Doctor Who: Changes in Time and Space - Chapter 1: Azores
Chapter 1 - Azores
29 September 2018, The Azores Autonomous Region, Portugal, just outside the city of Ponta Delaga
The TARDIS had materialised in a forest. Sabir emerged from the TARDIS first. Though he came from an era when world travel was commonplace (but not as commonplace as later) he had never been to the Azores. He breathed in the air, she smelled hardly any pollution. “It is peaceful,” he said.
“You know that can change very quickly Sab,” the Doctor said, as she followed her out of the TARDIS.
‘Sab’ felt a flush of embarrassment; he didn’t much like the Doctor calling him by that particular diminutive, there were some others that he wouldn’t have minded so much though… “It is not that likely that aliens would start invading the Earth here or many experiments that would go wrong.”
“But, these things are unexpected,” the Doctor said, knowing that Sab would continue to argue the point…
Daniel exited the ‘timeship’, as he called it, to see Sabir and the Doctor arguing, again!
They were arguing about whether they would find events/actions that the Doctor would have to be involved in, to right the wrongs. “Why do you always have to argue with each other?” he asked.
“We are not arguing,” Sabir said, with a blush.
“Maybe we were, Dan, but things can change very quickly, as you know,” the Doctor said.
Daniel agreed with that, at most of the places he had been since he had joined the Doctor in his travels a few years ago (relatively speaking), things had changed very quickly. Peacefulness and then, an invasion or an experiment gone wrong, or even an old enemy of the Doctor trying to take advantage of the situation to get back at the Doctor...
“I agree with that,” Daniel said.
Sigrun exited the TARDIS next, after having changed into clothing appropriate for the era, it being prior to her time of origin she knew what the fashions were. She saw however that the Doctor, Sabir and Daniel were not dressed for the period, looking as anachronistic as the TARDIS’s police box exterior, the Doctor dressed as she always did, in clothes from the same period as the TARDIS disguise.
Sabir was dressed in clothes from his native period approximately a decade prior to the current time, including a t-shirt with a catchphrase from one of his favourite science fiction television shows. Daniel’s mode of dress being somewhere between the two.
“Ah, Sigrid, there you are. We were just discussing the possibility of something happening,” the Doctor said.
Sigrun flinched, though not much. She didn’t like the Doctor calling her a different name, though she knew that she did it out of affection, like with the other companions.
“It is most likely that something will certainly happen,” she said.
“Told you, she usually agrees with me,” Sabir said, with a cheer in his voice.
“For certain,” Daniel said as an afterthought. Sigrun walked over to them, and waited with them for the others.
Jia’hale re-entered the console room, with agitation. Again with Earth! The TARDIS hadn’t been to her home planet since before it began going off course! She hoped that situation would change soon. She had just been to the wardrobe, and had been pleased to remove the toga she had to wear in Rome, she would have had been happy to leave the TARDIS with nothing, however the Doctor had said that the majority of places most certainly didn’t like that sort of behaviour.
Sigrun had also had said that the Azores in 2018 were relatively conservative for the period. So she had dressed similarly to Sigrun and then left the wardrobe. As she entered the console room she saw Felicia wandering around the console in thought. She didn’t notice that she had entered. ‘Ok, I’ll just hop outside and wait for her with the others,’ she thought, as she approached the outer door.
“There you are, Jia,” the Doctor said, as she saw her companion from Tossekia IV exit the TARDIS.
“So what are we going to do? Are we looking for trouble?” she asked.
“Possibly,” the Doctor said, with a cheeky tone.
“Absolutely, that is what the Doctor does usually,” Daniel said.
“Most likely,” Sabrina said.
“We are going to find some kind of trouble then?” Jia’hale asked, knowing that the Azores probably won’t be peaceful for much longer. The Doctor then had a thoughtful look on her face; she knew that she had spoken truthfully.
“Where is Felicia?” Sabrina asked a minute later, wondering whether she had wandered off without them, and possibly requiring rescue…
“She is still in the TARDIS, she was wandering around the console room in a thoughtful mood, when I passed through it,” Jia’hale said.
“Ok, we will wait a little longer, then I’ll go back and ask if she wants to come, It wouldn’t be the first time someone stayed behind,” the Doctor said. So they waited a while longer.
Felicia was in thought, it seemed the TARDIS wanted to communicate with her, in some way, at a level which was different from the usual, different from when the TARDIS translated languages (she would know, with Sigrun and Jia’hale speaking different Earth languages, some or most of the time, and the Doctor sometimes speaking Gallifreyan, or whatever the language spoken by the Time Lords would be called), she sensed that the TARDIS was disturbed about something.
She saw Jia’hale pass through the console room, exiting the TARDIS. Felicia continued to think for a few more minutes; all she was sure of was that the TARDIS was disturbed.
She left then left the ship, making sure to close the Police Box doors behind her, she knew the TARDIS didn’t like the doors being left open, anyone that could see through the perception filter could then enter.
The Doctor was about to go back into the TARDIS when Felicia came out. She sensed her state of mind immediately and knew that the TARDIS had imparted (or had tried to impart) something to her. That was something that hadn’t happened for a while, probably not more than once since the Time War. She looked at the other companions; she saw that all of them, more or less, knew that something was up with Felicia.
“Ok, don’t be all staring at me like that. Let’s go and see if anything is going to happen here, in the Azores” she said.
“Something is up” Daniel said to himself.
Felicia felt uneasy, feeling like going back to the TARDIS, but decided that everyone, probably would need her help.
The Doctor decided to try to talk to Felicia privately after they were underway into Ponta Delaga. “Let’s go, we can solve this mystery later,” she said. The others all agreed. The Doctor then used her sonic screwdriver to determine the direction of the city, and they went off in that direction.
“Elisa, what do you think the TARDIS was trying to put to you?” the Doctor asked. Felicia wasn’t put off by the Doctor’s nickname for her; she was used to it by now.
“I think, that the TARDIS is disturbed about something, but that is all I think I can say about it, anything else would be rather private,” she said. 'That is all I can tell him for now,' she thought, after having said that.
“Ok, agreed,” the Doctor said, she knew he probably wouldn't get much more out of her. She had to process the ‘information’ the TARDIS had given her, in her mind, he would know what it was sooner or later.
Soon the TARDIS crew arrived at the city. They found that there were people running around in panic. Something was going on.
“Ok, Something is happening. But what is it. Is it an invasion?” Sabrina asked.
“I am not sure,” Felicia said.
A ship landed nearby and figures emerged from it.
The Doctor told his companions to run. They ran to a nearby park and hid behind some trees before the figures in the ship could see them.
“What are they Doctor?” Felicia asked, wondering whether this was what the TARDIS was disturbed about. But at the moment she thought that thought, though, she knew that it wasn’t what the TARDIS was disturbed about. The TARDIS was disturbed about something else.
“Drahvins! But how could they have gained the capability to time travel without my knowing?” the Doctor asked.
“They look all female, Doctor,” Daniel said.
“Don’t let that fool you, Dan. They are ruthless, they keep only a small population of males for reproductive purposes. They kill the rest and their foot soldiers are cultivated in test tubes. For one purpose. To kill!”
“You make them sound similar to the Daleks, Doctor,” Jia’hale said, shivering.
“No, they don’t kill everything. They just conquer. They have a large empire in Galaxy 4, in the 6th millennium AD,” the Doctor said.
Daniel looked at the Drahvins; they all looked alike, with blonde hair, considering that they would be beautiful if they had any warmth in their faces. They wore green and white uniforms and were carrying huge energy guns. ‘I hope that I won’t have to face one of those guns!’ he thought.
Felicia looked at the Drahvins. She was suddenly very afraid; she wished that the Doctor had told her about them before. Before they encountered them on an island in the middle of one of Earth’s oceans.
Jia’hale looked at the Drahvins. She was glad that they were different from the Daleks, in that. That fact made it easier to fight them. She remembered the last time that they had encountered a Dalek. She had had nightmares for weeks!
Sabir looked at the Drahvins. They seemed very familiar; reminding him of various characters in the science fiction and fantasy materials he was familiar with, including some from Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Age (Conan). He hoped the Doctor would be able to find a way to make them leave Earth without too much destruction.
Sigrun looked at the Drahvins; she didn’t like them at all. Why didn’t the Doctor notice their gaining time travel technology? How would they gain it anyway? An old abandoned TARDIS? A captured vortex manipulator? She hoped the Doctor would be able to get Earth out of this situation.
The Doctor looked at the Drahvins.
She wasn’t sure how they got here, but she was sure that he would figure out a way to stop this invasion of theirs, before there was too much collateral damage...