lizzie. For some reason, it won’t even slide into the lock … I’ll scan the door and the TARDIS and see what’s going on.”
Lizzie could hear the shrill buzz of his sonic screwdriver, and then silence again.
“Doctor?”
“Everything registers normal but the door will not open for me for some reason. Can you try it from your side? Maybe just give it a pull, really hard, and see what happens.”
Lizzie had already begun pulling after she’d heard the sonic’s whirr. The door was having none of it and didn’t even wiggle with all her effort. “It’s not budging. Has this happened before?”
“Not to me, no, at least not that I can remember.” Silence again. “Look, Lizzie, give me a moment.”
She could hear him talking, saying something, softly, like “What’s wrong old girl?”
“Is there someone out there with you?“
“No…sort of…well, not exactly...”
Lizzie had heard the Doctor “talking” to the TARDIS like this before, more than once actually, usually at the console though, not to the door, not outside, like this. She’d always found it a bit unsettling but she figured that at least in part, it was just a way for the Doctor to think out loud rather than simply conversing with his ship. But now he was speaking louder, addressing her, Lizzie, very clearly.
“Lizzie, I need your help. Walk over to the console and try the door switch….” But his words were drowned out by the loud BONG of the cloister bell, an unmistakable warning of danger, a sound emanating from deep inside the TARDIS.
“Doctor? The cloister bell, that’s not good, is it?”
Instead of hearing the Doctor, Lizzie heard a new voice, a woman’s voice, loudly and clearly, and audible even above the cloister bell.
“Don’t listen to him, Lizzie.” It said. He’s an impostor. That’s why I locked him out.”
“What?? Who are you? Where are you?”
“I am the TARDIS. You know me. I am all around you. I take you and the real Doctor through time and space. I take care of both of you. I will protect you from the impostor. I will find the real Doctor.”
“DOCTOR! The TARDIS is talking! She’s never talked before, has she? Can you hear her? She says you are an imposter.”
“She’s lying, Lizzie.”
“NO, I am NOT LYING,” the TARDIS voice replied most emphatically.
“Why would she lie?” continued Lizzie.
“I have no idea.”
And then the Cloister bell stopped ringing in mid BONG and all was silent.
the eighth doctor adventures
series 5 - episode 10
together alone
written by clara laurinda
Inside the TARDIS Console Room
“Doctor?” said Lizzie out loud, but she was thinking something else entirely: Is he really the Doctor? Why would the TARDIS lie? For that matter, why is the TARDIS suddenly talking? IS the voice that of the TARDIS and she IS lying? And I’ve never heard the cloister bell stop so suddenly. Lizzie’s mind was racing.
Outside the TARDIS Door
“Lizzie?” The Doctor’s mind is racing too: Why is the TARDIS talking, all of a sudden, and not to me, but to Lizzie, and for that matter, why is she lying to Lizzie about me? Is that really Lizzie talking to me? I can’t hear the TARDIS speaking, so is Lizzie the one who is lying? Is SHE the imposter?
Inside the TARDIS Console Room
Lizzie is now standing next to the control console, self-consciously patting the console and whispering to it, “Are you OK?”
A strange thing happened: the TARDIS said out loud, with great irritation, “Of course I am OK!” while at the same time Lizzie heard a distinct and familiar groaning sound resonating from deep within the console which trembled with the sound, as if in complete contradiction of what the voice had just said. Then there was a sudden and painful ringing and buzzing noise in her ear, like tinnitus, although there was no loud noise triggering it since the cloister bell had stopped sounding and the TARDIS voice wasn’t talking, and there was nothing in the room that was actually ringing or buzzing.
“Doctor? Are you using your sonic?” she shouted towards the closed door.
Outside the TARDIS Door
“No Lizzie. Why?” he shouted back.
Inside the TARDIS Console Room
“Because there was a sound in my ear just then, a high-pitched ringing and buzzing sound, but there was silence in here otherwise.”
Outside the TARDIS Door
The Doctor straightened up in sudden recognition of something familiar, like a sense of déjà vu, and that triggered an idea and then a whole line of thought ... and a plan. The Doctor shouted back a rather enigmatic response, especially for anyone or anything other than Lizzie who might be listening: “Lizzie! Do you remember the incident on Synaxta? And… how we prevented the planet’s disintegration?!”
Inside the TARDIS Console Room
“Yes… Yes I do!” Lizzie shouted back as she too snapped upright, in full realization, like a mirror image of the Doctor’s movements outside.
This was no impostor she was talking to. He had just identified himself to her by shouting about something specific, the HOW, he emphasized, that only they knew about, while at the same time setting a plan of action in motion. He has a plan already! He was reminding her of how they’d established a telepathic link between them so they could communicate in the thundering noise of the surrounding mayhem. Only she and he knew about this and perhaps the real, unspeaking TARDIS knew too. And he was telling Lizzie to help him open the link between them NOW. They could communicate in apparent silence, “heard” only by each other and no-one or nothing else.
TARDIS Outside and TARDIS Inside, Two Minds and Places Linked Telepathically
You know by now Lizzie that I am not an impostor and I know you aren’t an impostor, or we wouldn’t be able to do this or know that we could, right?
Yes. And, I know that the TARDIS never talks out loud. You two have an odd way of communicating but never out loud, so I know it isn’t her speaking. But Doctor…
Yes, Lizzie?
There was something else that has convinced me that the TARDIS voice is lying. I gave the TARDIS console one of your little pats, and in a soft whisper, asked if she was OK. And at the very time that the so-called TARDIS voice loudly proclaimed that OF COURSE SHE WAS OK, I believe the TARDIS herself communicated to me in her usual language of groans, sighs and shudders, that she was indeed NOT OK. That convinced me. The voice is the impostor, the liar, not you or the TARDIS.
In confirmation of all this, the booming TARDIS voice spoke up just then and proved that there was indeed a someone or something that was unaware of their unspoken communication, because it filled what it perceived as silence, with a loud and arch proclamation in answer to the last words spoken: “Yes! I remember it better than you, ‘Doctor’, because I was actually there and I helped the real Doctor escape.”
The impostor had now revealed her/itself, and it wasn’t the Doctor. Or the TARDIS.
But Doctor, Lizzie’s thoughts resumed, WHAT is really going ON, then? She knew he knew and now was the time he must share that knowledge.
Ah well, that’s going to take quite a few minutes to explain so you have to make some sort of convincing excuse to the “Talking TARDIS” that you need some quiet time alone in your room so that your mind will be clear and you can listen to “her” plan on what to do about the impostor Doctor. Do it better than I just did, please Lizzie, or we’re doomed. That way, we can communicate silently without you standing in front of “her” quiet as a glazed-eyed stump.
Yes, but I don’t think I’ve ever stood glazed-eyed like a stump, even as a quiet child.
Are you laughing at me Lizzie? If a thought could smile, this one would indeed.
Yes Doctor. You can be very eloquent when you talk science and time vortexes and reversing the polarity but your descriptions of people…
Are hilarious?
Yes.
Well at least I’ve got you laughing on the inside…
A pun, Doctor? Lizzie could hear him chuckling out loud, even through the closed door. But it stopped abruptly and the Doctor’s thoughts grew serious again, and urgent, as he realized his chuckling might have been overheard.
Is she saying anything? Because you are just standing there like a…
No sounds at all Doctor. Not even when you laughed. All is quiet here. So… here goes!
“Hello?” Lizzie asked, not sure where to direct her voice, since the Talking TARDIS voice echoed in her ear as if it were coming from everywhere and nowhere.
“Yes, dear?” Lizzie’s thoughts in response to this appalling false familiarity were inaudible, luckily, or the game would have been over before it had really begun.
Lizzie, stay focussed!
I know Doctor, I know, but the voice’s false caring makes me feel like being sick and as my boss once said, I am not very good at being diplomatic…you know that.
That’s not true Lizzie. Focus and you’ll be fine!
“I really do appreciate you protecting me from this impostor, “Lizzie said, sounding as concerned as she could, “But do you really think you can find the real Doctor? Can we rescue him and protect him too?”
“I’m scanning for him…” Which is odd, thought Lizzie, because I know your scanner isn’t on and the real TARDIS should know I would notice that if…
Lizzie! LOOK like you are listening to her, don’t let your focus wander!
“…but all I know,” continued the TARDIS voice, is that he isn’t outside my door or inside me anywhere either. I will keep scanning though, and … you can trust me to keep you safe while I keep searching.”
Oh, sure I can…
Lizzie!
“As a matter of fact, dear, why don’t you go and lie down in your room while I continue searching and while I try to find out who the impostor Doctor really is and what he’s trying to do? You look rather pale, my dear.”
I wonder why she wants you out of the console room.
Doctor, you are distracting me. Let me handle this.
OK, sorry.
“That’s very kind of you,” Lizzie responded to the voice. “I think I’ll do that. I am feeling a bit odd and tired.” Lizzie tried to sound as sincere as possible, drawing on her years of humouring the tea room regulars in her hometown of Dunsworth. Then the Doctor’s voice cut in as if on cue, as he shouted through the door to reinforce their charade: “Lizzie! Don’t listen to her! She’s lying! It’s me! I am the Doctor. Don’t leave me out here!”
“Oh, SHUT UP Impostor Doctor!” roared the very un-ladylike TARDIS voice. “We will WIN this time!” The TARDIS voice went silent, realizing it had said a little too much.
“We?” asked Lizzie?
“You and me, I meant, dear.”
“But what did you mean by ‘We will win this time?”
“I…I don’t really know…I just got carried away.” A brief silence. “Didn’t you say you needed to lie down, dear?”
“Yes” said Lizzie and she headed towards the doorway to the corridor that led to her room. “And maybe you should take a little rest too, perhaps?”
Lizzie don’t push it. No sarcasm. Get out of there and to your room before you blow your cover like “she” did.
“Perhaps you’re right, dear. I will take a brief break before I resume my search for the Doctor and my investigation into the impostor.”
Under all these words, Lizzie heard a sad sigh come from the console. Lizzie was certain It was the TARDIS herself, hanging on in (almost) silence. Lizzie wished the TARDIS could read her thoughts and the Doctor’s and be reassured. But then maybe she can and is, and the sigh is telling me to get on with it! And down the corridor she went, to her room, slowly (since she was supposed to be tired) but with hidden determination.
TARDIS Outside and Inside, Two Minds Linked Telepathically, in Lizzie’s Room
The TARDIS voice was silent now, but Lizzie was certain she was being listened to and wisely said nothing out loud, although her thoughts were far from quiet. The Doctor’s thoughts were still as well when she opened her door and surveyed her personal TARDIS space: a small room decorated with several strings of twinkling fairy lights on the walls and ceilings, to remind her of the stars she often observed in awe in the TARDIS observatory and sailed past on their journeys; the same stars she had observed in wonder as a child in the care home and her estate flat as an adult.
There was another reminder of her life in Dunsworth too: on the wall next to her bed, a holographic window had been hung like a mirror just above her bed, but that functioned as a window looking out on familiar earth scenes and seasons she could view from her bed. With a press of a button she could make it seem as if she were looking out a window through the leafy green branches of trees in the summer and brightly coloured autumn leaves in the fall, or at a hilly wintery landscape as it was being lightly dusted by a night time snowfall. There were many scenes to choose from, but her favourite view was of the pond of her childhood, with the comforting old tree nearby, from which hung the rope swing she used to over the pond with in her quiet, private moments away from the care home. The window had been a gift from Cioné and Iris.
Her narrow bed was small and covered in two (sometimes three!) soft, thick comforters and three fluffy pillows—a comforting place to sink into and relax and read and, now especially, a place to think and to “talk” with the Doctor. The bed was extra long to accommodate another treasured gift, this one from the Doctor: a Victorian lap desk or “slope” which was sturdy, box-like but portable, made from walnut and trimmed in shining brass, with a matching brass key that opened the box to reveal a fold out velvet- lined writing area, sloped, as the name described, and a storage compartment for pencils and pens and beloved favourite book or the one she was currently reading. She loved to stretch her toes and feel the reassuring wooden presence, her key to whatever world she was reading about and to whomever she was writing a letter that she sometimes actually completed and sent (with some difficulty, since most of the places she visited with the Doctor did not have mailboxes); of course, the most frequent recipient was Maggie who took the strange postmarks and stamps in her stride.
On the wall opposite the “window,” was a mirror that reflected the images and increased the illusion of light coming through the window, brightening the room considerably; like the lap desk, it was framed in ornately sculpted brass. Next to the bed was and a small night table holding a Tiffany-style lamp and 2 photographs: one of Lizzie holding a new-born Iris and another of the Doctor, Cioné and teenaged Iris.
After apparently allowing her a few moments to collect herself, the Doctor’s thoughts now mingled with hers.
Lizzie?
Yes, Doctor? Are you OK by the way? Everything has been happening so fast, sorry I didn’t ask earlier.
Yes, I am fine-ish, alone out here with my thoughts. And yours.
Witty, Doctor, but…what’s next? What’s the plan?
Remember when you told me you heard a buzzing-ringing sound, and you wondered if it was my sonic?
Yes.
Well, when you said that, I realized who we are dealing with and possibly why. It’s a lifeform called the Wispins. They actually live here on Earth, in the ears of humans, in a usually mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with you. They live on sound, on the sound waves of what you hear and they they help keep your ears healthy, protecting you from the impact of excessive noise, and lubricating your ears with ear wax... They can also create sound, like the buzzing and ringing you mentioned.
If a mind could recoil in shock, hers most certainly did now.
Erm, Doctor, you are disturbing me just a little. You take something everyday and…complicate it…make it quite frightening.
Not me Lizzie. Reality does that.
You are telling me that me that the reality is that when I hear buzzing or ringing or other noises in my ears, it’s caused by an alien parasite, as is the wax that keeps the ears “healthy”??
They aren’t actually parasites because the relationship is usually beneficial to both you and them. And, they aren’t not alien, just not human. They live on Earth with you… and have since the beginning.
They live IN us, you said. Not with us like a next door neighbour, Doctor.
Yes. In you. But just in your ears.
Hmmmmm. But what’s gone wrong, Doctor?
Well, since they’ve existed for a very long time, there has been some evolution in their society…
They have a society??
Yes…. with a group emerging called Rippins. The problem is that they want to do more than just coexist with and help humans. They want to control what they hear, they want to influence human life, to take it over in fact. They want what amounts to a fully parasitic relationship where they will take what they need and not worry about damaging or even destroying their human hosts in the process.
Lizzie had been sitting on her bed through all this but now she swung her legs up and sank into her comforters and pillows and tried to clear her head.
Lizzie?
This is a lot to take in Doctor. You’re unnerving me a bit to say the least. Alien…I mean non-human creatures in my ears and a power struggle?
Yes, between the Wispins and Rippins and now between the Rippins and humans. There’s a lot more, sorry, Lizzie, but you need to know. For several centuries now there has been a slow-burn revolution going on with the benign, symbiotic Wispins and the parasitic Rippins struggling for power. I have spoken out over the centuries about the need for reconciliation and reunification and the continuation of a peaceful, mutually beneficial Wispin/human symbiosis, but the Rippins have become increasingly aggressive and it would appear, are coming after me now, through you and the TARDIS, to stop me and my attempts at a peaceful resolution.
So, Doctor, the voice that says she is the voice of the TARDIS is actually a Rippin? And they are using their control of sound to muzzle the cloister bell and keep you out of the TARDIS? Am I not just in the way? Not their target?
Yes, I think that’s correct, Lizzie. You are only a target in the sense that you are human and can be affected by their manipulation of sound and because you are close to me and a way to get at me.
But if they live in human ears, how are they able to control the cloister bell or… does it have ears?
That’s what concerns me. They may have developed the ability to leave the human body and use their sound powers outside of the human body. I don’t know. If it’s a new evolution, it is a dangerous one. It’s also possible that they have just muted your human ability to hear the cloister bell ringing. It could be as simple as that. But it’s still dangerous.
You mean the bell could still be ringing but I am being kept from hearing it?
Yes.
But I can still hear the sounds of the TARDIS, her sighs and shuddering. They haven’t screened those out.
They may not know that those sounds are communication Lizzie. They may think those are just machine sounds.
You’ve used the words think and know. That means they are sentient beings with plans and goals and even emotions and intelligence.
Yes.
And some of them are ruthless and aggressive against you because they want to take control of human life and they know you want to stop them.
Yes.
So…what’s the plan?
You mean do I have a plan? Yes of course. It’s already started. And…it involves you.
I got that. So...what is it, exactly, then, or even in general?
The Doctor’s thoughts went silent.
BANG BANG BANG BANG!!
Doctor? What was that!!
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!! “Let me in! I know who you are and you’re not going to stop me!! You know very well I am the real Doctor and that’s why you’ve shut me out!” BANG BANG BANG BANG!
It’s me Lizzie. I’ve been quiet for too long and they might suspect I’m up to something, because they know I don’t give up easily, so I am stirring the pot.
And then there was the booming response of the Talking TARDIS: “LIES Doctor!! We…I …don’t believe you!! Go away while I find the REAL Doctor!!”
BANBANGBANGBANGBANG!! “You KNOW I’m NOT lying and I’m NOT going anywhere!!” The Doctor shouted one last parting shot and then resumed his thought conversation with Lizzie.
I needed to buy us more time because there is one more important backstory you need to know. A bit of a LONG backstory.
Well, I’m all ea …thoughts, Doctor. Lizzie smiled and switched thoughts quickly, to fit the urgent reality and to sidestep a flat out mental pun. So go ahead, please.
Ha! That’s it Lizzie! Hang onto your sense of humour, it’ll keep us calm and focussed.
I learned that from you, Doctor.
Thanks. OK, here it is. In my fifth incarnation, my sonic screwdriver was destroyed by the Terileptils, when their activities led to the Great Fire of London. Another long story. No time now. Anyway, I didn’t make a replacement and I made it known that I had sworn off using a sonic until my present incarnation…BUT… in my Sixth incarnation I…. well the TARDIS and I, created a new one, but I kept it secret. And it had a new capability: it could work in total silence. Silent sound.
Why would you do that?
It was because of the Wispin/Rippin conflict which had really hotted up at that time and I needed a means of secretly monitoring their activities in order to observe and anticipate any action by the Rippins that would lead to their basically taking over all of human existence or destroying it. That’s how bad it had gotten.
OK… but why would they fight so hard to stop you if they were simply worried about being monitored. Is there something you aren’t allowing me to read in your thoughts? I sense there is more to it.
Rumours got around that my sonic could kill them, wipe them off the face of the earth.
Could it? CAN it?
Not the way I was using it, I had no intention of destruction, just nudging them them away from their aggressive behaviour towards Wispins and humans, cause them to return to their symbiotic origins or move out of human ears.
How would they survive?
In other mammalian beings on earth and on other planets with humanoid lifeforms… with ears.
Lizzie suppressed a snicker, clamping her hand over her mouth. It had sounded funny but surely was not.
In any event, I created and another sonic while I maintained the lie that I had no sonic. And reinforced this by never using it. I hid it, so the Rippins wouldn’t find it and use it in their fight against the Wispins and against me… In my seventh incarnation, I continued the lie and never used my sonic. The sonic I have now is a different one.
Hid it…where, Doctor?
It’s hidden in.…
My room Doctor? My own private space that’s supposed to be separate from your life? She looked at the pictures of herself and the Doctor, Cioné and Iris, all clustered together on the bedside table and realized the obvious: there was no escape really.
Where, Doctor? And then she figured it out: Wooden box, brass key….
It’s in my genuine Victorian lap desk?! With all the compartments. I thought it was a gift?
It was and is. It’s yours Lizzie, but it also holds the sixth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.
Lizzie was not impressed. She blocked her thoughts from the Doctor. Lizzie then pulled the desk onto her lap and turned the brass key that was sitting upright in the desk lock. With relative ease, she located the extra compartment by pressing gently on a piece of wood under the book she had been reading, and pulled out the sonic everyone thought never existed. She pressed it; it was silent, although it’s tip glowed with a yellow light….. and re-established her thought link with the Doctor.
How do I know it’s working?
I test it regularly.
You what? We need to talk, Doctor, about personal space… when all this is over…
She pressed the button again and it’s tip glowed warmly in her bedroom for all of three seconds when…
A scream of TRAITOR!!! filled her ears as the TARDIS voice began fighting back against the pressures of the silent waves of the secret sonic… and then there was a catastrophically loud BONNNNNG!! from the cloister bell—the Rippins had released their mute control over it and it rang painfully and catastrophically throughout the TARDIS, but especially in her room, where the sonic exploded in her hand.
Doctor!!
Outside the TARDIS Door
Lizzie? LIZZIE! What’s happening? And then the telepathic link was severed for whatever reason. Likely because Lizzie was under siege and focussing on the battle at hand.
Now he was alone again, on the outside of the TARDIS, and Lizzie was on her own inside the TARDIS, in her special private space, fighting for her life and for the future of humankind. On Earth and throughout in the populated universe.
Inside the TARDIS, Lizzie’s Room
Lizzie could no longer “hear” the Doctor’s thoughts. The telepathic link seemed severed or maybe she just wasn’t focussed on it anymore, and she wondered and worried whether she had shouted his name out loud or in her thoughts. She didn’t know, but she knew it didn’t matter because ‘the game was afoot’ as Sherlock would say! The fight was on!
Everything was happening so fast. There was a high-pitched whirring in her ears and the cloister bell started bonging manically and the TARDIS voice was screaming epithets and angry threats and chanting: TRAITORTRAITORTRAITOR!!!! Lizzie couldn’t hear anything but the Rippins painful noises and the escalating loudness and speed of BONG BONG BONG of the cloister bell that were using as a weapon. Thinking was impossible too; the Doctor’s thoughts were pushed to the background as she struggled to fight the noises in her ears and head and mind. She looked in Cioné’s window, a shimmering white snow scape at this moment, and in the window’s reflection, she could see tiny trickles of blood flowing from her ears. She swung around and looked in the mirror on the other wall and saw the blood clearly.
That’s when she decided to fight back, to fight sound with sound, and to do it on her own, and began shouting out loud, “SO! YOU WANT A WAR? A WAR OF SOUND?? WELL…YOU’VE GOT IT!! AND I DON’T NEED ANY SONIC SCREWDRIVER!”
She took the deepest breath she had ever taken in her life and let it rip: a thirty second mind-bending ear shattering scream from the very bottom of her soul.
AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAEEEEEAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
All the noises in her ears stopped. The cloister bell went silent; the Tardis voice stopped hurling insults. She felt a gentle flutter in her ears and the blood stopped flowing. The Wispins were still there, hard at work, peacefully helping. But the Rippins’ auditory violence came to a halt.
Lizzie lay down on her bed again, at first gasping for breath and then slowly sinking deeply into the comforters and pillows, feeling with her toes for the familiar presence of the wooden lap desk. But it wasn’t there. It was on the floor near the bedside table, still open, her book having spilled out onto the floor beside it…a reminder of the start of her battle with the Rippins.
Are the Rippins dead Doctor?
She had thought the telepathic link would have resumed by now, but there was only silence, followed shortly thereafter by soft footsteps and a gentle knock on her opened door, and the Doctor was by her side.
“No, just stunned, chastised, and gone,” he replied aloud to her thoughts. “There was a massive gush of air as the TARDIS door opened to let me in. Possibly the Rippins were rushing out to live elsewhere but I think they got the message and won’t cause anymore harm, at least I hope they got that point. And, maybe part of the whooshing sound and movement of air was their relinquishing the door they had been holding shut in some way with their sound skills. I don’t know. But what I DO know, Lizzie, is that…to be honest…you were brilliant, amazingly brilliant and smart and strong. I never knew you had that scream in you!” he chuckled and looked both in awe and ever so slightly afraid of her.
“Neither did I Doctor, neither did I!” and she laughed softly and sleepily in relief and amazement, sinking further into the comforters on her bed as the Doctor watched her fall asleep in exhaustion and relief.
“You’re a superstar, Lizzie. A supernova! You’ve saved the world.”
TARDIS Console Room, Several Hours Later
Lizzie quietly entered the console room and joined a puzzled Doctor as he looked at the TARDIS scanner in concern.
“What’s up, D….”
“Don’t say it, or your nickname will be Bugs Bunny from now on,” he smiled.
“I’ve never called you Doc, before,” she smiled and “Now I never will, apparently! But, seriously, what is worrying you?”
“Same thing that was worrying me the night we met. Dimensional shifts.”
“What about them?”
“Well the Wispin/Rippin conflict had been going on for a few hundred years and why did it all suddenly come to a head now, here, and with you in the middle of it?”
“You said I wasn’t the target, you were.”
“Yes, I did say that, and I don’t think you WERE the target…of the Rippins… but the scanner indicates unmistakable signs of a dimensional shift inside the TARDIS during all of this. And the readings in your room go through the roof. For some unknown reason, you do seem to be present whenever these shift readings occur.”
“It’s a mystery, then?”
“Yes, Lizzie, it is indeed. It is a mystery.”
“Doctor?” said Lizzie out loud, but she was thinking something else entirely: Is he really the Doctor? Why would the TARDIS lie? For that matter, why is the TARDIS suddenly talking? IS the voice that of the TARDIS and she IS lying? And I’ve never heard the cloister bell stop so suddenly. Lizzie’s mind was racing.
Outside the TARDIS Door
“Lizzie?” The Doctor’s mind is racing too: Why is the TARDIS talking, all of a sudden, and not to me, but to Lizzie, and for that matter, why is she lying to Lizzie about me? Is that really Lizzie talking to me? I can’t hear the TARDIS speaking, so is Lizzie the one who is lying? Is SHE the imposter?
Inside the TARDIS Console Room
Lizzie is now standing next to the control console, self-consciously patting the console and whispering to it, “Are you OK?”
A strange thing happened: the TARDIS said out loud, with great irritation, “Of course I am OK!” while at the same time Lizzie heard a distinct and familiar groaning sound resonating from deep within the console which trembled with the sound, as if in complete contradiction of what the voice had just said. Then there was a sudden and painful ringing and buzzing noise in her ear, like tinnitus, although there was no loud noise triggering it since the cloister bell had stopped sounding and the TARDIS voice wasn’t talking, and there was nothing in the room that was actually ringing or buzzing.
“Doctor? Are you using your sonic?” she shouted towards the closed door.
Outside the TARDIS Door
“No Lizzie. Why?” he shouted back.
Inside the TARDIS Console Room
“Because there was a sound in my ear just then, a high-pitched ringing and buzzing sound, but there was silence in here otherwise.”
Outside the TARDIS Door
The Doctor straightened up in sudden recognition of something familiar, like a sense of déjà vu, and that triggered an idea and then a whole line of thought ... and a plan. The Doctor shouted back a rather enigmatic response, especially for anyone or anything other than Lizzie who might be listening: “Lizzie! Do you remember the incident on Synaxta? And… how we prevented the planet’s disintegration?!”
Inside the TARDIS Console Room
“Yes… Yes I do!” Lizzie shouted back as she too snapped upright, in full realization, like a mirror image of the Doctor’s movements outside.
This was no impostor she was talking to. He had just identified himself to her by shouting about something specific, the HOW, he emphasized, that only they knew about, while at the same time setting a plan of action in motion. He has a plan already! He was reminding her of how they’d established a telepathic link between them so they could communicate in the thundering noise of the surrounding mayhem. Only she and he knew about this and perhaps the real, unspeaking TARDIS knew too. And he was telling Lizzie to help him open the link between them NOW. They could communicate in apparent silence, “heard” only by each other and no-one or nothing else.
TARDIS Outside and TARDIS Inside, Two Minds and Places Linked Telepathically
You know by now Lizzie that I am not an impostor and I know you aren’t an impostor, or we wouldn’t be able to do this or know that we could, right?
Yes. And, I know that the TARDIS never talks out loud. You two have an odd way of communicating but never out loud, so I know it isn’t her speaking. But Doctor…
Yes, Lizzie?
There was something else that has convinced me that the TARDIS voice is lying. I gave the TARDIS console one of your little pats, and in a soft whisper, asked if she was OK. And at the very time that the so-called TARDIS voice loudly proclaimed that OF COURSE SHE WAS OK, I believe the TARDIS herself communicated to me in her usual language of groans, sighs and shudders, that she was indeed NOT OK. That convinced me. The voice is the impostor, the liar, not you or the TARDIS.
In confirmation of all this, the booming TARDIS voice spoke up just then and proved that there was indeed a someone or something that was unaware of their unspoken communication, because it filled what it perceived as silence, with a loud and arch proclamation in answer to the last words spoken: “Yes! I remember it better than you, ‘Doctor’, because I was actually there and I helped the real Doctor escape.”
The impostor had now revealed her/itself, and it wasn’t the Doctor. Or the TARDIS.
But Doctor, Lizzie’s thoughts resumed, WHAT is really going ON, then? She knew he knew and now was the time he must share that knowledge.
Ah well, that’s going to take quite a few minutes to explain so you have to make some sort of convincing excuse to the “Talking TARDIS” that you need some quiet time alone in your room so that your mind will be clear and you can listen to “her” plan on what to do about the impostor Doctor. Do it better than I just did, please Lizzie, or we’re doomed. That way, we can communicate silently without you standing in front of “her” quiet as a glazed-eyed stump.
Yes, but I don’t think I’ve ever stood glazed-eyed like a stump, even as a quiet child.
Are you laughing at me Lizzie? If a thought could smile, this one would indeed.
Yes Doctor. You can be very eloquent when you talk science and time vortexes and reversing the polarity but your descriptions of people…
Are hilarious?
Yes.
Well at least I’ve got you laughing on the inside…
A pun, Doctor? Lizzie could hear him chuckling out loud, even through the closed door. But it stopped abruptly and the Doctor’s thoughts grew serious again, and urgent, as he realized his chuckling might have been overheard.
Is she saying anything? Because you are just standing there like a…
No sounds at all Doctor. Not even when you laughed. All is quiet here. So… here goes!
“Hello?” Lizzie asked, not sure where to direct her voice, since the Talking TARDIS voice echoed in her ear as if it were coming from everywhere and nowhere.
“Yes, dear?” Lizzie’s thoughts in response to this appalling false familiarity were inaudible, luckily, or the game would have been over before it had really begun.
Lizzie, stay focussed!
I know Doctor, I know, but the voice’s false caring makes me feel like being sick and as my boss once said, I am not very good at being diplomatic…you know that.
That’s not true Lizzie. Focus and you’ll be fine!
“I really do appreciate you protecting me from this impostor, “Lizzie said, sounding as concerned as she could, “But do you really think you can find the real Doctor? Can we rescue him and protect him too?”
“I’m scanning for him…” Which is odd, thought Lizzie, because I know your scanner isn’t on and the real TARDIS should know I would notice that if…
Lizzie! LOOK like you are listening to her, don’t let your focus wander!
“…but all I know,” continued the TARDIS voice, is that he isn’t outside my door or inside me anywhere either. I will keep scanning though, and … you can trust me to keep you safe while I keep searching.”
Oh, sure I can…
Lizzie!
“As a matter of fact, dear, why don’t you go and lie down in your room while I continue searching and while I try to find out who the impostor Doctor really is and what he’s trying to do? You look rather pale, my dear.”
I wonder why she wants you out of the console room.
Doctor, you are distracting me. Let me handle this.
OK, sorry.
“That’s very kind of you,” Lizzie responded to the voice. “I think I’ll do that. I am feeling a bit odd and tired.” Lizzie tried to sound as sincere as possible, drawing on her years of humouring the tea room regulars in her hometown of Dunsworth. Then the Doctor’s voice cut in as if on cue, as he shouted through the door to reinforce their charade: “Lizzie! Don’t listen to her! She’s lying! It’s me! I am the Doctor. Don’t leave me out here!”
“Oh, SHUT UP Impostor Doctor!” roared the very un-ladylike TARDIS voice. “We will WIN this time!” The TARDIS voice went silent, realizing it had said a little too much.
“We?” asked Lizzie?
“You and me, I meant, dear.”
“But what did you mean by ‘We will win this time?”
“I…I don’t really know…I just got carried away.” A brief silence. “Didn’t you say you needed to lie down, dear?”
“Yes” said Lizzie and she headed towards the doorway to the corridor that led to her room. “And maybe you should take a little rest too, perhaps?”
Lizzie don’t push it. No sarcasm. Get out of there and to your room before you blow your cover like “she” did.
“Perhaps you’re right, dear. I will take a brief break before I resume my search for the Doctor and my investigation into the impostor.”
Under all these words, Lizzie heard a sad sigh come from the console. Lizzie was certain It was the TARDIS herself, hanging on in (almost) silence. Lizzie wished the TARDIS could read her thoughts and the Doctor’s and be reassured. But then maybe she can and is, and the sigh is telling me to get on with it! And down the corridor she went, to her room, slowly (since she was supposed to be tired) but with hidden determination.
TARDIS Outside and Inside, Two Minds Linked Telepathically, in Lizzie’s Room
The TARDIS voice was silent now, but Lizzie was certain she was being listened to and wisely said nothing out loud, although her thoughts were far from quiet. The Doctor’s thoughts were still as well when she opened her door and surveyed her personal TARDIS space: a small room decorated with several strings of twinkling fairy lights on the walls and ceilings, to remind her of the stars she often observed in awe in the TARDIS observatory and sailed past on their journeys; the same stars she had observed in wonder as a child in the care home and her estate flat as an adult.
There was another reminder of her life in Dunsworth too: on the wall next to her bed, a holographic window had been hung like a mirror just above her bed, but that functioned as a window looking out on familiar earth scenes and seasons she could view from her bed. With a press of a button she could make it seem as if she were looking out a window through the leafy green branches of trees in the summer and brightly coloured autumn leaves in the fall, or at a hilly wintery landscape as it was being lightly dusted by a night time snowfall. There were many scenes to choose from, but her favourite view was of the pond of her childhood, with the comforting old tree nearby, from which hung the rope swing she used to over the pond with in her quiet, private moments away from the care home. The window had been a gift from Cioné and Iris.
Her narrow bed was small and covered in two (sometimes three!) soft, thick comforters and three fluffy pillows—a comforting place to sink into and relax and read and, now especially, a place to think and to “talk” with the Doctor. The bed was extra long to accommodate another treasured gift, this one from the Doctor: a Victorian lap desk or “slope” which was sturdy, box-like but portable, made from walnut and trimmed in shining brass, with a matching brass key that opened the box to reveal a fold out velvet- lined writing area, sloped, as the name described, and a storage compartment for pencils and pens and beloved favourite book or the one she was currently reading. She loved to stretch her toes and feel the reassuring wooden presence, her key to whatever world she was reading about and to whomever she was writing a letter that she sometimes actually completed and sent (with some difficulty, since most of the places she visited with the Doctor did not have mailboxes); of course, the most frequent recipient was Maggie who took the strange postmarks and stamps in her stride.
On the wall opposite the “window,” was a mirror that reflected the images and increased the illusion of light coming through the window, brightening the room considerably; like the lap desk, it was framed in ornately sculpted brass. Next to the bed was and a small night table holding a Tiffany-style lamp and 2 photographs: one of Lizzie holding a new-born Iris and another of the Doctor, Cioné and teenaged Iris.
After apparently allowing her a few moments to collect herself, the Doctor’s thoughts now mingled with hers.
Lizzie?
Yes, Doctor? Are you OK by the way? Everything has been happening so fast, sorry I didn’t ask earlier.
Yes, I am fine-ish, alone out here with my thoughts. And yours.
Witty, Doctor, but…what’s next? What’s the plan?
Remember when you told me you heard a buzzing-ringing sound, and you wondered if it was my sonic?
Yes.
Well, when you said that, I realized who we are dealing with and possibly why. It’s a lifeform called the Wispins. They actually live here on Earth, in the ears of humans, in a usually mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with you. They live on sound, on the sound waves of what you hear and they they help keep your ears healthy, protecting you from the impact of excessive noise, and lubricating your ears with ear wax... They can also create sound, like the buzzing and ringing you mentioned.
If a mind could recoil in shock, hers most certainly did now.
Erm, Doctor, you are disturbing me just a little. You take something everyday and…complicate it…make it quite frightening.
Not me Lizzie. Reality does that.
You are telling me that me that the reality is that when I hear buzzing or ringing or other noises in my ears, it’s caused by an alien parasite, as is the wax that keeps the ears “healthy”??
They aren’t actually parasites because the relationship is usually beneficial to both you and them. And, they aren’t not alien, just not human. They live on Earth with you… and have since the beginning.
They live IN us, you said. Not with us like a next door neighbour, Doctor.
Yes. In you. But just in your ears.
Hmmmmm. But what’s gone wrong, Doctor?
Well, since they’ve existed for a very long time, there has been some evolution in their society…
They have a society??
Yes…. with a group emerging called Rippins. The problem is that they want to do more than just coexist with and help humans. They want to control what they hear, they want to influence human life, to take it over in fact. They want what amounts to a fully parasitic relationship where they will take what they need and not worry about damaging or even destroying their human hosts in the process.
Lizzie had been sitting on her bed through all this but now she swung her legs up and sank into her comforters and pillows and tried to clear her head.
Lizzie?
This is a lot to take in Doctor. You’re unnerving me a bit to say the least. Alien…I mean non-human creatures in my ears and a power struggle?
Yes, between the Wispins and Rippins and now between the Rippins and humans. There’s a lot more, sorry, Lizzie, but you need to know. For several centuries now there has been a slow-burn revolution going on with the benign, symbiotic Wispins and the parasitic Rippins struggling for power. I have spoken out over the centuries about the need for reconciliation and reunification and the continuation of a peaceful, mutually beneficial Wispin/human symbiosis, but the Rippins have become increasingly aggressive and it would appear, are coming after me now, through you and the TARDIS, to stop me and my attempts at a peaceful resolution.
So, Doctor, the voice that says she is the voice of the TARDIS is actually a Rippin? And they are using their control of sound to muzzle the cloister bell and keep you out of the TARDIS? Am I not just in the way? Not their target?
Yes, I think that’s correct, Lizzie. You are only a target in the sense that you are human and can be affected by their manipulation of sound and because you are close to me and a way to get at me.
But if they live in human ears, how are they able to control the cloister bell or… does it have ears?
That’s what concerns me. They may have developed the ability to leave the human body and use their sound powers outside of the human body. I don’t know. If it’s a new evolution, it is a dangerous one. It’s also possible that they have just muted your human ability to hear the cloister bell ringing. It could be as simple as that. But it’s still dangerous.
You mean the bell could still be ringing but I am being kept from hearing it?
Yes.
But I can still hear the sounds of the TARDIS, her sighs and shuddering. They haven’t screened those out.
They may not know that those sounds are communication Lizzie. They may think those are just machine sounds.
You’ve used the words think and know. That means they are sentient beings with plans and goals and even emotions and intelligence.
Yes.
And some of them are ruthless and aggressive against you because they want to take control of human life and they know you want to stop them.
Yes.
So…what’s the plan?
You mean do I have a plan? Yes of course. It’s already started. And…it involves you.
I got that. So...what is it, exactly, then, or even in general?
The Doctor’s thoughts went silent.
BANG BANG BANG BANG!!
Doctor? What was that!!
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!! “Let me in! I know who you are and you’re not going to stop me!! You know very well I am the real Doctor and that’s why you’ve shut me out!” BANG BANG BANG BANG!
It’s me Lizzie. I’ve been quiet for too long and they might suspect I’m up to something, because they know I don’t give up easily, so I am stirring the pot.
And then there was the booming response of the Talking TARDIS: “LIES Doctor!! We…I …don’t believe you!! Go away while I find the REAL Doctor!!”
BANBANGBANGBANGBANG!! “You KNOW I’m NOT lying and I’m NOT going anywhere!!” The Doctor shouted one last parting shot and then resumed his thought conversation with Lizzie.
I needed to buy us more time because there is one more important backstory you need to know. A bit of a LONG backstory.
Well, I’m all ea …thoughts, Doctor. Lizzie smiled and switched thoughts quickly, to fit the urgent reality and to sidestep a flat out mental pun. So go ahead, please.
Ha! That’s it Lizzie! Hang onto your sense of humour, it’ll keep us calm and focussed.
I learned that from you, Doctor.
Thanks. OK, here it is. In my fifth incarnation, my sonic screwdriver was destroyed by the Terileptils, when their activities led to the Great Fire of London. Another long story. No time now. Anyway, I didn’t make a replacement and I made it known that I had sworn off using a sonic until my present incarnation…BUT… in my Sixth incarnation I…. well the TARDIS and I, created a new one, but I kept it secret. And it had a new capability: it could work in total silence. Silent sound.
Why would you do that?
It was because of the Wispin/Rippin conflict which had really hotted up at that time and I needed a means of secretly monitoring their activities in order to observe and anticipate any action by the Rippins that would lead to their basically taking over all of human existence or destroying it. That’s how bad it had gotten.
OK… but why would they fight so hard to stop you if they were simply worried about being monitored. Is there something you aren’t allowing me to read in your thoughts? I sense there is more to it.
Rumours got around that my sonic could kill them, wipe them off the face of the earth.
Could it? CAN it?
Not the way I was using it, I had no intention of destruction, just nudging them them away from their aggressive behaviour towards Wispins and humans, cause them to return to their symbiotic origins or move out of human ears.
How would they survive?
In other mammalian beings on earth and on other planets with humanoid lifeforms… with ears.
Lizzie suppressed a snicker, clamping her hand over her mouth. It had sounded funny but surely was not.
In any event, I created and another sonic while I maintained the lie that I had no sonic. And reinforced this by never using it. I hid it, so the Rippins wouldn’t find it and use it in their fight against the Wispins and against me… In my seventh incarnation, I continued the lie and never used my sonic. The sonic I have now is a different one.
Hid it…where, Doctor?
It’s hidden in.…
My room Doctor? My own private space that’s supposed to be separate from your life? She looked at the pictures of herself and the Doctor, Cioné and Iris, all clustered together on the bedside table and realized the obvious: there was no escape really.
Where, Doctor? And then she figured it out: Wooden box, brass key….
It’s in my genuine Victorian lap desk?! With all the compartments. I thought it was a gift?
It was and is. It’s yours Lizzie, but it also holds the sixth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.
Lizzie was not impressed. She blocked her thoughts from the Doctor. Lizzie then pulled the desk onto her lap and turned the brass key that was sitting upright in the desk lock. With relative ease, she located the extra compartment by pressing gently on a piece of wood under the book she had been reading, and pulled out the sonic everyone thought never existed. She pressed it; it was silent, although it’s tip glowed with a yellow light….. and re-established her thought link with the Doctor.
How do I know it’s working?
I test it regularly.
You what? We need to talk, Doctor, about personal space… when all this is over…
She pressed the button again and it’s tip glowed warmly in her bedroom for all of three seconds when…
A scream of TRAITOR!!! filled her ears as the TARDIS voice began fighting back against the pressures of the silent waves of the secret sonic… and then there was a catastrophically loud BONNNNNG!! from the cloister bell—the Rippins had released their mute control over it and it rang painfully and catastrophically throughout the TARDIS, but especially in her room, where the sonic exploded in her hand.
Doctor!!
Outside the TARDIS Door
Lizzie? LIZZIE! What’s happening? And then the telepathic link was severed for whatever reason. Likely because Lizzie was under siege and focussing on the battle at hand.
Now he was alone again, on the outside of the TARDIS, and Lizzie was on her own inside the TARDIS, in her special private space, fighting for her life and for the future of humankind. On Earth and throughout in the populated universe.
Inside the TARDIS, Lizzie’s Room
Lizzie could no longer “hear” the Doctor’s thoughts. The telepathic link seemed severed or maybe she just wasn’t focussed on it anymore, and she wondered and worried whether she had shouted his name out loud or in her thoughts. She didn’t know, but she knew it didn’t matter because ‘the game was afoot’ as Sherlock would say! The fight was on!
Everything was happening so fast. There was a high-pitched whirring in her ears and the cloister bell started bonging manically and the TARDIS voice was screaming epithets and angry threats and chanting: TRAITORTRAITORTRAITOR!!!! Lizzie couldn’t hear anything but the Rippins painful noises and the escalating loudness and speed of BONG BONG BONG of the cloister bell that were using as a weapon. Thinking was impossible too; the Doctor’s thoughts were pushed to the background as she struggled to fight the noises in her ears and head and mind. She looked in Cioné’s window, a shimmering white snow scape at this moment, and in the window’s reflection, she could see tiny trickles of blood flowing from her ears. She swung around and looked in the mirror on the other wall and saw the blood clearly.
That’s when she decided to fight back, to fight sound with sound, and to do it on her own, and began shouting out loud, “SO! YOU WANT A WAR? A WAR OF SOUND?? WELL…YOU’VE GOT IT!! AND I DON’T NEED ANY SONIC SCREWDRIVER!”
She took the deepest breath she had ever taken in her life and let it rip: a thirty second mind-bending ear shattering scream from the very bottom of her soul.
AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAEEEEEAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
All the noises in her ears stopped. The cloister bell went silent; the Tardis voice stopped hurling insults. She felt a gentle flutter in her ears and the blood stopped flowing. The Wispins were still there, hard at work, peacefully helping. But the Rippins’ auditory violence came to a halt.
Lizzie lay down on her bed again, at first gasping for breath and then slowly sinking deeply into the comforters and pillows, feeling with her toes for the familiar presence of the wooden lap desk. But it wasn’t there. It was on the floor near the bedside table, still open, her book having spilled out onto the floor beside it…a reminder of the start of her battle with the Rippins.
Are the Rippins dead Doctor?
She had thought the telepathic link would have resumed by now, but there was only silence, followed shortly thereafter by soft footsteps and a gentle knock on her opened door, and the Doctor was by her side.
“No, just stunned, chastised, and gone,” he replied aloud to her thoughts. “There was a massive gush of air as the TARDIS door opened to let me in. Possibly the Rippins were rushing out to live elsewhere but I think they got the message and won’t cause anymore harm, at least I hope they got that point. And, maybe part of the whooshing sound and movement of air was their relinquishing the door they had been holding shut in some way with their sound skills. I don’t know. But what I DO know, Lizzie, is that…to be honest…you were brilliant, amazingly brilliant and smart and strong. I never knew you had that scream in you!” he chuckled and looked both in awe and ever so slightly afraid of her.
“Neither did I Doctor, neither did I!” and she laughed softly and sleepily in relief and amazement, sinking further into the comforters on her bed as the Doctor watched her fall asleep in exhaustion and relief.
“You’re a superstar, Lizzie. A supernova! You’ve saved the world.”
TARDIS Console Room, Several Hours Later
Lizzie quietly entered the console room and joined a puzzled Doctor as he looked at the TARDIS scanner in concern.
“What’s up, D….”
“Don’t say it, or your nickname will be Bugs Bunny from now on,” he smiled.
“I’ve never called you Doc, before,” she smiled and “Now I never will, apparently! But, seriously, what is worrying you?”
“Same thing that was worrying me the night we met. Dimensional shifts.”
“What about them?”
“Well the Wispin/Rippin conflict had been going on for a few hundred years and why did it all suddenly come to a head now, here, and with you in the middle of it?”
“You said I wasn’t the target, you were.”
“Yes, I did say that, and I don’t think you WERE the target…of the Rippins… but the scanner indicates unmistakable signs of a dimensional shift inside the TARDIS during all of this. And the readings in your room go through the roof. For some unknown reason, you do seem to be present whenever these shift readings occur.”
“It’s a mystery, then?”
“Yes, Lizzie, it is indeed. It is a mystery.”
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Next time -
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