Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
It’s Day 8 of ‘Bradley’s Basement‘s Advent Calendar 2017.
Today, we say goodbye to the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K-9 as ‘The Fourth Doctor’s Story’ in ‘The Five Doctors At Christmas’ comes to a close. Last time, the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K-9 meet up with the little boy Simon in the English village. Can more of this mystery be solved with Cybermen? 🙂
‘The Fourth Doctor’s Story’ of ‘The Five Doctors At Christmas’ is set after ‘Foundations of Life’.
Enjoy!
Check out what my Day 8 of my ‘Bradley’s Basement‘s Advent Calendar for 2015 and 2016 were about!
Tim. 🙂
Part Eight
It didn’t take long, as Simon took the Doctor, Romana and K-9 to the village hall. The Doctor and Romana were surprised as they didn’t expect the Cybermen base to be in this place. K-9 just trundled on behind them, making no comment at this point.
“Simon?” Romana asked. “You said you were going to take us to the Cybermen’s base.”
“Yes I am,” Simon replied matter of factually. “This is the place.”
“But it’s inside the village hall, Simon,” the Doctor pointed out.
“It is,” Simon said. “But it’s not a village hall. It’s the Cybermen’s cover for a base.”
“Ah,” said the Doctor. “I see.”
Romana could tell that the Doctor clearly didn’t see at all. K-9 still made no comment.
“Come on in,” Simon insisted. “I’ll show you. Follow me.”
Simon opened the door and went inside the village hall to lead the way into the Cybermen’s base. The Doctor, Romana and K-9 remained behind a bit before going inside.
“Do we go in, Doctor?” Romana asked him.
“I don’t see any other option, do you?” the Doctor asked her.
K-9 at last piped up at this point. “Caution, Master,” he stated. “I advise caution.”
“Good call, K-9,” the Doctor declared, enthusiastically. “Come on, Romana; K-9!”
The Doctor, Romana and K-9 entered the village hall, not knowing what to expect inside.
Inside was not what the Doctor, Romana and K-9 were expecting.
The trio saw an alcove full of people. The Doctor recognised some of the people as the villagers who had scattered and had run away from the Cybermen earlier. The people in the alcove were connected by tubes and wires. There was a green light glowing.
Romana stepped forward to examine the villagers inside the alcove. The Doctor joined her, whilst K-9 used his scanner antenna to assess the condition of the villagers.
“These villagers look dead, Doctor,” Romana remarked out loud. “Like zombies. They aren’t moving. They don’t even seem to be alive.”
K-9 at that moment piped up. “Life-signs are minimal, Master. The villagers are in a comatose state.”
“Comatose!” the Doctor exclaimed.
“Affirmative,” confirmed K-9.
“That’s bad!” the Doctor said, rather absently.
“There must be some way to free them,” Romana remarked. “If only we knew what this machine was for?”
The Doctor then had a momentary retrieval of old memories come back to him, as he smacked the side of his head with his right hand. Romana saw how troubled the Doctor was.
“What is it, Doctor?” Romana asked. “Has something happened?”
There was a moment of silence before the Doctor spoke.
“Don’t you recognise any of this technology, Romana?” he asked her. “Isn’t it familiar?”
Romana examined the technology herself for a moment.
“No,” Romana replied. “No, I can’t say that I have. Why?”
The Doctor shrugged. “Oh it’s just…I’m sure I’ve seen this technology before.” He took a moment to gather his thoughts again. “A long time ago,” he continued. “When…”
The Doctor trailed off, as he then spotted something else about the technology. He bent down to inspect a power source container glowing beside the alcove. He pointed his finger directly at the power source container, fascinated and appalled by what he’d seen.
“That,” he cried. “That shouldn’t be here! Why?! Why is it here of all places?!”
Romana bent down to look and see what the Doctor had seen on the power source container. K-9 trundled forward, as he raised his antenna up to the power source container.
After a few moments, Romana equally became shocked by what she saw. “It can’t be!” Romana remarked. “It just can’t…”
“Oh yes it can be,” the Doctor corrected Romana. “And it is! It’s directly within our sights and it’s as real to touch.”
K-9 bleeped as he waggled his ears at this point. “Confirmed,” he announced. “The seal placed on the power source container of this alcove…is the seal of…”
“Yes alright, K-9,” the Doctor reprimanded K-9, berating the robot dog. “We know! We know what it is! Romana and I have seen it! You have seen it! No need to tell us out loud what it’s supposed to look like.”
K-9 was about to object at this point, when Romana asked the obvious question.
“Where’s Simon?” she asked. “He isn’t here, look!”
The Doctor looked around the area as well as Romana. Clearly Simon was nowhere to be seen. This puzzled the Doctor, as he wondered where he’d got to.
“Simon,” the Doctor called out. “Simon!” he called loudly. No response however.
K-9 waggled his ears and said, “Simon is not in the village hall. His life-signs are undetected at present.”
“Yes thank you, K-9,” the Doctor mumbled to himself. “We get the idea!”
At that moment, the door burst open and Cybermen marched in. The Doctor, Romana and K-9 saw the Cybermen marching in for the attack. They backed away against the alcove as the Cybermen came towards them.
“Remain still,” the Cyber Leader boomed out. “Remain still! You will be taken for upgrading! Upgrading is compulsory.”
Romana felt anxious as the Cybermen made their way towards to them.
“Don’t panic, Romana,” the Doctor tried to reassure her. “Don’t panic! Things could get a lot worse than they are now…”
And at that moment, things did get worse. For it was at that moment…the Doctor was snatched away. Romana and K-9 were alone, with no idea where the Doctor had gone.
“Mistress,” K-9 declared. “The Doctor-Master has vanished!”
“Yes, K-9,” Romana replied. “I know. But where to?! And at a time like this! First Simon, then him! Where did the Doctor go?”
“Insufficient data for a response,” which is all K-9 could say.
But Romana and K-9 had more to worry about. They saw the Cybermen advancing upon them. Romana and K-9 backed away, unsure as to how to get out of this mess…
TO BE CONTINUED…
© Tim Bradley, 2017
Bradley's Basement 