Here's the next couple you poor things. Sorry.  - CHAPTER THREE: THERE’S SOMETHING FUNNY IN THE CORNFIELD.
“Doctor?” Romana popped her head round the door and slipped inside the impossibly vast and complex TARDIS control room. She was a Time Lord, a race of extremely powerful and incredibly long lived people who inhabited a planet at the far edge of the galaxy. They had long ago mastered the art of time travel and had developed the ability to completely regenerate every cell in their body if injured, or due to old age, or even merely on a whim. This she had done not so long ago and her second incarnation was petite and disconcertingly pretty, with long strawberry blonde hair. Her companion was called the Doctor. Another Time Lord, he had left his home planet when he had become disillusioned with his people’s sedentary ways. Stealing a time vessel – a TARDIS – he had fled into the time vortex where he flitted from one place and time to another, generally getting himself into trouble and other people out of it. He was well in to his fourth incarnation, although when it came to appearances, his was more by chance than by design like Romana’s. Still, it suited him, she thought. She looked across the console room at a low table. On the table stood what appeared to be a sort of squared off metal dog. It had a control panel on its back and antennae for ears and tail. Its eyes were photo sensitive cells which usually glowed brightly when fully operational, but which were now dull. Lettering on the side of its body identified the unit as K9 and as a final humorous touch there was a tartan collar around its neck. Kneeling next to the table with his head inside an open panel in the dog’s side, the Doctor was happily engaged in his second favourite pastime. He had already removed K9’s head and was currently disconnecting its brain. “Doctor!” “Ow!” The Doctor shot out backwards, rubbing his head. He glared up at Romana. “Ow! That hurt.” She strode across the console room towards him. “Oh, Doctor, please. I’m really not in the mood.” Romana reached down and held out a hand to him. He grabbed it and pulled himself to his feet. He was tall with disturbingly curly brown hair. His electric blue eyes shone with an intensity that few have withstood, but even they were eclipsed by the warmth and brilliance of the smile he now directed at his friend. “Romana, you don’t seem to be yourself. Is something bothering you?” She glared at him, scanning his face for signs of sarcasm; ready with a pithy retort. When she saw the innocence and genuine concern in his eyes, all thoughts of sticking his sonic screwdriver somewhere only by regenerating would he have any hope of retrieving it, vanished. She laughed. The Doctor looked relieved and playfully tapped her on the arm. “Are you still worried about that time displacement we experienced in Cambridge?” Romana nodded. “I still don’t understand it. One moment we were punting on the Cam, the next I’m in the TARDIS with K9 and you’re lying outside on the ground. Yet the TARDIS’ chronometers show that no time had passed.” “Oh? Oh Yes. I see what you mean. It’s odd.” Romana sighed. “Is that all you can say? Odd?” She shook her head. “I can’t believe that you’d show so little interest. Especially if someone is interfering with Time. “ The Doctor bent and picked up a section of K9’s motherboard and began fiddling with it. He glanced up at the Time Lady. “No one is interfering with time Romana. It’s all been taken care of. Trust me.” He murmured. Romana looked uneasily at him. “Why do I always get shivers down my spine when you look at me like that?” She shook her head, “All right. Have it your own way. But I would like some answers one day.” The Doctor nodded. "And I'm sure I'll give you some one day. That's the wonderful thing about time. It has this marvellous way of sorting itself out if you wait long enough." He continued to play with the circuit until; with a jerk, he pulled it apart. He looked sheepishly up at Romana who took it from him and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not surprised, given the way you fiddle with things.” The Doctor snatched back the circuit. “I do not fiddle! I was fixing his voice box, poor old thing.” “You were fiddling. You can’t help it. Give you a piece of electronic equipment and you start to fiddle with it. You know you do. And there’s no guarantee it’ll ever work again afterwards.” “What? Nonsense!” “It’s true. Look at that Rhondium sensor I gave you for your last birthday, it was in pieces five minutes after you got it and it never worked again.” The Doctor stood up. “Yes it did.” Romana glared at him. “Not as a Rhondium sensor!” He looked chastened. “No, but it made excellent coffee!” Romana couldn't help laughing at his expression. A faint smile that had played about his lips slowly grew into a wide grin. She sighed. That was one of her favourite things about the Doctor. His belief that no matter how bad the situation, how desperate things got, there was always a solution. The trick, he said, was to find it and she felt the Doctor always had a knack of finding it. The Doctor moved over to a large and complex looking console in the centre of the room. Six large control panels radiated from a central Perspex cylinder, which rose and fell when the ship was in flight. Inside the cylinder was a complicated arrangement of clear and coloured tubes which radiated with the power of the TARDIS’s engines. Each of the six panels was festooned with various lights, dials and switches and from these he could direct every aspect of the ship. He checked the navigation section. “Well, we seem to be heading in the right direction at least.” Intrigued, Romana moved to join him, peering over his shoulder at the screen. “And where would that be?” He grinned and tapped a complicated looking device clamped to the console. “I’ve absolutely no idea. It’s up to the randomiser. But wherever it is, we’ve arrived.”
****
The TARDIS doors swung open. The first wisps of the cold, Welsh, night-time air crossed the dimensional bridge that separated the Police Box exterior from the Gallifreyan time capsule interior and seeped into the console room. Romana shivered and gratefully took the heavy coat the Doctor had grabbed from the hat stand. She turned to the open doorway and the still blackness outside. “Here, you’ll need this.” The Doctor handed her a large torch and she switched it on, shining the beam into the night. With a yell of alarm, Barry Rowland ran into the ship, collided with Romana and they collapsed in a heap on the floor. The Doctor crossed over to them and helped them untangle themselves. He pulled Romana to her feet and reached down to grab Barry’s outstretched hand. “Hello,” said the Doctor, “are you alright?” Barry looked at him and then at his surroundings. “I’m not sure.” Romana smiled and help him to his feet. “Don’t worry. You’ve just crossed a dimensional interface; it will have shaken you up a little if you weren’t expecting it.” “A directional whatnot?” Barry shook his head. “That’s it. No more boozy nights out with Martin.” The Doctor coughed. “Well Mr. ah...?” “Rowland, Barry Rowland.” “Well Mr. Rowland, you’ve had a bit of a shock. I think the best thing for you would be to get you home, what do you say, eh?” Barry nodded.
****
Outside, Martin and Jackie Morgan were staring at the open door of the Police Box. “Go in then.” Urged Martin. “What for? He’s your brother. You go in.” “You’re the one who dragged us out here to look for your bloody aliens. Go see if they’re in there.” Jackie looked sharply at Martin. “What would aliens be doing inside a Police Box?” “I dunno,” shrugged Martin, “maybe their UFO’s been stolen and they need to report it.” “Report what?” The Doctor asked as he strode out of the TARDIS. Barry and Romana followed closely behind. Jackie Morgan jumped back in alarm whilst Martin took a swig from his can. “Hello,” said the Doctor, “are you friends of Mr. Rowland?” Barry stepped forward. “This is our Martin,” he said. “He’s my brother.” The Doctor grinned and shook Martin’s hand. “Hello Our Martin.” “And this is Jackie Morgan. He’s a friend of the family.” “Delighted to meet you Mr. Morgan,” said the Doctor, gripping the farmer’s hand and pumping it up and down. “I’m the Doctor and this is Romana; we’re travellers.” Jackie Morgan glared at him. That explained everything; the Police Box must be some sort of caravan. “Travellers? ’Ere, I don’t want no travellers pitching up in my fields.” He shouted, advancing on the Doctor menacingly. The Doctor stepped back, pulling Romana behind him. “Easy, easy. We’re not that sort of travellers.” Jackie Morgan was now shouting at the top of his voice and jumping up and down with rage. “I don’t want no travellers on my land!” Suddenly he stopped, clutched at his chest and collapsed in a heap at the Doctor’s feet. The Doctor knelt beside the farmer and felt for a pulse. Barry knelt beside him. “Is he alright?” He asked. The Doctor nodded. “Mmm. Why were you out here?” Martin snorted. The Doctor looked up. Martin pointed at Jackie with his can. “That crazy arse dragged us out here looking for UFO’s,” he belched. “He reckoned he’d seen aliens in his cornfield.” “Ahhh,” the Doctor grinned. “That explains it.” He stood up. “He’s had an enormous shock Mr Rowland. That and the large amount of alcohol he’s had to drink have caused his body to just shut down. He’ll be fine after a few hours rest.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a torch. He switched it on but nothing happened. Frowning, he shook it vigorously and grinned happily as a bright beam of light shone out around the corn circle. “Now that’s interesting. Don’t you think that’s interesting Romana?” Romana had been leaning against the TARDIS and now she looked at the flattened corn. “Not really,” she said. “It’s a corn circle. They’re purported to be the landing pattern of visiting spacecraft. More often than not they’re the result of a practical joke; the corn being flattened using a piece of wood and some rope in order to produce the circle.” The Doctor sighed and shook his head. He whispered to Martin. “That’s the trouble with the Academy these days; they suck the imagination from you.” “There’s nothing wrong with my imagination Doctor, it’s just that it’s difficult to get worked up over a farmers flattened field when you’re extremities are numb with cold. In case you hadn’t noticed it’s freezing here!” She turned to Barry. “Incidentally, where is ‘here’ exactly?” “Wales. Near Wrexham.” He pointed. “Wrexham’s that way...” he swung his arm around 180 degrees, “...and Chester’s over there. Where was it you were going?” Romana glared at the Doctor. “I’ve absolutely no idea!” The Doctor was prodding at the ground with a stick he had picked up by the TARDIS “Romana, Come here and look at this.” She sighed and wandered over to where he was now crouching down and picking at the flattened corn. He looked up at her and held out his palm. “What do you think?” He asked, suddenly serious. Romana took a pinch of the substance in his hand and rubbed it between her fingers. It had a smooth almost oily texture. “It’s very fine,” she sniffed at it. “It has a pungent odour, sort of garlicky.” The Doctor stood up. “Mmmm. It’s engine coolant.” “What kind of engine uses this kind of coolant?” “A big one.” “Doctor!” “Well, it’s widely available from stockists all around the galaxy.” He shrugged. “Some sort of Hyperdrive?” She shook her head. “A Hyperdrive? Well that would explain the corn circles. A spaceship with a Hyperdrive would have to be large. I think Mr Morgan was right. I think he has been visited by aliens.” “So do I. Question is, who are they and what were they doing here?” Romana looked over to where Barry and Martin were standing. They had started arguing and were on the verge of coming to blows when they were interrupted by a loud cough. It was the Doctor. “Er, excuse me. Could you take us to the nearest village?” Barry nodded. “Sure. Our village is just over the hill, about half a mile away.” “Good, good. Let’s go then.” He gestured for Barry to lead the way then stepped over to where the farmer was lying, bent down and hoisted the unconscious man onto his shoulders. Smiling at Romana he set off after Barry and his brother. With a sigh of resignation, Romana locked the TARDIS door and followed them.
CHAPTER FOUR: EXTRACT FROM BARRY ROWLAND – THE TRUTH AT LAST?
I think that I must’ve had too much to drink. As we walked back to the village, everything that had just happened was whirling around inside my head. I made a promise to myself that I would give up all forms of alcohol. It didn’t help that those two from the police box were walking close to me and whispering to each other. The bloke said he was a doctor, but he didn’t do much for poor Jackie so I was suspicious of him straightaway. Martin had gone into his tourist act with them and had just given them his “Folk from roun’ ‘ere bain’t from roun’ ‘ere” routine. I should have left them to it and went home; but I was feeling responsible for Martin. Truth is, I loved my brother. No, actually that isn’t the truth. I tolerated him. I’d been his brother for thirty four years, but I didn’t actually know him well enough to feel any kind of love for him. In fact he was a pain in the arse for most of the time and I saw it as my duty to make sure he got to the Registry office on time, in order to make sure he got married so that I could get rid of the ungrateful sponging git! In the mean time, I was stumbling along trying to make sure that I didn’t fall flat on my face, when I became aware of someone taking hold of my arm and helping me along. It took me a moment or two to realise that it was the girl from the police box. I must have been staring because she suddenly smiled and spoke. “So, how was the party?” “Uhh?” Sometimes I amaze myself at my own eloquence. “Well, your brother has women’s underwear attached to the back of his coat, you both have lipstick all over your faces and you are so drunk you can barely stand up straight. It’s logical to assume then that you were at a social gathering of sorts.” “Mmmm.” I was definitely on a roll. I was also feeling nauseous. I stopped: threw up. “Feeling better?” I nodded. She was so nice and gentle and... We finally made it back to the Village.
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