DOCTOR WHO - THE VAST UNKNOWN
By Scott Weller
"Hold on tight, my child, it's happening again..."
The words of the enigmatic and mysterious being known as the Doctor directed towards his concerned youthful granddaughter, Susan, were laced with both anxiety and fascination as he swiftly checked the results of the various instrument dials reaching his sight via nose perched half-glasses. The alarm blaring scanner indicator and adjacent panel were equally flashing their information towards him from his position at the unique many-sided console that formed the heart of the TARDIS control room. The console now had to be manned by both of them during this relentlessly ever-changing, difficult scenario to which they were now inexorably caught, and a situation through which they were seemingly trapped that was ever more tense.
Susan was cross-checking her own instruments directly facing her grandfather through the transparent time rotor which was now fixed in its up position indicating flight through the open fabric of the time and space vortex, yet the device was eerily not achieving its clockwise direction within the heart of the console that had previously indicated full journeying commencement. A strange aura of ominous dread surrounded the Doctor and Susan. Their flights into the unknown through the ethereal and magical realms of time and space had never always been comfortable, but, despite the potential dangers always hanging over them since acquiring 'the ship', they'd never been in as scary a position as they were now, seemingly stuck in frightening incidents, almost like attacks, of building time wave disturbances emanating out from the heart of the vortex. And it looked like these 'incidents' were only going to worsen in their penetrations, judging by the now worried look on her grandfather's face as he unsuccessfully and highly frustratedly failed in his efforts to direct power to the TARDIS shielding, trying to further acclimatise himself to the instruments of a craft that was still relatively new to him after 'borrowing it' from their home planet during the period of civil wars that may yet still be rife there, and from whose tragic circumstances they were now sadly parted from...
Occasionally, Susan had briefly seen the sad look on his face as he remembered that grim time, turning away from her when something reminded them of home and a unique time and place they'd once shared, when he had been an appreciated pioneer of sorts to so many. With a continuing thirst for knowledge and exploration that was near all-consuming to him, their ongoing adventures and discoveries had indeed helped ease things, providing him with the intellectual wonder that kept him going somewhat, despite the dark and serious nature in his heart that could sometimes come to the surface when he failed to suffer fools gladly.
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| Colourised image by Clayton Hickman. |
The fault locators of the vessel were already going into overdrive operation and communicating to themselves in intelligent hyper conversations as well as towards their concerned humanoid occupants, assessing the damage-but-not-damage that was battering the ship and its ever-changing operating conditions from these unnatural disturbances. Or were they indeed attacks that Grandfather had postulated to himself, thoughts which Susan had unintentionally picked up from her telepathic probing of him on and off during the start of their crisis. There had been no time to leave the control room from the moment the time quakes had begun, and prior to this new occurrence there had also been barely any period of relaxation, what with Grandfather only just having initiated new coordinates and computational inputting for their next potential voyage. And there was still an aura of stresses and strains linked to their last perilous journeys too, not just their perilous arrival within the Fourth Galaxy but, more recently, their mysterious but deadly encounter with the tribal alien race of the Miralax, and the shocking secrets of the Saraguan idols to whom the creatures both devotedly worshipped and feared...
The TARDIS was starting to feel the distortion effects again now. Just how much punishment could it take from all this, Susan wondered to herself as she looked around the control room, at the place she had called home in the this past year equivalent. A place that could ultimately end up bringing her demise. Could one of these displacement waves finally cause the kind of irreparable damage that couldn't be adjusted against? And after everything, all the adventures that had happened to her and Grandfather before all this! With the difficult decisions, the results and consequences of their actions from which they'd had no choice but to take and then endure, was all this happening in this strange here and now some kind of pre-ordained, higher power-initiated revenge against them and their once positive, if desperate, hopes?
The Doctor had a slightly dishevelled look about him, his hair mildly askew and his comforting antique time piece, always a firm part of his elegant waistcoat, now looking ready to burst out from it due to his short but fierce bodily movements over his console side, of which a small and well used hand written book of notes he'd complied about the operation of the ship were now equally and precariously hanging on for dear life from the power console panel.
But as he worked, Susan was soon distracted from the wildly affected ship's systems, she could feel the waves tearing through the TARDIS's various core areas before reaching the control room and heading outwards beyond its outer-plasmic shell.
The control room had been shaking all around them on and off this past hour as the waves begun their rapid encapsulation. Hard to decipher patterns and visuals had been blurrily shown to them at their start, but now, as the most powerful waves gained clarity, things became more coherent with accompanying sounds that echoed and reverberated around them, better focused and no longer high pitched and as painful to hear in distortion. The control room lights were frantically going in and out as strange sounds similar but more frenzied in pitch to the normal TARDIS dematerialisation workings could be heard - the Doctor's last-ditch attempt to fast escape switch the vehicle from the vortex- despite the dangers of where they could end up, towards anywhere else but where they currently were - having now failed.
"What do you think is causing these disturbances, Grandfather?" Susan enquiringly asked, readying herself to obey his instructions once again and ever tightly gripping her console side. He failed to communicate a reply as the charged atmosphere around them began to build...
In quick succession the engulfing circular time wave distortions revealed cascading, shifting images of times, places and people unfamiliar to them that would prove fascinating yet strangely uncomfortable to behold - like a macabre form of Kinomatica, with only the barest of amount of time for Susan and the Doctor, frustratingly helpless to stop their rate of speed, to take them in, as the pair still held ever tighter to their console areas.
The apparition-like images and power went through the Doctor and Susan, then burst outwards from the TARDIS, each cycle imparting its fascinating backdrops. Their first view was of a scruffily attired, cropped-haired figure working relentless on a bulky device surrounding by a pair of very young humans who were clearly protecting the figure but equally grasping at him whilst looking back in terror at a strange weed-like creature violently emergent from an enclosed foamy landscape ahead, a creature thrashing its tendrils with wild aggression, of which a strange and unnerving scream was briefing echoing around them and the TARDIS interior before the montage aura continued on to its next circular vision, showcasing a tall and striking figure of authority in dapper dandy-esque clothes liaising with a petite young blonde in the briefest of mini-skirt attire and wearing what looked like a flowery top. The girl was holding a mysterious silver helmet featuring an emotionless visage which had relays and piping broken from its chin section, of which a mysterious and clearly commanding military figure sporting a moustache was next to the pair urgently relaying orders to humans rushing to his call, all whilst indicating further with a baton- some kind of military dispersal action, the Doctor thought with apprehension- he didn't like guns, as soldiers in interesting uniforms around the three centric figures rushed beyond within an unusual underground cavern of some kind littered with intriguing technological instruments, towards some kind of humanoids whose brief appearance was extraordinarily highlighted by emotionless silver metal faces, just like the helmet held by the intriguing young girl (who impressed Susan with her clearly plucky manner), as they awoke and burst forth from strange cloth-enclosed cocoons.
Just as the Doctor was studying the creatures' scary emergence with keen fascination, the scene enveloped then moved through his and Susan's bodies out into the unknown, to be once more replaced with new imagery that was even more intense and terrifying, showing an unusual and distinctively tall, curly-haired man, boasting large inquisitive eyes and an equally as strong nose as the figure seen earlier, and wearing a long Edwardian coat, seemingly engulfed with a mighty multi-coloured scarf wrapped around him, entering into bizarre physical conflict with a strange trio of slowly advancing but no less threatening beings that looked like wrapped automatons. This scene, though brief to their observant eyes, was one of chaos - a long tipped rifle discharged upwards, smoke intoxicatingly wrapped the air, amidst the sound of broken furniture and crockery, as another older, balding man in the background was thrown towards a rocking chair and a brave young brunette haired woman, clearly inseparable to her partner in the tall curly haired figure, looking petite in a long white dress, was now being attacked by one of the brutal automations against a table top housing another strange operating contraption. For sure, the near-breathless girl was about to be strangled to death, a situation which unnerved Susan briefly before the next image replaced the fearful look of the terrified girl with the now visage of a young man with straight hair and a seemingly pleasant 'open face', wearing another type of light coloured Edwardian coat, who was being quick to action himself, firmly shouting at a uniform attired woman with large hair not far from him. What looked like a Human made cricket ball was sprung into the air from his hand with considerable flair, speeding into the face of a death mask-like face which looked incongruous atop its clearly robotic frame of jewel-like skin ornamentation - there was a flash as the ball hit home, followed by a ricocheting blast emanating from one of its out of control, over-sized gloved hands, as the young man, handsome to a clearly impressed Susan, raced to save his floored companion... a further explosion, from a weapon held by a colourful reptilian creature with dead shark-like eyes, captured the Doctor and Susan within its field of vision as the next scene from the fascinating yet macabre spectacle appeared like a blast of light emergent from a tunnel...
It was here that the final blitzkrieg of images began - a strange, short-cropped curly haired man with an aggressive yet passionate grace about him, attired in the most unusual, and to the Doctor rather ghastly to behold, multi-coloured garb (striped trousers no less!), engaged in hyper conversation with a clearly beautiful but also resilient young girl, both of whom were trapped in a strange type of labyrinth that was soon folding in on them, their hairy predicament watched from above, atop an unusual electronic but lavish looking air cushion, by a strange grub-like creature with a genuinely unnerving and mischievous, calculating air about it. The slime coated being was clearly relishing the dire situation his opponents were in, yet eating, with equal passion, a strange form of jellied substance. The walls were closing further in on the duo beneath it, the colourful presence rummaging through his pockets whilst the girl, wearing some kind of tight top and shorts, tried but failed to hold back the moving wall direct to her with clear frustration, all of which was drowned in the high-pitched alien laughter that proved overwhelming to the Doctor and Susan as the last imagery broke through from beyond to reveal another different locale, but a scenario that was no less chaotic. The sight was of a smaller man, straw hat barely atop him, but possessed with a devious yet likeable look in his sharp eyes, frantically working on an unusual device of his own as if his life depended on it, made from a hotchpotch of tech, whilst a large and unruly question mark handled umbrella tried to stay under one of his arms. The figure was now being cornered by a force of creatures that looked like metal armored Pepperpots clad in silver and white texture - figures that should have been comical but clearly weren't. Instead, the beings were distinct and clearly malevolent in their intent, gliding along speedily in a unique way the Doctor and Susan had never seen before, each bearing a top dome with a single protruding eye stalk whilst their middle frames had some kind of long probe device and a small instrument that was clearly some kind of energy weapon device eager to activate, almost as if it was separately alive. There was the sound of fierce battle in the background as the creatures' weapons converged as one on the wiry humanoid who was now on his knees. Then came the robot war cry, a shrieking and terrifying 'EX-TER-MIN-ATE!' that threatened to drown out the image before it was interrupted, by another swift war cry of equal savage ferocity from a newly arrived young female in some kind of baggy jacket and leggings who was brandishing an unusual long bat of some kind laced with a glowing energy. She began laying into the robots with fierce gusto and clearly showing no fear as sparks emanated from her weapon to hit strategic parts of their beings - notably ball-like sensors attached to the lower part of their frames, of which debris bits went flying and small explosions detonated on and from their casings. It was now that the image became blurred and confused with smoke and indiscriminate weapons fire before finally disappearing into the ether around the Doctor and Susan. The moving montage of incredible sights and dangers, creatures, robots and worlds beyond the realms of their current imaginations had now finished its cycle, and there was almost a collective gasp from the pair with its passing. The continuing cries of the robots and the female surrounded them with terrifying echo clarity before they too ultimately winked out...
Bar the regular localized system hum and the automatic instrument clicking of specific instruments, it was now eerily quiet in the TARDIS control room, quieter than it had ever been before in fact, as the pair looked at each other once more from across their console panel stations, their faces comprising an air of exhaustion mixed with contemplation... so much to take in within such a small space of time as the console, for the moment, seemed to acclimatise back to its own unique sense of normality.
"Incredible, and fascinating to behold..." The Doctor now clasped his lapels in that familiar fashion of his and looked upwards, concentrating into the ether on their prior predicament. "We have clearly experienced something both incredibly unique and rare from within the realms of time and space." He looked at the thoughtful but slightly troubled Granddaughter. "What did you make of it, child?" He keenly inquired.
"The people, the creatures we saw, an incredible shared experience... I sensed some kind of presence in the vortex, too, Grandfather. Familiar yet... not..." Susan's telepathic abilities had been more concentrated and opened further afield in recent months, a skillset that her Grandfather had keenly encouraged- she was special beyond her years, and he always proudly told her so, alongside his natural genuine affection and steadfast relatable compassion.
The Doctor's serious eyes were fixed on Susan. "Our own kind, perhaps, or races like them. I got the sense that the humanoids we saw were... protectors of some sort, clearly trapped and fighting somewhere in each fragment... and we have no knowledge nor ability to aid them in their troubles. Were they from the past, our present, or indeed our future? We can only speculate. However, their resilience in the face of such dangers was clear enough - where there's life their truly is hope...
"But we might just encounter some of them, some day...?" Susan asked hopefully.
"Hmmm..." The Doctor now began adjusting his formerly dishevelled appearance and then checked the watch from his waistcoat- the need for a semblance of order to himself would assist in bringing clarity to his observations. And yet there was one particular and terrifying visage lingering in his mind. "Those robot creatures we saw in the wave's final moments, fighting against that clearly determined little fellow and that rather aggressive but heroic young female? They truly were the stuff of nightmares... that hideous war cry, powerful death ray weapons firing away indiscriminately..." The Doctor was concerned that such clearly formidable and resolutely evil beings could exist in the galaxy, bringing such chaos and destruction in their wake. "I truly hope we never encounter them on our travels, my dear..."
A shiver of foreboding ran through Susan briefly as that imagery played out in her own mind, leading her to keenly ask again a previously unanswered question. "What do you think caused the disruption, Grandfather?"
"It was some kind of immense shockwave in the vortex, cascading outwards and onwards. But who can say for sure," replied the Doctor in a manner that was equal parts concerned and puzzled. "Generated from a massive disturbance, a catastrophe, of some kind. It's cause? Perhaps a war in space, creating energies powerful enough to penetrate the layers of the time space envelope perhaps, striking into the heart of the vortex. The Doctor's briefly troubled frown disappeared from his face. "Time has often been considered like a tide going in an out, but we may ultimately never know the cause..."
The Doctor put his comforting arm around his granddaughter so as to hide his worries and assuage her own concerns. "We may not encounter whatever we saw, but then again we might." He smiled. "It's fascinating but disturbing, isn't it? Perhaps a strange case of forewarned is forearmed, Susan, but who can say for sure." The Doctor looked back to the Time Rotor. "Regardless, we mustn't be distracted. We must continue our voyage, our destinies, no matter where they may take us..."
The TARDIS instruments beckoned back to the Doctor, some of them moving on their own, making their small but unique sounds in his and Susan's brief absence away from them. He looked with concern again - "There's one final wave coming towards us," he said with tense anticipation as the TARDIS time rotor suddenly began moving, and rotating fully back in flight for sure but still not behaving as it should. "It's hard to pin down, but it may be some kind of residual echo- the final gasp of its diminished life, you might say." They now saw it on the scanner screen located above and opposite them- the sight of a circular energy pulse that was barely of substance in the vortex but gaining in speed towards them, travelling even faster than the others previously had...
"I don't know how, Grandfather, but I sense that that the wave will not harm us, that it needs to do something to bring some kind of balance," Susan postulated to her fascinated companion. "A righting of wrongs in time and space, perhaps," said the Doctor. "Well, we shall soon see... and possibly not see, hmmm..." he added, his mind whirring at the complexities of what was to come.
As the final wave hit them, an aura of complete calm could be felt within the pair and their environment. That somehow all was indeed right within themselves and the ship as it radiated its unique bombardment and disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
Their knowledge of future timeline contaminating events wiped clean from their minds by this final displacement wave, the Doctor and Susan could only see that a passage of time - three hours, in fact - had been lost from the ship's internal chronometer, yet there was no damage to the ship, and no presence of anything malignant that could be pinned down. Just a vague sense of...something. Things felt calm about the TARDIS as the duo worked the instruments once again, despite Susan's knowing that Grandfather was mildly frustrated by events that had or not happened. As he righted the nearby antique lock and moved some equally ancient furniture back into new positions in the console room, he looked towards his hand written note book of calculations and drawings. "I think it best that we stop off somewhere for a lengthy check of our systems. To get our bearings, so to speak. And I must have time to better acquaint myself with the ship, too, child. So much here is still unknown to me." He looked up at his surroundings. "We're getting used to it, and I hope it to us," he muttered whilst checking their last destination coordinates. "Somewhere we know that is relatively safe, with a humanoid populace to hide within. If I can decipher things in here better," he prodded the book to his chest, "perhaps we might yet find Earth again. Eh, Susan?" A broad smile came upon her face when thinking about that striking blue/green world and the past and future-set adventures they'd had with those curious and at times indomitable, humans. The computations continued as the systems whirred into action on the panel. "In a century that is not too uncivilised, my dear. A place where we can buy much needed time for ourselves whilst pondering our next steps."
"Wherever we go next in this vast unknown, Grandfather, my home will always be here with you." She beamed with happiness. "We'll always be together," she said, hugging him with true child-like joy, of which the Doctor gave a comforting return gesture back. He knew that Susan's words were lovely to hear and deliberately reassuring, but he also knew that there would come a time when she would eventually become a fully grown-up woman with her own needs and responsibilities, that she would eventually find the right man who would bring out the best in her and her in him. He kissed his granddaughter proudly on the top of her dark-haired head, hugged her a little tighter, and, smiling happily, flipped the destination course controls of which the TARDIS regained its incredibly journeying within the Dimensions...
THE END
This Sixtieth Anniversary celebratory adventure is dedicated TO ALL the incredible talents both in front of and behind the camera who brought this incredible series called Doctor Who to life.
We thank you, and we salute you!
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