‘’Ere, Doctor, you’re dead.’

The Doctor looked up from the new scuff on his shoe, his face still wearing the look of annoyance. He just did not understand why people felt the need to litter such a beautiful cemetery as Highgate. Alf was standing a little further up the lane looking at a monument. ‘Sorry?’

‘You’re dead. Look’s like your tomb.’

The Doctor rushed to Alf’s side and he too looked the monument over. It was quite a big affair; although not as ornate as some of the other tombs this was as impressive in its own way. It was a large marble plinth upon which sat the bust of a man with a large beard.

The idea that he was buried on Earth in 1991 did not sit too well with the Doctor, especially since the bust showed him to still be in his present incarnation. Even with the universe in the crazy state it was he had always hoped that he would live through another few regenerations, but now it seemed not. He looked closer and a smile came to his face. He turned back to Alf.

‘Why so happy? You’re a marked man,’ she said and joined him in front of the tomb. The Doctor pointed at the name engraved on the plinth and Alf read it. She looked at the Doctor and laughed. ‘Oopps, sorry. My bad.’

The name on the tomb was Karl Heinrich Marx.

‘Understandable mistake, Alf, after all, from a distance his bust does look alarmingly like mine.’ The Doctor turned away from the tomb. ‘Anyway, we need to go into the West Cemetery, for there we shall find the Lebanon Circle and the place Bradley first appeared in 1986.’ He set off.

Alf remained behind for a moment, reading an inscription on the tomb. ‘“The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways – the point however is to change it.” Yeah, you’re telling me.’ She looked up and noticed the Doctor’s body fading into the distance. ‘Hey!’ she called. ‘Wait up!’ Hitching up the bottom of her long white dress she rushed off to catch him.




Resplendent in his ceremonial robes Bradley stepped out of his study and into the worship hall beyond. Like a loyal pet Daniel followed him, head bowed in cowed respect. Two small red dots were just visible on Daniel’s neck. Bradley glanced back at Daniel and licked his sharp teeth, enjoying the coppery taste of the blood on his tongue. Daniel offered a weak smile of his own in response.

The worship hall, like Bradley’s study and the room in which Nick hung, was part of an old run down church. Bradley had come across it several years earlier. From the moment he had seen the dilapidated old building he just knew it would serve him well. There was something decadent about it that reminded him of home.

Bradley walked up to the altar and looked out at the congregation gathered in the pews facing the front of the hall. Many of them were his willing subjects: humans who had wanted to take hold of the immortality that Bradley had offered them. Others were guests of his subjects; some in attendance because of the wonders they had heard, others simply curious about the joy that the Cult of Ashgotoroth could bring them. All of them here by choice. Bradley was not interested in unwilling converts. To his mind all those who were unwilling would serve as food, to nourish his subjects.

Tonight was not about converting more humans, at least not in the usual way. Tonight was about the unveiling of Bradley’s God – the power that he had found since being stranded on Earth in 1986.

Bradley spread open his arms. ‘Welcome, one and all,’ he said, projecting his voice throughout the hall. ‘Tonight you shall see something wondrous. You will be the first to witness the return to Earth of the Almighty God! The One who grants us true immortality!’

He turned to Daniel and nodded. Trying his best to ignore the fear within, Daniel stepped forward and removed his blood red robe. All eyes turned to look at him standing next to the altar as naked as the day he was born.

Bradley smiled at the young man. It was not the first time that he had seen Daniel in such a vulnerable state, but it was the first time that Bradley could not take advantage of it. Instead he looked out at the congregation and said:

‘Our God needs a vessel to inhabit. A shell to contain His magnificence. Without such a thing His radiant power would kill all who look on Him.’

Daniel took a deep breath and climbed on top of the altar. There he lay as Bradley removed a sword from under his robes. He raised the sword aloft.

‘Blessed be the name of the Lord!’

The sword came down onto Daniel’s chest, drawing blood, to the gasped reactions of the congregation in the worship hall.




Alf closed the big gates behind her just as the first drops of rain fell, and turned her back on Highgate Cemetery. The Doctor stood on the pavement, under the soft glow of the street lamp, consulting the readings on the little device he had used on Alpha Centauri. The result were obviously close to what the Doctor had hoped for, Alf reasoned, judging the look of satisfaction on his face when he had taken the reading by the cedar tree in the Lebanon Circle. Following his initial look at the readings the Doctor had rushed out of the cemetery, leaving Alf to race after him. She had found the clone standing outside the cemetery, once again looking at the readings on the device in his hands.

‘Well?’ she asked, when it was evident that the Doctor was not going to offer up any information.

He looked up from the device, his face cast in shadow by his hat. ‘Sorry, Alf. Got a little carried away there. Yes, I was right. There is a slight liquid time residue left over from the portal that opened in 1986.’

‘That’s good. What does it mean, though?’

‘It means that the portal has been in use since 1986.’ The Doctor showed Alf the readings on the device, but she could make neither head nor tail of them. She told him so. ‘These readings indicate the residue of liquid time is from a very recent source; as in during the past six hours.’

Alf lifted the sleeve of her wedding dress and consulted her watch. ‘About the same time that Nick was kidnapped by Bradley.’

‘Exactly.’ The Doctor tapped a few buttons on the device and a small bleeping started to emit from it. ‘Now, if my theory is correct, and my theories often are, then Bradley will have the most residue of liquid time on him. This device is now calibrated to home in on those traces.’

‘Let’s go then.’

Before they could set off a woman wrapped up in a shabby but warm coat accosted them. She shoved a pamphlet at them. Alf tried to ignore her, but the Doctor accepted the pamphlet with a gracious smile.

‘Thank you,’ he said.

‘Come and witness the Coming of the Lord!’ With that the woman carried on her way to accost more unsuspecting passers-by.

‘Can’t stand people who shove their crappy leaflets at me,’ Alf moaned as they started following the direction the beeps were taking them.

‘Now now, Alf, remember the pamphlet in Paris. If it wasn’t for that we would never have foiled the plans of the Eternal,’ the Doctor said, and handed the pamphlet to Alf. ‘Well?’ he asked when Alf looked at it.

Alf just stared. The pamphlet talked about the Coming of the Lord, and how to witness it all they needed to do was join the Cult of Ashgotoroth. The words were not the thing that interested Alf, though. It was the image within the circle of words.

‘Bradley!’

‘Looks like he’s been a busy boy since we last saw him.’ The Doctor pocketed the device and took the pamphlet off Alf. ‘Shall we pay Bradley a visit then? He’s even been kind enough to give us an address!’