"Enemy of the Universe" - Part Two

Part Two

            “Creag an tuire!!!”

            The young man in the kilt was ready to bring his knife down on the surprised and confused Lindsay, until Toby leaped right in between them and sprayed mace straight in the young man’s eyes.

            “Ahhhhhh! My eyes! I cannae see!” he cried, prompting the Doctor to tend to him.

            “You’ll be alright, Jamie. It’s only pepper spray,” the Doctor said. “I’ll get you some water to flush it all out.”

            As the Doctor fetched a glass of water, Lindsay was still in awe over the way in which Toby saved her. “Where’ve you been keeping a can of mace?” Lindsay asked her. “In fact, why do you have a can of mace?!”

            “After getting kidnapped by Shang Tsung, I’m never letting another dude turn me into a damsel in distress,” Toby avowed.

            The Doctor incrementally poured the water over Jamie’s eyes, drenching most of his face and moppy hair. “There now…How’s that, Jamie?”

            Jamie blinked his watered eyes a few times and rubbed them.

            “Yeah, I think it’s gettin’ better now,” Jamie confirmed. “Thanks, Doctor.”

            With Jamie taken care of, the Doctor redirected his attention towards Lindsay, his fists clenched and his eyes filled with bravado. “I don’t know how you’ve found us here, Urodela, but I beg for you not to hurt anyone else – even if I must surrender myself over to you.”

            “Doctor, we’re not here to hurt anyone,” Lindsay reassured.

            “Aye, you coulda fooled me!” the partially blind Jamie rebutted. “You have Zoe!”

            “I don’t even know who ‘Zoe’ is, except maybe an old nickname I gave myself when I was a kid,” Lindsay disputed.

            The Doctor gazed on Lindsay more carefully. For the first time since she and her compatriots barged into his TARDIS, he recognized how her voice lacked the accent associated with the woman he knew as “Urodela.” That and the children accompanying her were enough to convince him of the truth.

            “You’re not her,” he said. “You’re not Urodela.”

            Jamie questioned his speculation. “But, Doctor, she looks exactly like her.”

            “So she does, Jamie,” the Doctor said in amusement. “But have you noticed these children with her?” He motioned over Wirt, Greg, and Toby. “Urodela is a woman who enslaves children and turns them into weapons.”

            The very notion disgusted Lindsay. “Yeah, that’s definitely not me.”

            “Well, if she’s not Urodela, then who is she?” Jamie inquired.

            “This is quite extraordinary, Jamie,” the Doctor beamed. “This place and time we’re in. The coincidental circumstance of it all.”

            “Eh?” Jamie uttered, clearly not catching on.

            The Doctor proceeded to operate the TARDIS controls, bringing up an image on the monitor embedded in the nearest wall. “This is Ramόn Salamander – a self-proclaimed philanthropist who, in reality, had a boundless fount of cruelty and power lust.”

            “He looks just like you,” Greg indicated.

            Sure enough, the man in the still image did bear identical physical similarities to the Doctor himself. “Yes, my boy,” the Doctor concurred. “And that twist of fate was the solution to many problems the last time Jamie and I visited this part of the world.”

            “So what does this Salamander dude have to do with Urodela – and, by extension, me?” Lindsay asked.

            “Urodela is the daughter of Salamander,” the Doctor explained. “She has taken up her father’s mantle as ‘world dictator’ and become twice the tyrant as he was.”

            He then displayed an image of Urodela on the monitor.

            Lindsay, Toby, Greg, and Wirt collectively gasped.

            The woman on screen was an exact copy of Lindsay, right down to the impressive definition in her muscles, which were perceptible from the skimpy outfit she wore in the portrait. “Welp…that explains why G.I. Joe and his real American heroes nearly arrested me,” Lindsay said.

            “I take it from that unusual reference you’ve met Commander Drake,” the Doctor said. “He’s leading a resistance group against Urodela.”

            “I find it hard to believe that empty jarhead is in charge of taking down someone as powerful as Urodela,” Lindsay scoffed.

            “Oh, I agree,” the Doctor acknowledged. “That’s why I believe you are the one best suited for the job.”

            Lindsay’s dark brown eyes widened in disbelief. “Me?!”

            “Her?!” Jamie exclaimed in the same manner.

            “Think about it, Jamie,” the Doctor said. “We use the same tactics that we had against Salamander; they’ll certainly work against Urodela.”

            “You want me to pretend to be her?” Lindsay queried.

            “Precisely,” the Doctor verified. “And it will help save our friend, Zoe.”

            Lindsay couldn’t refuse such an important mission, not even when it was given by the Doctor himself. “Alright, I’m in…especially if it means saving enslaved, weaponized children.”

            “Splendid!” the Doctor cheered, giddily clapping his hands. “Commander Drake is right outside my TARDIS and ready to regroup.”

            Lindsay groaned. Whereas the Doctor was overjoyed at the new prospect they had in stopping Urodela, Lindsay was heavily reluctant about working with Drake, a man who failed in making a good first impression. You’re doing this for the kids, she mentally reminded herself, over and over again.

-----------------

            Zoe hated having the drop on her by Urodela’s goons, when she should have seen the ambush coming a mile away. She had been captive for a whole twenty-four hours and not once had she seen the “queen-dictator” herself in person. That changed when Urodela’s black-uniformed soldiers were ordered to escort Zoe from the castle fortress to the forest outside its high-end stone walls. There, she saw Urodela, leaning against a tree, armed with an assault rifle.

            Now Zoe started to become afraid. Was she being escorted to her own execution?

            “Welcome, Zoe Heriot,” Urodela courteously said, speaking with her distinctive Japanese accent.

            “How do you know my whole name? We’ve never met before.”

            “There are scanners around the perimeter of our base. They identify every guest or intruder right down to their DNA. Name, rank, place and date of birth, blood type, gender, strengths, weaknesses…etcetera.”

            “That is impressive technology.”

            “Thank you. It was my father’s idea…before he died.”

            Zoe detected a hint of melancholy in Urodela’s voice at the reference. But she refused to give the woman an ounce of sympathy; instead, she demanded answers. “Why are you keeping me alive? Not that I’m complaining, but I wish to know why you haven’t killed me by now.”

            Urodela maliciously smirked. “I assure you the time will come for answers. It is not you I wish to be dead. It is your friend, the Doctor, I want to kill. He took my father’s life…and I will take his.”

            “Your Excellence,” one of her soldiers approached. “They are ready for you.”

            Urodela eagerly primed her rifle, while her men carted in a large steel crate. Zoe figured that she had been prepping herself for a hunting expedition, presumably for some savage creature native to that side of the world.

            Nothing could have prepared her for the revolting surprise that she witnessed when Urodela’s men opened the crate and shepherded a herd of children, all under the age of eight. Their hair and faces were dirty, and they were dressed in rags. Every single one of them was in tears, scared out of their minds. It didn’t help that Urodela’s men whipped them like bulls every few seconds, forcing them to scatter out into the wild.

            It then dawned on Zoe: these children were Urodela’s prey.

            The extent of her evil was no clearer than in that moment, as Zoe watched her chase after the frightened, scurrying children with her assault rifle.

"Enemy of the Universe" - Part One

Part One

So far away, longing for home,
will this journey ever end?
This setting we’re in should bring peace,
and yet my heart still longs for the place.
The place I call “home.”
So many memories, burning in me,
will this journey ever end?

            BONK!

            Wirt’s concentration on the ocean was broken as soon as the beach ball Greg and Toby were playing with bonked him on the head. It didn’t hurt, obviously. It was only a beach ball lighter than air. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t irritated, having his peace disrupted. The most perfect soliloquy formulated in his mind and now the words faded like breath on glass.

            “Hey, Wirt,” he heard Greg address him in his enthusiastic way. “Wanna play?”

            Wirt turned to see his younger half-brother standing nearby with the newest member of their party, Toby – a girl not much older than Wirt who once traveled with their Time Lord hostess, Neas (or “Lindsay,” as they better knew her in her current body). Traveling with such beautiful girls should’ve unnerved Wirt, being as socially awkward as he was around such enigmatic beings; he tried not to think too much about it.

            “N-No thanks, Greg,” Wirt responded to the invitation.

            “What’s up with you, dude?” Toby asked him. “You look downer than usual.”

            Wirt sighed, not wishing to ruin everyone’s good time with his dour mood. “I just miss home, that’s all. I mean, Greg and I have been away for what feels like an eternity. I think…” He didn’t want to say what he had to next, but he braved himself to say it. “I think it’s time for us to go back.”

            “You wanna go back home?!” Greg gasped. “But we can’t go back! We’re having too much fun! We’re still adventuring!”

            Wirt – ever the realist – contended with his half-brother, “I wasn’t meant for adventure, Greg. I have a life of solitude to live as an outcast to society.”

            Toby cringed at his words. She leaned in close to Greg and whispered, “Is he always this overdramatic?”

            “Did someone mention me?”

            The three youths jumped in reaction to the voice that spoke near them. Through their entire exchange, they failed to notice Lindsay lying on the sand in nothing but a bathing suit and sunglasses that she temporarily removed to gawk at her three companions.

            “How long have you been there?” Toby asked her. “We didn’t even know you were there!”

            Lindsay sat up with sand grains all over the back of her long, flowing brown hair. “Long enough to get more bronze,” she answered before curiously looking at her tanned skin. “Or maybe caramel? Still trying to understand this new skin I’m in.”

            “Lindsay, tell Wirt that we can’t go home,” Greg implored. “Not when we’re having so much fun!”

            “It’s not my place to change Wirt’s mind, sweetheart,” Lindsay said while getting to her feet, brushing sand grains off her backside. “If he wants to go home, he’s free to make that decision.”

            Greg huffed, folding his arms in aggravation.

            Noticing this, Wirt attempted to reason with his brother. His opportunity was robbed, however, when he and his friends heard a loud engine approach their spot on the beach. A large Hummer vehicle with a camo body design pulled right up. Its passengers were three militant-looking men, wearing berets and combat uniforms and armed with assault rifles.

            The man who they presumed to be the commander – a beefy Caucasian gentleman of fifty years age with a thick salt-and-pepper mustache – walked straight up to Lindsay. She reflected off his sunglasses, just as he did off hers. “How can we help you boys on this beautiful day?” she asked in her friendliest way.

            “SHUT UP!” the commander roared. His two escorts corresponded with his aggressive demeanor by aiming their rifles directly at Lindsay.

            She instinctively raised her hands. “Alright, alright. No need for this to get R-rated. There are children present, ya know.”

            “Like you ever cared about kids,” the commander derided her. He then forcibly removed her sunglasses to see her eyes, which briefly squinted under the sudden exposure to the daylight. “Yep. I recognize those black slanted eyes anywhere.”

            “Wow,” the unamused Lindsay uttered. “Quite the racist observation there. But thanks for the compliment…I guess.”

            “If you’re trying to pass yourself off as a civilian, you should’ve done better than hiding your accent,” the commander remarked, much to Lindsay’s confusion. “Restrain this monster, boys. Finally, this nightmare will be over!”

            The soldiers acknowledged his command and moved in on Lindsay with a pair of handcuffs. This urged Toby, Wirt, and Greg to fly into protest, stepping in between Lindsay and the soldiers. Meanwhile, Lindsay kept herself calm during the whole ordeal, not wanting for it to escalate any further. That was until one of the two soldiers kicked Greg down when he tried to stop him by cleaving his little body onto the man’s leg.

            “You really shouldn’t have done that,” Lindsay roared in fury, sparking into “Gladiator Mode” and taking the commander and his men down with the enhanced fighting skills she retained from her predecessor in the Mortal Kombat Tournament.

            It gave Lindsay and her young companions the chance of fleeing, hoping to get to her TARDIS before the militant men caught up with them.

            Eventually, they did find a TARDIS…just not her TARDIS.

            A familiar blue police box stood on the shore. And there was only one man Lindsay knew of who would have brought it all the way out to the Asian coast. Relieved, she and her companions rushed into it, with Lindsay permitting them entry by using her sonic screwdriver on the lock.

            “How are we gonna be safe inside of a funky old…?!”

            Toby ceased in her patronizing once she, Lindsay, and the boys were inside. Just like the tall black rectangular solid that Lindsay was the proud owner of, there was more to this police box than meets the eye. A much broader interior was housed, bearing striking similarities to the console room of Lindsay’s TARDIS, which could only mean to Toby, Greg, and Wirt that it was one.

            “A-Another TARDIS?!” Wirt exclaimed. “How is this possible?!”

            Lindsay took in the interior just as her friends did, noting how vastly different it was to what she had seen before.

            “What are you three doing in here?!”

            At the control console, they sighted two men – one with longish, rumpled black hair and in clothes that seemed too large for his short frame, and the other who was much younger, wearing a traditional Scottish kilt.

            “Sorry,” Lindsay said. “We’re just looking for the Doctor.”

            “I am the Doctor,” the older man boldly stated. “And this is my TARDIS!”

            “Doctor, look at her face,” the young, kilt-wearing man indicated Lindsay, speaking with a noticeable Scottish accent. “It’s her! It’s Urodela! That black-hearted banshee who took Zoe!”

            He proceeded to rush at Lindsay, raising a knife high above his head.

"Monochrome" - Part Four

Part Four

            Alan had only rested his eyes for a few minutes, nearly drifting off to sleep, before Susan emitted an ear-splitting scream that woke up him and probably anyone else onboard that plane. He didn’t have a chance to ask her what was wrong when she grabbed his hand and yanked him out of his seat, leading him out the same way they came in – through the lavatory door.

            They made it back into the endless office corridor, reuniting with Candace, the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara.

            “Oh, Grandfather, it was horrible!” Susan clung to the Doctor.

            “What happened in there?” Ian asked Alan, gesturing to the door he and Susan just stepped out of.

            Alan shrugged. “Ya got me. One second, we were chill. And then the next…”

            “I think we’ve seen enough terrifying things through these doors,” Barbara declared. “Is there any way out of this place?”

            “That man – Rod,” Candace said. “He gave us the answer.”

            “He did?” the flabbergasted Alan uttered. “All I heard was a bunch of crazy from that dude.”

            “But he did give us the answer,” Candace reiterated. “The key is our imagination.”

            “Our imagination?” Barbara grimaced.

            “Think about it,” Candace suggested. “Rod said how this place lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. And what’s the one thing that connects those two together?”

            “Imagination,” the Doctor answered. “Yes, yes! Brilliant deduction, my dear!”

            Alan scratched his head. “I still don’t get it. We’re just gonna imagine our way outta here?”

            “That’s exactly what we’re gonna do, hon,” Candace told him.

            After giving him a kiss on his forehead, she proceeded to face one of the white doors. Prior to opening it, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, imagining what she wanted to see on the other side: her destination.

            A white light flooded the corridor on their way through the opened door.

            Once it dispersed, the travelers discovered themselves back in the study room of the Fremonts’ luxurious mansion. There was commotion in the adjacent room, which they knew to be the living room, as if a television program was on. They figured the Fremonts were gathered there.

            “What’s the plan?” Alan asked. “How do we handle that lil’ dude this time?”

            “Leave it to me,” Candace said. “I know what needs to be done.”

            Alan detected a somberness to her tone that insinuated something severe. Even Barbara sensed it, and it made her uneasy most out of them all. Could Candace have finally reached a boiling point after being sent to that dimensional plane?

            Straightening herself, she added a few more inches to her towering height as she pried open the sliding mahogany doors that separated the study and living rooms. Sure enough, the Fremonts were gathered around a big, fancy television set; but they weren’t the only ones there. The entire town had been summoned – presumably at Anthony’s command – for the viewing party.

            It was obvious that no one wanted to be there.

            Every single adult in the room had their eyes mindlessly on the tube, appearing as if they were lobotomized (and perhaps Anthony resorted to such measures to keep them complacent).

            He sensed the presence of Candace, the Doctor, and their companions straightaway. Stepping away from the TV, he glared right at Candace. “You escaped,” he hissed. “That don’t matter! I’m gonna do something worse to you, ‘cause you’re bad people, and you deserve to have something bad happen to you!”

            “Now, see here, child! You have no—!”

            Candace held up her left hand to silence the Doctor’s reproach. “You’re right, Anthony…we are bad people,” she said, much to the disbelief of her fellow travelers. “And you have every right to inflict whatever punishment you see fit on us.”

            The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Susan, and Alan could not fathom whatever risky idea Candace conjured up with. She had willingly placed them once again at the mercy of a disturbed six-year-old boy with unimaginable power. There was no way Anthony would refuse an opportunity to deliver an even harsher price for their insolence.

            And yet, there they stood, still breathing.

            Anthony hadn’t budged an inch since Candace’s acceptance. “You’re not gonna fight back?” he questioned, sounding just as bewildered as the Doctor and the others.

            “Why would we?” Candace returned.

            “Because everyone always wants to,” Anthony responded. “I can hear it in their thoughts. They want to destroy me. So I send them someplace where they can’t hurt me.”

            “They’re just scared, honey. You’re a special lil’ guy. You’ve just never been given real love, because so many people live in fear of what you can do.”

            “But isn’t that a good thing?”

            Candace shook her head. “No, sweetie. It’s not. You deserve so much better.” She then offered her hand out to him. “Come on. There’s something I want to show you.”

            Anthony hesitated to accept her offer.

            Then he looked at her face – that warm, loving smile on her beautifully aged face. He had never seen anyone smile that way at him before – not even from his own mother. There was no denying this woman, as threatening as she first appeared to Anthony with her mountainous stature and imposing build, had only the friendliest of intentions for him.

            He accepted her hand and, in conjunction, her offer to step out of the mansion with her and her friends. Together, they headed back out across the cornfield until they reached the TARDIS…Candace’s TARDIS.

            “Good heavens,” the Doctor exclaimed in his surprise. “This was never here before! Where did it come from? What is it?”

            “It’s my TARDIS, Doctor,” Candace slyly replied.

            He looked on her with newfound interest. “Y-Your what?! Then that means you’re a…a…a…”

            “A Time Lord,” Susan finished his thoughts, sharing in her grandfather’s wonder. With this revelation, she turned her attention on Alan and asked him, “And you’re one, too?”

            Alan regretfully shook his head. “No. I’m sorry.”

            Susan wasn’t all that disappointed. “It’s still nice that your mother is one.”

            Candace led Anthony and everyone else inside the tall, black rectangular solid that was her Gallifreyan module. Anthony was immediately overwhelmed – first by the much larger interior and afterwards by all the alien tech around.

            “Are you…special…like me?” Anthony asked Candace.

            “Not like you, Anthony,” she said. “And, if you come with me and Alan, we’ll find a world – a good world – somewhere out there where you’ll be safe with people who’ll love and care for you. Until then, Alan and I will give you that world.”

            “We will?” Alan cautiously queried, until Candace shot him with a stern glance that made him quickly change his attitude. “We will.”

            Anthony was touched from Candace’s once-in-a-lifetime proposal.

            But none was more-so moved than the Doctor himself. He expressed this admiration just as soon as he had a moment alone with Candace outside her TARDIS. “Quite the peaceful resolution to this incommodious state of affairs, my dear,” he said. “Perhaps I could learn to adopt such an approach in my lifetime.”

            Candace smirked. “You will.”

            “There are many questions I have about your Time Lord history, of course.”

            “Doctor, I reassure you, we’ll be more acquainted…in due time.”

NEXT WEEK!