Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ DOCTOR WHO: APOUKALUPSIS (Revelations) ❯ ANIMAL KINGDOM ( Chapter 1 )

Episode1

ANIMAL KINGDOM

First Part of a two-parter introduction story. Post-regeneration and alien invasion episode where an ancient species, the likes of Silurians of the old, has risen once again and wreak havoc. A newly regenerated Doctor, with a malfunctioning Tardis, is joined by two new companions Layla Robbins and Daniel Bolton, as they try to overcome these raging monsters.

Prologue:

[Over the recreation of the bridge version leading up to the “I am the Doctor” main verse, by Murray Gold]

With varieties of clips from other episodes.

*The voice-over is done by different actors who have played the ‘Doctor’ over the years.

Doctor version[OC]: Time.

Doctor version[OC]: And Space.

Doctor version[OC]: The root of all our existence.

Doctor version[OC]: The ultimate frontier. And then, the great beyond.

Doctor version[OC]: Things that make us exist. In a mundane convention of sensibility, we all need it to survive.

Doctor version[OC]: All and everything must exist in some form of dimensional space, within some span of time, to be called matter.

Doctor version[OC]: But in a deeper sense, time and space are the part and parcel of life. In a grander scheme of living, they consist of every little thing that you do.

Doctor version[OC]: Every breath that you take and every move that you make. Doctor version[OC]: And I – am a traveler through all of them.

Doctor version[OC]: I – am the Doctor. The one who travels through all of space and time possible in his mad-blue-box.

Doctor version[OC]: My mad-blue-box; called Tardis.

Doctor version[OC]: Somebody very intelligent, a “good” man, had once said that ‘time’ is but a magic trick. And life is the magician, revealing the trick to us in parts.

Doctor version[OC]: Never little, never more. Never all of it. It ruins the magic. Spoilers, as some would say.

Doctor version[OC]: That's how we live - one day at a time. Our life is like a picture. Still and mundane. But you take a lot of consecutive pictures together in succession, a moving picture, it becomes a story.

Doctor version[OC]: So in a way our time is 'relative'. Held in space together, from the moment we are born till we die. Relative time of living held in space.

Time and Relative Dimension is Space. Or T-A-R-D-I-S.

Doctor version[OC]: It means 'life'.

Doctor version[OC]: And I traverse through all the relative time held together in spaces through my Tardis. My life.

Doctor version[OC]: My companion in my travels.

Doctor version[OC]: My trusted friend.

Doctor version[OC]: I, am the Doctor. And this is my story.

Doctor current version[OC]: But that story is about to end soon.

Because today is just one of those days where your ‘life’ has gone all wonky. And yes; I mean my Tardis!

We see a new kind of Tardis, resembling a Battle Tardis version, thrown out of the Time Vortex. It hurdles towards Earth at great speed, out of control.

[Cue Title Theme]

Scene 1:

[Opening scene of the jungle life with proper and partly sinister music. We get introduced to the varietal species we know, and some we don't. As we progress into more unknown or semi-known ones, we shift focus to quick snaps and video montages of reptiloids and ape-like creatures; different iguanas, crocs, Komodo, flying lizards, creepy crawlers, something that looks awfully like a mass of Silurian but not biped, different ape-men, traits of Neanderthals, and finally the very close close-up of tar-ape like face and the bloodshot eyes of our antagonist.]

Scene 2 (and contd):

[Opening scene of the modern concrete jungle but with speedy tribal drumming intro in the background. We get introduced to all the inhabitants of the concrete jungle, living their busy life.

[To the tunes of Black Tambourine by Beck]

A side-by-side intro for two new companions; one a hacker, another a hiker.]

[A label of words in white, saying HACKER]

Layla Robbins, 27 is a gifted computer prodigy, a playful girl who loves to code, form her own new languages, partake in geeky adventures and solve mysteries. Basically a well dressed hybrid of Osgood and Clara. She is one straw short of a proper conspiracy-nut but makes up for it with her kindness. Outside her world of coding, she also likes to solve the mysterious 'unknown', unlike her companions, who do not heed to such instincts. Over the past few years, she had started her own new project of evidencing and researching all the different odd sightings and unexplainable circumstances like the Christmas star, a drawn-out battle at Canary Wharf, millions of funko-like dolls floating up in the sky like being pulled up by some electromagnetic winch. But over the years, she had found that people around take things at face value and move past beyond it too quickly. Most of her mates and family had already forgotten most of these incidents, like somebody has 'rebooted' the universe, maybe.  But she remembers.

Reverting back to an older memory -

A young Layla is playing in the field, chasing an insect with a magnifier. She has gone further away from the group that she is with, in the park.

Amelia: Lollzie! Where are you?

Layla continues her search. She keeps using her magnifier on anything she sees.

Amelia: Lollzie? - Oh. There you are.

Layla can see her face in the magnifier.

Amelia: Your mom’s calling. We gotta go now. Come on.

Young Layla: In a minute.

Amelia: What are you searching for, Lollz?

Young Layla: A milkweed Monarch butterfly. Did you know this year we have had a twenty-two percent increase in Monarch butterflies migrating from the west? This could be their grounds for making Monarch caterpillars.

Amelia: Honey, you are too little and a cutey to go searching for stuff like that now. You can use the big-brain of yours someday, when you grow up. A whole lot more. Come on now.

Young Layla: In a minute!

Amelia: Okay. Five more! But then you come back and help your mother pack. Promise?

Young Layla: [with her fingers] Pinky-promise.

Layla continues with her search over the area. Tripping and jumping. Searching intently. In a distance she sees a glow from between the branches of the trees. It glows a few more times, in distinct red. She turns back and sees silhouette of figures without proper distinctiveness, who pay no attention to her. She slowly creeps and speeds along the cover of branches and reaches the source of the light.

There is an object, immersed deep into the ground. It looks like a well-chiseled monolith, with a red light coming from inside.

Young Layla: You are no insect I know. Or any animal. [Bends] What are you?

Xylok: Who is there?

Young Layla: Ah!

Xylok: Who is there? Please confirm your presence.

Young Layla: Who are you? Are you the one scaring the butterflies away?

Xylok: I am Xyloak 1BDW 2022.

Young Layla: What’s a Xyloak?

Xylok: We are the race of Xyloks. And our house of crystalline sentience is called Xyloak.

Young Layla: Crystal-sentence!?

Xylok: Sentience.

Young Layla: Sentence.

Xylok: Sentience.

Young Layla: What is that?

Xylok: [scans] Scanning. Assimilating psychic stamps. Biological data. Planetary reviews. Human.

Young Layla: What are you saying, Mister? What does it mean?

Xylok: [beeps] Life. It means life. You are Layla Robbins, correct?

Young Layla: How do you know my name?

Xylok: And am I correct to assume you are a child?

Young Layla: Everyone knows that. But I am going to be 10 soon.

Xylok: No, Layla Robbins. Scans indicate you have just completed seven rotational years.

Young Layla: Huh?

Xylok: Let me put it this way, Layla. Just like you are a child, a human being who is alive and well and moving. We Xyloaks are alive too. And this is how we look. This is our structure. Our shape.

Young Layla: You are alive.

Xylok: Very much so, I believe.

Young Layla: Why do you look like a rock?

Xylok: This is our body. Just like how you grow tall and big to resemble your mother and father-

Young Layla: I do not have a father.

Xylok: [beeps and scans] I am sorry to not have known, Layla Robbins. Just like you grow up to be like your mother, perhaps. We too grow to be bigger in form and join the hive-mind of Sentience cluster through metamorphosis.

Young Layla: What?

Xylok: We become a bigger rock. In ‘space’.

Young Layla: You are from space? My mother says space is beyond Earth. Beyond home.

Xylok: From your likes of colloquial terminologies and conceptualization, it would seem to be the case. Yes, Layla Robbins. I am from space.

Young Layla: How is space?

We start zooming out their view.

Xylok: [distant voice-over] It is big and vast. And it has many places like your home. Earth. Let me show you [projects crude holo-image]

Young Layla: [distant voice-over] Are there people like us there? Are there butterflies.

Over a series of very small scenes, we see Layla at different ages being guided by the Xylok. It has now being integrated into a brownish hand-held device, like a hunky cellular phone.

Teenage Layla: [While eating lunch on the window-slab] You never told me your purpose, you know?

Xylok: What do you mean, Layla Robbins?

Teenage Layla: Well, you told me that you crystalline forms are reactivated from your meteorological stasis-gels from deep within when somebody of your own kind contacts or retrieves you form up above. And designates a purpose. But I found you. [gulps]What was your purpose?

Xylok: Our group of advanced-recon Xyloaks were reactivated due to a distress reactivation signal. While some thought it was a Krotonian signal, I knew what it was. It was of minimal consequence to me what others thought. I recognized my brethren signal. Somebody of our kind send that signal form something called a ‘Mister Smith’ terminal. From 13 Bannerman Road.

Teenage Layla: The place we went last week?

Xylok: I am afraid so, Layla Robbins. I could only find a leftover trace of a Xylok technology. Like it had left the vicinity, or was disabled for the while.

Teenage Layla: Looks like you are stuck with me for now.

Xylok: I do not mind the company, Layla Robbins. Maybe helping you to learn about the wonders of space and time helps me in locating my brethren signal. For now, both my purposes and entwined into one.

We see other small scenes of them together.

[Walking back home from college]

Layla: How come no one remembers, 1B?

Xylok: I do not know, Layla Robbins.

Layla : [overlapping] I mean it’s just ONE day! Small white minions from funko-land get beamed up and next day they are like it’s all very normal.

Xylok: Maybe they do not remember.

Layla: That’s what they told me. Remember a few years back? Same thing happened with the Christmas Star. You confirmed their origin. If only I had a way to let them know the truth.

Xylok: Maybe it is for the best, Layla Robbins. I can scan for alien life. But in this limited state I have limited capacitance and functionalities than a normal Xyloak. I can barely scan for species unless I am in close proximity. If you keep poking around and warn others, and some species does come knocking again, I cannot protect you to my fullest extent.

Layla: Hey, how come I remember it all and they don’t?

Xylok: I do not know, Layla Robbins. But if I had to guess, it would be Artron emissions from me that is affecting you.

Layla: The radiations you told me about? Space-time radiations, of sorts?

Xylok: Very much so. That is what makes you different.

[A label of words in white, saying HACKER, HIKER, this time around]

On the other hand, Daniel Bolton, 23 is a goofy and jolly hiker. He hikes through smaller hills, scuba dives, goes on long drives and firmly believes that the world itself has all the wonders that we seek; it's only a matter of going. What he lacks in imagination, he makes up for it with loyalty and immense courage.

*Back to the prologue.

Daniel is seeing hiking up to a small reef, facing an empty crevasse on the right. He looks on to the empty and whiffs in a deep breath. He sees his digital watch on his left forearm. There is still twenty-three minutes left till his girlfriend arrives. As he looks on the scenery in awe of his achievement, a moving object catches his attention.

Daniel[sotto]: What the hell is that supposed to be?

He sees a pillar-like projectile, like a pod, heading towards him, almost transversing horizontally once it descends lower. It is burning up, like on reentry, but only a little. Daniel squeezes his eyes tighter to make something of the shape he sees.

Daniel: What are you? Some kind of shuttle gone wrong? Stealth plane?

As we see the object approaching the surface, from the POV of the semi-burning blue object, it suddenly takes a rapid turn and shoots straight towards Daniel.

Daniel: Oh! You have to be fudging kidding m-

The object bounces of the surface of the reef, making it collapse. It lands with a big great thud, down below in the thickness of the lush, leafy wilderness. Like a projectile grappling and denting-in through the foundation below. The collapse of the reef has caused a run-off of the surface Daniel was standing on and he looses his footing. He manages to hold on and staggers to one of his foot, on a layer of rock.

Daniel: Of all the ways to go!

He struggles. He lets go off his bag down below and starts climbing.

Daniel: Good job, Daniel. Uhm - You would be the first boyfriend in history to actually making it in time and still missing your girl by a very long shot. Errr -

His grip gives away.

Daniel: Aaaahhhhhh! -

He falls to a well paced clothed-roof and scaffolding of a RV.

Daniel: Whooahh - Ah! Ouch!

Layla: You okay?

Daniel: Ahh. [Turns] Where did you come from?

Layla: You are very welcome, you know.

She gets out of the van and helps him down.

Daniel: Thanks.

Layla: [hits his elbow]What were you doing up there?

Daniel: Ou-ooiiii! Are you nuts? It’s not like I did anything. A spacecraft or something came raining down on me. Why do you have to go all mad on me for!?

Layla: Wait, you saw that? Where is it?

Daniel: Ahh. That ways I think. Wait- hold on. How did you find me?

Layla: Well -

[Over memory]

One day Layla gets a reading of a pillar-like projectile or structure heading for a canyon near her RV base station where she hangs out sometimes. Bombarding it with various spectrum rays she finds out that the projectile has dense interwoven endoplasmic layers beyond the shelled covering, like a fabric but with immense exothermal energy outputs. When she runs out with her custom monocular to see the falling projectile, it flashes a few times before her eyes like a star in a distance, before changing into a falling blue box!

Layla: What is it, 1B?

Xylok: Spatio-temporal reading of projectile entry. With no prior point of reference, or any incidence.

Layla: Earth English. 1B!

Xylok: I suggest you better look outside, Layla Robbins. 22 degrees to your north-west. A bit to the left.

Layla: Whoah! What is that? What does it say?

Xylok: It is a very old and yet highly sophisticated technology. One that I have not yet indexed or being in touch with for many years.

Layla: Did you scan it? Use the spectrum-antenna I built you.

Xylok: Bombarding it with various spectrum rays indicate intense engineering. That is not a normal projectile.

Layla: What do you mean? What is it? It does not look like a space-lander or shuttle.

Xylok: Look at the render, Layla Robbins. The projectile has dense interwoven endoplasmic layers beyond the shelled covering, like a fabric but with immense exothermal energy outputs. Which should not be possible in these parts of the galaxy.

Layla: Hold on. Hold on. Whoa-

The blue box, to her surprise, crash lands only about a mile away, with enough thrust to level most of the land, almost squashing an unsuspecting Daniel who had hiked up to a small reef and was waiting for his girlfriend.

Xylok: Human life-form detected. Excited perspiration and elevated synapses. Pulse rising.

Layla: Where? 1B, where?

Xylok: 52 feet towards your left, up ahead.

[Back to the present]

Daniel: That’s how you found me? What is that some steampunk PDA?

Xylok: I am so much more than that.

Daniel: Whoa! How did you do that? Your talk-back phone is freaky!

Layla: It’s a really good phone. I am Layla, by the way. Layla Robbins.

Daniel: Daniel Bolton.

Layla: And where did you say the thing went?

[Daniel points]

Daniel: Wait, you are going there?

Xylok: Affirmative Daniel Bolton.

Layla: We ARE going there.

Daniel: Huh. We are going there. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to know why somebody has it so much in for me that they wanna send a shuttle down on me.

Xylok: I assure you, Daniel Bolton. That is not NASA or ESA design. That is most definitely not a shuttle. And it was not sent for you.

Daniel: Spoilers, mate! You are such a steampunk spoilsport.

They make their way through a bunch of tress, They cut down their way paving into a sloping clearing. The projectile has landed neatly into the clearing. It is glowing blue, fading in and out.

Layla: Ten points to Ravenclaw, 1B. That is definitely not a shuttle! It’s too blue. Why is it doing that though?

Daniel: Oh, another Potter-freak.

Layla: What!?

Daniel: What?

Xylok: By the fluctuations and bio-modulation of tone, I think he made a sarcastic comm -

Daniel: Shut it.

Xylok: Layla Robbins. The structure is giving off lower levels of bio-heat signatures from the inside.

Layla: There could be someone in there? Oi...you. Help me open it up.

They try hard but struggle to move any panel or pry open any opening.

Daniel: I think it’s opening.

Xylok: The structure remains intact and unaffected.

Daniel: Freaky spoilsport. What are you, mate? The iPhone of imminent pathos? You couldn’t choose Siri 3.2, like a normal person?

As soon as both their consecutive hands (Daniel’s left hand on the left; Layla’s right hand on the right) align together on the same level, the structure starts glowing rapidly.

Daniel: [Bars her with his hand] Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Step back. Step back! Something’s happening

The front panel opens up. There is a man inside, glowing in blue. Suspended by some form of energy from round things on the nearby walls. The inside is massively huge.

Layla: Whoa! You seeing this?

Daniel: No, no, no, no! That can’t be. How is it bigger on the inside?

Tardis automated voice-over: Passcode accepted. “Bigger-on-the-inside”. Identified Sol-3. Cancel passwords “Oh-my-God”, “Allonsy”, “What-is-that” and “That’s-a-relief”. Energy bars unlocked [The man falls down]. Regenerative process and DNA-Sequencing initiated.

Layla: [pokes and stabs his cheeks] Hey! Hey, you okay. Come on say something. Daniel!?

Daniel: In a minute!

Daniel is doing the usual run around the Tardis to check the back for a hidden passage or adjacent room. He goes twice around the left and returns from the right.

Layla: Daniel!!!

Daniel: Cool off, would you! Come and check this out. It really is bigger on the inside.

Xylok: Layla Robbins!

Doctor: [gasps for breath and sits up] Haaaaaaaaaaggghhhhh!

Layla: Hey, hey! Are you alright? [lightly-slaps to wake him]

Doctor: Oh, that was a rush! Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Did you say bigger on the inside?

Layla: Yeah? Why?

Doctor: Run.

Daniel: Huh?

Doctor: Run! Run out! Run out! Run out! Everybody out now!

He rushes them out and joins from behind. He jumps on them and tackles them down to ground level. The Tardis bursts out an exponential blue wave of energy, that ranges throughout the wilderness and fades as it reaches the outskirts [as seen from above, in aerial view]. Some birds are seeing fleeting away, sensing danger.

The Doctor is lying on the ground, coughing. The others are dusting themselves off. Suddenly they see the Doctor’s body reverberate slowly, with a gold and blue hue, two or three times.

Both: Whoa!

Layla gets his head up in his lap and pats his face sloppily. The gold and blue vibration becomes gentler, and fades away.

Daniel: Who is he?

Xylok: Do you not mean what is he?

Daniel: Oh, your steampunk doodle pad is getting on my nerves. Is it one of those AI things?

[The Doctor coughs and jerks up a little, still head on the lap]

Doctor: If a cross-eyed professor entered the hall, would he be able to control his pupils. That was always a funny one by their standards.

Layla: What…? Are you okay?...Hey, are you okay? Are you alright?

Doctor: O-K. Osiris Kladoshian, Planet of forty-two thousand immigrants.

[coughs again]

Layla: Are you all right, mister? Are you hurt?

Doctor: Huhh?

Daniel: Let’s call somebody. On my life, nobody is gonna believe us now how we found him.

Doctor: Life's but a walking shadow. A poor ingraft - kissing hedge-pig yond sculpts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is did hear nay moo. 'Tis a tale tole by an clotpole. Full of sound and fury, signifying bloody nothing! To thee - ‘Time’ I say...shoo, you blothead ingrate. Expeliarmus ‘Time’. Thou are not the boss of me.

Daniel: Oh, this is already out of hand…

Doctor: othing-Nay is-way out-way of-way and-hay. e-Thay orld-way is-way oo-tay ig-bay or-fay at-thay!

Daniel: Did he just…?

Layla: Yep. He did just.

Xylok: Layla Robbins. Look.

The gold and blue glow has dissipated from all his body, but his hand. The palms vibrate a bit, slowly and then become calm. The whole body jerks a little bit and the Doctor rushes up in a seated stance, frightening Layla.

Doctor: What happened? Who are you?

Daniel: You happened! To us too!

Layla: I am Layla. Layla Robbins. He is...well. [Whisper] What is your name again? Daniel what?

Daniel: Daniel Bolton. Who on God’s green Earth are you? And what did you crash in?

Doctor: I am Who?

Daniel: You are Wu?

Doctor: Who?

Daniel: Wu…

Layla: Stop it! Both of you. Who are you?

Doctor: Who? Who? Who...who. Why do I remember that word so vividly? I can see just the bpth of you asking me, but...But it’s like I can hear that question a thousand times in my brain. Blimey, I have brains.

Daniel: You don’t say…

Doctor: [Checks]And liver, and kidneys, and...oh! Hair. Not that lot though. I suppose that’s for the good now. Legs.

Xylok: Layla Robbins. He seems disoriented

Daniel: Why does your doodle-pad keep calling your full name for?

Layla: It’s very polite. Their whole species are quite courteous.

Daniel: What?

Layla: Nothing...So, who are you?

Doctor: I don’t know [raises and looks at his palm].

Daniel: What was that? Your box just went super-saiyan?

Doctor: What?

Layla: [whispers and gestures] He wouldn’t get it?

Daniel: And you would, you Hermione Danger!?

Layla nudges him in disapproval.

Daniel: Ow!

Doctor: [gets up] It’s not a box.

Daniel: Then what? Escape-pod?

Doctor: It’s a ship.

Daniel: What that thing? It doesn’t even have a steering. Or wheels or thrusters. It’s not even the right shape.

Doctor: It’s mine, I suppose. I can’t remember much [frowns].

Layla: Wait that thing is a ship?

Doctor: Yes. It is. But what’s it called? - Turdo-Turdi-Tar-Tardi? TT- Tridium. Tardium. Uh, Dalekanium. Oh, it’s literally just right here, On the tip of my tongue.

Xylok: Layla Robbins. Scans indicate it is a TT Capsule from a far-off galaxy. An enhanced prototype version I am not registering. I suggest you take precaut-

Doctor: TT Capsule. Yes! That sounds about...Is that a Xyloak-interface!?

Layla: How do you know about it?

Doctor: How do YOU know about it? Why do you even have it? Level 4 alien interfaces are not found on Earth -

Daniel: Wait! You are telling me that’s - ?

Layla: I found it when I was a kid. It was called up by a signal meant for the advanced-recon Xyloaks. It came from Bannerman Road. Huh...Why am I even telling you all this? Who even are you? Wait- where are you going?

Doctor: Bannerman. Bannerman!? Bannerman. Bannerman. Oh, I remember a Xylok that used to be there. Mister Smith. Wait but that’s my name, isn’t it. [Sotto] Well it’s supposed to be. Mister Smith. Smith – Smith. It feels so weird in my tongue [takes a sharp left turn]. Like a relapsed muscle-memory. Like I know what I have to say next, but I actually don’t. Or can’t remember. Or was it Timothy Hope? Percy Bullimore? Donald Wellington? John Jane Smith?

Xylok: The Mister Smith terminal is not situated there anymore.

Doctor: Huh. I did not know that. Or maybe I forgot.

Daniel: So your freaky PDA is really alien? And you! What are you?

Doctor: Freaky little guy isn’t he? But very gentlemanly, I suppose.

Layla: How do you know so much about 1B?

Doctor: Who?

Layla: 1B. That’s what I call him. His name is Xyloak 1BDW 2022.

Doctor: I do not know. How do I remember and experience so much? And still know nothing. Well, I suppose that is the gist of knowledge. I can feel the ground moving beneath my feet [stumps in an 8ish way]. I can feel neurons firing within me. And my sharp synapses. I can smell everything around me. I know so much about so much. Humans, their history. Shobogans. Kaleds. Mechanoids. Xyloks. Autons. Telos. Omega. Cyber Species. Mondas. But I cannot remember who I am. I cannot remember what’s my ship called. I cannot remember anything when it comes to me. Nothing to validate my existence beyond the obvious. I can feel my hand, my head, my whole body. I can feel my hearts. Both of It -

Layla: Both?

Doctor: Yes.

Layla: But...how?

Daniel: Uh, can we keep going back to the alien part first? He is a freaking alien. You have a freaking alien phone! Oh, Riles is so gonna kill me today. Of all the excuses to make!

Layla: But two hearts. How?

Xylok: Many species like the Shobogans, Illumitoid, Mecha-humans and Dark Sentinels have indexed binary-cardiovascular systems. And there are those who have add-ons.

Layla: But that’s impossible!

Doctor: As impossible as the childlike-innocence of an infant believing in fairy tales and stories? Remember when you were a kid? You did not know what was true. What to believe in. Yet you believed everything anyways. Remember the first time your mother told you that owls see differently than us in night and day?

Layla: How did you-

Doctor: And you believed it. You did not question it. You were amazed by the differences. Remember the time you first learned what death really meant. Not conceptually. But physically. Poof. Just like that one day you can physically cease to exist. And how you thought about it for days. Remember when they told you the Earth was moving and you were surprised. You could literally choose to stand for hours to test that theory. And yet every time you entertained yourself into exercising the possibility, of endless possibilities in your mind. Because you had belief. The innocence of belief can make a lot possible over the years. Few centuries ago, right at this very spot, their was an unknown war going on between the Empire and the rebellious pirates from the Indies. Even a few more years back, Churches were forcing you to believe that the planet was flat and you could drop off if you walk too far. And now, you have an alien phone and you just rescued an alien who cannot remember his name.

When there is but nothing to do, all you can do is believe that something would turn up. Belief is one the prerequisites of life. It has been there for long. It is going to surpass you, long after you have gone. You believe in stars and planetoids. You believe in microscopic life. You believe in bending of science and physicality and thermal emissions and jiggery-pockeries and call it magic. You believe in love even in your worst days, when you have lost everything. You believe you could fly to the distant places beyond your atmosphere that you cannot even begin to picture in your mind. You believe in extraterrestrial life or at least hope for it. Your belief is the fingerprint of your soul. Compared to what you choose to belief and live with everyday, is it any more different to have two-hearts?

Daniel: But if you are a real alien shouldn’t you be more green, mate? Like an alien-Alien!? And what of the accent? What is that? Alien Cambridge? Yorkshire? Essex? Gloucestershire? Hampshire? Give me something -

Layla: [Overlapping] Shut up!

Doctor: A lot of places and planets have accents!

Daniel: And I suppose you know all of them by default!

Layla: You don’t believe him?

[The Doctor has moved on ahead]

Daniel: What, and you do?

Layla: Yeah!

Daniel: So he goes ranting like a mad one in the woods, and you take his ramblings and attestation for granted? That he is a proper alien in fat blue box? Of course you would. You are equally proper bonkers. All of you are!

Layla: Well it’s not like he is enunciating something new. Not that we are hallucinating either. People cannot have the exact shared states of hallucination.

Doctor: Well, actually…

Layla: Is he not ordinary – sure.

Daniel: Oh, really? You don’t say.

Layla: But all of these has happened before. He is not even the first alien here.

Daniel: When? When in the history of everything non-geeky and normal have you ever met an alien in a trench coat?

Layla: Well we have seen others. The Christmas Star.

Daniel: That was a big balloon!

Layla: That had to be taken down? What about the planets in the sky?

Daniel: That was some freak spacey-event. Those were probably just stars. You know? Blink and you miss kind of a moment.

Layla: And what about the thousands of fat-bubbles beaming up. Those creepy, funko-like thingies…

Doctor[OC]: Adipose.

Layla: Huh?

Doctor: They are called Adipose. They are mass-produced progeny. Made from all your body fat.

Daniel: Oh, I could kill for a coffee right now. You! You just ruined the notion of ever having a decaf again for me.

Layla: Oh, shut up! You might not get the others. But him. He is standing right in front of us. Does he even look like a proper spaceman? Does his ship look like a ship even. How can you not believe in things right in front of you.

Daniel: I do believe in things right in front of me. But I am not as nubile and gullible and open to wonders elsewhere. I have had a more easy relation with things around me since forever, cause I trust them. I swing by them. They fit my groove. It’s not such a fraught process to live like that or be chided upon. There is no complexity in living by the standards and things you already know. Not that I have lead-steps; I can be flexible if need be. You would know that if you knew me. I am open to new ideas. I am open to wonderful new ideas. But there are wonders out there – those that you do not even have to look for. So I do not do the dance where I have to go searching for little green men or Rick and Morty. I hike to places that could kill you. I reach heights and distances that should strike an arid sense of hopelessness, when the winds hit your face. That could really get your pulse running. I run the risk of falling to my death in each climb. Each step I take. But they help me survive; hone myself to the tunes I wanna live in. I see the beauty in the wonders around me. There is a pleasure even in the most hopeless deeds. The world around me is all the wonder I need. It’s just a matter of going.

The Doctor turns and faces him.

Doctor: [smiles]You know, I might stick with that someday.

Daniel: Plus this one! This one is no wonder. He is as weird as they come. All tied up and wet and disastrous.

Layla: Wait, hold on. If that was your ship, why were you tied up inside? Come to think of it, where are we going?

Daniel: Come to think of, WHY are we going? With him I mean? Oh, Riles must be worried dead.

[Meanwhile, elsewhere, Riley has totally forgotten to even start for the hike]

Doctor: [hurries around]I am searching for the anomaly.

Daniel: Look in a mirror lately, mate?

Layla: What anomaly?

Doctor: My ship. The Tardis! It’ a whole new version. Uh! Tardis. Now I remember it!

Layla: What’s a Tardis?

Doctor: T-A-R-D-I-S. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It’s what I call my ship. It can travel anywhere in space and time.

Daniel: And I suppose they call you the Doc and you help Marty Mcfly get back home after school?

Doctor: What did you just say?

Daniel: What? I said -

Doctor: You said Doc. As in doct-

Random Voice[OC]: [psychically] Doctor!

Doctor: Ahh!

[He crutches down with hands on his head]

Layla: What? What is it? Are you alright?

Doctor: Nothing. I am good. My ship. The Tardis. It was in a battle when we got drawn out by a beacon from Earth. It’s a new version. So it had to repair on the way. I had to repair on the way! In stasis mode. But I lost control and crashed.

Daniel: You were battle-injured?

Layla: And that part you start believing?

Daniel: He did crash.

Doctor: I suppose I was. I have a faint memory of it.

[Over memory]

Dalek[OC]: Exterminate!

Doctor: And a pitiful distaste in my mouth. The Tardis wouldn’t have come to Earth if the anomaly reading wasn’t correct.

[He runs out]

Layla: Wait for us.

Doctor: We have to hurry! I’ll loose the trace of-

Layla: How come you were soaking wet too? You were just tied up!

Doctor: Fell into the pool.

Layla: What, in a battle? Where did you get a pool from?

Doctor: No, in my Tardis. My ship! I fell into the pool. Not so steady hands.

Layla: You have a pool in your ship!?

Daniel: Oh, come on! Now he is just making it up.

Doctor: I have worlds within my ship! You saw how it is. You noticed what you had to.

Daniel: Yes, but -

Doctor: Come on. Say it up! I live for these moments. I think.

Daniel: It has hidden rooms. Really hidden- hidden rooms.

Doctor: That – I. I mean...you are not wrong.

Layla: He means it’s bigger on the inside than outside.

Doctor: And ding ding. Bingo! [beeps her nose, retracts and keeps running] The inner sector of the Tardis is a whole other dimension. That is how it fits so much in.

Daniel: But how?

Doctor: To your naked eyes, the Tardis, or as we used to call it – TT Capsule. Time Travel capsule. Wait! Who is we? ...Well I suppose we will get to that somehow. Well. Where was I – oh, yes. TT Capsule. To your eyes, it is just two three-dimensional spaces folded into one another. Like rooms within your house. But it’s really not. It’s a four-dimensional counter inside a three dimensional space and shape. The conformity of which is walled by endo-chronoplasmic-shells of concrete and metal. The inner component factors in time as well. It houses relative dimensions of space in different spans of time. Which is why the inner dimensions transcends the outer ones.

Layla: So 4D within 3D shape.

Doctor: Exactly. Well that is supposed to be the case for everything, is it not? When can you exist out and without time?

Layla: But then how come it can crash? How can it feel external forces? A push or a pull. Shouldn’t the interior control the exterior points and destinations in time and space? Shouldn’t the wall just act like a portal or a dimensional wall?

Doctor: Your room sets the standards and positional data about how to face your house. What to call a patio or porch. And what to call a brick wall. But when the house trembles, so does the room. Because technically transcending each others concepts of dimensions, they still exist in correlation to one another. The interior is still inside the exterior.

Daniel: But the inside is still bigger than the outside!

Doctor: So are you. You have nerves that can run a mile long if stretched properly. But do you feel the wiggly-juggly length of it inside you?

Daniel: But that’s...that’s not -

The Doctor leans against an uphill slope and looks on to the highway next to it, balancing himself against a tree bark.

Doctor: Oh, the things I could tell you. The things I could show you. Blows your brain. Your brain is technically bigger on the inside too, you know…

Daniel: What?

Layla: His isn’t…

Doctor: Think about it. Billions of neuron, ranging at least a mile. Tissue clusters shooting out electromagnetic synapses of mega Joules, and compacted into the size of a Zephyrian Pudding bowl.

Daniel: Every single line. Every single word with you just goes mental to a whole new level.

Doctor: And yet you are following. Is there a comparative and computing algorithmic element here?

Layla: Huh?

Doctor: Is there a computer here? Nearby?

Daniel: Like I said...mental.

Layla:...Uh. West by west. 2nd Millard Ave. Bloomdale Plaza 14. There’s a cafe out there.

Doctor: Come on...

[Over a progression of scenes]

Meanwhile, a legion of a troop of 200 monkey like biped creatures with higher intelligence, wreak havoc on the streets. When the Universal pattern Lupari recall signal was force-activated due to the Flux, a friendly beacon was sent out to other species as well as a warning to migrate to safer distances and planetoid havens or to protect their bonded species and sub-species assets. These included The Kanine Regency of Barcelona, Bovinus Slashers (minotaur-like creatures), Brotherhood of Caprocoorus and Ovinoorus of the Andromeda galaxy (peaceful goat and sheep tribes) and the miniature Apis colony (bees) who did not answer the hail cause they had already migrated, even from earth to Planet Melissa Majoria. Unknown to the others, another ancient and forgotten species that received the call was the Simiiformians or Simiifors, a species that shared the earth with the earliest Silurians. They were tar-like skinned war-monger monkeys that walked upright. They lived deep below caves that the Silurians built, with tweaked ceilings within the roomy caverns to settle in. Evolutions over the centuries forced them to walk upright and be impervious to all kind of temperatures. Over the years, only a few scouts would come up to the surface and collect anything that could give them a tactical advantage once the 'emergence' began. All the while the others slept in deep hibernation in pods similar to the Silurians. Being hunter and gatherers, they had collected a lot of relics over the years. These included basic human firearms and bayonets to stolen Silurian machineries. More recent finds included remnants of cyber-parts from Cybus cybermen and various other weaponries over the years. With modified weapons, the troop poses a threat to all of the city above. The plan was to come out of the deep-sleep (ritual called Emergence) every few thousand years and challenge the herds of population above to a battle. If the Simiifors were victors of the battle, they would collect the strongest specimen to take back down home and process them in special pods over hundreds of years, to tar their skin artificially, and form newer Simiifors. This was a process they had continued over many times, as the females in their troop were more vulnerable to the heat and most of them lost their ability to create and carry a progeny in their sacks. The earliest titans of men were strong enough to withstand the process many years ago, but now the Simiifors find that most of the population are weaklings or even other races not fit for the Emergence (Zygons in disguise, hybrid alien humanoids and colonies of other alien lifeforms that live under the protection of 'Me' in different street corners). Chaos ensues as the Simiifors destroy everything in sight in search of a worthy opponent.

In the discourse of action and struggle, the Doctor is shot down.

Layla: No!

Daniel: No. No, no. Don’t

Simiifor King: Shot down like a vermin.

Doctor: [rumbles and efforts] Shot down. Not out.

Simiifor King: And just how long can you continue, you puny mammal? You are far inferior than our strength and reserve of will and ferocity. Let us check, shall we.

The Simiifor king scans with a confiscated Cyber-part. The scan shows two-hearts, and other alien readings. Other Simmifors stagger and step back. Some of them glance at each other.

Simiifor King: But that cannot be? This far out? It is imposible.

Doctor: [struggles and stands up] I have that effect on people. Well, I say people. I mean every kind of them. Even you. Oh. It’s already started.

While he is holding his wounded left hand in a tight grasp, the left palm starts glowing. There is a subtle golden energy coming out.

Simiifor King: Time Lord!

Random Voice[OC]: [psychically] Time Lord! Doctor! The Doctor, Time Lord of Gallifrey!

Doctor: There you are, you random memory. You little piece of beauty.

Simiifor King: What?

The golden energy is spreading. This time around, it is mild and slow. The pace and vigor are far too quieter than usual.

Doctor: I am no lord. I am no conqueror. I am no emperor. I should choose to help everyone. In fact I like to and ought to. That is who I am. A madman in a box helping anyone and everyone in sight. Even you. The universe is big enough for all of us. The way of life you choose to live today. Right here, right now. It can be beautiful. Stable and sturdy. But kind and noble. Dignified and justified to all ends. You can grow strong but you can choose. You can choose to make others strong. You are clever warriors. A match to Silurians. You have discovered speed and progress, but you never choose to move. Beyond what you know and know to do. You have life and yet you do not preserve others who have it too. You have barricaded your homes underground to the outside world. You have made state of living vile and violent. I belong to a culture of racist overpowering and overbearing idiosyncrasy that knows no bounds. You shut yourself off, but still belong to a culture that produces the likes of Alexander the Great, Plato, Proust, Tchaikovsky, Michelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh. The reign and majesty of Athens. The tacticians of Troy. The land even Titans among men deemed worthy. So fragile and yet nimble and resourceful. So eager to adapt and change. With power to improvise. They cannot hunt or gather on their own. They cannot plow or produce. Not without attributes and chemistry and compounds and machines. Even animals and beings of other kinds. They cannot even grow basic natural mechanisms to shield themselves. Yet they survive and thrive. They have the will to adapt to anything if they want to. If they set their mind to and choose to. So choose to do so. Give this world a chance. Give co-existence a chance. Not everyone is a Silurian anymore. Not all cultures are valid anymore. The rules aren’t the same anymore. Change your ways right now. Choose to live.

Simiifor King: Or what, Time Lord? You are shot. Hurt. And helpless. What can you do to the likes of us?

The glow has a strong effervescence through out his body, up to his torso.

Doctor: You do not see it do you? You have caused this. I am a Time Lord from Gallifrey, from the constellation of Kasterborous. I cheat death and fleshly wounds like you cheat the inner workings of humane morality. I have too much to do in each lifetime. So as invigorating yet astoundingly unsanctifiable it sounds, we do not have time for death. We do not have time to discard our flesh to rot and grow a new one. We do not have the time to go through the process of progenating and full life-cycles anymore. We call our selves literal lords of time. And time is the thing we cut-short the most. Because there is just too much to do. Too much to see. Too much to save and preserve. Like my new good friend Daniel says. There are wonders all around us. Those that you can find without even looking. It’s just a matter of going and wanting to look.

Daniel: That’s a cheap shot. You son of a gun!

Simiifor King: And what could that have to do with anything?

The glow has reached to the back of his head now.

Doctor: We remain the same inside. Like the realignment of basic brain functions with newer body synapses. A unique combination of those, that you would call a soul. Unique only to you. But in each life, we change a bit. You lot. You stupid lot just forced my hand. You made me change! And I would still choose to help and preserve, but I have no idea what I would come out as. Would I be just as good? Would I be kind? Would I be a man? A woman? Would I be ginger? Would I be an old-soul who forgives and forgets? Or would I be a warrior once more? I do not know! But whatever it is, it isn’t good for you.

Simiifor King: Why?

The glow envelops his head. He cries out in a burst of golden light. Some Simiifor foot soldiers step back. Others stare in amazement.

Layla: Whoa!

Doctor: Because I am the Doctor. Sorting out fair-play through the universe is in the job description. You are the wound and I am the surgeon operating. And you really don’t seem to be in a mood to be cooperating. You have entered my chambers now. So, choose to live!

Simiifor King: [Growls] What could you mean by Doctor? You are a Time Lord. Doctor Who?