2. The Monster
Rose sat at her mum’s bedside for quite some time. She wondered if she was ever going to wake up. Stroking her mum’s forehead, Rose anxiously waited. Eventually, Jackie stirred and Rose looked up to see her wake.
“Mum!” she called out and went to her, clutching her hand. “Mum, are you alright? Mum, it’s me, Rose! Rose, remember?”
Jackie looked at Rose as she regained focus. She soon became relieved and amazed to see her daughter.
“Rose,” she began weakly. “You came back. Thank God, you came back.”
“Yes Mum, I’m here,” Rose reassured her. “I’m here. I found out you were in hospital when I came back. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when it happened. It shouldn’t have happened to you.”
“It’s not your fault, Rose,” Jackie told her.
Rose smiled and said relieved, “I’m so glad you’re still alive.”
Very soon, Rose took her mum and embraced her in a hug. Jackie took in her daughter and became happy as she lay in bed.
“I’m so glad you came back,” Jackie said.
“Yeah,” Rose replied. “Me too.”
Eventually, Rose let go of her mum. She sat back in her chair whilst Jackie lay in bed. A moment of silence ensued them.
“How have you been?” Jackie asked.
“Oh you know, okay,” Rose answered. “Been out there, seen everything.”
“Did you come back with the Doctor?” Jackie gradually asked.
“Yeah,” Rose answered. “As well as a man called Captain Jack. He’s been with us for a bit, Jack has.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jackie said. “Mickey’s been telling me about his catch-up with you in Cardiff. He’s been telling me lots of things. About your adventures.”
“Yeah,” Rose smiled. “The Doctor, Jack and me have had so many adventures. Recently, we went to Huxamo. It’s this planet that’s got two suns so that you have one for the morning and one for the evening. Days last longer on that planet. And then we went to Germany in 1833 and recently we went to Raxacoricofallapatorius…”
“Mickey told me what happened between you and him in Cardiff,” Jackie interrupted. “That you had an argument with him. That you upset him when you left.”
After a moment’s silence, Rose tried to say reassuringly, “It’s alright, Mum. We’re sorting it out.”
“Yeah?” Jackie said unconvinced. “That wasn’t what it sounded like when I heard you two talking together earlier.”
Rose became stunned. “You were supposed to be asleep! What did you hear?”
Jackie said nothing for a moment.
Eventually she said, “Tell me something, Rose. Why did you come back? Was it to see me or to see Mickey? Or was it something else entirely?”
Rose felt uncomfortable about answering that question. She knew what the answer was. How was her mum going to react to it?
“The Doctor’s here, looking for something,” Rose told her. “A crystal of some kind. We came in the TARDIS.”
“So you didn’t just come back to see me then,” Jackie said. “You only came back here because of the Doctor. Because the two of you had something to look for.”
“The three of us,” Rose reminded her. “There’s Jack as well.”
“The three of you then,” Jackie said wearily. “You seem to be thinking of only that now. Of travelling and going out into space. Like Mickey said, I wish you had a normal life.”
“I did see what happened in the newspapers,” Rose told her. “You being in hospital. I did think about coming here. I asked the Doctor and Jack if we’d come here.”
Jackie remained silent.
“And you know this child thing that attacked you?” Rose went on. “The Doctor and Jack are sorting it out. I’m staying here with you to keep an eye on you, yeah?”
“I wish you would stop travelling, Rose,” Jackie said. “It’s not safe. I told the Doctor to keep you safe…”
“He has been keeping me safe,” Rose interjected. “Nothing’s happened to me. I promise, I’m doing fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“But I do worry about you,” Jackie persisted. “I worry about the only daughter I have. If something happened to you, I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“The only person I’m thinking about right now is you,” Rose told her. “Now you just relax and don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
“I don’t believe you,” Jackie said.
Rose felt as if she’d been stung by a wasp. She soon saw Jackie slumbering back into sleep. Rose felt uncomfortable. After a few minutes, she got up and made her way out to leave the room. She wanted to get some fresh air.
Back at the police station, inside the morgue, Andrew Starr showed the Doctor and Captain Jack around. They began to inspect the bodies in the morgue. Starr unravelled the shroud on one of the victims. The Doctor and Jack saw the horrid sight before them and they drew in breath.
“Well Doctor; Captain Harkness?” Starr enquired. “Conclusions?”
The Doctor gradually fished out his sonic screwdriver and began to scan the bodies. The screwdriver buzzed as he scanned away.
After a few minutes, the Doctor deduced, “The energy weapon used on this victim was shot at a high intensive rate. All the nervous systems and the cells in this man’s body were killed the instant the energy ray hit him.”
The Doctor eventually scanned another victim body. The results were the same. The Doctor couldn’t believe it.
“Horrendous,” he said. “All these victims were blasted by the same voltage levels. What kind of an idiot would want to make a boy like that to commit mass slaughter?”
“There are many forms of life that can do this sort of attack,” Jack commented. “Using advanced forms of technology even from where I come from.”
“But nothing so deadly,” the Doctor said.
“You’re saying this isn’t by human design,” Jack realised.
“I’m sure of it,” the Doctor said. “Whatever technology was implanted into the child makes this all wrong. And it sickens me to think that someone would be using that technology for those means.”
“So what have you in mind?” Jack asked. “How are we going to stop this?”
“That…is the question,” the Doctor said, before he turned to Starr. “How many victims do you have in storage at this morgue, Sergeant?”
“About a hundred and four and increasing by the day,” Starr replied.
“This only happens at night?” Jack asked.
“Initially it did, yes,” Starr said. “But the attacks have been more frequent and sometimes take place during the day.”
“Did you check with medical records about the boy – Bobby Briggs?” the Doctor asked. “Has he suffered from any mild conjugation disorder or mental symptoms?”
“If you mean, is the boy mentally deranged, then no,” Starr said. “We checked with hospital doctors and they say that Bobby has never undergone any mental or nervous breakdowns. In fact, he should be the healthiest and happiest boy in the whole of London.”
“And this was before the three weeks of attacks happened in London?” checked the Doctor.
“Why yes,” Starr answered.
“You think this means something, Doctor,” Jack deduced. “But what?”
“I’m not sure,” the Doctor said. “But I know it’s something to do with the Zorbius crystal. I just can’t put my finger on it. It’s there I know, but I just can’t spot it.”
Starr became confused. “Zorbius crystal?”
“Nothing for you to worry about Andy boy,” Jack smiled.
“It’s Andrew, if you don’t mind,” Starr requested.
“Whatever you say, o Andrew boy,” Jack said cheekily.
Loosening his leather jacket, the Doctor’s eyes were fixed with new determination and intent. “Captain, we’re not going to get the answers here,” he said. “We have to go out there in the heart of danger itself.”
“The heart of danger. Where the child is?” Jack checked.
The Doctor could hear the protest in Jack’s voice, but he wasn’t going to let him change his mind. His mind was set. “I don’t like what’s happening here,” he said. “These people have been hit by a high voltage death ray and I want to find out what the technology is that made the boy what he is today.” Turning to Starr, the Doctor asked, “Where was the technology found?”
“In the centre of the Powell Estate,” Starr said. “Close to where Professor Briggs lives.”
“Then that’s where we got to go,” the Doctor said. “To find out more answers.”
“Are you sure about this?” Jack asked.
“I’m never sure about anything,” the Doctor said. “That’s why I want to find out more.” The Doctor checked with the sergeant. “7 Handley Road, wasn’t it, Sergeant?”
“That’s right,” Starr answered. “It shouldn’t be difficult to find. Unless you wish me to accompany you. I’d only be happy to…”
“No, no,” the Doctor interjected. “You’ve helped us a lot. We’ll continue the investigation from here.”
Shaking Starr’s hand and putting on a wide grin on his face, the Doctor soon took out his sonic screwdriver again and switched it on. It buzzed into life.
“Detecting flies killed by death rays?” Jack asked.
“Tracing the Zorbius energy back to its prime location with the sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor told him. “And hoping it will lead me to where 7 Handley Road is.”
“We could always use a map and follow some directions,” Jack pointed out.
“I prefer doing this the exciting way,” the Doctor said, smiling.
The Doctor continued to scan with the screwdriver before he picked up something that immediately pleased him.
“Got ya! Fantastic!” the Doctor cheered. He then turned to Starr and said, “Thanks again, Sergeant. See ya.” Turning to Captain Jack, he said, “Come on, Jack. Let’s visit the Professor’s house.”
The Doctor went swanning off out of the police morgue, determined to make for the Professor’s house. As the Doctor left, Jack turned back to Starr.
“Sorry,” he apologised. “He’s often like that.” Jack patted Starr on the back and said, “See you around.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Starr said. “And good luck!”
“Buy you a drink sometime when you’re off duty,” Jack called back to him.
“I’ll be waiting,” Starr said.
Jack smiled as he headed off out of the morgue to accompany the Doctor. Starr remained a bit in the morgue, before he replaced the shrouds over the victim’s bodies.
Rose took a walk around the block of the hospital. She’d been mulling things over about what Mickey and her mum had said to her. She also found when she went to the cafeteria that the Doctor and Jack weren’t there. She tried her mobile to phone the Doctor up to make sure he was alright. He didn’t answer her calls. Typical!
“Why is it he’s always swanning off and doing something else?” Rose asked herself, exasperated. “The least he could do is answer my phone calls!”
Just then, her phone rang. She took it out of her jean pockets and pressed the button to answer.
“Hello?” she said.
“Rose, it’s me,” said a familiar voice.
“Doctor!” Rose said, relieved. “Where are you? Are you alright? Is Jack with you?”
“We’re fine,” the Doctor reassured her. “Jack and I are leaving the police station. Sorry we didn’t tell you about where we’ve been, but you seemed busy with your mum.”
“You could’ve left a message,” Rose said.
“Jack did leave a message with the nurse,” the Doctor told her.
“Yeah right,” Rose said unconvinced. “With no indication of where were you heading.”
“We want you out of trouble,” the Doctor said. “You know that, don’t you?”
“Like that’s ever going to stop me from joining you,” Rose said.
“Rose, stop your nagging and listen,” the Doctor insisted. “We’re heading for 7 Handley Road on the Powell Estate. You know where that is?”
“I think so,” Rose answered. “Why, what’s there?”
“More who, Rose,” the Doctor said. “Who? Professor Calvin Briggs. He’s likely the man with all the answers we want.”
“About this kid thing,” Rose checked. “With the death ray that nearly killed my mum.”
“Top marks, Rose Tyler,” the Doctor cheered. “Go back to the TARDIS and wait for me and Jack there. We won’t be long.”
“No way,” Rose said. “I’ll go over there and meet you myself.”
“Not this time, Rose,” the Doctor said. “This is too dangerous. We’ve seen plenty of dead bodies that were killed by the boy at the police morgue.”
“I don’t care,” Rose insisted. “I’ll meet you there anyway.”
“Go back to the TARDIS, Rose!” the Doctor commanded. “And take your mother with you! She needs to be safe as much as you do.”
“How do I get my mum out of hospital?” Rose asked, flummoxed.
“You can lift and carry her, can’t you?” the Doctor said. “You’re not useless! Must dash! See you in a jiff!”
“No wait, Doctor!” Rose cried. “Don’t hang up!”
But it was too late. The Doctor was gone as he already hung up. Once the phone conversation was over, Rose placed her mobile back into her jean trouser pocket and she became annoyed.
“Fat lot of help that was,” Rose snorted.
Pondering for a bit about what to do next, Rose was determined not to let the Doctor walk into the face of danger, even if Jack was with him. But at the same time, she couldn’t leave her mum in danger either.
“No matter,” she eventually said. “I’ll get my mum out of hospital first. That should be straight-forward enough. Get her into the TARDIS first and then I’ll go and find Jack and the Doctor.”
She was about to head back for the hospital before she spotted someone lurking around the corner. Someone was sobbing nearby. Rose instinctively went over to find out what it was all about.
“Hello?” she called gently, being curious. “Who’s there?”
She came around the corner to find a little boy, who was crying his heart out. His eyes welled with tears. Rose couldn’t help but be moved by the little boy crying.
“Hello!” she greeted gently. “Are you alright? Are you lost?”
The little child didn’t say much. He just nodded. Rose became sympathetic as she placed her hand around his shoulder.
“It’s alright,” she said reassuringly. “Hey, it’s alright. We’ll find you your mum, okay?”
The little boy looked up at Rose and he put on a weak smile. Rose smiled back. She was reminded of meeting another boy like this one from the 1920s – Freddie Harding, his name was.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
The little boy sniffed as he answered, “Bobby. Bobby Briggs.”
“Are you from around here, Bobby?” Rose asked.
“I came out and got lost,” Bobby said. “I feel…empty. I lost something.”
“What was it you lost?” Rose asked.
“I need…someone…to help me,” little Bobby said. “I feel…empty. Got…something… terrible…happening to me.”
“I can take you inside the hospital,” Rose said. “The doctors and nurses…”
“They can’t help me,” Bobby said. “I don’t want them to help me.”
“Well, I’m sure they can…”
“I don’t want them to help me!” Bobby became angry.
Rose was taken aback by the boy’s outburst. She tried a different tactic.
“Alright well,” she began, “I know someone who can help out with…whatever it is you’ve got missing. He’s a Doctor, you see. Not a medical one, I mean.”
“Doctor,” Bobby then perked up. “You know…the Doctor?”
“What, do you know him?” Rose asked, surprised.
“Please!” little Bobby begged. “Will you take me to him? Will you take me to the Doctor?”
“Alright, we will,” Rose said. “But first, I need to see my mum. She’s still in hospital you see, so…”
The boy began to cry and sob his heart out once again.
“Please!” Bobby sobbed. “Please, let me see the Doctor! Please let me see him!”
The boy continued to cry. Rose couldn’t keep a weeping boy like this out here for all to see. So she decided to do it the long way round.
“Alright,” Rose interrupted him crying. “I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll go to the TARDIS. You know what the TARDIS is, don’t you?”
The boy shook his head.
“Alright well, it’s the Doctor’s ship,” Rose told the boy. “We’ll go there and see if we can find the Doctor. If he isn’t there, we’ll wait. Then I’ll go and see my mum. Alright?”
The boy thought about this for a moment, before he nodded.
Rose smiled and she said softly, “Okay. Let’s go and see if the Doctor’s there in the TARDIS before it’s too late and we’ve missed him, shall we?”
Taking the boy’s hand, both she and Bobby went off to find the TARDIS. Rose didn’t notice that as they went, a light bulb in one of the street lampposts nearby began to flicker slightly.
Professor Calvin Briggs worked hard. Too hard perhaps. He preferred his solitude very often and he didn’t want anyone else to bother him. He would sometimes go out to buy four more pints of milk and bread, but that was all. He would send his findings to London’s scientific institute through the post and would only attend conferences via video-link. It would come as a big surprise to him if anyone should come through the door of his study by now.
It was at that time during the afternoon that the study door burst open and two people entered.
“Hello!” a man in a leather jacket greeted cheerfully. “Professor Briggs, isn’t it?”
Briggs stood up from his chair, completely startled. He didn’t expect two people to enter. “Who the hell are you?!” he demanded angrily.
“I’m the Doctor,” the Doctor introduced himself. “Hello!”
“And I’m Captain Jack Harkness,” Captain Jack joined in. “Nice to meet you, Professor!”
Jack let out a hand for Briggs to shake, but Briggs ignored Jack as he turned to face the Doctor.
“I say again, who are you?!” he demanded.
“I don’t think your charms are going to work this time, Jack,” the Doctor said, smirking.
“How sad is that?” Jack said, disappointed and dropping his hand down by his side.
“Goes to show,” the Doctor continued. “Flirting’s not always everything.”
Briggs was getting impatient. “Do I have to repeat myself again or shall I call the police?”
The Doctor then showed his psychic paper to Briggs as he flipped his wallet open.
“Private investigators,” he said. “We came to talk to you Professor Briggs about your son.”
“He’s not here,” Briggs said.
“We know,” said Jack. “That’s why we’re here. Been out on the rampage, hasn’t he?”
“I have nothing to do with my son anymore,” Briggs said, dismissing his visitors.
“That’s irresponsible of you, Professor,” the Doctor told him. “Not to mention heartless. Shouldn’t you care about your son? A little boy out there on his own? With no father to look out for him?”
“You’re wasting your time with me,” Briggs persisted. “I have nothing else but my work to contend with. Now please leave me!”
“Shouldn’t his mother be concerned?” Jack asked. “Where’s you wife, Professor?”
“My wife died years ago,” Briggs answered. “And good riddance to her, I say. They’re such a nuisance, woman are! Aren’t they?”
“Couldn’t agree better, Prof,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “I have the same with my missus.”
“I won’t ask you again,” Briggs said impatiently. “Leave now or else I shall call the police.”
Briggs seemed to make out he was trying to get back to his work in the study. But the Doctor and Jack weren’t threatened by his words.
“Alright then,” the Doctor said. “You want to do this the hard way? Jack, lock the doors!”
“Yes sir,” Jack answered, saluting the Doctor, as he then took out his sonic blaster from his trench coat pocket and fired an energy ray at the door’s lock.
Briggs got up, shocked. “What do you think you’re doing?!” he demanded. “What’s that you’re using?”
“Sonic lock!” Jack explained. “No-one can get in or out. Not even your police could get in if they tried.”
“Now let’s see where you keep alien technology,” the Doctor suggested. “I know! The cellar! Down here, is it?”
The Doctor eventually went to a door in the study and he used his sonic screwdriver on it. It buzzed away before unlocking the cellar door. The Doctor grinned back at Briggs.
“Thanks for that,” he said cheerily. “Just taking a look around if you don’t mind.”
With that, the Doctor went through the door and down the stairs. Briggs got up angry.
“How dare you?!” he shouted. “You can’t just poke your nose in and go about anywhere in a house that isn’t yours. How did you get in here anyway? I’m talking to you, whoever you are! Wait!”
Briggs got out from his desk and made his way to follow the Doctor into the cellar. He went in, followed by Jack behind him.
Down in the cellar, Briggs went down the stairs to find the place in darkness. Just then, a light came on and Briggs turned to see the Doctor grinning like a Cheshire cat beside a light switch.
“Let’s have a little light here, shall we?” the Doctor said cheerfully.
Now that they could see, the Doctor and Captain Jack looked around to see what a mess had been made in the cellar.
“You’ve left a lot of stuff down here, haven’t you,” Jack commented. “All this from alien technology? And from the same ship?”
“It’s mine,” Briggs proclaimed. “You can’t have it! I found it first. You can’t have it!”
“Yeah. And I know exactly what it is,” the Doctor said. “And I suppose you do too.”
The Doctor walked over to where the salvage was and he began to lift up something from the floor. Jack joined him and he saw what the Doctor had found. He saw that they were a melding of skeleton remains and robot mechanics.
“Is that…is that a robot?” Jack asked.
“Not just any old robot, Jack,” the Doctor told him. “These bits of bones and metal are the cannibalised remains of a Skeletron.”
“A Skeletron?” Jack realised. “The Skeletrons are the servants of Zorbius, aren’t they?”
“The remains of this Skeletron fell to Earth in one of its ships,” the Doctor said. “It must’ve known a fragment of the Zorbius crystal would turn up here.”
The Doctor then turned to Briggs and his charm turned into anger. His furious rage got the better of him.
“You cannibalised this Skeletron, didn’t you, Briggs? You pulled it apart to make something. You saw an opportunity and you used your own son as a test subject. As a guinea pig.”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” Briggs feigned ignorance.
“Tell me how you did it, Professor!” the Doctor shouted angrily. “Tell me!”
Jack tried to calm the Doctor down. “Doctor,” he said.
But the Doctor ignored Jack as he waited for an answer from Briggs. Eventually, Briggs gave him one.
“I thought it was a skin suit,” he said. “I assumed the skeleton bones were of a man who died from prolonged exposure in space. I thought the robotic parts could be worn by anyone. Anyone of human origin.”
“And you had the inspired idea,” the Doctor began to mock. “‘Oh! I’ll know what I’ll do! I’ll put my son into that robotic armour and make him a soldier!'”
“It would be a scientific breakthrough,” Briggs declared. “It was something worth experimenting on! I needed a test subject! My son was it!”
Bitterly, the Doctor said, “And I wonder why I’m so fond of you ‘stupid apes’! You can’t even see past the end of your nose with your own experiments!”
“I wanted to learn,” Briggs persisted. “That’s what scientists do, isn’t it? To learn?”
“And in the process, you killed your own son,” the Doctor said. “You made him become Zorbius!”
“What?!” Jack was shocked. “You mean, Bobby became the Zorbius creature? How is that possible?”
“The Skeletrons have recently had cyber-technology augmented to them,” the Doctor explained to Jack. “The Skeletrons were Cybermen once. They possessed the Zorbius entity inside of them with certain fragments that they had of the crystal.”
“And that information was transferred into Bobby once he got the Skeletron stuff augmented to him,” Jack realised.
“Exacta Mo!” the Doctor said bitterly. “Isn’t that right…Professor?”
“You seem remarkably well-informed, Doctor,” Briggs said. “Particularly when you broke into my own house!”
“But there’s something else, isn’t there?” the Doctor went on. “Bobby possesses a death ray. And that wouldn’t come from a Skeletron, would it? You augmented something else to Bobby, didn’t you? Something that came from another alien species and another form of technology.”
“Mind your own business,” Briggs told him.
“Something through here, am I right?”, the Doctor said, as he made his way over to a door at the far corner of the cellar.
Jack went to join him. “There’s something behind that door, isn’t there? Something humming with power. And something dangerous.”
“We’ve got to find out what it is,” the Doctor said. “Stand back, everyone!”
“Don’t you go through the door, either of you!” Briggs demanded.
“What, pretty scary is it?” the Doctor scoffed.
“No! Don’t!” Briggs insisted.
But it was too late. The Doctor buzzed his sonic screwdriver to open the door and the door soon clicked. The Doctor opened the door and it swung open. What the Doctor and Jack saw gave them a real shock. It was a shock so personal to the Doctor, that he barely contained his disbelief.
“Impossible!” he exclaimed, shocked. “You can’t exist! You can’t!”
Sitting in the far corner of a small room, was the casing of a discarded Dalek. Chained up and drained of power, the Dalek’s eye-stalk rose to see the Doctor. It stared intently.
“Doctor!” the Dalek croaked. “You must be…exterminated! Exterminate!!!”
Back in the hospital ward where Jackie was, Mickey came in to check on her. He sat beside her and she was now sitting up in bed.
“How are you feeling now, Jacks?” Mickey asked.
“Oh fine thanks,” she said cheerlessly. “All the worst for seeing you.”
Mickey laughed a little at that. There was a time when Jackie hated him for a very long time. She blamed him for ‘murdering’ her daughter once. She knew better now. But there was still this tension between them.
“Have you seen Rose?” Mickey asked.
“Saw her for a short while and then she left,” Jackie said. “She didn’t like what I said.”
“Same with me,” Mickey said. “She didn’t like what I thought of her and the Doctor. I had to leave.”
A moment of silence ensued between them. Jackie and Mickey reflected on their recent experiences with Rose.
“What are we going to do with her?” Jackie asked Mickey.
“Beats me,” Mickey answered. “She’s made it perfectly clear that she doesn’t want to be around us anymore.”
Jackie sighed. “I just can’t figure out why we can’t make her see sense. Rose knows it’s dangerous, yet she will insist on travelling with the Doctor.”
“It must be infectious,” Mickey deduced. “The way she talks about it.”
“And he’s no good taking her off somewhere where he knows there’s danger,” Jackie retorted. “That Doctor bloke.”
“Yeah! That’s what I mean,” Mickey said. “He may seem like he’s innocent about it and he doesn’t look for danger. Yet every time, it’s there. And Rose is in the thick of it.”
“I don’t know why she thinks life around here is so boring,” Jackie said.
“Well it is boring, ain’t it?” Mickey remarked.
“I know it is, but you get used to it, don’t you,” Jackie argued. “There’s nothing you can do about it, is there?”
“Not the way Rose sees it,” Mickey said.
Another moment of silence ensued.
“We need to find her,” Jackie declared. “Make her talk sense of it. She can’t keep on travelling like this. Not forever.”
“I don’t see how we can talk to her, Jackie,” Mickey remarked. “Talking won’t do much good, will it?”
“At least we can try,” said Jackie.
“Yeah well, you can’t,” Mickey pointed out. “You’re staying put like the doctors and nurses tell you to.”
At that moment, Dr. Phillips entered the room. He approached Jackie.
“Good news, Mrs. Tyler,” Dr. Phillips said. “You’re not suffering from any serious conditions. You’re free to go home now.”
“Free?” Jackie enquired, astounded.
“Yes. Leave whenever you like,” Dr. Phillips said encouragingly. “Just don’t run out at night and get into any trouble.”
“Oh thank you, Dr. Philips,” Jackie said pleased. “Thank you so much.”
“Not at all,” Dr. Philips smiled. With that, he left.
Jackie turned to Mickey. “Well, you heard what the doctor said. I can go home! I can do anything I want!”
“No chance,” Mickey told her. “You’re not going out there! Not by yourself! I wouldn’t live with myself knowing that I let you out into danger to find Rose!”
“Alright then. You tag along,” Jackie offered. “You can share the danger.”
“Thanks,” Mickey said glumly. “I really appreciate that.”
“Now if you would give me some privacy,” Jackie insisted. “I got to get changed and get myself packed. Then we’ll go out and find Rose together.”
“I’ll wait outside,” Mickey agreed.
With that, he left the room. Jackie got herself ready to change, drawing a curtain around her bed in order to get dressed before going outside to find Rose.
Back at Professor Briggs’ house, the Doctor was pleased that the Dalek couldn’t open fire as it had lost its gun stick. The Doctor and Captain Jack were still alive. They could hardly believe it.
“How can that thing exist?!” Jack wanted to know. “I thought the Daleks died out centuries ago! They did the last time I checked home!”
“Thought I saw the last of them too!” said the Doctor said grimly. He then turned to Briggs and said angrily, “You keep a Dalek in your cellar to conduct experiments on and you don’t even realise how dangerous it is!”
“I told you not to come in here,” said Briggs bitterly. “This is my private collection. You should get out right now! Out I say!”
“Tough!” the Doctor retorted. “We’re not going anywhere!”
“You’ve no right to do this to me!” Briggs proclaimed.
“You’ve no right to keep a Dalek here!” the Doctor told him. “It’s a killing machine!”
“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do?” said Briggs, flustered.
“I’m the Doctor!” the Doctor snapped. “I have every right!”
“Why hasn’t it killed us already?” Jack asked, curious.
“Yes Professor!” the Doctor said, knowing the answer already. “Tell us why the Dalek hasn’t exterminated us already? Come on! Spit it out!”
The Doctor was pushing Briggs to confess when the Professor didn’t want to tell the tale. He didn’t want people to tell him to what to say and do. Despite that, the Doctor was very persistent and Briggs just wanted to get rid of him.
“That robot armour,” Briggs said. “The one that looked like a skeleton. I applied some of it to my son. Once applied, it seemed able to transfer reserves of power and energy into him. It allowed him to augment its technology. I then took the gun-stick off from that other robot…”
“Dalek, Briggs!” the Doctor snapped, interrupting him. “It’s called a Dalek. Get it? It’s the most evil thing in the universe. And you got it locked in your cellar, remember?”
“The Dalek,” Briggs tried to continue. “I took the gun stick off from it and attached it to my son. Once I attached the gun-stick to him, the bits of skeleton armour applied to him did the rest. Both Dalek gun-stick and skeleton robot armour merged with my son. It made him the perfect warrior.”
“And with that, you made him a Dalek as well,” said the Doctor. “A creature filled with hatred and a desire for power.”
“Bobby Briggs a Dalek?!” said Jack, astounded.
“Not entirely,” the Doctor corrected, “but essentially the spirit of a Dalek is inside him. The Zorbius energy from the Skeletron robot contains memories – including my own – as well as aspects of people’s personalities. What Briggs did to his son with combining both Skeletron and Dalek technology is like what a Cyberman can do with augmenting technology. In the process, Bobby absorbed the traits of a Dalek. And what is a Dalek capable of, Jack? Hmm?”
“To obey and fight,” Jack realised. “To destroy and exterminate.”
“Top marks!” the Doctor cheered before turning back to Briggs. “And you Briggs have let your own son on the loose. To commit the ultimate cleansing. To destroy every living thing that’s not a Dalek. Because it honestly believes everything not Dalek is wrong.”
“I’m not responsible for my son’s condition,” Briggs declared.
“And with that sentence, you’ve gained no respect and no sympathy from me,” the Doctor said. “Even when you don’t want it.”
Turning back to the Dalek, the Doctor confronted it.
“You!” he barked. “Yes, you! I’m talking to ya! Can you hear me?”
The Dalek raised its eye-stalk to look at the Doctor. It stared intently.
“I know you can hear me,” the Doctor said. “You’ve been listening to every word I’ve said. You’re anticipating my every move and my every action. You know who I am. And you fear that I’m going to stop you.”
The Dalek said nothing, but its eye-stalk shuddered slightly as if quivering.
The Doctor leaned in closer. “What are you here for?”
“I am…waiting,” the Dalek eventually grated.
“Waiting for what?” the Doctor wanted to know.
“I am…waiting,” the Dalek repeated.
“Yeah, I get that?” the Doctor was getting impatient. “Waiting for what?”
“I am…waiting!”
The Doctor was almost about to shake the Dalek angrily with his bare hands. But he restrained himself. He knew too well that a touch to the Dalek’s casing would revitalise it with the biomass of his time travel background radiation. He tried a different tactic.
“You crash-landed to Earth, didn’t you?” the Doctor checked. “You were chasing a Skeletron in his own ship, weren’t you?”
At that, the Dalek was willing to answer. “I tracked the Skeletron ship to Earth,” it grated. “We know of the Zorbius crystal energy. We wanted the Skeletron to give it to us.”
“You escaped the war so that you can chase a Skeletron right through the time vortex and obtain extra power,” the Doctor deduced.
“It is our primary objective,” the Dalek said. “To destroy! To conquer! To exterminate!”
The Doctor became silent, disgusted by the Dalek’s words. How it hurt him so much to hear a Dalek’s greed for power.
“So, you’re connected to Bobby Briggs,” the Doctor continued. “As soon as Professor Briggs removed your gun and added it to Bobby, you became linked to him. Am I right?”
“You know the absorption of Zorbius and Dalek matter can be achieved, Doctor,” the Dalek grated, rather smugly.
“It’s no different to a Dalek absorbing the DNA of a human,” the Doctor said. “My friend Rose went through something like that when she encountered one of your lot a while back. Don’t ask me to go into too much detail about that story.”
“We know of Rose Tyler, Doctor!” the Dalek stated.
The Doctor became shocked at this. “What?”
“We are with…Rose Tyler,” the Dalek explained. “She is taking us…to the…TARDIS!”
Jack saw the Doctor’s face go white. He began to realise what was happening.
“Doctor, the Dalek’s connected to Bobby,” Jack reminded him. “Rose must be with Bobby right now.”
“And Rose must be taking him to the TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “We’ve got to stop her! Come on, Jack! Hop to it! We’ve got to get back to the TARDIS right now!”
“Right behind you!” Jack answered, as he immediately followed the Doctor out of the cellar by going up the stairs.
They left Briggs alone with the Dalek.
Briggs shouted out to them, “And don’t ever come back here again! If you do, I’ll be armed! Remember that! You won’t set foot in my house again!”
Eventually, Briggs turned back to the Dalek. It was still chained up and drained of power. But the Dalek soon spoke with words that the Professor didn’t understand or choose not to understand.
“We will soon control all of space and time,” it grated. “Zorbius shall be ours! Zorbius belongs to us!”
On the Powell Estate itself, Rose took Bobby by the hand. They nearly approached the TARDIS. Rose tried to make small talk with the boy, but he didn’t seem to want to talk.
“So Bobby,” she tried to speak to him. “I don’t think I’ve seen you much around here. Though I supposed you were here in the year I wasn’t around. Where are you from?”
Bobby seemed to struggle to think. Almost as if he couldn’t remember. “I live…in…7 Handley Road…with my dad.”
“Your dad? Well known, is he?” Rose enquired.
“He’s a professor,” the boy replied.
“Ah. Very famous then,” Rose deduced. “I suppose you want to be all brainy and smart like him.”
“I am brainy and smart like him,” Bobby retorted. “Just better.”
Rose couldn’t help but feel there was something frightening about this boy. She couldn’t understand why he should be frightening though. They soon approached the TARDIS and Rose turned to look at Bobby.
“Right, here we are,” she declared. “Here’s the TARDIS! The Doctor isn’t around so I suppose we have to wait.”
“Can we go inside?” Bobby asked. “Please can we go inside?”
“Better not,” Rose told him. “The Doctor doesn’t like strangers in the TARDIS. I mean, I’m sure he’ll have nothing against you, but…”
“I want to go inside,” the boy became impatient. “Please can we go inside?”
“We’ll go in soon enough,” Rose told him again. ” I will need to go back to the hospital and check how my mum is. I’m still worried about her…”
“I want to go inside now!” Bobby thundered, stamping his foot.
Rose couldn’t help feel the sharp, sudden tone in Bobby’s voice. She felt afraid. But still, she couldn’t understand why that was. Eventually, she leaned gently towards the boy.
“Alright,” Rose reassured him. “I’ll open the door and let you inside. I’ve got my TARDIS key on me. The Doctor gave me one, you see.”
The boy seemed happy then. Rose was about to fetch her TARDIS key in her denim jacket before she pointed something out to the boy.
“Once I let you inside, you mustn’t touch anything,” she said. “I’ll let you in, but I’ll have to see my mum. Once I’m gone, you’re to touch nothing, do you hear? Nothing! The Doctor wouldn’t like it.”
The boy gently nodded to acknowledge Rose’s request. “I understand,” he said.
Rose smiled, happy that the boy understood. She took out her TARDIS key from her denim jacket and was about to fit it into the lock of the TARDIS door.
“Right,” she said. “Let’s open her up, shall we?”
But before she was about to fit the key into the TARDIS lock, a voice shouted behind her.
“Rose!” the Doctor shouted. “Don’t let that boy into my TARDIS! Stop Rose, stop!”
“Stay away from the TARDIS, Rose!” Jack also shouted.
Distracted, Rose turned to see the Doctor and Captain Jack run towards her. They had anxious looks on their faces.
“Hey, Doctor; Jack,” Rose greeted, confused. “What’s up with you two?”
Just then, more shouts echoed from the other side. Rose recognised them as belonging to Mickey and Jackie as they also ran towards her.
“Rose!” Mickey called. “Wait up! Don’t do anything!”
“That’s him, Mickey!” Jackie pointed out. “That’s the boy that attacked me the other night! It’s got my daughter Rose! Rose, get away from him!”
Rose failed to notice that Bobby had grabbed her TARDIS key from her hand and had put it into the TARDIS door, turning it in the lock.
“Bobby, what are you doing?!” Rose called to him, “Bobby, don’t!”
But it was too late, Bobby managed to open the TARDIS door and he got inside. He shut the TARDIS door behind him on Rose. Rose slammed her hand and knocked hard on the TARDIS in the attempts of trying to get Bobby out.
“Bobby, get out of there!” Rose called to him. “Bobby, come out! Whatever you’re doing, don’t touch anything like I told you!”
The Doctor and Jack arrived to push Rose out of the way.
“Rose, stay back!” Jack told her.
“We’ll have to force our way in!” the Doctor declared.
Attempting to force their way, the Doctor and Jack banged hard onto the TARDIS door. The Doctor even attempted to use his sonic screwdriver to unlock the TARDIS doors. But they wouldn’t budge.
“It’s no good,” the Doctor said, unable to believe it. “I can’t get the TARDIS doors to open for us.”
Jackie and Mickey arrived on the scene just in time beside Rose.
“Rose, thank goodness you’re alive,” Jackie said. “I thought that evil little boy would’ve killed you!”
Rose ignored her mum and turned to the Doctor. “Doctor, what’s happening?! You know who that boy?”
“It’s the Child of Death,” Jack told her. “It’s connected to a Dalek and it has Zorbius energy inside him.”
“A Dalek!” Rose was shocked. “But I thought the Daleks were…”
The Doctor interrupted Rose as he said, “The boy wants the Zorbius crystal. He thinks it’s inside the TARDIS.”
“Well it is, isn’t it?” Jack pointed out.
“And once he knows that, he’ll try to take off in my TARDIS,” the Doctor realised. “He’ll try to pilot my TARDIS!”
“So that boy Bobby,” Rose tried to work out. “He tried to kill my mum.”
“And it’s lucky he didn’t kill you,” Mickey told her.
Jackie began to go accusing the Doctor as she said, “You said you would keep my daughter safe! How can she be safe when a boy like that…?”
“Knock it off, Jackie,” the Doctor told her off. “I haven’t got time for this!”
“Doctor, this is my fault,” Rose began to apologise. “I’m so sorry…”
“Apologies can wait, Rose,” the Doctor told her off too. “We have to get inside before…”
But just then, the TARDIS whooshed and groaned as it began to dematerialise. The Doctor, Rose and Jack started to panic.
“He’s trying to take off in the TARDIS now,” Jack said. “We’re not going to be able to stop him now.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” the Doctor announced.
“But he has your memories,” Jack reminded him. “Zorbius memories! The Zorbus crystal has your memories, remember?”
“And I can link my mind to the crystal and do something really clever,” the Doctor grinned. “Something brilliantly clever!”
“What are you going to do?” Rose asked.
“No time to explain,” the Doctor became serious again. “Now shut up, everyone. I need to concentrate! Concentrate, alright?”
“Why, what are you going to do?” Jackie asked before Rose told her off.
“Mum, just shut up and let him concentrate, will you?!”
Jackie was taken aback by Rose telling her off before they all watched to see the Doctor closing his eyes and reaching out towards the TARDIS. They watched to see him about to commune with the blue police box ship.
“What’s he doing?” Mickey whispered.
“Ssh!” Rose hissed back before she whispered, “I don’t know, Mickey. But it looks like…it’s as if…”
“He’s trying to communicate with the Zorbius crystal inside the TARDIS,” Jack explained, interrupting Rose and whispering as he did so. “I hope he’ll be able to make contact with the Zorbius crystal in time.”
Rose, Captain Jack, Mickey and Jackie watched apprehensively as the Doctor continued to make contact with the Zorbius crystal inside the TARDIS.
Inside the TARDIS, Bobby, the Child of Death, was focused on the task at hand as he took control of the TARDIS. He worked away at the console and the time rotor oscillated up and down as the ship was taking off.
“At last!” he declared. “I have the power! The TARDIS is mine! The Zorbius crystal is mine! No-one…not even the Doctor can stop me! I shall exterminate everyone!”
Just then, the TARDIS’ time rotor gradually stopped oscillating. The ship slowly grinded to a halt and the TARDIS didn’t take off. Realising this, Bobby tried to regain control of the TARDIS once again as he pressed buttons at the console. It didn’t work.
“No!” he shouted. “This can’t happen! No! I want the TARDIS to take off! Take off, I say! Take off!!!”
But the TARDIS wouldn’t budge. Bobby tried everything in pressing switches and turning knobs at the console. But nothing worked. Bobby then began to realise.
“The Doctor! He’s doing this! He’s attempting to communicate with the Zorbius crystal! No! I won’t allow it!”
Bobby looked to the Zorbius crystal close by. He managed to get it out of the self-sealing portable safe it was in from deep in the heart of the TARDIS. He went over to pick up the Zorbius crystal and he barked at it angrily.
“Stop it!” he cried. “Stop it, you! You won’t stop me! I will take off in the TARDIS! Let me take off! Let me take off, I say!”
But the crystal wouldn’t respond. Bobby tried again with pressing buttons at the TARDIS console, but the TARDIS still remained where she was on Earth in the 21st century. Picking up the crystal again, Bobby shook it angrily as he talked to both it and the TARDIS itself.
“I hate you all!” he shouted. “I hate you and you shall die for this! I shall kill you all! Kill you all now!”
It was then that Bobby was about to throw the crystal to the TARDIS floor and smash it into pieces. Thankfully, the TARDIS door was forced open just in time in order to allow the Doctor through and enter. He ran in and managed to grab the Zorbius crystal off from Bobby just before he was about to throw it in the TARDIS console room.
“Got you!” the Doctor cried, looking at the crystal before looking up at Bobby. “Wouldn’t want this to get smashed now, do we?”
“You Doctor!” Bobby began angrily. “I shall kill you for this! You will be destroyed! I shall exterminate you now! Exterminate! Exterminate!!! EXTERMINATE!!!!!”
With that, Bobby lunged forward towards the Doctor before he was stopped by Rose and Captain Jack coming into the TARDIS and pushing him down to the console room floor. Bobby struggled to break free as Rose and Jack pinned him to the floor.
“Good boy, Jack!” the Doctor cheered happily. “Well done, Rose! Good work!”
“Keep holding him down, Rose!” Jack told her. “We don’t want him to escape!”
It was then that Mickey and Jackie came into the TARDIS and they saw what was happening.
Rose called back to them. “Mum; Mickey! Stay back! This boy might hurt you if you come any closer!”
Jackie and Mickey did as they were told and they stood well back.
The Doctor turned to Jack. “Captain, you and Mickey take the boy to the police station. Have him locked up until I get there. I have some questions for little Bobby later on.”
“Right,” Jack nodded before he turned to Mickey. “Mickey boy! Get over here and help me out!”
“Rose told me not to come any closer,” Mickey protested.
“Yeah well, you can come over now,” Rose said, still pinning the boy down to the TARDIS floor.
Without arguing, Mickey ran over and helped to take over from Rose. He and Jack lifted Bobby up from the TARDIS floor and they both dragged the boy out of the console room and into the open air, making for the police station.
“Good to see you again, big guy!” Jack told Mickey.
“Yeah, big cheese-scape!” Mickey retorted. “No hugging on the way, right?”
As they were nearly out of the TARDIS, Bobby shouted back to the Doctor, “I’m going to kill you, Doctor! I’m going to kill you! You wait and see!”
Eventually, Bobby was gone. The Doctor soon leaned over the console, exhausted; relieved and quite disheartened at the same time. Rose noticed how terrified he was and she gently placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Eventually, the Doctor took Rose’s hand and he smiled gently, appreciating her support.
“So ,what are you going to do now?” she asked. “How are you going to sort this boy out?”
“No idea,” the Doctor replied. “But it won’t be easy. It’ll hard to bring Bobby out of his Dalek state and put him back into childhood. If he has any memories of it.”
“I didn’t know,” Rose told him. “That little boy tricked me and I didn’t even realise. He seemed so innocent and pathetic.”
“You weren’t to know,” the Doctor reassured her. “It’s not your fault.”
“But it is,” Rose insisted. “If it weren’t for me, I would…”
Rose stopped mid-sentence. She couldn’t find the words to say. Eventually, the Doctor took Rose in an embrace and they both hugged each other. Jackie watching from a distance, disapprovingly.
“I’m glad you’re still alive, Rose,” the Doctor said.
“Yeah, me too,” Rose smiled. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“But she’s still not safe,” Jackie reminded the Doctor. “Wherever my daughter goes, you can’t protect her from all the bad things that go on in your life, Doctor!”
“Mum, leave him alone,” Rose told her off.
“But what are we going to do now?” Jackie wanted to know. “How are you going to sort out that kid?” She directed her questions at the Doctor. “How are you going to stop him from killing anyone else?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, Jackie?” the Doctor asked, shrewdly. “I’m going to find that out for myself! I’m off to the police station! Anyone wanting to tag along are more than welcome! Rose, are you coming?”
With that, the Doctor made his way down the ramp and out through the TARDIS doors. Rose immediately followed him. Jackie followed after her daughter.
© Tim Bradley, 2020
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