Winter Light
by Julio Angel Ortiz

Episode One

Ruby shifted uncomfortably in bed, looking aside towards the window. The wind was blowing slow, gentle, rolling over Ruby’s arms and down her body as it swept past.

‘I have almost finished chopping the firewood,’ the Doctor said. ‘We should have enough to get us through this winter.’

Ruby chuckled. ‘Doctor, you’ve cut enough over the years to last us for decades.’ Another procession of coughs escaped from Ruby’s mouth. When finished, she cleared her throat. ‘Would you mind making me a cuppa, Doctor? I think it’d do my throat a world of good.’

The Doctor flashed Ruby a smile. ‘I think that is a splendid idea, Ruby.’ He paused a moment. ‘I will be right back.’

The Doctor stepped out of Ruby’s room and into the kitchen. He filled a kettle with water and placed it over the wood-burning stove. Looking through the pantry, the Doctor found several tea bags, and frowned.

‘We are almost out,’ he said to himself, his voice tinted with disappointment.

‘What, Doctor?’ came Ruby’s voice. ‘Did you call me?’

The Doctor closed the pantry door and turned back towards the kettle, which was now whistling with steam. ‘No, Ruby. Just talking to myself.’

He removed the kettle from the stove and placed it on to the countertop. The Doctor reached into a cupboard, took out a cup and saucer, and placed them next to the kettle.

His thoughts drifted back to Ruby. How much time? the Doctor thought to himself. How much longer can Ruby last here? A twinge of guilt warped across his body. She’s here because of me.

The Doctor sighed, and removed the teabag from its wrapping and put it in to the cup. He followed that by pouring the water from the kettle into the cup, taking a spoon from a drawer and mixing the teabag and water. He focused on the tea bag as he dipped it in and out of the water, watching the water grow murky as the grains inside the bag were gradually drained.

Much like Ruby, the Doctor thought.

He rubbed his temple with a free hand, and then placed the tea cup on to a tray and proceeded to return to Ruby’s room. He sat down beside her again, placing the cup on to the nightstand.

‘Wait for it to cool down a bit,’ the Doctor said, smiling weakly at Ruby. He turned his head back towards the door. ‘I will be back. I need to finish a couple of things outside.’

‘No!’ Ruby cried, a little louder then she would have liked. The Doctor jumped at the unexpected urgency in her tone.

‘What is it, Ruby?’

Ruby relaxed on to the bed, still for a moment. Then her head swayed from side to side. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that… it’s just that outside… it’s getting so dark.’ She paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath. ‘Doctor, I don’t want to be alone right now. Could you stay, only for a little while? Please?’

The Doctor nodded his head and smiled. ‘Very well. How about I read you something? Would that relax you?’

‘Yes, Doctor,’ Ruby said, rolling on her side. ‘I would like that very much.’

The Doctor turned towards the bookshelf and reached out. Randomly, he pulled out a book. Glancing at the cover, he noticed that it was The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot. He sat down beside Ruby, and opened the book. His eyes fluttered between the pages and the window.

‘Doctor?’

He sat motionless, staring out in to the darkness of the woods.

‘Doctor? Are you okay?’

The Doctor shook his head quickly, and turned his attention back to Ruby. ‘I am sorry, my dear. What was that?’

‘You were staring out the window, Doctor. You seemed… troubled. Is everything all right?’

The Doctor turned his attention back towards the window, towards the wind blowing outside, towards the darkness that seemed to creep ever closer.

‘I do not know, Ruby.’ The Doctor’s voice was hollow, disjointed, faded. ‘I just do not know.’

A lifetime ago…

‘I really don’t see the point, Doctor.’

‘How could you, Ruby?’ the Doctor said, raising the golf club over his head in an arch. ‘You do not even play the game.’

‘Unless I’m getting old and senile, I don’t remember you ever playing this game either.’

The Doctor snapped his body quickly, bringing down his raised arms and club into a swing, hitting the golf ball on the tee. It sailed up in to the air, hovering for what seemed like forever, and then landing across the small pond that, Ruby guessed, was about two hundred yards away. The Doctor held his glance on where the ball had landed, and then turned towards Ruby.

‘Another one, please.’

Ruby rolled her eyes and reached into the bag that lay slumped by her feet. Her hand swam around in a sea of golf balls for a moment, before picking one out and handing it to the Doctor.

‘Thank you,’ the Doctor replied, as he knelt down and placed the ball on to the tee.

‘Oh, you’re ever welcome, Doctor,’ Ruby said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The Doctor paused and turned back towards Ruby. ‘Ruby, what is it?’

‘Doctor, we’ve been here for two hours. Aren’t you tired yet?’

‘Tired?’ The Doctor’s voice was incredulous, eyes widening as he raised his arms and swept them towards the surrounding golf course. ‘You do not like the new Golf Room?’

Ruby lowered her head, staring at her feet as she shuffled them. ‘Of course I like it, Doctor. You did a marvellous job with it.’ She looked back up at the Doctor and smiled. ‘The seventeenth hole with a house built-in for Missy was a nice touch.’

The Doctor allowed himself a smile. ‘I am glad that you liked it.’

Ruby’s face soured again. ‘But… don’t you think that you’re taking this all too seriously? It’s not as if we were facing some galactic threat.’

‘Too seriously? My dear Ruby, I am starting to believe that I am not taking this seriously enough.’ He turned back towards the where he had shot his previous ball. ‘After all, I do need some work on my short game.’

‘But why are you so worked up about this challenge from a… a what did you call him?’

‘A Vregorian, Ruby. He is a Vregorian, and an excellent golf player at that. He made the challenge, and I accepted. Where is the harm in that?’

Ruby sighed. ‘But you’ve been obsessing about it for the past few weeks. You haven’t been acting like yourself. It just seems…’

The Doctor turned back towards Ruby. ‘It seems what?’

Ruby blushed. ‘It just seems beneath you to worry about something like this.’

The Doctor smiled, and patted Ruby’s shoulder. ‘Oh, I would not say that. I am just having a little fun, that is all.’ The Doctor turned his back to Ruby again, eyeing up his next shot. ‘Besides, Vregorians have rather long lifespan. Our challenge is not for another eight-hundred and sixty-five years.’

Ruby’s head shook in surprise. ‘Then why are you practicing now?’

The Doctor turned his upper-body around slightly to face Ruby, one eyebrow raised. ‘Because, even for someone of my considerable talents, it never hurts to practice.’

A smile stretched across Ruby’s face. ‘Oh, Doctor…’

The Doctor smiled as he returned to his golf swing. He raised his arms and club, arching his body back to swing again, when the ground beneath them shook for a moment.

Unexpectedly, a disruption could be felt throughout the Golf Room. The water splashed up onto the ground, and a very light ripple effect could be seen passing through the room, as if in a pond. The golf club disappeared from the Doctor’s grasp.

‘Doctor,’ Ruby began.

‘Yes, Ruby, I see. Rather odd.’ He looked around, his mouth slightly twisted in thought. ‘Let us go back to the console room. Maybe we will find some answers there.’

Ruby followed the Doctor as he exited the Golf Room, and together they strode down the corridor towards the console room. The Doctor’s pace was quick, eager, and not at all unfamiliar to Ruby. Though it took extra effort, she was able to keep up with him, until they entered the console room. The Doctor walked over to the console and began checking some of the readings. After a few moments, he spoke again.

‘We have arrived,’ the Doctor said.

‘Do you know where?’ Ruby asked, her hands sliding back and forth across the TARDIS console’s edge.

‘Certainly no place I have ever been to before, it seems.’ The Doctor moved his hands across the console, flipping several levers and pressing, what appeared to Ruby, random buttons.

‘Are we staying?’ she ventured.

The Doctor looked at Ruby, and smiled. ‘Of course.’ He swung his hand down, hitting a red button that caused the TARDIS doors to open. ‘A brief stroll outside, and off we go. How does that sound?’

The first thing that Ruby noticed was the broken sky.

Her mouth slid open, her eyes squarely set on the rift in the sky. At first, Ruby believed that she was seeing an illusion, a trick of the eye. She kept looking, staring, searching for the stars beyond the parting of clouds. But as Ruby kept gazing, the realisation crept in of what she was seeing.

Above her, where the pale-blue and lavender of the sky seemed to suddenly and awkwardly stop, there was a sharp contrast of scarlet and orange, hazed with dark yellow. This extended to the horizon, as if a knife had been drawn across the sky. Within the amalgam of scarlet, orange, and yellow, were what appeared to be lightning streaks occasionally racing across the rift.

‘Doctor,’ Ruby managed, ‘what is that?’

She turned her head at last, and found the Doctor staring up at the same phenomenon. ‘I am not sure,’ the Doctor said at last, rubbing his chin. ‘It certainly does not seem… normal.’

‘I would say that’s a grand understatement, Doctor.’ Ruby nervously shuffled the book that she was holding from her right hand to her left. She looked around at the landscape, and found her usually cheery spirit being dragged down. The landscape was bleak. There seemed to be a general greyness attached to the land, as if it poured from the dirt and every rock. Very few trees spotted the area, and the handful that did were withered, gnarled things. There seemed to be no life visible as Ruby panned her eyes across the landscape. But then she saw the city.

‘Doctor,’ she began, her voice faltering.

‘I see it,’ he responded quickly, taking a few instinctive steps forward. ‘But do you see what is unusual about it?’

Ruby looked at the city for a moment longer, and then gasped when she realised what the Doctor was referring to. In the centre of the city, there stood a large building, appearing almost like a stepped-pyramid. The structure towered over the city, climbing towards the sky almost as if in defiance of something.

‘What is it?’

‘I cannot say for sure,’ the Doctor said. ‘But it certainly reminds me of something.’

Ruby looked at him. ‘What?’

The Doctor looked at Ruby. ‘Before we jump to any conclusions, we should investigate.’

Ruby slowly nodded, her eyes still caught by the sight of the tower in the distance. She walked in silence most of the way with the Doctor, looking over at him as he took in the surroundings. Ruby did look around occasionally herself, but felt under-whelmed by the barren surroundings. This place was uninviting, defiant of her very presence. How could anyone live here? Ruby thought to herself. She turned her head back again towards the TARDIS, seeing how it stood juxtaposed against the gloomy backdrop. Shaking her head, Ruby glanced down at the cover of her book, and then back at the awe of the tower.

Within an hour they arrived at the city. They ventured through several of the cobblestone streets, lined with tall, rusted gaslight lamps. Ruby noticed the grime painting the streets, and the decaying state of some of the structures. Peering in to the city’s alleyways as she walked, Ruby could see creatures scampering about, nibbling on the waste and scraps left about. Occasionally she caught the smell of carrion, and Ruby was not too keen on finding the source. She hurried on with the Doctor.

Eventually, they found their way to a park. Several benches lined up in parallel with a row of trees that were more satisfying to Ruby’s eyes. They were a pale russet, and extended straight up for approximately twenty yards. The leaves were a shade of copper, and as a gust of wind blew over Ruby several leaves detached from their branches and fell around her. One leaf came to rest on her shoulder, and as Ruby turned her head to look at it a smell not unlike honey filled her nostrils.

Ruby opened her mouth to speak when she caught sight of some passers-by.

The first thing that caught Ruby’s attention was that they were dirty. Their clothes were tattered and covered in grime. Their heads were shaved close to the scalp, and to Ruby’s surprise some of them were women. Ruby caught sight of their demeanour, which was sour, tired. Her attention was so focused on the dirty and sour faces that Ruby almost missed some of others who were interlaced with them. These other people were clean, well-groomed in their appearance, displaying none of the characteristics of being workers. They were directing the flow of people through the streets, sometimes hurrying along stragglers or ones who were weak. Ruby’s eyes widened.

‘Those people,’ she began.

‘I see, Ruby,’ the Doctor said, rubbing his chin. ‘I see.’

‘Slave labour?’

‘Certainly looks like it,’ the Doctor said, as he quickened his pace in the direction from which the workers were coming. After several minutes, they reached what appeared to be the base of the tower.

Ruby could barely comprehend its height. From a distance, one could be deceived and believe that the tower was not of a terribly large stature, but up close, the mind wobbled at its sheer scale. The base was a dull bronze, easily seven floors in height. On top of that base began an escalating work of metal, gradually angling towards the centre as it cut deeper in to the sky. A large walkway adorned the side of the tower, spiralling upwards and containing vast movement as people moved items back and forth. A great crowd of people were at the base of the tower, in turns milling about, heading back up the tower, or heading to other parts of the city.

‘That’s unbelievable,’ Ruby said, but as she turned to the Doctor, she noticed he was already walking up to someone.

She rushed up behind the Doctor, and saw who he was approaching. It was a man, dressed in fine clothes – presumably one of the well healed on this planet. He was clean, obviously having nothing to do with the construction of the tower. An aristocrat? Ruby thought to herself. Though the man wore a hat, his hair jutted out from the bottom, and was a brown-grey. They framed his round face and red cheeks. As the Doctor approached, the man smiled and nodded at them.

‘Good day,’ he said.

The Doctor nodded in return. ‘Good day, Mister-?’

‘Aberine.’

‘Aberine, right.’ The Doctor cleared his throat, and looked up at the tower. Before he could utter a word, Aberine beat him to it.

‘You want to ask about the tower, don’t you?’ His voice was whiny and grating.

The Doctor tried not to wince visibly. ‘Why, yes,’ he managed at last.

Aberine rolled his eyes. ‘And you probably want to know if the people working on the tower are slaves?’

Ruby’s eyes darted back and forth between Aberine and the Doctor. She saw a look of casual annoyance crawl across Aberine’s face, and one of slight confusion on the Doctor’s.

‘That question had indeed crossed my mind.’

Aberine tutted loudly, and turned. ‘You visitor-types, you’re all the same.’ He paced back and forth for a small distance. ‘You see one large construct,’ and Aberine wildly raised his arms in an arc, facing the tower. ‘And you assume slave labour. I bet that you were planning on how to liberate the populous, weren’t you?’ Aberine leaned in towards the Doctor, training an eye on him.

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows. ‘Well, I suppose that was a possibility.’

‘Well, I’ll have you know that tower construction is the top industry here in Counterpane! These people are the hardest working in the galaxy. They’re quite happy doing what they’re doing.’

The Doctor tapped on his chin, looking downwards for a moment, deep in thought. At last he said; ‘And just what is this thing?’

Aberine looked up, and then back at the Doctor. ‘This thing? The tower?’ he asked as if it were the most preposterous question he had ever heard.

‘Yes,’ the Doctor replied patiently.

‘I’d rather like to know, as well,’ Ruby chimed in.

Aberine shook his head. ‘This is to be our greatest creation!’ He paused for effect.

The Doctor and Ruby just looked at Aberine blankly.

‘We,’ he continued, ‘are rebuilding the Tower of Babel.’

‘What?’ the Doctor asked incredulously.

‘Oh, dear,’ Ruby muttered, looking back up at the tower.

‘And why,’ the Doctor said at last, ‘would you want to do that?’

Aberine gave the Doctor a quizzical look. ‘Why? Why rebuild the tower?’

The Doctor nodded.

Aberine shook his head, as if the answer were obvious. ‘The people are mad, my good fellow.’

‘Quite true,’ Ruby said. The Doctor elbowed her in the side, and Ruby grimaced as she rubbed her ribs.

‘The people are mad at God!’ Aberine’s voice rose a few decibels. The Doctor and Ruby flashed each other glances of concern. ‘The people are angry, because God has been watching from Heaven, silent and uninvolved with the people of Counterpane.’

Aberine rubbed the back of his neck, and then folded his arms. Several workers noticed him, smiled knowingly, and continued along their way.

‘The people demand answers, my good sir! They deserve to know what is on God’s mind and why he has forsaken his children here on the ground. So, if the good Lord will not come to us, we’ll go to him.’

‘By… building a tower?’ the Doctor ventured.

‘Yes.’

‘To Heaven?’

‘Why, of course, sir!’

‘You know, of course, that there’s just empty space beyond the stratosphere? Assuming you even get that far.’

‘Then we’ll just keep building. We’re a patient people, you know.’

‘What makes you think this plan will even work?’ Ruby asked.

‘We’ve heard all of this before,’ Aberine said coolly. ‘People think we’re either loonies or bored. It will work. Our engineers and clerics assure us that success is inevitable.’

‘I find that hard to believe,’ the Doctor said.

‘The King has ordered it to be done.’ After a beat, Aberine said, ‘And it shall be.’

‘Well, then,’ the Doctor said, scratching his temple.

‘You’re not going to do something as tedious as ask to be taken to our leader, are you? We get that a lot, too.’

‘As a matter of fact, yes, I would like to speak to him.’

Aberine shook his head, and after turning away began to walk past the tower, muttering something about originality. Ruby glanced at the Doctor.

‘I take it that’s our cue to follow him?’

‘I would suppose so, Ruby,’ the Doctor said, uneasy eyes following Aberine. ‘I suppose so.’

A violent cough snapped the Doctor back to the present.

He gazed at Ruby as she sat up in her bed, coughing. It was a deep, weighted, uncontrollable. The Doctor quickly put his hand behind her back and held her upright, helping Ruby through the spasm. At last, it settled down, and the Doctor took the glass of water and held it up to her cracked lips. Ruby drank slowly, and after finishing she lay back down onto the bed. Her breathing was less ragged now, and she gave the Doctor a small, sweet smile.

‘You’ve always been so good to me, Doctor,’ she said.

The Doctor returned the smile. ‘Ruby,’ he said, patting her hands, ‘you have always been good to me.’

Ruby managed a half-hearted grin. She turned her head on the pillow, and within moments she was asleep.

The Doctor waited a few more minutes, making sure that Ruby had slipped off into a deep, peaceful slumber, before getting up again and leaving the room. He walked into the kitchen and cleaned up, washing the dishes. Afterwards, as he leisurely dried them, he gazed out of the window, into the darkness and snow, seemingly lost in the haze. Presently, the Doctor put down the plate that he was drying, and walked out of the door. He went around to the side of the cabin, and knelt down by the pile of wood, gathering logs for the fire inside.

From the corner of his eye, he saw something move.

The Doctor stood bolt upright, and looked to his right. He stared into the obscurity of the forest, the snow dancing gently between the trees. He took a few steps towards the edge of the clearing, and froze. His eyes darted back forth, gazing into the abyss bleeding through the trees.

‘Hello?’ came the Doctor’s voice.

No movement.

‘Hello?’ He paused for a moment, his voice echoing back. ‘Is anyone there? I am rather friendly, you know.’

Nothing.

‘Must be my imagination,’ he said at last, and after picking up a few more logs, stepped back into the house.

After feeding the logs to the fire, the Doctor sat down in the wicker chair beside the fireplace, picking up the journal and the pen lying on the table next to him. The Doctor began to write.

Years. It has been years since we have been stuck in this infernal place, this pleasant hell of snow and wood. It has been too long - I fear Ruby will not last much longer. Age has taken its toll on her, and I am afraid that, without the TARDIS, I will be unable to save her life.

The TARDIS.

She still will not let me back inside. Though I continue to be uncertain of the exact events that led us here, the TARDIS offers no clue or signs of life. Perhaps she is dead; perhaps whatever brought us here has killed her, taken the spark of life that once fuelled the gentle hum within her.

I am thinking negatively again. I must not do that.

But I am terribly anxious about Ruby. She has very little time left. It could be days or hours. I need to get back into the TARDIS. I need to save Ruby.

But how did all of this happen in the first place?

‘Greetings, your majesties,’ the Doctor said, bowing his head.

Ruby followed suit by curtsying.

The King of Counterpane raised his pale hand, his palm facing the Doctor and Ruby. ‘Welcome to our home.’

Ruby looked around, and took in the scenery. The throne room was large: much larger than she would have imagined. The walls were grey, reminding her of the sky on Earth just before the rain. Along the walls hung odd tapestries, with intricate designs that Ruby found herself admiring. Her gaze moved along the wall and down into the small band of people in the throne room.

It was an odd group, at that. Several mimes were performing, two of them out of view of the King and Queen. One seemed to be simulating some sort of strange dance, sliding in place, but backwards. Another one was painting. One mime was imitating the standard ‘I am trapped in a box’ routine, but took it to the next level, where the person had died of starvation. Ruby was impressed with the fact that the mime was keeping himself at an unusual angle for so long, and doing it so well.

Then there were the robot jesters. Ruby’s first problem with the jesters was that they were not even trying to maintain an illusion that they were real beings. The jesters were most obviously robots - the type that Ruby remembered watching in the old black-and-white serials from the ‘60s. They were clunky things, with boxy chests and hands that did not include fingers, only two metallic pincers. On their oblong heads were the typical jester hats, coloured purple and red, sitting flaccid. Creepy painted eyes and square mouths that contained murky plastic, completed the retro look. When they spoke, their mouths would flash an orange colour, and their voices were flat.

‘A priest, a rabbi, and a monk walk into a bar,’ one of the jesters began, before Ruby made an effort to tune it out. She returned her attention back to the King and Queen.

‘Have you found your stay thus far in Counterpane enjoyable?’ the Queen asked, her voice raspy yet low.

The Doctor smiled and placed his arms behind his back, glancing at the floor quickly and then back towards the elevated thrones. ‘We have found our trip to be interesting, thus far.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Though, I am curious about one thing.’

The King chuckled. ‘And I can imagine what that is.’

The Doctor continued. ‘Yes, well, I would imagine so. It is about this Tower of yours.’

The King and Queen looked at each other. The King turned his attention back towards the Doctor. ‘Really, is that what you’ve come to speak to us about, Mister-‘

‘Doctor. You can call me “Doctor”.’

‘Very well, then, Doctor. Everything that you’re about to say, we’ve heard before.’

‘But I am curious as to the why. You have a great amount of technology. It is obvious from everything that you have accomplished with the Tower. But why build it? Why not redirect those resources towards goals that will give you tangible results? If you continue on your present course, your people will become disillusioned and you may find yourself facing a rebellion.’

The King smiled. ‘And why is that? Because we will never attain our goal?’ The King paused for a moment. ‘Do you not have faith, Doctor?’

‘I have faith that your Tower will fail.’

The King chuckled. He opened his mouth to respond when an advisor stepped up to his side and leaned in, whispering something. The King’s face lost its previous animation, his eyes sinking to the floor, and moving faraway in thought. Soon, the advisor stepped away.

‘You’ll have to excuse me,’ the King said. ‘I am afraid that there are other matters that I must tend to.’

Suddenly, there was a great commotion in the throne room.

A man stormed through the doors, wildly pushing past the guards. His tunic was torn in various places, and his forehead was bleeding. Madly, he was tearing at his hair, and Ruby winced as she noticed that he was holding a clump with some flesh attached to it. Instinctively, the Doctor moved between Ruby and the man.

‘Argh!’ the newcomer cried, his body convulsing so violently that he fell bluntly to the floor, and then got back up again.

All around the man, people pushed back, forming a circle around him as he continued to convulse. His arms flapped out in arcs, narrowly missing some of the court officials. As he thrashed about, he bumped into one of the jesters, who began to recount a joke involving an anthropomorphic egg when the man’s fist slammed into the robot’s square mouth. Plastic cracked and fell to the floor, exposing a lone, orange tinted bulb. The robot voiced some incomprehensible complaint before moving away.

The Doctor took slow steps towards the man. ‘Everything is okay, friend. Relax, you will be all right in a moment. I am going to help you.’

‘Circles!’ the man cried.

The Doctor got a good look at the man’s eyes. They were wide and strained red, pupils dilated. The man was also sweating profusely.

‘Circles?’ the Doctor asked.

‘What… are… circles?’

The Doctor’s forehead crinkled as he considered the question.

‘What are circles? Circles!’ The man’s cries grew louder and more incomprehensible, until at last he fell to the floor, shaking violently. Within moments, the shaking slowed to a stop. A low groan escaped from the man’s throat.

The Doctor rushed over to the man and knelt down beside him. Ruby stood frozen in her spot for a few seconds, and then moved over beside the Doctor.

‘Is he…’ she began.

‘Do you really need to ask?’ the Doctor said, as he stood up.

Ruby took a look at the man. She saw the horrible look etched on to his face - the eyes rolled up into his head, blood oozing out of his nose, his mouth hanging open. It took a moment for Ruby to realize that the man’s tongue had been bitten off, and a quick glance around revealed that it was nowhere on the floor.

Ruby found herself fighting a strong sensation in her stomach. ‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ Ruby mustered.

‘Be strong, Ruby,’ he said.

‘A horrible way to die,’ Ruby said under her breath.

From the side, they saw Aberine run up. He looked down at the body, and then turned his attention back towards the Doctor and Ruby.

‘Gruesome,’ he said. ‘This is unbelievable. This is the fifth such death in the past two weeks.’

The Doctor fixed Aberine with a stony stare. ‘This has happened before?’

Aberine coughed. ‘Well, not exactly the same way. But something similar, yes. There have been cases where the victims run around, blathering on about something inane, and then they expire, much as he did.’

‘What sort of things did they say?’ Ruby asked.

Aberine bit his lower lip has he considered Ruby’s question. ‘Oh, I’m not sure,’ he said. After another moment, his eyes broadened. ‘They were rather strange, I can remember that. Things like, “What are squares?” “I don’t understand the sky”, and “I don’t understand what I am saying”.’

‘That is three,’ the Doctor said. ‘You inferred that there were four others besides this man. What did he say?’

Aberine’s eyes darkened. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘He was a mime.’

The Doctor and Ruby nodded knowingly.

‘Were there any other witnesses at the scene? Anyone who could provide any clues as to why these people started to act the way they did?’

‘Well, there was one person who claimed to have seen an attacker. But she has been discredited.’

The Doctor tilted his head. ‘Discredited? Why?’

Aberine shuffled his feet. ‘Well, she claims that the attacker was pure white, almost as if they weren’t really there.’

‘Pure white?’ Ruby interjected. ‘You mean, like the opposite of a shadow person?’

‘You could say that, yes,’ Aberine said.

The Doctor tapped his chin. ‘Well, Ruby, it looks like we are going to have to investigate this matter further.’ He looked down at the corpse. ‘Before any more people die.’

‘You cannot trust the Doctor, my liege.’

‘Why do you say that?’ the King asked. ‘He seems to be fair and honest.’

‘He will bring all of our plans to ruin. If you give him any sort of leeway in these matters, he will surely use it to destroy the Tower.’

The King rubbed his chin. ‘I’m not so sure about that.’

‘Oh, believe it. I know. I’ve seen it happen. I have seen the trail of dead that the Doctor leaves behind in his wake. You must not allow him to stop your plans, my Lord.’

‘You have been a faithful servant, and I have no reason to mistrust your judgment,’ the King said. ‘But, if what you say is true, then what would you do?’

A tight laugh echoed throughout the room. ‘Don’t worry, my Lord. Leave the Doctor to me.’ The speaker paused for a moment, leaning in closely, his voice lowering. ‘I will deal with him in my own time.’