An Itch in Time (8th Doctor fanfiction)

May 11, 2013

I'm going to start this right now, just so I don't back out later.

This will be my first multi-part story... and my first fanfiction ever! It's Doctor Who- and it's going to be Paul McGann, the 8th Doctor (although it doesn't really matter who it is- because it's going to be a self-contained story).

No sneezing in the initial part- please be patient!

Prologue:

The alarm went off at 6.30am, although Jacqui had been lying awake for a while. She couldn't tell how long; she simply hadn't felt tired, although now she had to get up, her body began to feel heavy again. But there was no choice; now more than ever.

She wondered, idly, who else would manage to get in to work today. Each day, someone else had cried off, not well enough to come in. There was something very strange going on... every summer, hayfever took its toll, and Jacqui had learned who would suddenly start sniffling, and spluttering, and be unavailable. Jacqui didn't suffer from hayfever herself, but some of her childhood friends had.been devastated by it every year. But she had never believed that it would bring Britain to it's knees, as the radio DJs would say, when they had space to fill.

But this year- something seemed different. People who had never suffered before were complaining about this hayfever season. The News was reporting that some public services would need to be scaled down over hayfever season... because no-one could be expected to keep them going in the meantime. Something was changing, and it could be a coup to any of the staff at the Clean Air Research institute to find some reason why.

Jacqui spent the morning in her laboratory, sifting through the samples from last night. The process seemed endless... dust particles, tree pollen, pollutants... but still not a thing that would explain what was going on this year. She rubbed her eyes, and went to the common room, almost bumping into a tall, stern-looking man with wavy brown hair, wearing a white lab coat. Handsome, indeed- had she seen him before? Something about the man didn't look right.

"I'm so sorry... hey... who are you?" said Jacqui, clutching him by the arm.

"I could ask the same-" said the man. "Who are you?"

"Do you have permission to be in here?"

The man looked at Jaqui quizzically... then he said:

"No, I don't... but do you know why everyone seems to be sneezing round here at the moment?"

Jacqui caught her breath. "Er..."

The man smiled at her. She noticed he was wearing something like a purple velvet jacket underneath the lab coat. She opened her mouth, but he cut her off.

"What's your name, Doctor?" said the man.

"Randall- Dr Randall. Uh- Jacqui."

"Jacqui..." the man said, smiling, although she didn't understand why.

"And what's yours?"

"Dr Smith. John Smith." Said the man, distracted. "Take care of yourself, Jacqui." he said, glancing over his shoulder. "I mean, really, take care. Something's wrong here."

The handsome, curly-haired man shook his arm out of Jacqui's clutch, and dashed to the end of the corridor.

"Hey!"

Not exactly knowing why, Jacqui ran after him- but as she turned the corner there was nothing to be seen but empty corridors.

Jacqui walked slowly back to the tea room, hearing the faint sounds of sneezes from nearby rooms. It was ludicrous to think she might have imagined him. Perhaps it was someone pulling a prank; unlikely, but who knew?

Jacqui picked up her cup of tea, and walked back to her office... there would be plenty of time to think about the stranger, she thought, as the sound of the sneezing grew louder around her.

To be continued...

May 11, 2013

Oh I LOVE this concept. It's a brilliant idea! Can't you write to Steven Moffat and suggest it?

Anyway, please do carry on.

May 12, 2013

Thanks Vet! I want to make the most of this story- I intend to post it as a few short parts, like this one. I hope you enjoy.

AN ITCH IN TIME- Part 1

"...and our top story this morning... the Prime Minister has called an emergency conference of scientists to investigate the dramatic rise in spring allergies this year."

Jacqui glanced up from her laptop to the TV screen. As the newsreader continued to speak, the screen showed a shot of people queueing outside a doctor's surgery, some rubbing their eyes or holding tissues clamped over their noses.

"Unprecedented numbers of people have sought treatment for hayfever-like symptoms over the past few weeks, including many who say they have never suffered from pollen allergies before."

Jacqui sipped her coffee as she watched the screen. It was the top story today... she was glad the Clean Air Institute hadn't been mentioned this time, but it hardly mattered- there was no way to save their reputation after this. The media had fallen on the story with glee: country's hayfever crisis baffles multi-million pound research institute.

"Researchers have reported no sizeable increase in the pollen count, and have no evidence of any new pollutants in the air. It is hoped that the conference will provide some answers about this increasingly serious problem."

Jacqui looked down at her laptop. A new email from Professor Stewart had appeared.

"John and Ramesh off sick now as well. I've been summoned by PM- please meet in my office at 10. Lynne."

Jacqui sighed, and drank the last of her coffee. The news had now moved on to a different story.

"In Syria yesterday, there have been reports o-of... excuse meeeIshoo! Ishoo! Hah-Ishooo!"

The female newsreader's sentence was cut short by three uncontrollable high-pitched sneezes.

"Bless you." said her male colleague. "I'm so sorry." she said, looking slightly embarrassed before she began reading the story again.

I've never seen a newsreader sneeze before, Jacqui thought, as she packed up her laptop and turned off the TV. It had never occurred to her newsreaders could sneeze. As she rushed out of the door, she felt a twinge of uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. How long was this going to go on?

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

Jacqui walked quickly towards the Institute, looking downwards into her handbag and fumbling with the contents. Surely she hadn't left her security pass at home again? Distracted by what she was doing, she walked headlong into a man standing with his back to her, and dropped her handbag on the floor.

"Oh! Sorry, I wasn't looking-"

Sally hunkered down and began gathering up her spilled belongings. The man turned round to her.

"No harm done. Can I help you with that-" he crouched down and picked up Jacqui's ID card and read her name. "-Dr Randall?"

Jacqui stopped and looked up at the man. His wavy chestnut hair and his smooth voice seemed familiar.

"Have we met before?"

"Quite possibly." Said the man, his expression unchanged. "I travel rather a lot."

For the first time, she registered the man's appearance properly. His clothing was bizarre- he wore a dark purple velvety jacket over a waistcoat and a white shirt, with a lilac silk cravat at his neck. He looked like someone who had stepped off the set of a period drama, although Jacqui couldn't quite place the period.

"Hey- didn't I bump into you in the institute a few weeks ago?"

"Perhaps. I see it's a habit of yours, bumping into people." said the man with a half-smile.

"How the hell did you get in there- are you a journalist?"

"Do I look like a journalist to you?"

"No- you look like- I don't even know what." Jacqui replied, casting her eyes down at his incongruous outfit. "What did you say your name was when I met you before?"

"I said it was John Smith."

"And is that your real name?"

"It's a name I've used from time to time. But most people call me the Doctor."

"The Doctor? Doctor what?"

The man smiled again. "Just- the Doctor."

"I-" Jacqui opened her mouth and closed it again... the man's twinkling brown eyes were oddly disarming.

"I don't know who you think you are, Mr Doctor, but you can't just walk into the Clean Air Institute whenever you feel like it!"

The man pulled an old-fashioned fob watch on a chain from his waistcoat pocket, and glanced down at it.

"Hadn't you better be getting to work, Dr Randall?"

"I-"

"Because you haven't found what's making everyone sneeze yet, have you? And neither have I..." he said, a slight hint of emotion creeping into his voice for the first time. The man glanced behind him again as if preparing to leave.

"Look-" said Jacqui, "-just tell me what you're doing here!"

"Perhaps there'll be time for that later. Well, there's always time-" he said, almost to himself. "It's a question of what you do with it. But now I have to go- good luck, Dr Randall!"

The velvet-coated man turned to walk away, then paused. He turned back to Jacqui, and said in a conspiratorial whisper: "If you want my opinion- it's in the pollen."

Despite her suspicions, Jacqui replied: "That's what we thought, but we've checked again and again- it's the usual levels and type of pollen for-"

"I didn't say 'it's the pollen'", the man interrupted, "I said 'it's in the pollen'."

He turned on his heel, and walked away in an unhurried manner. Jacqui stood and watched until she saw him disappear down a side street. She thought vaguely of pursuing the man, but decided against it. An intruder in the lab was a serious incident, she should report it... but somehow, this 'Doctor' didn't seem dangerous. She would think it over during the morning; there was plenty of work to be getting on with anyway.

She walked up to the wide glass doors, and looked up for a moment at the enormous black letters which spelled out 'Clean Air Institute'. As the doors slid apart with a swishing sound, she heard a man across the street explode in a fit of violent sneezes, gasping for breath inbetween.

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

"So, that's it." said Professor Stewart, folding her arms across her large bust. "They might as well be painting a big red target on me and giving the committee some shotguns."

Lynne Stewart was a well-known personality in the scientific community; an outspoken American who had chosen to settle in the UK. A keen feminist, she had made enemies among her peers, but the quality of her research couldn't be denied. She had recieved several awards during her career, and the Clean Air Institute was intended to be her crowning glory.

"Will they shut us down?" said Joel Steinberg; a young Jewish scientist, dark-haired, pale and nervous. Another young postdoctoral researcher who had obtained his breakthrough job at the institute.

"Shut us down?" Lynne laughed. "No, Joel- they're just going to shut me down, and put any famous people they can find in charge of this place... just to convince the public that they're doing something. And I ju- ju-..." her voice trailed off.

"Oh 'scuse me, I think I'm gonna- HYEEEAAAH-TCHOOO!"

Professor Stewart's enormous sneeze seemed to echo around the room. She frantically grabbed two, then three tissues from the box on her desk, before sneezing twice again into them.

"HYEEEAAAH-SHOOO! AAAAAAAAH-SHOOOOOO!"

"Bless you." said Jacqui automatically. She had become used to the sound of Lynne's occasional loud sneezes, but for the past few weeks it seemed like they were hearing them comstantly.

Lynne sniffed. "Thanks. Sorry, I just couldn't help it." She blew her nose into the soggy tissue. "...and I've never had hayfever before this year, not once..."

They sat in silence for a few seconds- the institute's failure was palpable.

"...and I just know what the PM will be thinking..." said Lynne. "'If we'd put a man in charge of the Institute, this wouldn't have happened.'"

"You shouldn't take that bullshit from him!" said Joel, suddenly.

"Doesn't he realise no-one knows what's happening? The Paris group haven't found anything. Kowalski's group in the States haven't found anything either."

"We sent the samples to them, they'll probably claim we didn't prepare them correctly."

"But then you can say-"

"Joel, it's not going to help!" said Lynne harshly. Joel's cheeks began to redden.

"Look- I'm sorry..." said Lynne, looking down at her desk. "I'm just so sick of talking to these damn politicians." She sighed deeply.

"There's nothing I can do... I'll let you know what the decision is as soon as I can. I'm just trying to keep you informed."

Jacqui and Joel nodded solemnly and rose to their feet. Joel left the office first, and Jacqui was following him when she stopped.

"Lynne-" Jacqui turned back, and lowered her voice slightly.

"We know the pollen is normal, but could it be- something- in the pollen?"

"In the pollen? What do you mean?"

"Uh-" Jacqui's mind raced to try and make some sense of the mysterious man's comment.

"Something like- a parasite? A fungus? Something carried in the pollen that doesn't change its fundamental structure."

Lynne sighed, and rubbed hard at her itchy eyes again.

"I've never heard of anything like that."

She massaged her nose for a few seconds, and thought.

"Although... I suppose it's possible. Might be worth thinking about." Lynne gave a wet-sounding sniff. "But even if it were true, it doesn't explain why the standard tests haven't picked up any foreign substance."

"Yeah..." Jacqui felt the hope for the new theory trickling away. Lynne blew her nose again, with a loud honking noise.

"I've got to go. I'll let you guys know as soon as I get the verdict on us. Not that I'm in any doubt..." Lynne picked up the papers in front of her and knocked them against the desk to line them up together. Her eyes seemed to be getting redder and more irritated.

"I'll put in a good word for all of you if I can. I've always been impressed by your research, Jacqui; I hope this doesn't boot your career up the ass."

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

Jacqui sat in her office, holding her head in her her hands. The thought would not leave her.

"Computer, bring up molecular microscope images."

Pictures moved on the screen after a moment; a lot of taxpayers' money had been spent on these computer systems, Jacqui thought. Hopefully they would prove their worth today.

"Find image, pollen grain." Jacqui said carefully.

"Zoom in. Zoom in." Dark shapes filled the screen, and molecular structure was displayed, exactly as she had expected.

"Pan left... Pan left..." and then she saw it.

"Joel... Joel! Come in here and look at this."

Joel hurried into the room, almost tripping over as he rushed to join Jacqui.

"What is it? I was in the middle of-"

"Joel, do you see anything unusual here?"

Jacqui used the keyboard to pan through the same set of images.

"Er... no..." muttered Joel. "It's an image of a pollen grain..."

He snorted with laughter.

"Oh, for goodness sake. Someone should fix the quality of this, there's bloody lines appearing down the screen!"

He stopped... and slowly, exchanged glances with Jacqui.

"Oh my God..."

Jacqui brought the screen back, so the dark, jagged line was clearly visible against the grey background.

"What is it?"

"It's something inside the pollen... I've never seen anything like it." said Joel, unable to tear his eyes from the screen.

"Why the hell didn't we notice this before?" said Jacqui.

"We had no reason to look for it... the DNA and chemical tests reported no foreign matter. But I- hey! Where are you going?"

"I have an urgent appointment..." said Jacqui, shrugging her jacket on as she walked away. "I'm going to see the Doctor!"

To be continued.

May 12, 2013

This is really well done. You've almost perfectly embodied the eighth doctor. I like it.

May 14, 2013

Well, isn't this interesting~

May 14, 2013

Hey, just a note to say that I'm really enjoying this! Your stories always manage to get an interesting narrative in there with the great sneezes and I appreciate that. Excited to see where this one goes!

May 15, 2013

Please continue this, it's amazing!

June 1, 2013

THE EIGHTH DOCTOR- AN ITCH IN TIME

PART 2

The wide glass doors of the Clean Air Institute slid apart with their soft swishing noise, and Jacqui walked out into the midday sunlight.

Her mind was bursting with ideas, with possibilities for the odd structure she had seen within the pollen grain, with thoughts of what they could do to stop it- and with curiousity at how the strange man calling himself 'the Doctor' could possibly have known it was there.

Jacqui's pace slowed, until she stopped and looked around. What was she doing here? She had no way of finding the Doctor; he could be anywhere in London- no, he could be miles away from London by now. Under her breath, she cursed at herself for not following him this morning... she would surely never see him again now.

Jacqui glanced behind her, at the tall glass front of the Institute, glimmering in the sun. She should go back to the lab and try to discover what this odd dark parasite inside the pollen was... but how? They had run endless DNA tests on the pollen over the past few weeks, and nothing unusual had appeared. How was that possible?

Jacqui walked across the road as she thought, slipping her hands into her pockets. The excitement at the discovery gave way to frustration. She wandered down a side street and towards the open space of Thompson Park.

Jacqui walked through the park gates, and felt better as the tall buildings that had surrounded her gave way to bushes and trees. Although, it was impossible to ignore- the sound of the sneezing had grown louder here. Everywhere she looked, someone was visibly suffering from the hayfever epidemic. Across the lake, she noticed a middle-aged man frantically pulling a blue handkerchief from his pocket, just in time to catch five body-shaking sneezes, each sounding like a throaty "HRAAAAH-SHOOO!"

On the path in front of her, she saw a young woman dip her head forwards while pinching her nose neatly between two fingers, with two silent stifled sneezes.

Jacqui realised there was someone walking behind her, and looked over her shoulder. She saw a curvaceous woman, in her forties, Jacqui thought. Apparently she was denying how sneezy she felt with a finger held under her nose, moving back and forth to rub her itchy nostrils. This didn't work, and the woman's eyelids started to flutter as she frantically rummaged inside her handbag, trying to find a tissue before the inevitable sneeze hit her.

"Here-" Jacqui reached into her trouser pocket to find a tissue to offer, as the woman looked at her with watery eyes... but there was no tissue. She hadn't thought to take one from the box on her bedside table, as she dressed this morning... she hadn't needed one...

"Oh- I'm sorry, I don't have-" The woman shook her head, as if to say "It doesn't matter" before she inhaled hugely, and sneezed a very loud "YAIIISHOOO!" into her cupped hands.

"Bless you!" said Jacqui, taken aback by the noise of the sneeze.

"Thank you, I- YEEEEESHOOO!" The woman sneezed enormously again. "Oh, I'm sorry." She finally located a packet of tissues inside her handbag, and took one out to blow her nose.

"Spring always gets me- as soon as the sun comes out, I get the sneezes." She said, sniffling. Jacqui noticed the woman's eyes were reddening and starting to run. "But this year- it's been awful, I can't explain it."

"Yes- it's getting to me too." said Jacqui, smiling politely. The woman smiled back, and continued walking hurriedly through the park.

Jacqui wandered on, replaying what she had just said in her mind... it wasn't true, the mystery hayfever crisis wasn't affecting her at all. Why was that?

She sat down on one of the benches around the lake, and tried to think.

"Are you alright, Dr Randall?"

Jacqui sat bolt upright and looked behind her- and she found she was looking straight into the twinkling brown eyes of the Doctor.

"You-" Jacqui gasped, and almost choked. "Are- are you following me?"

"Not at all- I'm sorry..." said the Doctor in a measured voice. "I guessed you might want to talk to me again before long- and this was a pleasant place to while away the time."

Jacqui tried to regain her composure as the Doctor stepped neatly around the bench and sat down beside her.

"So." he said, smoothing his coat, "How are you?"

Jacqui breathed deeply, and tried to ignore the rapid pounding of her heart. "I should report you to the police. I don't know who you are, but if you had nothing to hide you wouldn't-"

"Please..." said the Doctor, "I never meant to frighten you. If you don't want me to be here, give the word and I will walk away. I just thought you might have some questions."

Jacqui opened her mouth to say something, then paused.

"Yes?" said the Doctor.

"You said- you said there was something in the pollen... and I saw it." said Jacqui, her curiousity getting the better of her. "On the molecular microscope- a string-like structure, something we hadn't detected. How did you know it was there?"

"I've been running some of my own tests on the pollen, Dr Randall..." said the Doctor. "It wasn't easy at first, because I didn't know what I was looking for, but the Old Girl came up trumps in the end."

"The 'Old Girl'?"

"My TARDIS- it's my transport."

"Your- sorry, what? What's a 'Tar-dis'?"

"A type of vessel that was popular where I come from. Never mind that for now- how many samples of pollen do you have? Was the thread-like parasite in all of them?"

"I didn't check..." said Jacqui. "I... I just saw it on the screen, and I rushed out to try and find you." She remembered why she had been so shocked at the discovery, and suddenly felt that the Doctor owed her an explanation. "We've been running all the pollen samples through chemical and DNA analysis- and nothing unusual showed up. So how can this pollen-parasite have been there all the time?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, and Jacqui thought for a moment that he looked pleased with her question. "Would you listen to my answer, even if it seems ridiculous, Dr Randall?"

"Try me."

"What would you do if you were trying to break into a house at night, and someone turned on all the lights?"

"I... I'd get out of the light, I'd hide."

"And what would happen," said the Doctor, smiling "If you were a strand of DNA who didn't want to be noticed, and someone came at you with a DNA test?"

"I would- hide?" Jacqui sighed. "You're suggesting the DNA was hiding from us... oh, for God's sake, Doctor-"

"No. No!" said the Doctor. "Open your mind, Dr Randall. Imagine... an aggressive creature, whose DNA is tested over and over again by civilations who want to put a stop to its growth... perhaps the DNA learns to detect methods of testing... perhaps-" the Doctor waved his hands as if he couldn't contain his excitement, "-it evolves to a state where it can decompose, to nothing but simple gases, if it senses the scientific procedure of the test!"

Jacqui opened her mouth to reply- then closed it again. If such a thing could be true, it would certainly explain the lack of results at the lab... but what sort of organism could evolve like that, and so quickly? No living thing on the planet could...

"Doctor-"

"...and in answer to your next question- no, it isn't like anything you've seen before... because it's not from Earth."

Jacqui said nothing, as the impact of what the Doctor had said washed over her. She turned her head to look across the park again. They sat there in silence, both gazing across the grass and flowers to the sunlit lake; the Doctor did not speak, seemingly content to wait for Jacqui to break the silence.

"There are so many reasons why I shouldn't believe you, or trust you." said Jacqui, still gazing over the lake. "But somehow, I do." She turned back to look at the Doctor. "Although I don't see that there is any evidence for what you're saying."

"Ah- well, I was hoping we could help each other out on that point, Dr Randall."

"Jacqui. Please, call me Jacqui."

"Jacqui!" he said, giving her such a brilliant smile that she was reminded again of how handsome this Doctor was, despite his bizarre appearance.

"Okay, Jacqui... if I show you what this organism is, and how to detect it- will you let me test out the pollen samples you've collected in your marvellous laboratory?"

Jacqui smiled at him. "What you show me will have to be pretty impressive for me to let you into the institute again!" she said.

"Oh, I think it will be..." said the Doctor. He paused, and looked at her closely; then reached inside his overcoat and pulled out a plastic packet of tissues.

"Can I offer you a tissue, Jacqui?" said the Doctor, thrusting the packet towards her.

"Er- no thanks, I don't need-"

"You don't need one!" The Doctor interrupted, as though in triumph. "Everyone I've seen here is affected by the hayfever epidemic somehow... some people are sneezing so much they can't get out of bed, and some people just have watery eyes and an itchy nose... but they're all affected..." He tucked the tissues back inside his coat. "... except for you, Jacqui. You haven't had so much as a tickle, have you?"

"I..." Jacqui was startled by the fact that the Doctor had noticed this; more so as she had only just realised it herself.

"No. Loads of people who have never had hayfever before are affected by the allergies at the moment... but for me, it's been like every spring. I've never had hayfever, and I haven't felt it for a moment this year."

The Doctor chuckled. "Jacqui...." He reached out and gave her shoulders a squeeze. "You are truly one in a million!"

Jacqui laughed, though she was puzzled by his reaction. "Hey- wait a minute, Doctor. You don't look like you're suffering from any allergy symptoms either."

"There's a perfectly simple explanation for that, Jacqui." said the Doctor. "The pollen only affects humans."

Jacqui's eyes widened, and she began to ask a question- but the Doctor jumped to his feet and grabbed her hand.

"I didn't mean to do it like this-" he said, "-but we don't have much time, and I think you need to see the TARDIS." He leapt to his feet, and held out his hand to Jacqui. "No time to waste!"

"Doctor- what are you-"

"It's not far- I left it behind one of those trees there." he said, pointing at a cluster of sycamores nearby. "Or- was it there?" The Doctor looked around. "It's never easy to remember where you parked..."

The Doctor rushed towards a dense clump of trees and bushes on the other side of Thompson Park lake. Jacqui had to run to keep up with him, vaguely aware of the curious stares that other people in the park were giving them; between sneezes, of course.

Eventually the Doctor slowed down and stopped behind a large oak. As Jacqui caught up with him, a strange sight met her eyes.

"Doctor- what the hell's this? It's some sort of phone box."

"A police box, to be more precise."

Jacqui looked at the blue-painted telephone box, with its small windows and odd sign which read "Police Public Call Box".

"How did it get here?"

"If I explained that, we'd be here until next summer." said the Doctor absent-mindedly, as he extracted a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door. He opened it and curteously stood to one side and beckoned Jacqui to go in.

"Doctor- is this a joke?" said Jacqui, beginning to be worried again.

"Just look inside, Jacqui."

Jacqui stepped forward, through the door of the blue box.

"Oh my God..."

-----

The Doctor rushed inside and closed the TARDIS door, his shoes clanging on the metal floor. He ran up the steps in front of him like a child dashing into a playground, then scampered around the great octagonal console in the center of the room. Thousands of lights in dozens of colours blinked in front of him, and his hands darted this way and that, to press a button here or pull a lever there. After a few moments he was apparently satisfied, and turned back to look at Jacqui. She was just standing- staring up into the room.

"It's- it's-"

"Bigger on the inside!" said the Doctor. "Yes, people usually find that a little tricky at first."

"It... Doctor, how is this possible?" Jacqui felt her knees going weak. "I- I don't feel well-"

"You're safe, Jacqui." The Doctor walked up to her, and took her hands in his own. "You are in one of the safest places that there is."

Jacqui looked into his face. "All that stuff- about the parasite not being from Earth- about you not being human- it's true?"

The Doctor nodded slowly. "But I'm one of the good guys, Jacqui. I'm here to help."

Jacqui said nothing, concentrating on trying to slow her breathing.

"Something to drink!" said the Doctor, turning again and dashing to one of the consoles at the side of the room. "A nice, cooling drink... iced tea!"

He began pressing buttons on the small, gold-coloured console. "Iced tea... iced tea..." There was a whirring noise, and an arrangement of glass tubes rose up out of the metalwork. Clear, amber liquid began to flow through the tubes, into two ice-filled tumblers which had appeared beneath. When the glasses were filled, the Doctor took one in each hand and carried them over to Jacqui. He offered her one which she numbly accepted.

"This'll calm you down. Cheers!" The Doctor raised the glass to his lips and drank; then his eyes widened and he spat the liquid back into his glass with a loud exclamation. Despite the situation, Jacqui began to giggle; then to laugh, until she could barely stop.

The Doctor was scowling at his glass as if the liquid had personally insulted him. "Disgusting!" he said. "Do not drink that!" He took Jacqui's untouched glass back from her hand. "Come on Old Girl..." he muttered. "You're usually pretty good at iced tea."

The Doctor set the glasses down on a nearby metal shelf. "Well... I suppose I can use that to clean the oil off the time rotor later."

Jacqui got her breath back, feeling the sensations of panic die away. This place was... crazy, it shouldn't exist, it was frightening... but it also gave the unmistakeable impression of being someone's home. The Doctor's home... and something inside her desperately wanted to trust the Doctor.

"Doctor- this is..." Jacqui's voice trailed off; she couldn't think of an adequate word to express what she felt. The Doctor gently took hold of her hands again.

"Feeling okay now?" he said, looking into her eyes. She swallowed, and said "Yes."

"Great. Great!" he grinned, and turned back to the central console. "Because there is really no time to spare..."

The Doctor pressed a large black button on the central console, and a something like a flat computer screen descended from the TARDIS ceiling, on a long mechanical arm. Jacqui couldn't understand how she hadn't noticed it before.

"It is time for you to know the enemy, Jacqui." the Doctor said, while punching buttons on a keypad. "There!"

As he pressed the final button, the screen lit up. Jacqui's eyes took a moment to adjust to the image. It was a plant- and yet it was like no plant she had seen before in her life. Dark leaves and fat, snaking tendrils surrounded a flower... it had thick, red petals, which gave way to a bright yellow centre with a texture almost like human flesh. The Doctor waved his hand with a flourish.

"Dr Jacqui Randall... meet the triffoid!"

To be continued...

Next time: Jacqui gets some answers about the pollen parasite, and the Doctor discovers who is really behind the hayfever epidemic. Stay tuned!

June 2, 2013

Very impressive. Have never seen anything from the 8th Doctor I must admit, but your story is really very much in the tone of the show (love the bigger-on-the-inside bit, it just doesn't get old). Can't wait to see where you'll take this story.

June 9, 2013

Ooh! This is exciting! Can't wait for more!

August 9, 2013

Cant believe I missed this!!!! I really hope that you do continue! It is such a great story!!

August 17, 2013

Sorry about the wait, and thank you to everyone who has commented or expressed interest in this story.

AN ITCH IN TIME- Part 3

Jacqui and the Doctor stood in silence, gazing at the sprawling flower on the screen.

She tried to think of what it reminded her of; an orchid, or a lotus? In some way that she found hard to define, it was ugly. It revolted her.

"The- the 'triffoid'?" said Jacqui. "It's some sort of plant?"

"Not just any plant." said the Doctor, calmly looking at the image. "One of the most adaptible species of vegetation in the entire universe. What you see on the viewscreen is a masterpiece of evolution. It is also incredibly dangerous- and not just for its tasteless colour scheme."

"So you think that plant is causing the huge rise in allergies?"

"I'm sure it is, Jacqui- the Old Girl's analysis is conclusive. I wish it weren't..." He sounded weary for a moment, "...but there's no doubt; triffoids are blooming on Earth, somewhere in this country."

Jacqui paused. "Doctor... if you already know which plant is causing the problem, why do you need my help?``

"Because, Jacqui, I know what the plant it is... I just don't know where it is... and unfortunately that makes me about as useful as a fridge in the ice caves of Shabbadabbadon."

"But... people are suffering all over the UK. If the triffoids are here, they must be everywhere in the country! A hayfever sufferer in London doesn't sneeze because of a flower in Yorkshire."

"The triffoid is no ordinary flower." The Doctor replied, pressing a button on the console at his side. The image on the screen changed to a rotating yellow structure, like a perfect sphere; but with hundreds of dark strands twisting inside it, like knotted hair.

"The triffoid releases pollen grains like many Earth plants... but the true genetic information is tucked away inside it. These little strings that you see-" he gestured towards the screen, "-are the triffoid spores: just one of them is enough to fertilise a triffoid flower. But that's not all-"

The Doctor paused and pressed another button on the console. The picture changed again to a rectangle filled with hundreds of little yellow dots, bouncing randomly against one another.

"If the triffoid pollen comes into contact with any native species of flower, even with native pollen grains- the spore spreads into them and replicates."

Jacqui noticed that a few of the dots on the screen had become a sickly dark yellow; as they bumped into others the new colour spread, until gradually the whole screen seemed to be filled with it.

"My God-" she looked at the Doctor. "That's what I saw in the lab- inside a normal pollen grain!"

"Yes," said the Doctor, "and that won't be the only one. A single triffoid flower releases millions of grains of pollen a day. Each grain contains thousands of spores... the wind carries them around, they infect all the flowers and trees they touch- travelling from plant to plant like microscopic stowaways, until-" the Doctor paused.

"...until the British countryside becomes a gigantic triffoid spore factory..." said Jacqui. She was thinking of the flowers and trees she had seen in Thompson park only a few minutes ago. The sight and smell of them had seemed so calming... but if the Doctor was correct, millions of these parasitic spores were nestled inside them. The thought made her feel sick.

"I'm glad to see you understand the true scale of the problem, Jacqui." said the Doctor solemnly.

"Wait... why exactly-" said Jacqui, trying to sound more calm than she felt, "-are the spores giving everyone hayfever? They're not from this planet; is it likely that almost everyone here would be allergic to them?"

"I'm not quite sure..." said the Doctor, turning to look at the viewscreen again and cocking his head on one side. "...I think, when the triffoid spores began to infect the plants here, they adapted- they exchanged some DNA with the pollen as they travelled... and somehow they have greatly enhanced the capacity for causing an allergic reaction." The Doctor appeared to consider his idea as he spoke. "I don't think it's too hard to believe... when a species changes it's DNA as often as some people change their shoes, this is probably the best outcome we could hope for."

"How did the plants get to Earth in the first place?"

"The seed pods of the triffoid are very durable- they can withstand extreme heat, cold and pressure... they can even survive the vacuum of space."

Jacqui considered a seed that could drift through space, crash onto the surface of a planet, and still be in a state to grow into a blossoming plant. It was ridiculous... but then again, wasn't the TARDIS even more ridiculous?

"So they just drifted through space, and happened to land here?"

The Doctor smiled. "I hope they did, Jacqui. Because if they didn't arrive here accidentally..." he let the sentence hang.

"Oh my God..." Jacqui felt cold fear running down her spine. "You don't mean- something could have planted them here on purpose?"

The Doctor nodded. "And if someone did- I doubt that it was to enter them in a local flower show." he said grimly. "In the wrong hands, the triffoid is nothing less than a biological weapon... and if it has been brought to Earth deliberately, we must find who is responsible- and quickly."

"...and you think the pollen data we have in the Clean Air Institute can help you do that?"

"If it doesn't Jacqui..." the Doctor sighed, "I'm not sure what else to do."

"Well," Jacqui said, "I said before I'd need a good reason before I helped you get into the institute again..." She looked at the screen once more. "...and this sounds like a damn good reason to me."

--------

The Doctor and Jacqui rushed down the alley at the side of the Clean Air Institute, towards the main doors at the front.

"Are you sure the TARDIS will be alright there?" said Jacqui, getting breathless. "Someone might see it."

"We managed to land in a quiet spot. I don't think we'll be too long."

As they walked through the glass doors, Jacqui suddenly felt something was wrong. The reception desk was unmanned, and there was a solidly-built man standing in front of it. He wore an ill-fitting blue suit over a white shirt, and Jacqui noticed a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.

Jacqui led the Doctor quickly towards the door at the side of the reception desk, that went through to the labs- but the stony-faced man suddenly stepped forward and put his arm out to bar her way.

"I can't let you in." he said. "Security."

"What?" said Jacqui.

"As I said, Madam," said the guard, in his flat voice, "You cannot come in. Security reasons."

"I work here- and I know you're not regular security. Wait a minute-" Jacqui put her hands into her trouser pockets, and found her security pass. She held it up to the men. "See!"

"I realise that you have been working here, Dr..." the man peered down at the pass. "Randall. I assume you haven't heard." He moved his head to indicate the doors behind him. "I'm afraid we have been forced to take control of the Clean Air Institute. You will be allowed to collect your things later, but for the moment you will have to leave."

"You- you've been sent here by Westminster?" The guard gave a curt nod.

"This is crazy!" said Jacqui. "Professor Stewart is meeting with the prime minister right now, and when she-"

"Lynne Stewart has been relieved of her position." said the man, his voice still flat. "The scientific committee were puzzled that she failed to provide any useful information about the allergy problem. They concluded that she may have been suppressing results for her own personal gain."

"Suppressing results?" despite the situation, Jacqui felt her anger boiling up. "That's insane! How dare they make an accusation like that without-"

"Dr Randall." He interrupted, scowling. The gravelly edge to the guard's voice suggested he was losing his temper. "Please leave the building now, or we will be forced to escort you out." The Doctor, who had been silent since they entered the building, suddenly grabbed Jacqui's arm.

"No problem! Why should we turn down an extra day off?" he said cheerfully, turning her around to walk away.

"Doctor! What are you doing?" whispered Jacqui through clenched teeth.

"Just wondered if you knew a back way in..." said the Doctor quietly.

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

After a conspicuous show of walking directly away from the main doors, followed by a hasty return through the side streets, Jacqui and the Doctor arrived at the back of the Institute. This side of the building was unseen by the traffic and pedestrians on the busy street at the front, and its appearance reflected that. There was no glass frontage to impress visitors, but grey walls with dozens of tinted windows, and metal fire escapes at regular intervals.

They walked towards one of the heavy steel doors at street level, marked "Emergency exit: DO NOT OBSTRUCT". There was no handle to open the door from the outside, but instead a shiny metal panel covered in numbered buttons.

"There it is. But like I told you, Doctor;" said Jacqui, "None of us were given the combinations for opening the fire exits from outside- and these locks are supposed to be state-of-the-art. So I really don't see how this helps!"

"Not to worry..." said the Doctor, slipping his hand into a pocket inside his coat and producing a thin metal object with a circular bulb at one end. "...I never leave home without-"

"-your laser pointer?" said Jacqui.

"My- no! It's a sonic screwdriver." said the Doctor, adjusting a tiny dial on the side of the device.

"Uh... Doctor, we have screwdrivers on Earth, and I don't think a screwdriver is going to open that lock."

"Watch and learn..." said the Doctor, pointing the device at the keypad and pressing a button on the side. Suddenly the bulb shone with blue light, and a high-pitched whining noise filled the air. Jacqui shivered; the noise did not seem loud, but somehow it seemed to make the inside of her ears tingle. The sensations filled her sinuses and she squinted. There was a whirring noise, and the door swung open.

"There!" The Doctor glanced round, expecting to see Jacqui looking impressed... but found her cupping her hands in front of her face.

"Ah-Shoo!" she let out a high-pitched sneeze. Her eyes opened briefly, before closing again and twice more- "Ahh-Shooo! EeeiSHOO!"

"Bless you..." said the Doctor, smiling. He replaced the sonic screwdriver in his pocket, and drew out the packet of tissues he had showed her earlier. This time she gratefully took one, and blew her nose.

"'Scuse me."

"Well, well, well... the nose that the triffoid couldn't conquer... my sonic screwdriver could."

"It's the sound, Doctor- it felt so weird- like my ears and my nose were vibrating. It really tickled!"

"You'll get used to it." he replied. "Now, come on!" He ushered her inside, and they set off to find the laboratories on the upper floors.

They headed down a corridor and into one of the main stairways that ran to the highest floors of the building. They hurried up one floor... two... then suddenly the noise of a door opening above their heads echoed around them. They froze. There was the sound of footsteps, and a gruff male voice came from somewhere above them.

"Going down now. What's the incident?"

There was a crackle of white noise and the tinny sound of a voice from a walkie-talkie.

"System says emergency exit 39's been opened- from the outside."

"The outside?" The footsteps paused.

"Yeah. This could be serious and-" There was a blare of distortion. "-no screw-ups. Anyone unathorised must now be detained by force- no exceptions."

"Yes sir."

Jacqui could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she stood, unable to move. The footsteps from above began again; coming closer. Without speaking, the Doctor took her arm and they hurried back to the door they had just passed on the floor below. They entered a short corridor and stood, hardly daring to breathe as the security guard reached their floor... they glimpsed the black of his jacket through the glass panel in the door as he continued down the steps.

Jacqui exhaled in relief and she leant against the wall.

"That's torn it..." said the Doctor. "Now we'll have to avoid the security at all costs. I should have tried to bluff them at reception..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Stupid, stupid Doctor..."

"Wait a minute-" Jacqui cocked her head, listening. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Jacqui heard it again- the slightest sound, like an intake of air.

"What is-"

Jacqui silenced the Doctor by putting a finger to her lips. Then they both heard it;

"Hiih... hiiih..."

It was like someone gasping for breath; very faint.

"Hiiiih... Hiiih-TSCHOOMPH!"

By the sound of it, the sneezer had tried his best to muffle the noise, but the forceful sneeze was unmistakeable. Both Jacqui and the Doctor looked round silmutaneously at a small door nearby, marked "Stationery". Jacqui started, ready to run away; but the Doctor gestured for her to stop.

"Why would a security guard be hiding in a cupboard?" he muttered.

The Doctor crept slowly up to the door, and put his hand on the door handle. He turned to Jacqui and mouthed "One... two..."

Before he could reach three, the door burst open and knocked the Doctor backwards against the opposite wall. The man inside charged out of the room and ran directly towards Jacqui.

"Joel! It's me!"

Joel's eyes widened in surprise as he realised; he tried to stop but his shoes skidded on the floor and he ran headlong into her, and they both fell heavily.

"Oh- oh my God, Jacqui!" Joel stammered, pushing himself up to his feet, "Are you ok? Did you hit your head?"

"I'm fine, Joel. Don't worry..." said Jacqui, wincing as she took his hand to help her up. "Nothing broken; you just gave me a shock, that's all."

"I'm so sorry!" said Joel frantically. "When I heard you outside the door, I thought you were those bloody security people."

"Well, that was rather more slapstick than it needed to be." said the Doctor, who was brushing dust off his velvet jacket. "My face does tend to change from time to time, but not usually because someone has remodeled it with a door..." He fixed Joel with an appraising stare. "Do you make a habit of falling on top of unsuspecting women?"

"I... er..."

Jacqui noticed that Joel had blushed bright red; she smiled.

"Doctor! This is a friend of mine: Dr Joel Steinberg. He works here too." said Jacqui.

"A pleasure to meet you, Dr Steinberg." said the Doctor, extending his hand. Joel took it nervously and shook it.

"Jacqui... er... who is this?"

"I'm afraid it's a bit difficult to explain right now Joel; he's known as the Doctor- he's here to help us."

"You mean, to help us with what's going on?"

"What is going on?" she asked. "I went out for an hour and suddenly there's some hired muscle guarding the entrance; he wouldn't let me in and told me Lynne's been accused of lying to the committee!"

"They just turned up suddenly; there was an announcement over the speakers- a security emergency, they said, and we were told that no-one could leave... and then those security guys were everywhere! They told me I couldn't leave the lab."

"So how did you end up hiding in the cupboard?" said the Doctor.

"About five minutes ago- the two goons guarding my door suddenly rushed off somewhere. I've no idea why..."

Jacqui and the Doctor exchanged glances.

"...and I crept out. I thought if I could just get outside and tell someone what was happening... and then I heard you two coming up the stairs! I panicked and hid in the stationery store." Joel sniffed, and rubbed at his nose at the thought.

"And then my bloody hayfever seemed to kick in again! I felt this huge itch in my nose... I was thinking, 'Not now, any time but now!' I couldn't help it... I covered my nose with my sleeve, but I never could sneeze quietly and I knew you must have heard me. That's when I thought I could surprise you with the... uh... door in the face." He coughed and looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry about that, by the way."

"Already forgotten." said the Doctor politely.

"Wait a minute..." said Joel, looking puzzled. "If the guard on the entrance wouldn't let you in- how exactly did you get here?"

"I'll tell you later." Jacqui said quickly. "But the thing is, Joel, we've got to get into one of the labs that has access to the pollen sample data."

"What?" Joel almost shouted in surprise, then clamped his hand over his mouth and glanced around nervously. "Are you crazy? We've got to get out of here!"

"The thing is, Joel- we've discovered that it may be a foreign plant which is causing the hayfever crisis." she paused to try and think of a suitable word. "A... er... an exotic plant; and if we can run some new tests on the pollen samples, we might be able to detect where in the country it's growing."

"How on Earth can you do that?"

"We can do it, Joel, please trust me." said the Doctor, suddenly impatient. "But we really have no time to lose. Can you tell us how to get to this data without running into any of these guards?"

Joel considered this for a moment. "Ok." he said finally. "From what I saw, they don't seem to be guarding the back stairs between the top three floors. We can go up there and enter Lynne's main lab through the back door."

"Thank you," said the Doctor. He turned to Jacqui. "Come on Jacqui, we'll-"

"Doctor!" hissed Jacqui, trying to make her voice quiet. She pointed to the door behind them. In a moment, they all heard it... the clatter of footsteps on the stairs again, this time coming up from below.

"I'll lead the way!" whispered Joel. "Through here..."

----------

Joel lead them around a corner, then through two other corridors, all with the same plain white walls. They reached a small concrete staircase at the rear of the building, and began to climb.

As they emerged at the top, Joel pulled a plastic security pass from his pocket and held it up to the card reader beside the door marked "Laboratory 1: authorised personnel only".

There was a beep, and a little red light. Joel frowned and tried it again, and then a third time.

"Oh, no..." he said, his voice breaking with fear. "They've deactivated my card!"

"Here-" said Jacqui, producing her own card and holding it up to the sensor; but the result was the same.

"Now what do we do?" said Joel, beginning to panic.

Jacqui noticed the Doctor's hand slip into his jacket pocket. "Joel... don't get the wrong impression about this-"

The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the sensor. For a moment she saw the flash of blue light and heard the same high-pitched whine that made the inside of her ears tingle... the same intense itch filled her nose... she pinched her nose to stifle the oncoming sneeze.

"Hmmph! Hah-mmphh! Hmm-pSHOO!" The final sneeze partly escaped, and she looked around, red-faced and worried by the noise.

The Doctor turned, and squeezed her shoulder briefly.

"I wouldn't worry... if Joel's almighty sneeze in the cupboard didn't bring the guards running, I think you're safe. Oh- and bless you."

Joel stared as the Doctor strode purposefully into the room. "Jacqui... how did he open the door like that? Who is he?"

"He's... well... a scientist, sort of." said Jacqui. "We don't have time for this now- come on."

They followed the Doctor into the lab, to the computer screen in the middle of the room.

"Right Doctor, this is the main computer where you can access all the results from the... oh," Jacqui noticed the text flying down the screen. "You seem to have logged in by yourself..."

The Doctor stared at the screen intently as his fingers continued to skitter over the keyboard. "Just... a minute..." he said, distracted. They waited as the Doctor worked, until suddenly he stood back and exclaimed in triumph.

"Aha! Jacqui and my good Doctor Steinberg, I think we are ready!" He tapped a button on the keyboard and the mechanical voice of the computer interface filled the room.

"Displaying recent image... pollen grain from site G-three-seven." The image Jacqui had seen earlier appeared in front of them: the yellow texture of the pollen grain with the jagged black line just visible inside.

"Running new program: Doctor-one." The computer fell silent for a moment, as columns of numbers ran down the left of the screen. Suddenly, bright red illuminated the string-like object inside the grain, making it look as though it were glowing with heat.

"Structure identified: single triffoid spore present."

"It certainly is, you clever little computer..." said the Doctor, gazing at the screen in delight. "...and now... we check out all the other samples..." he tapped at some more buttons, and the picture changed to a map of the United Kingdom. Thousands of little white dots appeared all over it.

"Come on, come on..." the Doctor muttered. The white dots slowly began to turn yellow- some darker than others. They waited, watching the colours ripple across the screen... and then there was no mistaking it. The dark yellow clustered around one particular spot.

"Somewhere in the Midlands..." said Jacqui. "Warwickshire maybe?"

The computer marked the place with a blinking red circle. "Zero point nine nine nine nine nine nine nine probability that spores originate from here." it intoned in its expressionless voice. "Loading satellite image of location."

The screen was filled with a satellite photograph of a dark building surrounded by an expanse of green grass. There appeared to be trees and gardens too, and four grey and white shapes that seemed to be glass-topped buildings.

"Wait-" Joel sat up, his eyes widening. "I know where that is... it's Zane Lucifer's house!"

Jacqui and the Doctor looked at him expectantly.

"You know, Zane Lucifer's big mansion!"

Jacqui's expression was blank. "Who's that?"

"You're kidding! You don't know who Zane Lucifer is?" Joel looked at Jacqui as though her question was so ridiculous that it must be a joke.

"Maybe you could tell us." said the Doctor.

"He was the lead singer of the Midnight Crows!"

"Oh..." said Jacqui, nodding. "Yes, I know who you mean. Not really my sort of music, the Midnight Crows. Too many burning guitars and songs about vampires."

"So Zane Lucifer is a musician?" asked the Doctor.

"He's a genius!" said Joel emphatically.

"That's a matter of opinion..." Jacqui muttered. "Anyway, didn't the band split up?"

"Yeah, the Crows split up about five years ago, and Zane hasn't recorded anything since." said Joel.

"He spends all his time these days campaigning to save the rainforest and things like that. He's a real eco-nut, he basically built his own private botanical gardens in the grounds of his mansion. I've seen photos of it on the internet- there's plants he had flown in from all around the world, and these enormous greenhouses! That's what you can see there on the satellite map." he pointed to the screen.

"Well, Jacqui" said the Doctor, now smiling his enigmatic smile again. "I think we should take a look at some of Mr Lucifer's exotic specimins. Joel, perhaps you'd like to come along for the ride?"

Before he could answer, Jacqui interrupted "Doctor, how are we going to get out of here without the security goons catching us? They'll be guarding all the fire escapes now that they know we opened one."

The Doctor thought for a moment, then pointed to an intricate machine on the laboratory bench.

"Is that expensive?"

"Uh.. yes!" said Jacqui, confused. "It prepares samples for the molecular microscope."

"Oh- what about that?" said the Doctor, pointing at the squat metal device that was next to it.

"That's a magentic stirrer... no, that's quite cheap."

"Brilliant!" shouted the Doctor, whipping the sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket, and pointing it at the object. This time there was no high-pitched noise but a loud bang, and the machine jumped and burst into flame. Thich black smoke rose up; as it reached the smoke sensor on the ceiling, the deafening blare of the fire evacuation siren filled the room.

"Doctor, what the hell!" shouted Jacqui, putting her hands over her ears. The laboratory doors automatically opened, and a moment later two security guards appeared at the far side of the room.

"Who're you?" one of them bellowed in surprise; then his eyes narrowed as he recognised Joel. "Hey!" The men started towards them.

"Look out!" shouted the Doctor suddenly, "It's the radioactive particle combobulator!" He pointed at the stirring device on the desk, which was still billowing black smoke. "The radiation's already leaking! It'll spread through the whole building in a few minutes! For goodness' sake, save yourselves!"

The guards stared in horror at the burning machine, and almost tripped over their own feet in their hurry to get out of the laboratory. The Doctor turned and grabbed Jacqui and Joel's arms and pulled them towards the rear door. They ran down the corridor with the siren still blaring in their ears.

"The fire escape, Doctor!"

Jacqui ran ahead and pushed the door open. In a moment they were out in the in the heat of the summer afternoon, on a metal stairway, high up on the rear wall of the building.

"Quickly Jacqui, the TARDIS!"

The Doctor pointed to a blue shape tucked away in an alley nearby, safely where they had left it. Jacqui noticed people moving at the other side of the Institute; dark-suited security guards were emerging from the other fire exits, and looking around.

"Come on! Now!"

They ran down the metal steps as fast as they could. Two of the security men spotted them as the reached the pavement, and gave chase. They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the door with his key. Jacqui grabbed Joel by both shoulders and shoved him inside. The Doctor followed and slammed the door shut just as the security guards reached it.

"It's... it's..." Joel said, his voice trembling.

"...bigger on the inside." said Jacqui.

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

The Doctor pushed the TARDIS door open and stepped outside. He inhaled deeply and gazed at the scenery in front of him. Jacqui followed, leading Joel by the hand. He was still looking very pale.

They stood on an enormous lawn that stretched into the distance, the delicious scent of freshly-mown grass in their nostrils. The lawn was bordered on one side by a row of trees, and on the other by a raised rocky area with plants appearing at every angle between the boulders and walkways. Further in the distance stood several enormous glass greenhouses, dazzling sunlight reflecting off them.

"I don't believe it..." breathed Joel. "We're there? We're actually there? This is Zane Lucifer's country mansion?"

He turned around, and Jacqui and Joel followed.

"Oops." said the Doctor under his breath.

Zane Lucifer's mansion house towered over them. The TARDIS had materialised only a hundred metres from the back of it.

"Hmm- I didn't mean to land the TARDIS quite this close..." said the Doctor, rubbing his chin in thought, "Still; maybe nobody's seen-"

"Oi!"

The shout interrupted him, as a figure emerged from a door in the mansion.

"You! Yeah, you!"

Jacqui stared; the man's appearance seemed almost more ridiculous than that of the Doctor. He wore what appeared to be a long, red silk dressing-gown with an intricate pattern on; something like Chinese dragons, Jacqui thought. Underneath he wore no shirt, and the green and black of tattoos were visible on his bare chest. He wore a pair of black trousers and enormous black leather boots; his untidy dark hair trailed down past his shoulders and chunky gold rings twinkled on his fingers.

"How the 'ell did you get in 'ere?" His voice was deep and throaty, and his accent was pure Cockney. The Doctor smiled a brilliant smile and extended his hand.

"Mr Lucifer, I presume?"

"Who the 'ell are you," growled Zane Lucifer, his leathery brow creasing up, "and how'd you get in 'ere past security?"

Jacqui looked at Joel; he seemed to be more shocked than when he had first seen the inside of the TARDIS.

"If you'll just take a look at this, Mr Lucifer..." the Doctor reached inside his overcoat and pulled out a folded piece of white paper. "That should explain everything."

The Doctor neatly flipped the paper open and held it up in front of the man's nose. Zane peered down at it, as if he was finding it hard to read. Jacqui leaned forward slightly- it looked to her as though the paper was blank.

"Oh..." said Zane, sounding unsure. "So you're..."

"That's right," said the Doctor, "We're from the Royal Society for the Protection of Plants!" He smiled broadly. "And we want to give you the Ecologician of the Year award, for all your conservation work!"

"Oh... oh!" said Zane. "Well, why didn't you say?" He grinned; even more lines appeared on his weather-beaten face. "Sorry for bein' a bit hasty before... never can tell, with all the crazy fans who try to get in and that... So when do I get this award, Mr Royal Society Man?"

"It's Doctor;" said the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor; head of the awards committee at the RSPP. These are my colleagues: Dr Jacqui Randall-"

"Hello."

"-and Dr Joel Steinberg."

"Hi!" said Joel. The word came out as a squeak.

"The ceremony date is flexible," said the Doctor. "We can sort that out to suit you of course, Mr Lucifer. What we'd really like to do now is take a look at some of your plants- you know, a few pictures for the big announcement of your award. Perhaps we could look in the- oh, I don't know- the greenhouses?"

"Oh, well..." Zane frowned for a moment. "Frank's told me not to show people around there at the moment... he says some of the new plants can't be disturbed too much." He thought for a moment. "But... if it's about the award... yeah, o' course! I'll show yer meself, Doctor..."

The aging rock star began walking towards one of the greenhouses on the other side of the lawn, followed by the Doctor, Jacqui and Joel.

"Who's Frank, Mr Lucifer?" Jacqui asked.

"Frank's my 'ead plant bloke." Zane replied. "He looks after all the exotic stuff I've got. He's a doctor of tropical plantology or somethin'- knows everythin' there is to kno... nuhh..."

Zane Lucifer pulled an enormous blue handkerchief with a pattern of white polka-dots from his pocket and covered his nose with it.

"HHREAAAH-CHEEEOOOO!"

It was vocal and loud; it bent him at the waist and made his long hair fly forwards. Jacqui wondered if the theatricality of his stage act had affected his sneezing.

Zane blew his nose with a honking sound, and replaced the handkerchief in his pocket.

"'Scuse me, got terrible 'ayfever. It's weird... I don't really remember ever having it before this year..."

He paused, trying to recover his train of thought.

"Anyway- Frank's my very own plant expert. He's grown these amazin' new things recently- now what did he say they were called...?" Zane swept the greasy tresses of his hair back with a hand. "Ah- can't remember. He says they're from the Amazon rainforest- bloody great red and yellow things they are..."

"Mr Lucifer-" Jacqui began.

"Here we are!" they approached the nearest greenhouse. "They're in this one."

The walked inside, through two separate doors designed to preserve the humidity. The hot, moist air hit Jacqui, surrounding her body like a layer of clinging material. She broke out into a sweat.

To each side, plants towered over them; tall, thin trees that Jacqui took to be some variety of palm, bristling ferns and climbing plants which coiled around the metal struts of the greenhouse. In one corner of the building, she saw a circular pool of water with dozens of green waterlilies sitting on its surface.

"Hiih-... haaah..."

Jacqui's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden gasps from behind her. She turned to see Joel holding his hands in front of his face, tears running from his eyes.

"Haaah-HAAAAH-TSCHOOO! AAATSCHOOO! Haaah... SCHOOO!"

Jacqui watched in astonishment as his body jerked forward with each sneeze. She had heard Joel sneeze many times before. As he had said earlier, his usual sneezes could not be called quiet; but she had never heard them sound so desperate and violent.

"HRAAAAAAASH-SHOOO!"

The last powerful sneeze seemed to finally provide some relief, and he opened his streaming eyes. Without a word, the Doctor took a fresh tissue from his jacket and handed it to Joel.

"God... I'm sorry," He blew his nose and rubbed it with the tissue. "Excuse me." Joel's voice sounded scratchy and breathless.

"Bless you! Joel- are you ok?" said Jacqui, concerned.

"Feels like- hayfever." he sniffed. "But stronger than I've ever felt it before."

"Mr Lucifer..." the Doctor's tone had become authoritative. "We'd like to take a look at those new plants you've acquired, if you don't mind."

"Oh- er, yeah!" said Zane. "They're in the separate area at the back- Frank's special bit for studyin' the new stuff. Follow me."

Zane Lucifer led them through the middle of the greenhouse, and up a metal starcase on the far side. They passed through another set of two doors, and emerged onto a metal walkway that ran around the side walls of a smaller, circular dome. He walked up to the metal railing at the edge of the walkway and called out.

"Frank! Frank? You in 'ere?" he waited, but there was no reply. "I've brought a couple of visitors in. Frank?" He turned to the others, looking confused. "I don't understand it, usually he spends all day in 'ere. Anyway..." he beckoned them forward. "Feast yer eyes on these!"

They walked to the railing and looked over the edge of the walkway, down to the floor of the dome below. Jacqui had half expected what she would see; but still, to see them there in front of her, in the flesh... yes, that phrase was appropriate. The picture on the screen hadn't fully captured the clammy, swollen quality of the petals... and it hadn't hinted at their sickly smell.

Three triffoid flowers, each the size of a small tree, were in full bloom in the beds at the base of the dome. Tubes and hoses wove between their tendrils, trickling a steady stream of water to all sides. Jacqui noticed a fine yellow dust in the air, just as Joel sneezed violently three more times.

"Whaddaya think?" said Zane Lucifer, looking down at the triffoids with pride. "Never seen anything like 'em meself."

"Mr Lucifer." The Doctor began. "We haven't been entirely honest with you. Those plants-" He was interrupted by the sound of a door closing behind him.

"Ah!" Zane said, smiling. "Frank!"

A small young man had appeared, wearing a scruffy shirt and trousers and carrying a metal garden spade. His mousy-brown hair stuck out at all angles, and his face was covered in an untidy beard.

"Come and meet these guys, Frank. They've come to give me-"

"Mr Lucifer." Frank interrupted, in a loud but expressionless voice. "I must insist that the new specimins are not disturbed by anyone at this delicate stage of growing."

Jacqui glanced at Zane to see his reaction. She was surprised to hear Frank speak so bluntly to his employer.

"Er... but Frank, they've come from some Royal Society- they're gonna give me an award! The... er, the Doctor and his mates 'ere just wanted a look at the plants."

Frank stared at them for a moment, then suddenly smiled. Jacqui began to feel uneasy; the smile looked bizarre and emotionless.

"Of course Mr Lucifer. I would be glad to show your visitors our new acquisitions." He gestured towards the centre of the room. "If you would like to proceed and look at the specimins, I will tell you how we obtained them. Just at the edge of the walkway, for the best view."

Jacqui wanted nothing less than to look at the triffoids again; but the Doctor grabbed her and Joel gently by the arm.

"As he says, Jacqui, Joel- we'll get the best view at the edge of the walkway."

They gazed down at the huge flowers again, the Doctor still keeping hold of their arms.

"You will see," said Frank from behind them, "In the centre of each flower, something very interesting..."

It seemed to Jacqui that several things then happened all at once. She was suddenly aware of movement behind her; the Doctor dived to his side, pulling her and Joel down with him; and Zane Lucifer shouted, his voice high-pitched with fright.

"Frank!"

They hit the metal floor of the walkway roughly, as the spade collided with the metal railing where they had stood seconds before, knocking it out of its fastening on one side. The Doctor scrambled to his feet as Frank turned and raised the spade again. He swung it sideways, aiming for the Doctor's head; but the Doctor lunged forward and grabbed the handle, holding on tightly.

Jacqui picked herself up off the floor, Joel doing the same. Just as she prepared to run forward and help, she saw the Doctor lose his footing. In a terrible moment- as she realised she would be too late to stop it- she saw Frank knock him to the floor and raise the spade like a spear, aiming for the Doctor's neck... and then Zane Lucifer crashed into Frank from behind, seizing him around the waist.

They stumbled forwards towards the broken railing at the edge of the walkway. Zane, realising at the last second what was going to happen, let go of Frank and made a grab for the edge of the platform... but Frank, still clutching his spade, fell face-first over the edge.

"Quick!" shouted the Doctor. "Help me pull him up!"

They crouched at the edge and took hold of Zane Lucifer's arms to haul him back onto the walkway. He leant heavily against the Doctor, struggling to breathe.

"What... what the hell... Frank..."

Jacqui crept to the edge of the metal platform again, and forced herself to look down. Frank's body lay motionless on the pathway beside one of the triffoids. There was a tiny blue light blinking in the hair of his beard, next to his ear.

"Doctor-" she hissed. "Look!" The Doctor motioned to Joel to come and support Zane, and came to look at the body.

"Oh no..." he said under his breath. Jacqui turned to the Doctor and she felt a tremor of panic; for the first time since she had met him, he looked genuinely scared.

"We need to get back to the TARDIS. Mr Lucifer too. It's not safe here if..."

clank

The Doctor's voice trailed off as they heard it; a heavy noise of metal against metal, coming from somewhere close by.

"Not them..." he whispered to himself. "How can it possibly be them?" He raised his voice to the others. "Out, quickly!" He urged them forwards to the doors leading back to the main greenhouse. Jacqui reached the first one and suddenly paused.

CLANK

"Doctor!" she turned. "It's coming from the other side!"

"Jacqui! Get back!"

There was a crash of breaking glass. Jacqui leapt away just as the door was smashed into pieces, and the tall silver figure stepped into the room. It focussed its empty eyes on her. She screamed.

"You- will- become- like- us." said the Cyberman.

Next time:

Can the Doctor and his companions stop the Cybermen's sinister gardening scheme? Stay tuned for the fourth and final part of the story!

August 17, 2013

Wow! You really are a master! :notworthy: I ummmm... don't know *anything* re: 8th Dr. :bag:

But- I love that in feels really in the genre and that I could completely see this as being a plot- independent of any "special feelings" that some of us would have for it, and for added features :whistle:

I really like that even though it is fanfiction- that you moved beyond any "stereo-typical" fan-fiction, and into an exploration of a theme set from a specific perspective and genre.

:blushing: alright- 'nough author geekingness...

Brilliant job! Am really looking forward to see how to wrap it all up.

August 17, 2013

Oh man, I love this.

It does everything good fanfiction does: it suits the universe entirely, it's not over the top, the characterization is spot on. And so much of the Doctor's dialogue/behavior is completely hilarious. And I like how Jacqui gets over her incredulity so quickly and completely ignores comments like the ice caves of Shabbadabbadon one, just plows on.

Something this well-written could genuinely be an episode. You just don't find fanfiction this well-written, so I adore this.

\I was definitely not expecting Cybermen at the end, so I'm really interested to see how this all wraps up.

August 17, 2013

Definitely agree with the above comments that your story is so well-written it could be a real episode. Am enjoying every line.

*stays tuned*

August 17, 2013

Absolutly adore this series of stories!!!! When this series finishes you MUST write more like it!!!

August 17, 2013

Thank you for all the nice comments, guys. It really makes it worth it to know that people are enjoying the story.

Now I've got this far, I should mention that the story was partly inspired by the 8th Doctor radio drama Hothouse, which I heard on BBC7 ages ago (unfortunately not available on the web now). This story features a rock star turned eco-warrior who grows an alien plant in his private laboratory (though apart from these general ideas, the details of my story are quite different).

'Triffoid' is obviously a reference to triffid, the fictional plant from the novel The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham; but also a reference to Krynoid, an alien plant that features in an old Doctor Who TV episode The Seeds of Doom.

The Cybermen appear because they are my favourite Doctor Who villain, so I knew I had to include them in my fanfic!

September 19, 2013

An eagerly awaiting the next chapter! This has got to be one of my favourite stories on here!

September 19, 2013

Thanks again for the interest guys. Just to let you know, I'm moving and leaving my current job in the next two weeks- so my mind is not really on the story for the moment.

Sorry it has ended up being so drawn out, but thanks for your patience... it will get finished.

October 12, 2013

Thank you for being patient; here is the fourth and final part of the story!

AN ITCH IN TIME- Part 4

Jacqui's feet refused to move; fear seemed to have rooted them to the ground. The Cyberman strode closer, regarding her with its frozen expressi&amp;#111;n.

"You- will- be- like- us."

The Doctor grabbed her by the arm and pulled her backwards. "Jacqui," he said, taking the sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket, "I'm sorry- this might really make you sneeze..."

He raised the device towards the Cyberman's face; the throbbing, whining sound split the air again, but it seemed far more intense this time. Joel winced, and Jacqui felt the irritation fill her sinuses. It was too strong to resist; she convulsed with a violent sneeze:

"aaaAAATISSH-OOOO!"

She opened her eyes, but the sneeze surged back- she couldn't help it.

"EeeeTSCHOOO! HAAASHOOO!"

Jacqui stumbled forward, beginning to feel light-headed. She felt an arm tuck into hers, and saw Joel's face through her watery eyes.

"Jacqui, look!"

The Cyberman had stopped in mid-step, its head jerking from side to side and its stiff metal hands clenching and unclenching.

"Quickly! It won't be stunned for long!" said the Doctor.

Jacqui gasped for breath, trying to ignore the urge to sneeze bristling in her nose as they hurried past the Cyberman which now seemed unaware of their presence.

"What the bloody 'ell is that thing?" said Zane Lucifer. They stepped through the broken door, shards of glass crunching under their shoes.

"A Cyberman." said the Doctor. "A creature that was once human, like you. Their race developed all kinds of artificial replacements for organs that failed... spare parts." They emerged into the main greenhouse again. "But they went too far. They made their bodies completely mechanical, and removed everything they thought made them weak... including their emotions."

"They- they willingly turned off their emotions?" said Joel, glancing over his shoulder.

"Yes... some say that they surgically removed their souls."

They ran towards the ladder, the Doctor bringing up the rear, and climbed down to the floor of the main greenhouse. Zane lost his footing and almost fell, swearing as his knee collided with a rung. He reached the bottom as they heard the metallic sound of the Cyberman's footsteps echoing from above.

"Quickly, back to the TARDIS." said the Doctor. "Perhaps one of you can help me give Mr Lucifer a hand."

The Doctor and Jacqui took the limping Zane Lucifer by the shoulders, as Joel ran ahead to open the main greenhouse door.

"Oh God, Oh God! Doctor, the door's locked!"

"Frank must've locked it after we came in!" said Zane, panting for breath.

The Cyberman appeared at the edge of the walkway above. Jacqui was wondering how it was going to climb down a ladder, when it simply stepped off the edge of the platform and landed with an almighty crash on the gravel path below. For a second, the silver figure lay still; then its limbs sprang into motion, and it levered itself neatly upright again, unscathed.

"Doctor!" said Jacqui, "Open the door!"

"Not enough time!" said the Doctor. "It looks like Frank has been doing some Cyber-DIY to this lock." The Cyberman drew closer, its circular eye-holes focussed on them.

"Let's hope this works one more time-" the Doctor flourished the sonic screwdriver in front of the Cyberman's face, and activated it. The piercing sound seemed even stronger than before to Jacqui, who squeezed her nostrils tightly to suppress the urge to sneeze again.

The Cyberman paused for a moment; then turned its head slightly as though it was trying to remember something.

"Frequency neutralised." Jacqui noticed what was odd about the way the Cyberman spoke; it seemed to stress all the wrong syllables. "Sonic- device is known to- Cyber-race." It looked at the Doctor again. "Provisional- identification confirmed. You- are the- Doctor."

"Ah, well..." said the Doctor, making a show of putting his hands up. "It's a fair cop, guv. So since it's me you want, these people can go?"

"They will become- like- us. You must be- destroyed."

"Destroyed?" said the Doctor. "That's a bit drastic, isn't it?" His eyes darted around the greenhouse and settled on the far corner.

"You- must be destroyed." the Cyberman repeated. "You are an enemy of the Cyber-race."

The Cyberman stepped forward and grabbed at the Doctor who sprang backwards out of the way, nearly tripping over.

"Doctor!" said Jacqui, rushing to help him.

"Stay well back, Jacqui!" said the Doctor. "Electrical monsters like this can be very dangerous." He winked at her.

The Cyberman came forward again and swung its fist at the Doctor, leaving a dent in the metal pillar behind him as he stepped out of the way. He circled round the Cyberman and began to walk backwards, leading it towards him.

"Come on, then- why do I have to be destroyed?"

"You are an enemy of the Cyber-race." the electronic voice said again.

"And why is that?" said the Doctor. "Because I stop you from taking over even more planets? Even more races?" He kept walking backwards, keeping his eyes fixed on the Cyberman.

"We must survive."

"What for?" said the Doctor, raising his voice. "More worlds, more Cybermen... you conquer, you survive... what is it all for?"

"Our race must improve. Our race must survive."

"Ha!" the Doctor laughed harshly. "You've failed... and you can't even understand why. Those people on Mondas, all those years ago. They didn't survive. Maybe their hearts and brains continued to live inside those metal skins... but those people were lost the moment they decided to remove their humanity."

"We improved ourselves. We must survive."

The Doctor stopped moving.

"I don't say this lightly..." the Cyberman stepped forward and raised its metal arms. "...but you don't deserve to survive."

The Doctor hurled himself to one side as the Cyberman lunged forward to seize him. As it turned to attack again, the rocks underneath its foot gave way and the Cyberman tipped over into the pool at its side with a great splash. It sank like a stone, pulling several of the huge water-lilies down with it.

The Doctor scrambled to his feet and backed away. The Cyberman's torso emerged from the water as it stood up in the shallow pool and began to climb out.

"Now, Jacqui!"

At the other side of the pool, Jacqui lifted up the thick cable she had unplugged and threw it towards the silver figure in the water. There was a loud bang, and a shower of blue sparks. The Cyberman's body instantly began to convulse; it gave a strangled cry, as though pain and fear still lurked behind the inhuman voice; then it slumped against the side of the pool and stopped moving.

"Jacqui!" shouted the Doctor, "Can you turn the power off?"

Jacqui looked round, following the length of the electricity cable around the wall of the greenhouse to a large metal box on the far wall; but Joel had already reached it, and with a tug pulled it out of the power socket.

The Doctor walked back to the edge of the water and crouched down near the motionless Cyberman.

"It was you who planted the triffoids here?"

"Orders from- Cyber-leader. Must- ensure triffoid plants- grow."

"Why? I've never seen Cybermen use biological weapons."

"No- choice." The Cyberman's voice grew fainter. "Plant samples- only- resources. Triffoid is- aggressive- species. Exploit- weakness of- humans to allergies. When triffoids reach- second- generation, humans will be- unable- to- resist us. Cyber- conversion of human- race can- begin."

"How did you get here?"

"Must- survive...." the mechanical voice groaned.

"How did you get to this planet?"

"Must- suuuuurviiiii..." the voice faded away to nothing... and suddenly the Cyberman's body was surrounded by bright yellow light. Jacqui closed her eyes as it grew brighter; and then the light was gone. The Cyberman's body had vanished too.

"What... the..." said Joel, his voice quavering.

"A short range teleport..." said the Doctor.

"My God..." said Joel. "Those Cybermen can teleport?"

"No..." said the Doctor. "No, they can't. That was no Cyber-tech..." He stood up and looked around. "There must be a device somewhere nearby." He walked over to Zane Lucifer, who was leaning on a palm tree for support.

"Mr Lucifer- did Frank install a new machine recently? Something that looks rather hi-tech?"

"Er... well..." Zane looked at his feet, like a schoolboy caught with a question he should have known the answer to. "Tell ya the truth, when he explains his gadgets I don't really follow. But most of his stuff is in the offices over there."

Zane lead them to a thin metal door at the side of the greenhouse; it was unlocked. Inside they found a cramped room cluttered with papers, books and filing cabinets, as well as various small machines. The Doctor examined the devices in turn, growing increasingly frantic; until finally he extracted a circular white object from underneath one of the desks.

"Oh, yeah!" said Zane Lucifer. "That's Frank's new seed scanner. You plug it into your computer and you put in seeds, and it tells you... uh... it tells you what... what plant they are..." Zane's voice trailed off. "It's not a seed scanner, is it Doctor."

"No, Mr Lucifer." said the Doctor, gazing at the device as though it were a work of art. "This is the base transmitter for a short range teleport. Fifty-first century model, if I'm any judge..." He turned back to them.

"So that was how the Cyberman got away." said Jacqui. "Can we find out where the teleport goes?"

"One way to find out..." said the Doctor, as he pressed the button.

..............

Afterwards, Jacqui found the sensation hard to describe. The dazzling yellow light in front of her eyes was only there for a moment, but then there was the prickling heat all over her skin, and the sickening lurch in her stomach. As the queasiness died down, she opened her eyes.

She had expected somewhere... dark? Mechanical? The room they stood in seemed utterly at odds with the appearance of the Cyberman. There were smooth white walls, oddly-shaped blue chairs and curved grey protrusions covered in oval and circular screens with flickering lights; the thought hit her that they were in some kind of office, in which everyone had just abandoned their desks. She inhaled; to her surprise, the air smelled fresh and clean, as though she were outdoors. This place was almost pleasant.

"Hmm..." said the Doctor, looking around appraisingly. "Looks like fifty-first century alright."

"Doctor- what is this place?"

"It's an interstellar vessel, Jacqui. A spaceship."

"I can't believe that those Cybermen would build a ship like this..."

"They didn't, Jacqui." the Doctor said quietly. "This is a human vessel."

"Oh..." Jacqui paused as the Doctor's words sank in. "So there were humans like us, from the future, on this ship?"

"Yes..." said the Doctor, leaning over one of the consoles. "Or, at least, there used to be. A whole crew... perhaps we can find out what happened..."

He waved his fingers an inch in front of the screen; blue and green lights started to ripple across it, forming letters, numbers and many more intricate patterns that appeared and vanished too quickly for Jacqui to recognise.

"Aha!" said the Doctor.

"What've ya found, Doctor?" said Zane, looking over Jacqui's shoulder at the screen.

"A recorded message- one that was sent out on all frequencies. Let's see..."

The Doctor tapped the glowing screen and the image of a bald head appeared in blue light over the console, hovering in mid-air. Its lips opened to speak.

"This is a distress call from the S.S. Rosalind Franklin, Research Starship class three-bio-seven. We are being attacked by humanoid robotic aliens-"

The shimmering blue head glanced over its shoulder, as though it had heard a noise behind it.

"By- possibly- by Cybermen. They have broken through our quantum locks and are cutting through the emergency doors. We are trying to prevent them boarding, but we are a science vessel... only basic weapons on board..." There was a crackle and the image flickered.

"We have no self-destruct mechanism... but our chief engineer has reprogrammed the spacetime-drive. Any attempt to use it will now result in a completely random temporal shift, and will almost surely destroy the ship and all on board." There was another pause. "With God's grace, we will die rather than become like them. Message ends."

The floating blue head disappeared and they stood in silence for a moment.

"Doctor, did they-"

"Just a moment, Jacqui!" interrupted the Doctor, who had begun furiously tapping at the console screens again. "I think we might have been spotted... if I can just do it in time..."

A large door in the far wall slid upwards, and they heard the heavy, echoing sound of the footsteps again.

"Doctor! They're coming!" shouted Joel.

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder. "All of you- get to the door over there!"

Three Cybermen marched into the room, perfectly in step. Jacqui ran to the far door, followed by Joel and Zane Lucifer; but the Doctor had not moved from his desk.

"Doctor! Come on!" Jacqui watched in horror as the Cybermen began to surround him, raising their metal hands.

"Just... a moment...!" The Doctor pressed a final button on the screen, then grabbed the curved grey console and vaulted forwards over it, as the Cybermen converged behind him. He ran towards the door, counting as he went.

"Ten... nine... eight... seven..."

He jumped through the door, the Cybermen close behind.

"Three... two... one..."

As the Cybermen reached the doorway, the Doctor turned. He smiled and waved to them.

"Goodbye!"

A loud electronic alarm sounded and the door to the control room slammed shut. Over the noise, they heard a female voice speaking:

"Security alert code gamma-five. All systems locked down. All doors sealed. All teleporters deactivated."

The Doctor leaned back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief.

"All systems locked down." The computer repeated calmly. "Access only to rank: Intergalactic Admiral and above."

"Doctor-" said Zane, clutching at his injured leg, "You sure those metal buggers can't open the door?"

"Not unless one of them is a Intergalactic Admiral." said the Doctor. "Cybermen never think ahead... when they broke through the security systems to take control of the ship, they never bothered switching them back on. I had access to all the ship's controls... and now the Cybermen can't even boil a kettle without the new access codes I created."

"But Doctor," said Jacqui, "The Cybermen will just hack through the security systems like they did before!"

"I don't think they'll find it quite as easy this time." said the Doctor. "I made one or two little adjustments to the quantum security locks... that should keep them busy for a while." He stood up straight again and smoothed his coat. "Long enough for us to take a look around the ship. Come on!"

He lead them to a door at the end of the brightly-lit white corridor. As they approached, the computer spoke again.

"All systems locked down. Access only to rank: Intergalactic Admiral and above."

The Doctor cleared his throat, as if trying to show the door his impatience.

"Scanning... welcome aboard, Intergalactic Admiral Doctor." said the computer, as the door slid open. "I hope you and your guests enjoy your visit to our vessel."

"Thank you." said the Doctor politely, as he beckoned for the others to follow.

Jacqui laughed. "Doctor..." she said, "How long have you been an Intergalactic Admiral?"

"About two minutes."

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

They walked through corridors, rooms and airlocks, each with the same white walls and bright lights. The freshness of the air seemed to have changed, though; Jacqui began to detect a smell of damp. They passed through corridors with cracked walls, a room where the ceiling had fallen away to reveal masses of fine wires behind; then a foul-smelling passage with an inch of water on the floor.

"Doctor," said Joel, staring down at his damp shoes. "What the-"

"No time to lose." said the Doctor. "We must reach the ship's laboratory."

"So Doctor..." said Zane Lucifer, wheezing as he struggled to keep up, "We know what's been going on 'ere now, right? Those metal Mickeys took over this spaceship?"

"That's right, Mr Lucifer." said the Doctor. "I read the log files on the computer. This was a biology research ship; a top-of-the-range one, too, if it had a spacetime-drive installed."

"I thought that control room looked pretty impressive." said Jacqui.

"Shiny white walls and circular screens?" said the Doctor. "Style over substance if you ask me. The good stuff will be the research equipment in the lab, you'll see." He paused and looked round at Jacqui and Joel. "That's all they were doing- research. They were scientists, not so different from you two."

"What happened?" said Joel, as they passed through another airlock.

"They were gathering plant samples on a distant planet." said the Doctor. "An unspoiled rainforest world. No intelligent life within thousands of light years." He sighed. "Except, they were wrong. I can't be sure of what happened... but I think that planet was a Cyber-tomb world. A planet on which millions of Cybermen were frozen and stored under the surface, thousands of years ago."

"Bloody 'ell..." said Zane. His brow wrinkled as he tried to picture a million Cybermen.

"When the scientists landed there, the Cybermen detected them and began to wake up. They weren't expecting them; before they knew it, the Cybermen had control of the ship. There was nothing they could do."

"But they did do something, didn't they Doctor?" said Jacqui. "That recorded message said that they booby-trapped their time-machine."

"Yes," said the Doctor. "Maybe the Cybermen tried to use it... but I think the crew activated it themselves to destroy the ship, because there weren't many Cybermen on board at the time. The random temporal shift threw their vessel into the time vortex, with no protection at all... the ship was sure to be torn apart. The crew sacrificed themselves to stop the Cybermen leaving the planet... I would have liked to have met them."

"So this random time-shift is what damaged the ship?" asked Joel.

"Yes; the crew were killed, and the Cybermen on board were destroyed or damaged... according to the ship's scanners, the only ones left are the three we trapped in the control room."

"But it didn't work..." said Jacqui. "They landed on Earth."

"Yes... A million-to-one chance... but then, they happen all the time." said the Doctor. "The time shift took the ship to Earth in the year 2013 where it crash-landed."

"Stone me..." said Zane Lucifer, still gasping for breath. "Weird that nobody noticed it. Where the 'ell did it land?"

"Mr Lucifer, is there a deep body of water on your land? A lake perhaps?"

"Yeah... there's a big lake over the hills behind the greenhouses. Why d'you ask?"

"Because we're in it, Mr Lucifer."

"What?"

"According to the scanners in the control room, the ship is underwater, not far from the location we teleported in from. The S.S. Rosalind Franklin is sitting at the bottom of your lake."

"Oh..." said Zane. He scratched his head ruminatively. "That can't be good for the fish."

"And that explains why some of these corridors are like a paddling pool." said Joel.

"The doors have sealed off the parts of the ship which aren't too badly damaged, and the life-support systems will keep supplying us with fresh air..." said the Doctor, "But the ship is beginning to leak."

"And then the Cybermen teleported into Zane's greenhouse to plant the triffoids?" said Jacqui.

"Yes." said the Doctor. "There were only a handful of Cybermen left, they were damaged. They could never hope to make a direct assault on Earth... but if one of the plants on the ship caused severe allergies in humans, and they could grow it in secret..."

The Doctor skidded to a halt as they came to another door.

"Aha!"

To Jacqui, the door looked like every other one they had passed through; but as it opened she realised they had arrived at the ship's laboratory. The room had the clean, white appearance of the rest of the ship; but there was something unmistakably functional about it. The floor was crammed with machines of various shapes. There were desks crowded with glass bulbs containing plant samples; but pride of place seemed to be given to a wide silver column in the middle of the room, covered in hundreds of openings, buttons and screens.

"Ah..." the Doctor stopped and folded his arms as he gazed at the column. "Magnificent..." he whispered.

"Uh... Doctor?" said Jacqui "What is it?"

"It's a model 8.3.1 Genetic Recombiner..." said the Doctor. "State-of-the-art in this time period. A very powerful machine for investigating the genetic structure of living things. Anyway..." He forced himself away and began working at a computer screen on one of the desks.

"Found you..." Jacqui, Joel and Zane gathered behind him. The screen showed a rotating image of a triffoid flower, rendered in all its garish colours.

"So... they did have triffoids on the ship?" said Jacqui.

"Not the plants, but the seeds..." said the Doctor. "Their log lists a container of triffoid seeds- but it was badly damaged in the time vortex, and most of them were destroyed. In the end, the Cybermen only managed to grow three plants."

"In my bloody greenhouse..." said Zane, "...and they used Frank to do it. The bastards!"

"So the allergy epidemic... it was the Cybermen's attack." said Jacqui.

"No, Jacqui..." said the Doctor. "This is just preparation. When those three flowers produce seeds, the Cybermen will be able to grow thousands of triffoids... the whole human race will be struck down by pollen allergies... and the Cybermen will rise."

Joel had turned pale and was attempting to sit down on one of the strangely-shaped chairs. "Isn't there something we can-" The Doctor ignored him and stayed hunched over the computer screen.

"They had a Genetic Recombiner!" he muttered, "They must have come up with something! A genetic antidote... a new strain..." Text flashed accross the screen as the Doctor pressed the button again and again. "No... no... no!" He sat down on the edge of the desk behind him, and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Nothing at all..."

Jacqui and Joel looked uneasily at each other; Zane was leaning against the wall, still getting his breath back. They waited, but the Doctor didn't speak.

"Couldn't we just chop the triffoids down, Doctor?" said Jacqui tentatively. "Or pull them up out of the ground? The four of us could do it!"

"The spores, Jacqui..." said the Doctor absently, as he stared down at the floor. "They're replicating inside the terrestrial plants. Even if we get rid of those three triffoids, the allergies will keep getting worse."

The Doctor's enthusiasm seemed to have drained away, and Jacqui couldn't think of anything to say.

"Well, I'm glad we don't have to chop them down." said Joel, unable to resist breaking the silence. "We were sneezing enough when we went near them earlier. I mean, apart from Jacqui... she seems to be immune..."

The Doctor's head snapped up and he turned to them, his eyes wide.

"Of course... of course!"

In a moment, the Doctor's boy-like energy had reappeared. He looked at Jacqui, then reached out and clutched her shoulders.

"Jacqui..." he said solemnly, "Jacqui who is one in a million... Would you give me a sample of your DNA?"

"My DNA? Er... will it help?"

"I think it will save the population of planet Earth..." said the Doctor. "A hair from your head will do."

Jacqui took a couple of stray hairs from the collar of her jumper and offered them to the Doctor, who accepted them as though they were golden thread. He dropped them into a glass cylinder which protruded from one of the many slots on the central machine. He pressed some of the buttons and there was a whooshing sound as the hairs disappeared.

"Triffoid DNA changes all the time." said the Doctor. "That's how it picked up the ability to cause hayfever in humans. If we can blend it with Jacqui's DNA, we can in-build the resistance she has to the triffoid pollen."

Joel looked at him in disbelief. "Doctor... I'm sorry, but that sounds- er- ridiculous."

"Yes, Joel!" said the Doctor. "Completely ridiculous... unless you have a model 8.3.1 Genetic Recombiner to play with!" The Doctor thought for a moment and turned to Zane.

"Mr Lucifer- I notice you are wearing some fine jewellery..."

"Oh... er, yeah!" said Zane, glancing down at the gold chains on his bony chest.

"Are they real gold?"

Zane snorted, as if the Doctor had asked him if his nose was a real nose. "Oh yeah, all of 'em, Doctor."

"Mr Lucifer... Will you give me a piece of your jewellery? It must be gold, and I will not be able to give it back."

Zane did not hesitate; he slipped the thickest of his gold chains over his head and dropped it into the Doctor's palm. "If you can get us out of this, Doctor, you can 'ave the shirt off me back!"

"Thank you!" The Doctor dropped the gold chain into another cylinder on the central machine. He pressed a red button below it, and it disappeared.

"Doctor; what was that for?" said Jacqui.

"I'll explain later, if it works." said the Doctor, as lights began flashing across the screens in front of him. "And if it doesn't... we'll probably have more urgent things to worry about."

They waited while the Doctor worked at the Genetic Recombiner; Jacqui and Zane sitting down and Joel pacing nervously. Finally the Doctor stood back as the machine hummed and clunked; a panel opened and a small tube of milky liquid in a black casing emerged. The Doctor took it and weighed it in his hand.

"Should be more than enough..." He slipped the tube into a pocket in his jacket, and turned to the computer terminal behind him. "And now to see if it works- we'd better teleport back to the greenhouse."

"Okay," said Jacqui, "but please can you warn us when you're about to-"

The bright yellow light burst in front of her eyes again.

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

The teleport deposited them back in the hothouse and the Doctor hurried off, leading them to the rear dome and explaining the task as he went.

"The substance I made in the ship's laboratory is a genetic modification serum. If we inject it into one of the triffoids, it will spread the features of Jacqui's DNA into their spores; the triffoid will keep producing pollen, spreading the spore all over the country..." he paused for effect,

"...but this time it will be spreading the antidote!"

They arrived at the bed of earth in the rear dome, the glistening shapes of the blooming triffoids towering over them. Jacqui sniffed; the musty, sweet smell was overpowering.

"Oh, not again... Haaah...haaaaaah..."

Behind her, she heard a familiar desperate intake of breath; knowing what was coming, she turned to see Joel with his hands cupped, his mouth hanging open, just about to sneeze.

"HRAAAAH-SHOOOO! Sorry- HAAAAH-SCHOOO! Huuuh... HAAAHTISCH-OOOO!"

The violent sneezes sent him stumbling forwards and Jacqui grabbed Joel to steady him. Tears had started streaming from his eyes.

"Joel- are you okay?"

He blushed with embarrassment, and tried to cover his running nose with his hands. The Doctor rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a wad of tissues and handed them to Joel.

"Sorry, Jacqui." Joel gave a thick sniff. "It's the-"

"HYEEEAAAH-SHAAAAAAH!!"

Jacqui and Joel jumped in surprise as Zane Lucifer doubled over with a loud sneeze. He squinted and pulled his polka-dot handkerchief out, before letting out another tremendous sneeze.

"HREAAAAAH-CHEEEAOW!"

"It's these flowers..." said Joel in a hoarse voice, as Zane blew his nose noisily into his handkerchief. "It's even worse, this close."

"What are you waiting for, Doctor?" said Jacqui. "Inject the plant so we can get out of here!"

"Oh..." said the Doctor, gazing up at the flowers. "We have to inject the pollen-producing organ in the middle of the flower. Didn't I say that?"

"No, you- what? You mean someone has to climb up into the flowers?"

"Not bloody me!" said Zane, before succumbing to another enormous sneeze.

"I'll do it." said the Doctor, "All I need is a ladder..."

Zane, his handkerchief clamped tightly over his nose, pointed to one of the metal doors that surrounded the flower bed. The Doctor opened it and pulled out spades, hoes and rakes, throwing them carelessly aside. Finally he lifted out a large extendible step ladder.

"Perfect!" he carried it over to the nearest triffoid. "Jacqui, can you give me a hand with this? Joel, Mr Lucifer- perhaps you should head back into the main greenhouse, away from the pollen."

Joel nodded and turned to go, rubbing at his wet eyes with his hands. When he opened them again, he saw a Cyberman standing in front of him.

"Doctor!" Jacqui screamed.

Around the sides of the greenhouse there were blinding flashes of yellow light as the other Cybermen appeared. The chorus of their mechanical voices echoed through the dome.

"Resistance- is- useless. You belong- to us. You will- be- like us."

"No!" shouted the Doctor, gazing around at the advancing silver figures. "They've broken through the security locks already!" he hoisted the ladder against the side of the triffoid. "Quickly Jacqui- this is our only chance." Jacqui tried to hold the ladder steady, bracing it against the triffoid tendrils on the floor. The Doctor clambered upward past the swollen red petals of the flower as the Cybermen came closer.

"Doctor- hurry!"

The Doctor pulled the injection tube from his coat pocket and leant forward, reaching into the centre of the flower. He pressed a button on the side of the tube and two small needles appeared at one end.

"Here we go..."

Just as the Doctor raised the tube, a Cyberman grabbed the ladder and pulled it out of Jacqui's hands, hurling it across the room as though it weighed nothing. The tube flew out of the Doctor's hand as he was thrown forwards, colliding with another of the triffoids. He grabbed onto its slippery petals and hung on for a moment, before losing his grip and landing painfully on the soil below.

Jacqui watched in fear as the Doctor struggled to get up, the Cybermen stepping between the flowers and converging on him. His eyes met hers.

"Jacqui! Get the serum! It's our only chance!"

Jacqui looked frantically around for the tube of liquid, but she couldn't see where it had landed.

"Got it!" Joel yelled from the other side of the room, bending to pick the tube up.

"Look out!"

A Cyberman grabbed Joel's shoulder from behind and slammed his body against the wall of the greenhouse. It reached out to take the tube from his hand.

"Oi! You! 'Ave some of this!"

Zane Lucifer raised the rake he was holding and swung it wildly, catching the prongs in the metal bar on the Cyberman's head. Apparently annoyed at having an aging rock star with a dribbling nose attached to it, the Cyberman released Joel and turned on Zane.

"Joel!" Jacqui shouted, glancing behind her at one of the ladders that lead up to the metal walkway around the top of the dome, from which they had first seen the triffoids, and from which Frank had fallen. "Throw it to me!" Joel drew back his arm and threw the tube to Jacqui, who caught it and began to climb the ladder. One of the Cybermen approaching the Doctor stopped.

"The triffoids- must- be protected. Stop- the- human female."

As Jacqui reached the top of the ladder, a Cyberman grabbed it and began to climb. There was a loud metallic creaking noise, then a jolt as a section of the walkway broke away under the Cyberman's enormous weight.

The platform tipped towards the centre of the room. Jacqui's feet began to slip- it was now or never... she ran towards the edge as the walkway fell, leaping from the railing and launching herself towards the nearest triffoid flower as hard as she could. She landed at the edge of one of its petals and slithered down into the middle of the flower, a thick cloud of pollen rising around her. In the centre was a greasy-looking bright yellow bulb. Jacqui raised the tube and pushed the needles as hard as she could into the oily flesh of the plant. There was a hiss, and the liquid drained away.

"Doctor!" She said, coughing as the pollen caught in her throat. "I've done it!"

"Brace yourself, Jacqui!" the Doctor pulled himself awkwardly to his feet, as the Cybermen advanced on him again. "I'm going to stimulate a large release of pollen." He took the sonic screwdriver from his pocket. "Hey! Cyber-leader!" The nearest Cyberman stopped, regarding him with its black eye-sockets.

"Your plan was a big mistake."

"We- will- survive. You- will not- prevent us. You will- be- destroyed."

"Growing flowers is more dangerous than it looks," said the Doctor, pointing his screwdriver towards the triffoid flower. "You never know when you're going to have a hayfever attack!"

He pressed the button on the sonic screwdriver. There was a a throbbing sound, and the base of the triffoid flower began to tremble. Jacqui clamped her hands over her face just as pollen shot upward from the centre of the flower like a geyser. The yellow cloud billowed outwards, filling the air, as a howling noise began to echo through the dome. The Cybermen were falling to their knees, limbs jerking and pawing at the ground, their electronic voices groaning and crying out. Jacqui pressed her hands over her ears; it reminded her again of a wounded animal, in terrible pain and powerless to do anything about it.

The sound died away, and the Cybermen lay still. Jacqui clambered up the slippery side of the triffoid flower, and looked over the edge.

"Doctor- I-" The petal she was leaning on gave way, and Jacqui screamed as she slid downwards, dropping towards the ground... then the Doctor was there beneath her, to catch her neatly in his arms.

"Jacqui- are you alright?" He gently put her down.

"I think so... just a bit bruised and shaken." Shock hit her, and she began to shiver. "Oh God, Doctor, I thought you were..."

Jacqui stumbled against the Doctor, and he embraced her and held her tightly. "But I'm okay..." he said quietly. "...because of you. You saved the day... marvellous, marvellous Jacqui..."

She stopped trembling, and the Doctor let her go.

"Okay now?" he said. Jacqui breathed deeply and nodded.

"I think so. Doctor, what about-"

She was interrupted by a throaty coughing from behind her. Zane Lucifer was limping towards them, leaning on Joel's arm for support, alternately coughing and laughing. Both of them were covered from head to foot in yellow pollen.

"We did it, Doctor! We bloody did it! What a team we make, eh?" said Zane. He shook Joel by the shoulder and he smiled weakly. "Did you see me whack that metal feller with the rake? Right in the breadbasket!"

The Doctor laughed. "Very impressive, Mr Lucifer! Both of you were brilliant." He began brushing the yellow dust off the lapels of his coat. "Well, that's one way to ruin a perfectly good jacket..."

"Oh... Oh my God!" said Joel excitedly. "I'm not sneezing... I'm not sneezing!" He laughed. "I'm standing here, with pollen all over me, and I'm not sneezing! My nose is hardly tickling at all!"

"Yes!" said the Doctor triumphantly, "The mutation works fast. The new spores in this pollen have already passed the immunity on to you... and Mr Lucifer too, I expect. You are no longer allergic to triffoids!"

"So the hayfever crisis is over?" said Jacqui.

"It won't go away overnight..." said the Doctor, "...but now that the modified pollen has been released, it's only a matter of time."

Jacqui thought for a moment. "The thing I don't understand, Doctor... why did the new pollen affect the Cybermen like that? They seemed completely unaffected by the triffoids before."

"Ah... well, that was thanks to Mr Lucifer actually."

"Eh?" said Zane.

"You see... the Cybermen removed all human diseases and allergies over the years, as they became more machine than man... but they developed this rather bizarre flaw that they can't seem to get rid of." The Doctor pointed to the chains around Zane Lucifer's neck. "Gold! It causes their systems to completely shut down. So when I modified the pollen to blend it with Jacqui's DNA, I mixed in the gold from Mr Lucifer's chain too." He grinned, enjoying his cleverness.

"I wasn't certain it would work- because the recombiner wasn't really designed to do that- but I managed to add a tiny quantity of gold to each triffoid spore. Then, when the pollen collected in the Cybermen's air filters..." He let the last sentence hang.

"Doctor..." said Jacqui. "When they- when they died... that noise... It was awful. They sounded like they were in such terrible pain."

The Doctor's smile disappeared, and he looked at her solemnly. "I know, Jacqui... but there was no other way. The people those Cybermen used to be were already lost. There is no way to reverse Cyber-conversion... I only wish there were." Jacqui nodded. "And if we hadn't stopped them," the Doctor continued, "They would have turned the people of Earth into Cybermen like them. We did what we needed to do."

Jacqui nodded again. For a few seconds, nobody spoke and they stood in silence, the pollen still drifting slowly through the air around them. Then Zane broke the silence.

"I'm bloody chokin' for a cup of tea... wanna come back to my place?"

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

EPILOGUE:

The Doctor walked through Thompson park with Jacqui and Joel, the evening sun glittering on the lake beside them. People strolled slowly past, enjoying the warmth of the day; children ran around near the water, playing and feeding the ducks.

"Oh- I almost forgot." said Jacqui, taking a newspaper out of her shoulder bag. The Doctor peered down at the headline and read out loud.

"HAYFEVER MYSTERY SOLVED... the sudden rise in spring allergies that has baffled scientists worldwide has now been explained. Professor Lynne Stewart, recently restored to her position as head of the famous Clean Air Institute, has discovered a fungal parasite present in UK plant life."

The Doctor glanced at the accompanying photograph: Lynne Stewart dressed in an enormous yellow and green sweater, smiling awkwardly into the camera. "This fungus has been the cause of Britain's sniffles and sneezes, but as Prof Stewart announced yesterday, the problem is already dying down as we naturally develop resistance to it. The government has promised a large increase in the institute's research money, so Britain can be better prepared for any similar crisis in the future..."

The Doctor laughed and handed the paper back to Jacqui. "Not too happy to be photographed for the front page, by the look of it."

"She wasn't happy to go along with the story at all..." said Jacqui. "I think Lynne would rather have been sacked than take the credit for someone else's discovery; or lie about what it was."

"I know; but we couldn't let the real story out, Jacqui. Anyway; I think the Clean Air Institute's new links to UNIT might make for some very interesting research in the future...". He handed the newspaper back to Jacqui. "All's well that ends well!"

"So... it's really over now?" said Joel.

"Yes. My contacts at UNIT have removed the ship from the bottom of Zane Lucifer's lake... and they will take steps to destroy the bodies of the Cybermen. Cyber-tech is far too dangerous to be left on Earth at this time."

They reached the far side of the lake and began to walk towards the trees.

"Do you think Zane Lucifer will keep the story secret?" said Jacqui.

"Oh yes... I'm sure of it." said the Doctor. "Although he did ask me if he could keep one of the Cybermen to use as a prop in his stage show." Jacqui and Joel laughed.

"And..." Joel said, then hesitated. "And... Frank?"

"Ah, yes... Frank." said the Doctor. "UNIT recovered his body; it had been teleported back to the ship. We contacted his family and they arranged the funeral. They were told it was an accident. He wasn't close to any of his relatives... I think his plants were his whole world."

They walked on without speaking. Birds trilled and twittered above them as they passed between the trees; then a familiar blue box appeared behind the trunk of a large oak.

"Well..." said the Doctor. "Time to go." He rummaged in his jacket pockets, extracted his TARDIS key and unlocked the door.

"Goodbye, Dr Steinberg..." he held out his hand, and Joel shook it vigorously.

"Doctor." replied Joel.

"And goodbye, Dr Randall. Thanks for all your help." Jacqui shook his hand. The Doctor turned to open the TARDIS doors; then he stopped.

"Why not come with me?"

"What?" said Jacqui.

He turned back to her "Come with me- in the TARDIS."

"Doctor... are you serious?"

"Of course!" said the Doctor. "All of space and time at our disposal- so many things we could see!"

"But what about my job, Doctor? I can't just-"

"It's a time machine, Jacqui!" said the Doctor. "We can travel all over the universe, and I can have you back in time for breakfast. Or any other meal."

"I..." Jacqui stammered as she tried to articulate the many reasons why this was a ridiculous idea. "I... okay then, Doctor!"

"Yes?"

"Yes!" she laughed and ran to join him at the TARDIS door. "Let's take a trip through time and space." The Doctor smiled his radiant smile at her again.

"And what about you?" he said, turning to Joel. "Adventures in time and space- how about it?"

"Oh... I..." Joel looked down at his feet, blushing. "I... just can't, Doctor."

"Oh?"

"I appreciate the offer, and everything, it's just..." Joel fidgeted. "Your sort of lifestyle... living on the edge; I don't think it's for me."

Jacqui started to protest, but the Doctor interrupted her.

"That's fine Joel- I understand. Come on, Jacqui- into the TARDIS." He called to Joel as he closed the doors "Au revoir!"

Joel walked away, staring at the ground in thought. After a minute, he paused and muttered under his breath.

"What am I doing...?"

He turned around and ran back to the TARDIS.

"Hey! Wait!"

Just as Joel reached the doors, they swung open and he leapt inside.

The Doctor stepped out for a moment, inhaling deeply; smelling the summer air one more time. Then he turned and closed the TARDIS doors behind him.

THE END

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

Thank you for reading. I really appreciate the kind comments people have left on this thread.

At the moment, I have no plans to write another Doctor Who story... but I never say never, so if you would like to see another adventure for the Doctor, Jacqui and Joel, please leave a comment!

October 12, 2013

Brilliant!!

Seriously. For me the danger with doing an adventure type of fic w/ sf elements in it, is not to have it be clique, or just seem "cartoonish". This was neither for me. It fit in with the story-line, and the *story* was the focus, rather than just using it as a vague backdrop for writing sf stuff.

Yay for sonic screwdrivers!

Jacqui laughed. "Doctor..." she said, "How long have you been an Intergalactic Admiral?"
"About two minutes."

I loved that- it just sounded so perfect.

I felt like the characterisations were really right on- as far as staying in character throughout (since I'm not familiar w/ the 8th- I can't address that specifically), and as far as development. I could really *hear* and *picture* things as they happened; always a sign of a great story.

Oh... and I absolutely *loved* the way that you ended this. It wrapped things up, but still leaves them open. Plus, this:

"And what about you?" he said, turning to Joel. "Adventures in time and space- how about it?"
"Oh... I..." Joel looked down at his feet, blushing. "I... just can't, Doctor."
"Oh?"
"I appreciate the offer, and everything, it's just..." Joel fidgeted. "Your sort of lifestyle... living on the edge; I don't think it's for me."
Jacqui started to protest, but the Doctor interrupted her.
"That's fine Joel- I understand. Come on, Jacqui- into the TARDIS." He called to Joel as he closed the doors "Au revoir!"
Joel walked away, staring at the ground in thought. After a minute, he paused and muttered under his breath.
"What am I doing...?"
He turned around and ran back to the TARDIS.
"Hey! Wait!"
Just as Joel reached the doors, they swung open and he leapt inside.

The whole interchange, and Joel's reactions completely made me grin.

Not that I expected anything different, but... absolutely *great* job!

And, I'm all for you writing whatever the muse(s) might inspire- either more with this or something else. Good stories make me happy.

October 13, 2013

Lovely ending to a great Doctor Who arc. Now it's up to the BBC to filmify it.

Thought it was great how you used the Cyberman flaw regarding gold.

Very much agree with tma's quotes as well.

An Itch in Time (8th Doctor fanfiction)

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