PART ONE The Story So Far First Contacts The Relic Shadows Severed Dreams PART TWO Into the Vortex Planet of Mud Echoes of the Past Dancing on the Precipice of Destruction War Stories Unforeseen 
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EPISODE ONE: FIRST CONTACTSby Andie J. P. Frankham“I still don’t like it.” “What choice do we really have, Moresh? We need to know one way or the other.” Moresh cleared his throat and bit his lip. He regarded his companion, Slearsoos, and shook his head. “Oh, I know. But we are the Galactic Federation; we should not have to be in this position. We should never have been put in this position. You know whom I blame?” Slearsoos shook her green head, doing her best to appear innocent. Moresh knew that Slearsoos had heard it many times since they had left Alpha Centauri, but he could not help himself. He had these moments where he just had to let things out. “I blame my own government. They are far too trusting.” An electronic voice issued from the doorway. “If the Peladon government had listened to the Ambassador of Arcturus in the first place, none of this would have happened.” Moresh and Slearsoos turned to look at the Arcturian delegate as its traction unit trundled into the mess hall. Like all Arcturians, it was a small multi-stranded organism encased in a little bowl on top of the traction unit, swimming in Arcturus life fluid. And like all of its kind the delegate had to speak through an electronic translator. Moresh and Slearsoos called it Runt, since, like all its kind, the delegate had no individual name. “Delegate Runt, if your people were not so volatile in their opinions of the Martians then it is more likely that the Galactic Federation Senate would have listened to you. But as it stands your species’ hatred for the Martians is legendary, and the Senate could not give in to biased opinions.” Slearsoos nodded her reptilian head as if the matter was settled. The traction unit stopped at the foot of the table around which Slearsoos and Moresh sat. “We were right, Ossoban. The Martians did plunder Peladon for its trisilicate. And left the planet to be one of the weakest in the entire Federation,” Runt added with glee. Moresh smiled. “There is no such thing as strong or weak in the Federation. We are all equal members.” A strange cackle came from the translation device. “The point is, if the Senate has listened to us Arcturians, we would not be heading...” Runt was cut off by the opening of the mess hall door. A young woman stood in the doorway. She has an intricate tattoo on her face, stretching from the top of her shaved forehead to the base of her neck. She blinked her orange eyes and bowed. “Delegates, I thought you’d like to know that we are two hours away from the Mondasian System. Radio silence must be maintained from this point on.” Once again the Taurean pilot bowed, and stepped back out of the room. Moresh swallowed hard, and Slearsoos looked down at the table. Even Runt had nothing to say to that. All three of them knew what the pilot’s announcement meant. They were on their own now, and if anything went wrong with their mission there would be no back up. The Draconian Ambassador, Ishkavaarr, fought to contain his anger. He looked around the cavenous Senate chamber at the other Federation Ambassadors. Looking for an ally, but it seemed none was to be found. “There is simply no justification for this action, Supreme Senator. None at all.” His voice echoed around the chamber, his clear dignified tones accenting each and every word he spoke. The Supreme Senator met Ishkavaarr’s stare. “Understand, Ambassador, if there were some other way the Senate would have found it. But, as it stands, there is none.” Ishkavaarr shook his head. “I have the utmost respect for the Ossoban people, Supreme Senator, but if you cannot find another solution may I respectfully request that they find a new Supreme Senator?” Gasps of shock echoed around the chambers, but Ishkavaarr was heated now. “Maybe having an Arcturian as Supreme Senator would be a wise move?" His platform turned and he pointed at the ambassador in question. "After all they are the only ones who doubted the Martians motives back when the Pels first welcomed the Martians on to their soil.” Ishkavaar returned his platform to its previous position, his point clearly made. “Ambassador Ishkavaarr, we are all aware of the mistake we made fifty years ago. Reminding us of that will not change the facts. With the Martians planning some kind of major coup we need to find new allies. If the Martians plan to challenge the Galactic Federation, and of that there is little doubt, we need to be ready. They are fanatics, one small race amongst many. But they will challenge the Federation. It is their way.” Ishkavaarr bowed his head. “I concede that point, Supreme Senator. We do indeed need new allies. But the Cybermen?” “It does seem unlikely that the Cybermen would ally themselves with the Federation,” came the shrill voice of the Alpha Centaurian ambassador. “They only seek to convert every species into their own.” Murmurs started flowing throughout the chambers. The Supreme Senator let them continue for a while, while he considered his response. He did not fail to notice Ishkavaarr’s bowed head. The Draconians were the strongest members of the Federation at present, and Ishkavaarr was an influential Draconian if ever there was one, but such things could not sway the Supreme Senator. He called for silence. “Your concerns are noted, Ambassador Ishkavaarr, and we share them. We will continue to look for new allies. Indeed we are in talks with many other races as you know, but for now we most pursue all avenues. The chances of the Cybermen joining the Galactic Federation are slim, at best, but the delegation heading to Nova Mondas is important. One way or another we need to know the strength of the Cybermen. They have been silent for many long years, and eventually they are bound to make some noise. The last thing we need is for them to start making unexpected noise at the same time as the Martians.” The Supreme Senator paused. “The events on Peladon have shown us that we need to be vigilant, and that we must never be caught off our guard again.” He stood, and bowed. “That will be all. The meeting is ended.” Ishkavaarr bowed before the Supreme Senator, and returned his speaking platform to its dock. He turned away from his fellow senators quite certain that the mission to Nova Mondas had little to do with finding new allies. “My, haven’t you grown?” The Doctor bellowed a laugh and raised Falex high into the air. The child started giggling as the Doctor pretended to fly Falex around the hall. The Bloke watched him with a smile. After recent events it was good to see the Doctor all jolly, although he had no idea why. After all the Doctor had been through since losing Brad, the Bloke would have thought that the Doctor would still be all-sombre. But not so. “You puzzle me, Doctor, you know that?” The Doctor continued flying Falex around the hall. “I do? Is that good?” “Confusing, to be sure, but I am used to that. Before I was sent back to the Forum world you were not in such a great mood. But now? I don’t get it.” The Doctor flew Falex over to the Bloke and chucked the child in the air. The Bloke reached out his panicked arms and caught Falex safely in them. The Bloke rolled his eyes and glared at the Doctor. “Hey, be nice! Twat.” To that the Doctor laughed. The Bloke screwed up his face. “Yeah, very funny. Ha ha.” Falex reached for the Bloke’s sunglasses and started playing around with them. “Bloke, one thing you need to remember about being mortal. Or in your case human. Life is too short to let things get you down.” The Doctor started leading the way out of the hall. He stopped and looked back. "Another thing. Your name. Don’t like it. You should change it to something more human. You can’t walk around with a title.” The Bloke balked at the Doctor. “Hang on a mo, you walk around with a title.” The Doctor nodded. “That is indeed so, but then I am a Time Lord. You are but a human now.” With that he continued on his way out of the hall. The Bloke followed him, awkwardly trying to hold Falex and his bag in his arms. What the Doctor said made sense. But what sort of name would suit a bloke like him? Something simple, something that would make people talk to him. A nice simple, comfortable name. In the meantime... “Where we going now? To find somewhere to shack up?” “Oh no, Bloke. Food. I feel absolutely starved.” The Bloke ignored the dig at his title, and instead paid attention to the rumbling in his stomach. It wasn’t pain as such, but it wasn’t comfortable either. Eating. So strange being human. “So, life is too short to let things get you down,” the Bloke said, by way of get back onto his earlier conversation. The Doctor nodded. “That’s right. Knew you’d get the hang of it.” “But that’s just it, I don’t.” The Bloke handed Falex out to the Doctor. “Here, take him. If I am to be baggage boy then you can be the mobile child carrier.” Falex jumped from the Bloke to the Doctor and immediately started playing with big man’s greying beard. The three of them came out of the Hall of Elders and floated their way across the street. The Doctor took them to what appeared to be a floating paving slab. Noticing the look on the Bloke’s face the Doctor explained. “This is out ticket to the top. I don’t intend to eat like some underwater life form, Bloke. The best grub is on the planet’s surface. Come on.” The Doctor stepped onto the paving slab and the Bloke attempted to do likewise. It was a struggle since the Doctor took up most of the space. Copying Falex, the Bloke grabbed hold of the Doctor’s beige jacket. “Holding tight?” the Doctor asked and the Bloke nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The Doctor laughed. “To the top we go, then.” As the slab raised the Bloke could feel his stomach turn. He closed his eyes and starting thinking of a name. Anything to take his mind off the queasy feeling in his gut. “Hmmm. Kurt. Jed. Samuel...” “What are you doing?” the Doctor asked. “Concentrating,” the Bloke muttered between clenched teeth. “Solomon. Lewis. Brett...” Senate Square was the most commercially active spot on Alpha Centauri. At least for the on-landers it was. There were those who did not take well to trading their woes under water, so for those people the Senate funded the building of Senate Square. Thousands of visitors came to the square on a daily basis, and with them they brought some weird and wonderful things, sometimes even more weird and wonderful than they were themselves. But nothing was more weird and wonderful than the curio shop that appeared on the outskirts of Senate Square on the fateful day that saw the arrival of the Doctor and the Bloke on Alpha Centauri. Both their arrival and the arrival of the curio shop had been timed in unison, although no one could have known that. Or could they? A figure stood outside the shop. At first glance he appeared as a human, but upon closer inspection the figure looked like a Draconian. People walked past him as if he wasn’t even there. But for them he was not. Unless they looked really hard and were psychically inclined then no one would notice him. They wouldn’t unless he wanted them to. For the time being, however, EnalcKarnip did not want anyone to see him. EnalcKarnip looked around, his translucent eyes taking in everything. After a while they came to rest on three figures that arose out of the watery entrance to the sub-world of Alpha Centauri. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the three figures more intently. One was no more than a toddler. A four-month-old Taurean male, identified by the tattoo forming on his face. The second was a human male with long blonde hair. The only human on Alpha Centauri, as EnalcKarnip knew all too well. The third figure interested him the most. A rather large man wearing khaki shorts, knee length socks and a beige jacket, with greying hair and beard. EnalcKarnip reached out a hand, sending out his nine senses to locate the inner being of the large man. A smile appeared on his lips. Doctor. It has been a long time indeed, EnalcKarnip thought. The gravity bubble around them popped as the slab came to rest less than an inch above the water. The Bloke opened his eyes and looked around. “At last, terra firma.” The Doctor stepped off the slab and onto the dry ground beside the water. He patted the Bloke on the shoulder. “Seems like you suffer from vertigo, Bloke.” He bellowed a laugh. “Not something I suffer from naturally.” “No,” said the Bloke, looking around, “it wouldn’t be, would it? I mean, imagine if... Oh, wow!” The Bloke took in the scene around him, totally fazed by the awesome scope of Alpha Centauri. The number of vehicles flying around in the air above them was more than the Bloke could hope to count. To his left was Senate Square, which was impressive in itself, but to his right was something else entirely. Buildings upon gleaming metal buildings. All in various shapes and sizes, stretching as far as the eye could see. “Doctor, this pace is amazing! So much activity.” “Yes, it is at that. The centre of the Galactic Federation, and a place where you'll never get bored. Alpha Centauri was a very modest under water culture once upon a time, until the formation of the Federation. Within years the surface became a settling ground for thousands of different races. Yes, I can honestly say that Alpha Centauri is the most multi-cultural planet in the galaxy.” The Doctor turned the Bloke back to Senate Square. “But that is where we are heading. Senate Square. The centre of commerce. The biggest market place ever. Fifty square miles.” The Doctor set off. “Come on.” Communications blackout. Moresh sat in his little cabin, resting his back against the cold metal wall. The words of Runt had dug deeper than Moresh cared to admit. And why? Because he agreed with the Arcturian delegate. Moresh sighed. Right now he would love to be able to send a message to his wife back on Peladon. But to do that would open the delegation to risk of detection. It was widely believed that the Martians were monitoring transmissions within the Federation, and if they learned of this mission they may end up deciding on the need to act sooner. Of course, Moresh was not entirely sure that the Martians focus was on the Federation. It was arrogance on the part of the Federation Senate to think that. And it was that kind of arrogance that had led to the near destruction of Peladon’s economic climate. So why am I here on this mission? Ah, Moresh thought, the answer is too simple. I am here because I need to show my people that we still have an important role in the Galactic Federation. Truth was that Moresh no longer believed that Pels had a role in that august body. His people needed to believe it, though. And that was the point. The young man threw back his head and laughed. “On the contrary. But I must say that ‘chatting me up’ is a very, how shall we say, human thing to say.” Alf regarded the man with keen eyes. His style of dress was a little odd, you could almost say that it was a bit human, too. He was wearing a large chocolate brown suede jacket with a white flower in the lapel, a tan waistcoat over a white shirt, green neckerchief, cream cotton trousers and battered brown shoes. The whole ensemble was topped off by a grey fedora with a lilac band around it. He looked, to Alf's mind at least, like a cross between Indiana Jones and a bohemian artist. She narrowed her eyes and chewed her lip, wondering if revealing the next bit of information would be a good idea. “But I am human,” she said. The man looked at her with his piercing green eyes. “Yes, I do believe you are. Of course, you do realise that no humans have existed since 2003. Not since the Cybermen converted the last human on what was then known as Earth.” This came as a shock to Alf. To compensate she took a long drink of her blitzer. The man smiled kindly. “Ah, I see you did not know that.” ‘Well, no. I just thought that humans hadn’t come out this far.” Alf blinked. “Hang about, what year is this?” The man no longer seemed to be listening. His attention was taken by something over Alf’s shoulder. She swivelled on her chair and followed his gaze. The objects of his interest were three people sitting at a table on the far side of the restaurant. The two adults were dressed in similar clothes, although the younger of the two did not seem as comfortable in them as the other. The third was a child. Alf noticed how human looking their clothes were also. She glanced at the man beside her. “A lot of Earth fashions around on Alpha Centauri for a culture destroyed so long ago, eh?” The man was still not listening. Alf poked him with her spoon. “Oi!” He turned to her, a look of surprise on his face. “I really shouldn’t have come here, Alf. I need to go.” He started to rise. “Eh? What about me?” The man put a finger to his lip and gave it some thought. He clicked his fingers and smiled. “Oh yes, of course. There is an internment camp on the other side of the city. A lot of war criminals are kept there. I’m sure they could do with some more guards, and with your talents you’d fit in well there.” “You know more about me than you’re letting on, don’t you?” The only response to that was a smile. “I do need to go now.” Alf offered her hand and the man shook it. “All right, then. Thanks for the name, and the information. I’ll check out this internment camp place. Maybe we’ll meet again, yeah?” The man nodded. “Of that there is no doubt. Goodbye, Alf.” The man turned and forced his way through the crowded restaurant. Alf watched him go, then turn back to the people who had caught the man’s attention. The big bloke with the beard turned away quickly and the younger guy asked him something. The big man indicated Alf and the young guy turned to look. There was something about that young guy, Alf realised, something very familiar. The Bloke had to drag his eyes away from the girl with the ponytail. “Doctor, she looks familiar. Didn’t we see her in the underwater plaza?” The Doctor nodded. “I think so. But that man with her interests me more.” The Bloke looked over, but the girl had gone. “Bugger.” He turned back to the Doctor. “What guy was that then?” The Doctor frowned. “No idea. Never seen him before, although I knew him. Knew him all too well.” He smiled and rubbed his hands. “Anyway, here comes our waiter.” Once the waiter had arrived the Doctor consulted the menu. “Right then, I think we shall have...” “Sorry, sir. But we cannot serve you.” The Doctor and the Bloke exchanged puzzled looks. “Um, why not?” the Doctor enquired. The bulky waiter was very polite in his response, not at all what the Bloke would have expected considering the look of the waiter. Big, blue and bumpy. Built like a brick shit-house was a term that came to the Bloke’s mind, although he had no idea where that expression came from. “Well it is not so much you two gents, you understand, so much as the child. We do not serve his kind in here.” The waiter indicated Falex with a very angry finger. “You will have to leave him outside.” “He’s just a child. We cannot leave him outside alone.” The waiter considered the Doctor’s point and shook his head. “I understand, sir. But nonetheless his kind is not welcome here.” Again he pointed at Falex and this time the boy began to cry. The Bloke reached out for Falex. “It’s okay, Doctor. I’ll wait outside with him.” He looked pointedly at the waiter. “I suddenly don’t feel all that hungry anyway.” The Bloke lifted Falex out of his seat. “You enjoy your meal. We’ll just take a look at the sights or something.” “But...” The Bloke held up one hand. “We’ll be fine, Doctor. We’ll get a bite to eat in one of those markets out there.” “Well, if you are sure?” “Completely.” The Bloke carried Falex away. As they left the boy’s crying began to subside. The waiter watched them, then shrugged and turned back to the Doctor. “What will it be, sir?” Slearsoos stumbled into the cockpit. “What’s the problem?” The pilot, Rahlena Theramin, pointed at the view screen. “I noticed these a few moments ago, just after we passed Pluto. Thought you might like to see them. Offer any of your own thoughts.” Slearsoos nodded her appreciation. It had been a long time since she had piloted any ships herself, so she was ready to jump at any chance to be in the cockpit. She consulted the image in the view screen. Floating out there, in a row of ten, were small capsules. “Erm. Never seen anything like them before. How big are they?” The pilot consulted her instruments. “No bigger than your average Draconian.” “Escape pods?” “No sign of any damaged ships in this sector. Nor any other evidence of a battle. I am detecting some sort of energy emission coming from them.” Theramin checked her readings. “Hmmm. Could be the remains of a weapons bank.” “Weapons? If so the information we could gather from examining that could prove very useful for the Galactic Federation.” Slearsoos licked her lips with her forked tongue in thought. “Safe to transport one of them onto the ship?” Theramin was obviously concerned by this. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t advise it. But you are more experienced in interstellar travel than I am. Up to you.” Slearsoos came to a decision. “Okay. This is what we shall do. Follow standard containment protocols and beam it into a secured section of the ship. I will go and inform my fellow delegates.” Slearsoos turned and exited the cockpit. Theramin watched the door slide shut behind the delegate, and shook her head. This was not a good idea. If it weren’t for the communications blackout she would inform the Federation straight away. On such a mission as this the delegate should be showing much more caution. After much traversing around several of the markets in Senate Square the Bloke had found some suitable looking food. Suitable in the sense that it looked like something from Earth. The fact that he kept on picking up all those references to Earth was annoying him a little, since he knew that Earth was not his home planet and neither was he human. And yet his speech patterns were becoming very... oh, what was the word? Oh yes, very English. And the Bloke knew all about England, much more than he should know. All part of becoming human it seemed. Whoever had decided that he would become human had a lot to answer for. The Bloke sat outside the restaurant with Falex, eating. He took a bite into the fruit and savoured the taste. It reminded him a little of a pineapple but with a hint of an orange. “Not bad, eh, Falex?” Falex looked up at the Bloke and shook his head. The Bloke laughed. “Don’t tell me you are beginning to understand me now?” Falex nodded his head. The Bloke lifted Falex from his sitting position and stood the boy before him. “Now, is this because of your telepathic abilities?” Falex nodded. “Good. The Doctor told me all about Taurean children when we went to pick you up. He said you would grow a lot over the next year, both physically and mentally. You look about three right now but within the year your body should age a good ten Earth years. And your mind will be double that.” The Bloke reached out and tweaked Falex’s nose. “That’s pretty impressive, you know that?” Falex reached out and pinched the Bloke’s nose. He opened his mouth and let out something that could have been words. Maybe an alien language, the Bloke thought. Can you read these thoughts, Falex? Falex seemed puzzled, so the Bloke just laughed. “Hey, it’s okay. You have time to learn yet.” He reached out for Falex and started tickling the boy. “And I’ll teach you to nick my nose!” Falex started laughing, trying to wiggle free from the Bloke. Soon they were both laughing. Passers by attempted to hide their mirth but failed to do so. One small alien stopped and stared at them with its three eyes. The Bloke and Falex just laughed even harder. Falex attempted to reach for the Bloke’s nose, but the Bloke kept on ducking out of the way. Falex laughed. “Nick, nick, nick, nick, nick,” the boy kept on repeating. The Bloke stopped and looked at Falex curiously. “What did you say?” Falex looked at the ground, obviously a little shy. The Bloke urged him on until Falex looked up with a broad smile and pointed at the Bloke. “Nick,” he said, his eyes twinkling. The Bloke broke into a smile. “Nick. Hey, now that is not so bad, is it?” Falex shook his head and poked the Bloke. “Nick,” he said in a firm tone. “Nick and Falex.” The Bloke nearly jumped out of his skin, which just made Falex laugh even harder. Standing in front of them was a man. A human who appeared to be the same age as the Bloke. The Bloke stood up and positioned Falex behind him, out of harms way. “Who are you?” The man held his hand out. “I am EnalcKarnip. I need you to do something for me, Nick.” The Doctor patted his rather full belly and let out a loud belch of pleasure. A few heads turned to him. He just smiled and wiped his lips with a napkin. “A hearty meal indeed. Give my compliments to the chef!” he told the waiter as the bumpy blue alien passed by. The Doctor looked around for any sign of that man he had seen before. There was none, but his eyes did alight on a familiar looking alien. The green skin, the high forehead, and the elegant yet militaristic clothing. A Draconian. The Doctor grinned and left his table. As he neared the bar the Doctor noticed the insignia on the Draconian’s left shoulder. “A nobleman of Draconia no less.” The Draconian turned around at the sound of the Doctor’s voice. The Doctor bowed. “My life at your command.” The Draconian was bemused for a few moments, then scowled. “Go away. I wish to be left alone.” The Doctor’s face fell. “Oh.” He smiled slyly. “In that case.” The Doctor sat on a stool next to the Draconian and motioned to the bartender. “A drink for my friend here.” The Draconian just stared at him. He sighed. “Fine,” he said and turned to the bartender. “A blitzer.” Once the bartender had left to get the drink, the Draconian turned to the Doctor. “You are persistent. No drink for yourself?” The Doctor shook his head. “No indeed. The food needs to settle first. I’m the Doctor, by the way. And you are?” The Draconian regarded the Doctor for a few moments. “A doctor? I am Ambassador Ishkavaarr, of the noble House of Draconia.” “Ishkavaarr!” The Doctor shook Ishkavaarr’s hand with great enthusiasm, and a huge smile to match. “It is so good to finally meet you. One of the founders of the planet Heaven. Such a great idea, by the way.” “Heaven?” Ishkavaarr was confused. “Yes, it’s...” The Doctor stopped himself. “Of course, it hasn’t happened yet. I’m 40 years too early. It will be a neutral world where the dead can rest in peace. Both Draconian and human. Set up by yourself and the President of Earth.” Ishkavaarr narrowed his eyes and stood up. “Earth is the old name for Nova Mondas, as any fool knows. There is no president of that planet, nor will there ever be.” “Oh. Of course. My mistake.” The Doctor frowned. “I am seriously out of touch with the realities, aren’t I?” “You are.” With that Ishkavaarr turned his back on the Doctor and stormed away. The Doctor watched him go and sighed. “Is the ambassador not wanting the drink, then?” the bartender asked. The Doctor turned to the bartender. “No. I seem to have upset him.” The bartender shrugged. “I shouldn’t worry too much about that. He has been in a mood all day. Not happy with the Federation Senate sending a delegation to Nova Mondas, you see.” A cloud came over the Doctor. “They’ve done what?!” he bellowed. “The idiots.” The Doctor turned and stormed away from the bar to pursue Ishkavaarr. Falex looked up as a Draconian rushed out of the restaurant. He turned to Nick, who made a funny face at him. Falex laughed and starting pulling at Nick’s nose again. Another figure rushed out of the restaurant. Just in time Nick noticed who it was. “Doctor!” he called. The Doctor spun around. “Bloke. Oh.” The Doctor seemed torn between his companions and the Draconian who was rapidly sinking into the crowds within Senate Square. The Doctor sighed, gave one last longing look at the back of the Draconian, then turned back to Nick. “Yes, what is it, Bloke? Did you find food for you and Falex?” “Yeah, I did.” Nick moved Falex off his lap and stood up. Falex ran over to the Doctor and jumped into the big man’s arms. “And it is Nick now. My name, I mean.” Falex pointed at him. “Nick,” he said. Nick smiled. “Falex’s idea. Pucker name, eh?” “Yes. Not bad at all.” The Doctor scratched his head with his one free hand. “But I knew that. Not sure how, but I did.” Nick was crestfallen. “Oh, bummer. Thought you’d be at least a little surprised.” The Doctor was about to say something but Nick cut him off. “Anyway, I have to take you somewhere.” “You do?” “Yep. Seems like we were expected.” The Doctor grinned. “Oh goody. Always nice to be expected.” He lifted Falex high into the air. “You hear that Falex, we’ve been expected.” Falex nodded and said, quite simply, “I know.” The dumfounded look on the Doctor’s large countenance was enough to make up for his lack of surprise regarding Nick’s name. Runt was the first delegate to reach the secure section. His traction unit trundled up to the silver capsule that was encased in a force field. For a few moments Runt just watched the capsule, waiting patiently for the others to arrive. It was an unexpected move on the behalf of Slearsoos to bring this thing onboard. Obviously she was not as docile as the other Ossobans that Runt had been in contact with. A strange humming filled the secure hold and a crack appeared in the capsule. Runt moved his traction unit backwards as the capsule began to open. Inside his little bubble, Runt began to shake violently. A small section opened at the front of the traction unit and a weapon popped out. “Stay back,” Runt’s translator said. The weapon fired. But to no affect. The ship shook and Theramin grasped the controls. She attempted to stabilise the rocking of the ship. She looked up at the view screen and her jaw dropped in horror. A huge ship had appeared in front of her own. “Oh no,” she said, and hit the communicator button. “This is...” A beam of energy shot out of the large silver ship, and the whole cockpit was engulfed in a blinding light. “Look!” Falex shouted, and pointed at an Alpha Centaurian who was bobbling past. Nick just laughed. “Chatty now, aren’t we?” The Alpha Centaurian glared at the trio with its one eye, and bobbled away. “Ere, Doctor, is it just me, or does that creature look like a...” The Doctor put his finger to his lips. “Don’t say it, Nick. We have a very impressionable child with us now.” “Oh yeah.” Nick smiled down at Falex. “My bad.” Falex poked Nick in the shin. “Bad Nick.” “That seems to be it.” Nick pointed at the very out of place shop. Unlike the other metallic buildings surrounding it, the little shop looked like a little hut with a thatched roof. “Strange thing to have on Alpha Centauri.” “Mmm.” The Doctor approached the shop and looked in the windows. “Doesn’t seem to be anyone in there.” He turned to Nick and Falex. “Did that chap seem like he meant us trouble?” “No. Just human.” The Doctor clapped his hands. “Right then,” he said with much bravado. “Shall we see what’s inside this curious little shop?” Before waiting for an answer the Doctor pushed open the door and stepped into the shop. “Oh dear.” The Doctor staggered back, feeling a wave of nausea sweeping over him. He looked back at Nick and Falex and blinked. “Oh dear oh dear.” He was not in a shop. And he was alone. He was standing in the middle of a battlefield. All around him were the mutilated remains of various alien life forms. Draconians, Alpha Centaurians, Ossobans, Taureans... The Doctor spun around on his heels. In the distance he could see the decimated Galactic Federation Senate building. He was still on Alpha Centauri then, and standing in Senate Square. Or what was left of it rather. But what had happened to it? “Of course.” Now the Doctor recognised the cause of the nausea he had felt. Somehow he had moved through time by stepping over the threshold of the shop, and now he was in Alpha Centauri’s future. “You will identify yourself.” Something about that voice made the Doctor’s skin crawl. Although there was no mistaking the emotionless tones, there was a certain sibilant sound about the voice. The Doctor turned around slowly, and was totally shocked by what he saw. Standing before him was a Cyberman, only this one was made out of a converted Martian. “So, the Cybermen have succeeded. The Galactic Federation has fallen,” the Doctor mumbled sadly. “The Galactic Federation does not exist. All that exists is the Cyber race. You will be adapted to become like us.” The Cybermartian raised its gun and fired. The beam hit the Doctor dead centre in the chest. The Time Lord fell to the dusty ground. The Cybermartian grabbed the Doctor by the collar of his jacket and began pulling him away. “The Cyber race will continue.” BRIAN BLESSED as The Doctor NICK PEREIRA as The Bloke/Nick
EWAN McGREGOR as Delegate Moresh ALYSON HANNIGAN as Delegate Slearsoos
and introducing 
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