for oncoming_storms prompt 176.4: Writing
Remix: find something you wrote a while ago and re-write it in a different form, using the same basic plot
The patter of lazy raindrops upon worn wood provided quiet accompaniment to the lone figure crossing the rain-slick road. One swift motion later, and the figure slipped through unassuming doors and into a stark white space.
Stark white, but still warm and inviting.
“I hate rain,” Turlough mumbled, shaking out his jacket before hooking it onto the hatstand leaning against the far wall. “And yet every time we return to Earth, we seem to end up in a spot with a surprising abundance of it. Why do you think that is?”
“Your winning personality?” suggested Tegan.
“What did you find out about our young Mr. Brenner?” asked the Doctor, wishing to skillfully maneuver through these quibbling companions to get to the crux of why they were there.
“It’s as you suspected, Doctor. Hasn’t been seen in ages. The clerk at the comic book store thinks he might have started in on that ‘Sinful Temptation’ site as well. Have you tracked down the source of the transmissions yet?”
“The Doctor’s detected something weird in the atmosphere,” Tegan said, swiftly following that up with: “Something that can’t be the rain, so you can shut it about that.”
“There’s quite an interesting energy signature emanating near the docks,” the Doctor said, tapping eagerly at the panel of console which supposedly indicated the details of that reading. “Supposedly” only because neither Tegan nor Turlough could make heads or tails of the endless flowing numbers streaming across the display screen.
“We’ll need to shut down the transmission at the source,” the Doctor continued.
Tegan nodded. “And that’ll break the spell those Loligots have over all those people?”
“It isn’t a spell,” Turlough said. “It’s more like...”
“...a thrall,” said the Doctor. “Meant to take full advantage of the human capacity to indulge their, ah, ‘baser’ emotions. I’m sorry to see the very thing that makes humans ‘human’ manipulated in such a manner. At any rate, shouldn’t be too difficult to put a stop to it.”
“But what about the Loligots?” asked Tegan. “How’re we supposed to fight giant squid people?”
“I think that’s what these lights are for.” Turlough began digging through the nearest box, tugging out a metallic cylinder measuring about as long and as wide as his forearm.
“Torches?”
“Oh, much more powerful than a garden shed torch, Tegan,” said the Doctor. “Loligot eyes are quite sensitive to a specific wavelength of light. Completely harmless to us, of course, but to them...”
“One quick flash and they’re blinded,” said Turlough.
“And you’re sure that this’ll work?” Tegan cast a skeptical eye at the Doctor.
“Well,” the Doctor said brightly. “Only one way to find out, eh?”
---
Tegan scowled, her nose wrinkling. “It smells like the sea here.”
“Wouldn’t you wish to have all the comforts of home, away from home? Just before enslaving an entire planet?” said Turlough.
“I doubt we’ll allow them to get that far,” the Doctor said. He grabbed at a doorknob, ready to shove it open and face whatever was inside. “Careful, you two. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
The door flew open, revealing a comely young woman, dressed in nothing but blood-red stilleto heels (with straps which curled up her calves) and a silk negligee which hugged all her curves and left very little to the imagination. She was draped atop a bed with silken sheets, her tongue teasing the tip of an erotic toy.
“That suspicious enough for you?” asked Tegan.
The young woman’s gaze was at first settled on the camera rigged in front of her, but then her eyes shifted from suggestive to furious, and a brief tinge of red flashed in her pupils.
“Lights up!” the Doctor barked.
Three spotlights settled on the woman, revealing the true form beneath the sexy brunette. Wriggling, slime-coated tentacles tangled with each other, curving and coiling into knots. The creature howled and shielded all its eyes from the cursed light. Tegan grabbed the creature and shoved it into a nearby closet.
The Doctor slipped behind the camera, giving the device a quick study before diving into the electronics and altering them. “Turlough! Hurry off to the control room and make certain the broadcasts are still streaming online. Tegan? I’ll need you to search all the other rooms. Many of the girls may be Loligots but I don’t doubt a few are actual humans who have been recruited against their will. And ah...I wouldn’t sit on that bed if I were you...”
Tegan let out a long “Euuurgh” before hurrying out the door after Turlough.
The Doctor snagged up a chair from the corner of the room and settled it in front of the camera, and after a thorough dusting of the cushions, he finally settled himself primly into it. He leaned forwards, elbows on his knees as his studied, keen gaze settled on the lens.
“Gentlemen. Ladies. And, ah, what have you. I’ll give you all a moment to collect yourselves. Turlough?”
From off-camera came a muffled “Still broadcasting, Doctor!”
“I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve interrupted your innocent recreational activity. Well, it’s actually far from innocent, isn’t it? You know, if you’d only conducted yourselves with a bit more decorum, none of this would have happened. The Loligots would not have discovered how appealing to human lust could build up those psychic links between dimensions, and offer them the ‘keys to the kingdom’, as it were.”
He sighed, disappointment edging his voice. “We’re all of us searching for something. I understand that. Some of you may be seeking out companionship. Some of you are unsatisfied with the relationships you’ve developed so far and wish to have something more. And perhaps some of you wish to fantasize about these ladies, imagining them as your own.
“The problem with anything one wants is that one might fall into addiction, and that’s exactly what you’ve all experienced. You visit these same sites, day after day. What was once edifying amusement has become something you require to simply push through your miserable lives! You’ve all become tired, haven’t you? That’s a reaction to the sapping of psychic energy. If my friends and I hadn’t come along, the Loligots would have collected enough of your lust to burst through the dimensional barriers and completely taken Earth over. Thankfully, this won’t happen now. You’re very welcome.
“These broadcasts will cease. The websites, all twenty-seven domains, will be shut down. And I daresay even this very feed will disintegrate in half a minute. Or sooner if Turlough can manage it. Oh, and one final thing before I go. Sometimes it would be best to form actual interconnections rather than the permeable ones formed online. Best of luck to you all.”
“Transmission shutting down now,” Turlough called. “Do you really think you’ve convinced all those humans that they ought to shut down their computers?”
“Doubtful, but if we’ve reached a single person, then I think all this will be worth it.”
“Doctor!” said Turlough. “Behind you!”
With a grunt, the Doctor leapt out of the chair and shone his light onto the looming figure before him, just as his online image pixelated and finally broke apart.
Character: The Fifth Doctor, feat. Tegan, Turlough
Word Count: 1207
Note: remix piece of one of dominie's prompts.
The patter of lazy raindrops upon worn wood provided quiet accompaniment to the lone figure crossing the rain-slick road. One swift motion later, and the figure slipped through unassuming doors and into a stark white space.
Stark white, but still warm and inviting.
“I hate rain,” Turlough mumbled, shaking out his jacket before hooking it onto the hatstand leaning against the far wall. “And yet every time we return to Earth, we seem to end up in a spot with a surprising abundance of it. Why do you think that is?”
“Your winning personality?” suggested Tegan.
“What did you find out about our young Mr. Brenner?” asked the Doctor, wishing to skillfully maneuver through these quibbling companions to get to the crux of why they were there.
“It’s as you suspected, Doctor. Hasn’t been seen in ages. The clerk at the comic book store thinks he might have started in on that ‘Sinful Temptation’ site as well. Have you tracked down the source of the transmissions yet?”
“The Doctor’s detected something weird in the atmosphere,” Tegan said, swiftly following that up with: “Something that can’t be the rain, so you can shut it about that.”
“There’s quite an interesting energy signature emanating near the docks,” the Doctor said, tapping eagerly at the panel of console which supposedly indicated the details of that reading. “Supposedly” only because neither Tegan nor Turlough could make heads or tails of the endless flowing numbers streaming across the display screen.
“We’ll need to shut down the transmission at the source,” the Doctor continued.
Tegan nodded. “And that’ll break the spell those Loligots have over all those people?”
“It isn’t a spell,” Turlough said. “It’s more like...”
“...a thrall,” said the Doctor. “Meant to take full advantage of the human capacity to indulge their, ah, ‘baser’ emotions. I’m sorry to see the very thing that makes humans ‘human’ manipulated in such a manner. At any rate, shouldn’t be too difficult to put a stop to it.”
“But what about the Loligots?” asked Tegan. “How’re we supposed to fight giant squid people?”
“I think that’s what these lights are for.” Turlough began digging through the nearest box, tugging out a metallic cylinder measuring about as long and as wide as his forearm.
“Torches?”
“Oh, much more powerful than a garden shed torch, Tegan,” said the Doctor. “Loligot eyes are quite sensitive to a specific wavelength of light. Completely harmless to us, of course, but to them...”
“One quick flash and they’re blinded,” said Turlough.
“And you’re sure that this’ll work?” Tegan cast a skeptical eye at the Doctor.
“Well,” the Doctor said brightly. “Only one way to find out, eh?”
---
Tegan scowled, her nose wrinkling. “It smells like the sea here.”
“Wouldn’t you wish to have all the comforts of home, away from home? Just before enslaving an entire planet?” said Turlough.
“I doubt we’ll allow them to get that far,” the Doctor said. He grabbed at a doorknob, ready to shove it open and face whatever was inside. “Careful, you two. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
The door flew open, revealing a comely young woman, dressed in nothing but blood-red stilleto heels (with straps which curled up her calves) and a silk negligee which hugged all her curves and left very little to the imagination. She was draped atop a bed with silken sheets, her tongue teasing the tip of an erotic toy.
“That suspicious enough for you?” asked Tegan.
The young woman’s gaze was at first settled on the camera rigged in front of her, but then her eyes shifted from suggestive to furious, and a brief tinge of red flashed in her pupils.
“Lights up!” the Doctor barked.
Three spotlights settled on the woman, revealing the true form beneath the sexy brunette. Wriggling, slime-coated tentacles tangled with each other, curving and coiling into knots. The creature howled and shielded all its eyes from the cursed light. Tegan grabbed the creature and shoved it into a nearby closet.
The Doctor slipped behind the camera, giving the device a quick study before diving into the electronics and altering them. “Turlough! Hurry off to the control room and make certain the broadcasts are still streaming online. Tegan? I’ll need you to search all the other rooms. Many of the girls may be Loligots but I don’t doubt a few are actual humans who have been recruited against their will. And ah...I wouldn’t sit on that bed if I were you...”
Tegan let out a long “Euuurgh” before hurrying out the door after Turlough.
The Doctor snagged up a chair from the corner of the room and settled it in front of the camera, and after a thorough dusting of the cushions, he finally settled himself primly into it. He leaned forwards, elbows on his knees as his studied, keen gaze settled on the lens.
“Gentlemen. Ladies. And, ah, what have you. I’ll give you all a moment to collect yourselves. Turlough?”
From off-camera came a muffled “Still broadcasting, Doctor!”
“I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve interrupted your innocent recreational activity. Well, it’s actually far from innocent, isn’t it? You know, if you’d only conducted yourselves with a bit more decorum, none of this would have happened. The Loligots would not have discovered how appealing to human lust could build up those psychic links between dimensions, and offer them the ‘keys to the kingdom’, as it were.”
He sighed, disappointment edging his voice. “We’re all of us searching for something. I understand that. Some of you may be seeking out companionship. Some of you are unsatisfied with the relationships you’ve developed so far and wish to have something more. And perhaps some of you wish to fantasize about these ladies, imagining them as your own.
“The problem with anything one wants is that one might fall into addiction, and that’s exactly what you’ve all experienced. You visit these same sites, day after day. What was once edifying amusement has become something you require to simply push through your miserable lives! You’ve all become tired, haven’t you? That’s a reaction to the sapping of psychic energy. If my friends and I hadn’t come along, the Loligots would have collected enough of your lust to burst through the dimensional barriers and completely taken Earth over. Thankfully, this won’t happen now. You’re very welcome.
“These broadcasts will cease. The websites, all twenty-seven domains, will be shut down. And I daresay even this very feed will disintegrate in half a minute. Or sooner if Turlough can manage it. Oh, and one final thing before I go. Sometimes it would be best to form actual interconnections rather than the permeable ones formed online. Best of luck to you all.”
“Transmission shutting down now,” Turlough called. “Do you really think you’ve convinced all those humans that they ought to shut down their computers?”
“Doubtful, but if we’ve reached a single person, then I think all this will be worth it.”
“Doctor!” said Turlough. “Behind you!”
With a grunt, the Doctor leapt out of the chair and shone his light onto the looming figure before him, just as his online image pixelated and finally broke apart.
Character: The Fifth Doctor, feat. Tegan, Turlough
Word Count: 1207
Note: remix piece of one of dominie's prompts.