It was a day like any other day on Wimbledon Common; at least it was until a blue police telephone box faded into existence. You've seen them before, they're a bit scarce now though but this one was quite unique. Its doors opened, releasing a cloud of thick oily smoke and two figures rushed outside to breathe in some clean, fresh air. One of these figures looked like a normal bloke; well, one dressed up like he was off to a fancy dress party. He wore a strange yesteryear cricketer's outfit that your great grandmother might just remember. The other figure was a nice enough girl; she wore sensible looking clothes - a brown jacket and matching trousers. Apart from their dramatic arrival you wouldn't give them a second thought really, just a young couple out for a walk on the Common.
However these two people aren't just another young couple, they are alien visitors to our world. Beings from another place somewhen in the fourth dimension. They wander through the whole of time visiting, helping sometimes escaping a number of strange events. Today however their craft has brought them to our world after an accident. They need to make repairs but lack the necessary components. One of them has visited our world many times and he has made a lot of friends, he hopes that one of them in particular can help. Locking the doors to their strange and magical time machine they set off walking towards the nearby UNIT facility.
***
They had not been walking far when Nyssa felt a headache coming on. She rubbed her temples with her fingertips but the pressure did not ease. It felt as if a coldness was forming inside her mind.
"Are you all right?" The Doctor stopped, turned to his companion and asked concerned for her well being. "I'm sure the Brigadier will have some paracetamol somewhere. I made him throw out all the aspirin, just in case of accidents."
"I'll be fine," Nyssa said. A white lie but there really wasn't anything to trouble the Doctor with, was there? She set off after him, increasing her pace slightly to catch up. "Is this place far in Tegan's past?" she asked, eager to change the subject.
"A few years or so, this is 1975 according to the TARDIS readings just before the old girl's circuits gave up the ghost." The Doctor looked at the sky before pulling a tightly bundled object out of his pocket. He unrolled it and put it back into shape before putting the Panama hat on his head. "It looks like we're in for a warm afternoon once this wind shifts direction." His observation of the clouds, trees and local animals were usually an accurate guide to Earth's variable climate.
***
"John, Mike." Hsui-Tai telepathically called to her friends. "There has been a most unusual event." She described the event as best she could. English was not her first language but since mastering her special powers her capacity for learning new languages had made understanding her new friends much easier.
John and then Mike jaunted beside Hsui-Tai. She pointed to the strange blue box and repeated what she had told them before. "It just appeared out of the air like wind spirits. It was very strange."
John walked over to the TARDIS and touched it. Its surface tingled slightly under his touch. "The TARDIS!" he exclaimed presently, as if it explained everything. "I wonder where the Doctor and Romana are though."
***
"Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Tall man, moustache." The Doctor wanted to know why the UNIT receptionist had not heard of the Brigadier. "No I don't want to speak to a Colonel Creighton thank you," the Doctor complained again before demanding to see his laboratory only to be denied admittance. "I have vital equipment in there not to mention a nearly full jar of cocoa."
Nyssa took hold of the Doctors arm and tugged him away. "This isn't working Doctor, lets find what we need to fix the TARDIS elsewhere."
"There is nowhere else. I never actually told anyone here how the TARDIS works. Oh, I dropped a few hints now and again but nothing substantial. Earth at this time just does not have the relevant technological development." They exited through the glass sliding doors back into the outside world.
Again Nyssa felt the pain, it was sharper this time and there was an image of a large man in a fur coat but the fur coat covered his face and his fingers were huge claws. She gasped and stumbled, but the Doctor caught her in time.
"Nyssa? You should have told me you weren't feeling well." The Doctor reproached Nyssa but smiled, trying to hide his concern.
"I'm fine Doctor," Nyssa said, trying to hide her discomfort.
"Doctor?"
The Doctor and Nyssa turned around to see a neatly dressed young man holding a complicated sensor device that was not of earth design.
"John." The Doctor shook the young man's hand warmly. "Oh of course you don't recognise me, I've changed my appearance since we last met." The Doctor described recent events to John: E-Space; Traken; Logopolis; the Pharos Project; Castrovalva; Heathrow and Alaska. "This is Nyssa by the way." He introduced his companion finally.
Nyssa smiled despite the pain in her head. "Pleased to meet you," she said before another lance of pain made her stumble once more.
"She's in pain." John announced. "I can feel it in her mind. Is she a telepath?"
"Not really," the Doctor explained. "She's from Traken. They do have a sensitive sixth sense much like my own people but it's largely devolved into nothing more than a heightened sense of awareness."
John nodded. Alien physiology tended to vary a great deal even among humanoid species. "Perhaps if you both came back to the lab? TIM can examine Nyssa's brain."
***
The lab was quiet when John and his two guests materialised on the jaunting pad. The Doctor and Nyssa achieved this by the use of small matter transmission discs.
Nyssa stumbled forward, the shock of their unconventional transport sent waves of cramping agony through her legs and arms. She tried to protect herself as best she could as she hit the floor but there was a thud on the left side of her forehead and clouds of reds and greens swamped her vision before she slipped unconscious.
The Doctor reacted, too late of course, as he rushed over to Nyssa's side. He checked her pulse and breathing before lifting her up. "Is there anywhere she can rest for now?" he asked John.
"This way." John said, heading towards the female quarters. "She can have this room." They lifted Nyssa on to the bed and set up the autonomic regulator so that TIM could monitor her vital signs.
"She is not human," TIM intoned. "Which species does Nyssa belong to?" he asked. If he didn't know which race she was then he could not monitor her properly.
"She's from Traken Union," the Doctor offered as he and John walked back to the main section of the Lab. "She's the only survivor of the Master's decimation of their culture, if you don't count the body he possessed prior to escaping." The Doctor noticed that the Lab was a different layout and construction. "Have you painted the walls?" he asked jovially.
***
Mike placed the final matter transmitter to the police telephone box and stood back. He gave the nod to Hsui-Tai who pressed three buttons on a simple control box. They both smiled as the blue box faded out of existence and a small green light flashed on the box to indicate its successful arrival.
***
The Doctor's head twitched suddenly, as the TARDIS materialised on the jaunting pad. A thin trickle of blood ran down from his left nostril. He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at the dark red blood with it. "The TARDIS and I are joined by a temporal imprimatur." He casually informed a concerned looking John. "Nothing to worry about really." The flow of blood trickled to a halt and the Doctor cleaned his upper lip as best he could before helping John to wheel the TARDIS off the pad using a trolley. Shortly afterwards two other Tomorrow People materialised on the pad.
John did the honours of introducing the Doctor to Mike and Hsui-Tai before asking Hsui-Tai to go and check up on the Doctor's companion. "She's in F3."
***
TIM probed the TARDIS to determine the extent of the damage. He felt its presence, subdued by the collapse of key systems.
***
The young oriental girl bowed respectfully to the Doctor before leaving. She found the Doctor's young friend lying asleep on the bed. Hsui-Tai gave Nyssa a cursory examination before using a damp cloth to mop the older girl's brow. There was some sort of telepathic activity coming from her so Hsui-Tai gingerly tried a telepathic scan. Images poured into her mind. It was a cold calculating evil, ancient, malevolent and powerful. She saw a number of hairy creatures on a mountainside and in the Underground. There was too much and Hsui-Tai heard a girl scream and after a few minutes realised that it was she who was screaming. Somehow it seemed to be the right thing to do so she continued.
***
Nyssa's eyes snapped open. She scanned the small living area and the young girl lying on the floor screaming. There was a door so she opened it and entered into a small gold coloured corridor. There were two people running up the corridor towards her, one of them seemed familiar somehow.
"Nyssa, what happened?" the Doctor asked.
"There's a girl inside the room, she's screaming." Nyssa informed the two people who left her alone. She continued down the corridor into a large room filled with plants, a comfortable looking settee and a small table with three glowing hemi-spheres on its upper surface. "Where am I?" Nyssa asked.
TIM's lights flashed in a complex sequence. "This is the Lab, Nyssa of the Traken Union; welcome."
Nyssa listened to the chatter of the machine before ignoring it. She felt drawn somewhere, it was as if there was a long rope fastened around her waist pulling her towards something that she was needed for. "How do I leave?" she demanded.
"The small disc around your waist will teleport you to any location you wish me to send you," TIM replied helpfully.
Nyssa thought for a second, the image of a weather vane formed in her mind. It was of a man holding a scythe. "Lords," she replied, not knowing where the word came from. "I want to go to Lords Cricket Ground."
TIM's lights flashed for a few seconds as Nyssa walked over to the jaunting pad. Then it glowed briefly and she vanished from sight.
The Doctor and John rushed into the main room but too late; an afterimage of Nyssa faded from view on the jaunting pad.
"Where did she go TIM?" John snapped. "She's not very well."
"Nyssa of Traken was transported to Lords Cricket Ground as requested," TIM answered.
"Lords?" The Doctor smiled. "I never knew she liked cricket. Come on, let's go after her." The Doctor checked the small metal disc on his waistband was still secure.
"Jaunt us after her please TIM," John asked. "When Mike wakes up tell him of the situation, would you? Tell him to look after Hsui-Tai until we return." John stood still beside the Doctor until TIM transported them to their destination.
***
We've all seen Lords on the telly at one time or another. Usually when dad wants to see us getting beaten by the West Indies. Today however it was a bleak, overcast place that seemed to resonate with an unseen force. Nyssa stood roughly in the middle of the oval of grass; she held her arms up to the sky like she was singing God's praises herself. Her words however were strange and sinister; full of ancient cyclic verbs and stretched vowels. Her mouth was never designed for this language but somehow she was speaking it and lord almighty it would send a shiver down your spine to hear them.
The Doctor and John appeared nearby. The Doctor stroked his chin thoughtfully before walking over. He was stopped however by an invisible barrier which seemed to run in a rough circle twenty feet all the way around his companion. "Nyssa," he called. "Nyssa it's me, the Doctor. Can you hear me?"
John walked over beside the Doctor and tapped the barrier. He tried jaunting through it but it was no good, something was preventing him. "Now how are we going to get through this?" he asked. "We don't even know what's creating it."
The Doctor frowned. "Nyssa is, or at least what is controlling her actions. Something inside of her is pulling all the strings. I wonder what it can be?"
Nyssa stopped the chant. Its purpose was served. Now that the way had been prepared she could summon her minions to defend her. She was vulnerable now but not for long. With a thought she willed them into existence. Fifty mindless robot savants each filled with a drop of her essence. They would stop the Doctor once and for all. Nyssa, the Great Intelligence, threw back her head and laughed as they popped into existence.
The Doctor stood between John and the advancing fur covered robots. "Go," he commanded, "jaunt back to the lab."
"What are those things?" John stammered; looking for the stun gun he didn't bring with him.
The Doctor stared open faced at the advancing robots. "They're called Yeti," he answered, slowly and grimly.
John was about to jaunt when he heard Mike's voice inside his head telling him to duck. He dragged the Doctor to the ground before a volley of lights blazed overhead at the nearest two Yeti. He looked around to see Mike holding a stun gun in each hand firing upon the hairy monsters. "Throw me a stun gun," he ordered, before catching it and training it on another Yeti and firing at that one.
"Aim for its chest," the Doctor yelled above the roars of the Yeti. "That's where they're most vulnerable."
The two Tomorrow People fired burst after burst at the creatures until finally their two targets erupted into a thick smoky fire.
Nyssa screamed in anger and ordered the Yeti to kill the three who dared to challenge her will. It was the only way, she told herself, the only way to make sure she survived.
"Jaunt," John commanded before tapping a three-digit sequence on the Doctor's matter transmitter.
Before he could reply the Doctor found himself back inside the Lab once more. "We have to save Nyssa." He snapped. "I'll go alone, there's no reason why you should endanger yourselves." He refused the stun gun that Mike offered him. "No thanks I never touch them. I will be using more effective methods such as communication, empathy and if necessary a drive to silly mid-off."
"Now don't do anything rash," John started. "We should plan things through first. Mike you fetch Hsui-Tai while the Doctor and I try and see if we can establish contact with Elisabeth on the Trig." John waited until Mike left before turning back to the Doctor. "All right lets go and see what's up with your friend." He picked up two fully charged stun guns, fixed one in its holster around his waist and held the second in his hand. "TIM, do not jaunt Mike anywhere within a mile of Lords once we've left here. I don't want him following us again if things get hectic. It's one of our basic understandings that at least one of us remains safe at all times to preserve our species."
The Doctor nodded slowly. "Let's get going then, shall we?" They walked over to the jaunting pad and in the blink of an eye they were gone.
***
Nyssa looked at the damaged Yeti. Several key circuits were burned out but neither suffered damage in the same place. Cannibalising the more seriously damaged one she repaired the other quickly and efficiently. These savants were a simple design to ensure easy duplication and so it only took seconds before the lumbering giant hairy creature was back to full working order. What she really needed was a way to mass-produce her Yeti to ensure a swift and total victory. The creatures of Earth were tiny bleating sheep, they would follow wherever she led them and she would lead them to annihilation. The human species would suffer for every indignity they caused her. No, she decided. They deserved punishment beyond mere death; she would enslave humanity to her purpose. She would transform this pathetic species into something grander, something better. Her limitless mind quickly drew up plans to transform humans into living cyborg Yeti. Seconds later a silver sphere blinked into existence in the palm of her hand. "Yes," she said out loud. "This will do very nicely." She walked over to where a Yeti held a human captive and smiled sweetly at him. "You shall be first," she said before plunging the sphere into his chest, shattering his ribs.
The man screamed as the pain burst wetly into him. If the fearsome hairy creatures had not been holding onto his arms he would have collapsed to the floor. Why was this girl doing this, he thought, then he realised that his heart and lungs had been destroyed by the impact.
"It's working!" Nyssa cried in ecstasy. "Yes, it's working." She watched as masses of wire burst out of the sphere inside the man, pushing his unneeded flesh and blood out of the open hole in his chest. His figure started to twist as the changes speeded up. When his screams turned to Yeti roars she jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "Mankind will become my puppets!" she exclaimed proudly. Then she saw something was wrong; the Yeti's outline was twisting and buckling out of its programmed shape. Its shoulders hunched up and five, no seven, no nine arms developed instead of the expected two. One leg developed into a mass of writing steel cables, looking almost like a steel octopus. "No," she yelled as the twisted cyborg lurched around sickly. What had gone wrong? Her design was perfect.
"Having problems?" the Doctor asked. He was standing behind Nyssa along with John.
"You!" Nyssa hissed. "Destroy him!" She commanded her Yetis to attack the two interlopers.
"Your barrier isn't working now," John said as he pointed his stun gun at Nyssa. "Call them off or I fire."
Nyssa pointed at John. "Tear him to pieces, slowly," she sneered.
John waited a second before firing. The small disc of light struck her in the waist and she stumbled. He fired again this time striking her square in the face and she fell down onto the wet grass.
As one, the Yeti stopped their advance on the Doctor and John. The two men picked up Nyssa's limp body and TIM transported all three of them back to the Lab.
***
Mike and Hsui-Tai were waiting with a psi-damper when the three figures returned to the Lab. Quickly Mike fitted the device to Nyssa's head and activated it. Nyssa groaned once and was silent.
***
The Doctor paced around the Lab, he was deep in thought, occasionally asking TIM questions about Nyssa's health. There had to be something he could find. She had complained of a headache soon after they arrived. "Is there evidence of neural disruption in Nyssa's brain?"
Inside Nyssa's room the bioscope emitted an invisible ultrasound carrier wave into Nyssa's brain and relayed the results to TIM.
"Inconclusive," TIM responded slowly. "The bioscope is not calibrated for Traken brain prints. I shall download the relevant data from the TARDIS logs."
The Doctor waved a hand dismissively. "Very well. Could I please have a glass of water TIM?" The glass and water were constructed molecule by molecule right in front of his eyes, the whole process taking one, maybe two seconds. "Thank you," he said before taking a sip of the cool liquid.
***
Hsui-Tai did not sleep very well, the images she had gleaned from Nyssa's mind gave her terrible nightmares and finally she knew she just had to go and make sure that Nyssa was not suffering the same visions. She pulled on a silk dressing gown, tying it securely around her waist before setting off barefoot next door. The door was unlocked, just in case there was a need for the Doctor to enter the room. She and the others could just jaunt in if they so chose. Nyssa seemed at peace but in the dull half-light Hsui-Tai crept closer just to make sure. She was about to leave when Nyssa opened her eyes. "I am sorry for waking you," she apologised at once. "Is there anything I can get you?"
Nyssa stared at the creature. This one was slightly more developed than the first human, she considered. Perhaps she or another of her species would make better test subjects. She faked a smile to put the creature at ease. "My head hurts, this device is digging into my head. Could you loosen it a little please, just to relieve the pain?" She smiled once more, trying to manipulate the females' emotions.
"Very well." Hsui-Tai switched the psi-damper off and began to loosen it.
This was all Nyssa needed. With a glance she forced her will into the Tomorrow Person taking her by surprise. The battle was short and she was not badly damaged. Ripping the device from her head she pulled the girl to her feet and forced her crying eyes wide open. "You belong to me." Nyssa used a simple hypnosis to bend the girls broken will to hers, she would make an amusing pet, she decided. "Now then you will operate this device and take me back to my creations."
Hsui-Tai bowed. "Of course Mistress, I obey." She eagerly set the controls hoping her swiftness pleased the Mistress very much.
***
"Doctor." TIM's lights flickered and the Lab's lights came on to full power. "Nyssa and Hsui-Tai have left the Lab."
"Wake the others," the Doctor ordered. "I hope we're not too late." When the two sleepy figures of John and Mike stumbled into the main room the Doctor was ready with two cups of coffee and two stun guns. Even the most casual observer could feel his obvious distaste for the weapons as he handed them over.
"Thank you," John replied as he picked up his half-filled cup and took another large drink. "Are you ready Mike?" he asked. The younger Tomorrow person had more sleep than he did so he was more alert and responsive.
Mike upholstered his gun and checked the sights. "You bet." He smiled before putting it back.
"Remember the guns are a last resort," the Doctor preached. "Try and rescue Nyssa and Hsui-Tai without resorting to violence if possible."
***
Nyssa watched as her slave began to reactivate the Yeti. When left for long periods of time they needed a manual restart and, well, why should she risk breaking one of her fingernails when she had such a dedicated servant? "All this will be mine soon," she informed her obedient pet as the darling worked with bleeding fingers to restore the Yeti. "Twice before I have tried to seize this pathetic little planet, twice before I've been defeated by that interfering little man. This time however I've defeated him, taking the body and mind of his companion while he suspected nothing. I was a boring mundane entity before but now I am become god!" She found that saying this out loud pleased her, pleased her a great deal.
The Doctor and John materialised nearby. Mike had jaunted further away and would arrive soon in case things went wrong. They didn't want to just blunder in like last time - just look where it had got them. They crept quietly over the trimmed, dewy grass. The night air was still and cool, and the slightest sound seemed to carry on forever. They watched as Hsui-Tai worked and Nyssa watched. It was immediately apparent that Nyssa was the source of the possession. If the source had been here as the Doctor had hypothesised then they would both be labouring away. "Oh Nyssa," he whispered, "I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention to you before." Silent once more they approached closer and closer, trying to get a clear view of what they were doing.
"All shall obey me, all shall worship me." Nyssa stretched forth her hand and flexed her growing powers. The clear night sky became a blaze of lights as curtains of fiery light waved back and forth in the sky. The aurora was quite beautiful and hoping that it would keep Nyssa, or whatever was controlling her, busy he ran towards her.
Nyssa felt his presence. She knew his face now; he was the same little man who had frustrated her in the past. She had travelled with him once and she knew his heart, he would try and stop her unless she acted now. "Doctor." She called his name without once looking at him. "Doctor, you cannot stop me."
"I don't know what your game is, but it's not cricket." The Doctor walked now towards the slight figure of his possessed companion. He looked into her eyes. "Leave her alone. Take me if you have to but leave my friend alone."
"You don't understand, do you little man? I am Nyssa, I am your god." Casually she extended her hand towards his mouth. "Beg my forgiveness and I will spare your life."
The Doctor did not, could not, and would not kneel in supplication to anyone. "I do not need it," he replied simply.
Pulling her hand back Nyssa snarled, baring her teeth. "I can destroy you, Time Lord. Your tricks will not work on me or my follower." Casually she gestured to Hsui-Tai who finished activating the last Yeti. "You are too late now Doctor, behold my rule begins!" Stretching her arms skywards a brilliant column of light snaked down from the sky to surround and envelop Nyssa's body. Her Traken jacket and human trousers were seared away in microseconds to be replaced by a long gown of pure white material. Her pale skin glowed with a blue tint as an inrush of power flooded every cell of her body. "I claim this planet," she yelled in triumph. "I claim its people to serve my will." Nyssa laughed at the distressed Doctor. "I Nyssa shall forge a new future for Earth and it will be glorious!"
***
Mike muttered under his breath. Why was he the one to do all the walking? he asked to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately that turned out to be no-one at all. He made his way through the bucket seats towards the edge of the stadium. In the distance he saw a beam of light strike down from the sky before it vanished equally as mysteriously as it arrived. Getting closer he saw that the sky was alive with some sort of light show. Closer still he recognised it as the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights as his granddad in Jarrow called it. He was on the grass now and he quickened his pace when John started giving him a telepathic rundown of the situation.
***
The Doctor watched aghast as Nyssa, possessed by the Great intelligence, inspected the ranks of Yeti. It was a dark reminder of how the Brigadier used to inspect his UNIT forces every morning rain, hail or shine. That was it, UNIT or rather one member of it. It was 1976; Harry would still be seconded to them then. "John, tell Mike to contact Naval Lieutenant Harry Sullivan at UNIT. Tell him the Doctor sends this message NN-QQ, priority Six-K. Get him here ASAP."
John passed the message to Mike who complained slightly but jaunted immediately back to the Lab for directions.
***
He awoke, he felt rather than heard footsteps on the hard tiled floor. There was someone in his bedroom. Silently he slipped his hand under the sheet towards his bedside lamp. He flicked it on just in time to catch a kid trying to clobber him with some sort of gun. Springing into action Harry Sullivan jumped towards the kid but the kid was fast and managed to shoot him. He fell backwards onto the bed and he felt his chest for the drops of blood that would indicate how bad the bullet hole was. There wasn't one however but that gun had levelled him like Henry Cooper's left hook.
"Sorry Mister," Mike apologised. "I should have switched the light on first. Don't worry it's only a stun gun; the effects will wear off soon. The Doctor sent me. He told me to tell you this message. I think its some sort of code. He said NN-QQ and it was priority Six-K. I hope that means something to you Mister because the Doctor's in trouble."
Harry felt his legs and arms again. "Yeti," he said at last. "We always wondered if they would come back. UNIT was formed as a result of their first attack. Don't just stand there, help me up." Harry struggled to his feet and pulled on a pair of tweed trousers then a shirt, followed by a jacket. "Well, let's get going. Where are we going anyway?" he asked.
"Just put this on Mister and I can take us there no problem." Mike passed one of the small matter transmitters to the UNIT officer. "We can get there instantly with these."
Harry felt peculiar for a second as the image of his bunkroom faded and was replaced by the cold open air of Lords. His feet were cold and he realised that he should have picked his shoes up. They advanced closer to the cluster of Yeti that was holding John and the Doctor prisoner.
***
Nyssa held up a new silver sphere that she had prepared. "Soon all life will belong to me, they shall become a part of me, and don't you think that's wonderful?"
"They say that madmen should be humoured," the Doctor replied. "However I think that they should be fought."
"Still just as stubborn as ever Doctor." Nyssa laughed. "Remember how you let the Master kill my father? Well now I have the power to separate them. Remember how you let Adric die? Well now I have the power to save him. Remember my home Doctor? Destroyed in a pointless squabble of yours. Well now I shall save it and return home as their god. You cannot stop me, can you?" She leaned closer still until her face was all but touching the Doctors.
"I can try Nyssa, I can try." The Doctor recoiled as she rubbed the silver sphere up and down his chest.
***
Harry had seen enough. There was too many Yeti here for even a platoon of UNIT soldiers, it was time to call the heavy reserves into action. He turned to the young kid and told him what they would need. He liked the way the kid smiled at some of the heavier weaponry he suggested. Then they were gone, back to Harry's room. The kid vanished again leaving Harry alone. Pulling on his uniform he wondered whether to have coffee or tea ready for the Colonel after he was woken.
***
Nyssa stopped her conversation with the prattling Doctor. It was obvious he was playing for time, a luxury she decided to deny him. In the air above her head a silver sphere popped into existence. It was followed by another and another, then ten more then fifty then a hundred. They swirled playfully above her head before she sent them out into the cold London night seeking out human hosts to transform into cybernetic Yeti slaves.
"No," the Doctor shouted. "You can't."
Nyssa giggled and pointed skywards. "Ooops, I already did; how naughty of me." She beckoned her slave girl Hsui-Tai over and patted her head. "Ah, be so good as to transform one of these two into a Yeti for me please." She handed Hsui-Tai the sphere and watched like a proud parent as the girl obeyed.
She walked towards the Doctor and raised the sphere above her head, ready to bring it smashing down into his chest. Hsui-Tai hoped that her mistress would be pleased and allow her to be turned into a Yeti too, so that she could serve her even better. She was about to bring the sphere down when she heard a loud noise and she turned to see a man firing a missile launcher at her. Instinctively she jaunted, leaving the sphere floating in midair for a second.
Harry cheered as the missile hit the silver sphere and exploded. He was reluctant to launch but Mike had insisted that the girl would jaunt out of danger. He loaded a second missile into the tube and took aim at one of the hairy Yetis before firing.
Nyssa screamed in anger as the Yeti exploded in front of her. Shrapnel and burning bounced harmlessly off of her skin and her gown was also unmarked. She waved her hands in a complex pattern and she sent out the signal for her spheres to attack their targets, to possess them and make them into her slaves.
***
Bob Seevers turned over in bed; his insomnia was really bad tonight. His eyes hurt and his whole body ached with tiredness but somehow sleep eluded him as it always did. His troubles were soon over however when something crashed through his bedroom window and hit him hard in the chest. His hands found the jagged edges of his ribs and the last human thing he did was to scream in agony.
***
On Easy Street, an area so-called because of its red light activities, Tanya Harris was listing her service charges to a cute looking customer. She stood up to open the car door when something shiny flew into her body, knocking her off her feet. She tried to sit up but once she saw the damage to her ruined chest she screamed as her blood and guts poured out of her body onto the cold paving slabs. She heard the car rev up and drive away fast before she slipped into the mercy on unconsciousness.
***
Albert was a milkman, had been since he was a kid. Every morning he'd do his round, the young un's sitting on the back of the float ready to deliver the full bottles and bring back the empties. This changed suddenly and violently however as his life was ripped away by the object that smashed through his windscreen and then into him. He didn't have time to yell before it was too late. When it was all over he roared in delight before casually butchering one of the lads he used to employ.
***
Nyssa felt the births of each of her Yeti subjects. Soon she would have enough to tear down the false governments, smash the parliaments of those who might dare to oppose her in their blind arrogant stupidity. It would be good to make them beg, plead and submit to her before she decapitated them, she decided. Maybe she would impale some of them as an example of the futility of resistance. The more she thought about destroying this pestilent species one by one the more she liked it.
***
They moved; the Yeti swarmed out into the predawn streets. Their massed numbers tore down any and all people they encountered. They fanned out through the city, spreading out to ensure maximum casualties when the slaughter really began.
***
The Doctor looked at John and tried not to let his worry show. "I think she wants us to witness her ascension, otherwise why would she keep us alive?"
"I just wish she would get it over with. If she hadn't taken your matter transmitter we could escape."
"Why don't you leave?" the Doctor asked, the seriousness in his voice as tangible as a steel blade. "You could escape, you yourself said that you try and preserve your species. My TARDIS would take you to Gallifrey, you could warn the Time Lords before Nyssa or whatever she now is destroys the Earth."
"I'll stay here if it's all the same, Doctor." John knew that if he jaunted then this madwoman could try and kill the Doctor. That was something he couldn't be responsible for. The Tomorrow People were pledged to save lives, even if it meant sacrificing their own.
***
Mike and Harry had liberated the last piece of firepower from the UNIT base. It took all the spare matter transmitters to handle the bulk of the machine but they made it to Lords in one piece.
***
Nyssa's Yetis had spread throughout the sleepy city now. The few early risers they encountered were chased down and torn to shreds with their claws. What was left was the trampled corpses of the deceased, and red puddles of spilled blood on the streets.
***
Harry drove the heavy artillery truck slowly over the coiffured grass surface; this was Lords after all wasn't it? This piece of kit was developed from an alien weapon found on the Doctor's lab bench just after he had returned to active service. The race who created it were referred to as Ice Warriors in the Doctor's erratic notes but the military aspects of the device had become obvious as it destroyed a whole section of wall in the high security test range.
Mike jaunted behind the two Yeti holding the Doctor and John hostage. He managed to work out of their line of sight to release them before firing his stun gun at close range in-between their legs. He threw a new transmitter to the Doctor and operated it to transport him over to where Harry was waiting.
***
The Doctor frowned at the large-scale sonic cannon when Harry explained its origins. However there wasn't time for a lengthy debate as he swung the barrel of the gun slowly around and aimed it at the quite mad figure of Nyssa. Tears in his eyes he pressed the button to activate the weapon.
Nyssa looked up as a wall of noise slammed into her, throwing her down to the ground. Her ears burst as the noise started to shake her very being to pieces. She no longer needed this mundane body and so she discarded it and the original memories because she no longer needed such a pitiful collection of misery with which she could torture the Doctor. Something was wrong, the sound wave was creating instability in her mind. It pushed her along its snaking mΘnage of radio waves into a primitive audio device.
The Doctor switched the machine off and reversed the polarity of the neutron flow. This caused the device to self-destruct in a small explosion with a loud shockwave. He left the burning debris and raced over to where Nyssa's body laid unmoving. He put one hand on her forehead and another on the side of her neck. His great relief at the sign of a faint pulse was obvious as he shouted for Harry's medical services.
***
Their controlling influence gone, the Yeti started to attack each other, tearing one another into pieces of fur and metal. When dawn did arrive all we found were the remains. Of course they told us it was some sort of accident and we believed them, after all what else could it be?
***
Nyssa was feeling better, the headaches had gone at last but her body took longer to heal. For some reason the young oriental girl kept avoiding her and she just wasn't in any condition to find out why. The Doctor had informed her of the events of the last twenty-four hours but everything after their arrival on Earth was a blank.
***
It was dark in the warehouse on Lowfield Road but once the lads arrived to stack some piles of wood inside it shafts of light pierced the gloom. In one corner there sat a small silver ball, light caught part of its metallic surface and sometimes it made a slight buzzing sound just audible to the human ear.
***
It was another three days before TIM pronounced Nyssa fit enough to travel once more. She had come to know the Tomorrow People quite well. Even Hsui-Tai had opened up to her finally and Nyssa apologised for the actions she had no clear memory of. The Doctor had repaired the TARDIS with TIM's help. The small computer, when necessary, had created new circuit boards and the Doctor downloaded many of the TARDIS' databanks into his own as an exchange.
Now however was the exchange of goodbyes. Nyssa thanked John, Mike and Hsui-Tai for everything and they thanked the Doctor for his help. Inside the TARDIS Nyssa headed straight for her room where she changed out of the white gown and into something altogether more Trakenite. When she returned to the console room she found the Doctor adjusting the controls once more.
"Ah Nyssa, good." The Doctor looked up. "You know, I quite forgot to repair some of these systems. Would you like to give me a hand?"
Nyssa felt a surge of relief inside, the Doctor trusted her. It felt good somehow. "Of course Doctor, what tools will you need?"
The Doctor informed his companion of the location and watched as she left, full of busy intent. He smiled before returning his attention to damaging the circuits before she returned.
***
The sphere sat still for many years, it did not register the passage of time and it was still active when it was discovered at last. Victoria Waterfield smiled at her discovery. This was surely the key to restoring her father's life, wasn't it?
AUTHORS NOTE: This story takes place between Time-Flight and Arc of Infinty, and in the TP series between Hitler's Last Secret and The Thargon Menace. It also acts as a prequel to Downtime.
