The sun that Carunodus orbited shone down warm and delightful rays onto the sunward side of the planet. Melanie Bush lay stretched out on her pink and yellow beach towel enjoying the rest and relaxation after her recent adventures in Pompeii. Only a trim white bikini kept her on the respectable side of a very good tan. Suddenly there was a shadow passing in front of her closed eyelids. She opened one eye and squinted slightly. "Doctor? Where've you been?"
The Doctor, a mysterious time traveller, smiled broadly at his ginger haired travelling companion. "I bring a gift."
"Ice cream?" Mel savoured the icy vanilla flavour. "I haven't had ice cream since I was seven. We used to go to Blackpool every summer when I was a little girl. Dad always bought me an ice cream on our first day there. Of course when he left we never went there again and ice cream just wasn't the same anymore."
"So madam approves?" the Doctor asked.
Nodding her head she crunched the last of the cone and swallowed. "Madam does indeed!" Having finished the dessert Mel picked up her towel, shook the sand off it, and wrapped it around her waist. "If only we had a donkey, you know, straw hat perched on its head, it would be great."
The Doctor smiled to himself now. "I couldn't coax it into the TARDIS Mel, it just didn't seem motivated no matter how many carrots I tried tempting it with."
"Oh Doctor you didn't?" Mel looked into his eyes for a second. "Did you?"
"If you could go back into the past for just a moment Mel, would you like to be young again?"
"This is out of left field isn't it, Doctor?" Mel wondered where the Doctor was going to with this line of thought. She cast her mind back to when she was a child, selfish with unmanageable hair. "I'd rather go back and give myself a good talking to." She finally answered. "Talk about being a brat, I was horrible to mum."
"But if you could recapture that moment in time when you thought dragons were real, that princesses lived in castles and dreams always came true, would you go back?"
Mel thought about this again; to live without fear, to know happiness and contentment. "I don't know Doctor, perhaps for an hour or so. What is it with all these questions? You have fully stabilised haven't you?"
The Doctor nodded sullenly before recounting an old childhood memory to Mel. "When I was a child my father took me fishing. Every summer we would sneak out of Lungbarrow to the nearby river. For hours we would just sit there waiting for the fish to take the bait, we would talk about anything, everything. When the sun was setting we would return and one of my cousins would fry them all up and the whole family would sit down to a sumptuous banquet."
"You're feeling home sick?" Mel asked, wondering if this was the cause for her friend's sullen mood.
"Time sick Mel. My life seems too complicated these days. I don't know why I keep doing all this. I take you here and there, show you sights and wonders and it's all to distract myself."
"Hey, I'm grateful I have you for a friend. You're the best thing that's happened to me since Symphony Collins fixed me up with her brother when I was at school."
"I know how much it means to you Mel but I'm just running away from my problems."
"Well then let's make today official Doctor day. Today we'll do what ever you want to do."
The Doctor tapped Mel's nose softly. "Did I ever mention how nice you are?"
Mel laughed heartily. It was good to see him in a better mood already. "Yes, but you can tell me again if I forget."
"Oh dear." The Doctor pointed at the sky with his umbrella.
Mel turned round to see a large spaceship descending. Several smaller craft emerged from its sides and flew off in different directions. "You want to go on a ride in a spaceship? Okay then I'll get the tickets."
"No Mel, run. It's a Hacxian Battle cruiser." The Doctor hooked the arm of his friend with the handle of his multicoloured golf umbrella. "Quickly!"
***
They found refuge in the shade of a small copse of trees. "We'll be safe here for now Mel."
"That's not a friendly spaceship then?" Mel waited for an obvious 'no' but the sight of laser cannons opening fire made the point known. "Oh. Do we stop them Doctor? What am I saying? Of course we'll stop them. What's the plan?"
"Nothing springs to mind Mel. Although if we can somehow sneak on board their ship we can disable their weapons. That will stop all this unnecessary slaughter."
Mel noticed that the Doctor seemed to verbalise all his recent moody feelings into the last sentence. "If we can get to the TARDIS we can materialise onboard."
"I know Mel but the TARDIS is on the other side of that ship."
This wasn't great news Mel had to admit. "So sneaking it is then?"
"Yes, and quietly."
***
The ground around the ship was churned up and most of the sand had been turned into a very sharp glass. Luckily Mel was wearing a pair of thick-soled flip-flops, which protected her feet; although she did loose the towel when it got snagged on some of the glass.
The Doctor pressed a number of numerical sequences into one of the airlocks until with a puff of cold air it wheezed open. "Ladies first." He gestured Mel inside.
Reluctantly Mel popped her head inside, the air seemed quite fresh. "It seems okay Doctor. Hey there's a row of suits in here.
The Doctor discovered Mel fastening the press-studs of the flimsy yellow and grey boiler suit. "Suits you Mel, now come on."
The ship was cold and annoyingly dark for Mel's liking. "I guess they must see into a different wavelength or something." She announced cheerfully and loudly.
"Shhh Mel, if they hear us it's all over."
"Sorry Doctor. This is fun though, go on admit it." Somehow being on a ship crewed by killers didn't seem the worst thing for Mel to do.
"I have the right to remain silent Mel."
"Only if they catch us Doctor. What are the chances of that?" Mel asked.
"About one in one I'm afraid Mel." The Doctor replied looking down the barrel of an energy rifle.
***
They had been chained up to the wall in one of the rooms inside the spaceship. Mel tested her wrist bonds but they were securely fixed. "Why are they going to kill us again Doctor?" Mel wanted to know why the Hacxians were so violent.
"Well if my memory serves me well, they see themselves are the only pure race in the galaxy, morally and philosophically speaking, so everyone else is impure and will taint their perfect purity."
"They sound like loonies to me." Mel tried to stamp her foot on the cold metal floor but her ankles were also firmly fastened to the wall. "I wish I'd put those boots on as well, the floors freezing."
"Relax Mel, try to think positively."
How can I think positively, Mel thought, the planets being decimated and we're tied up inside their headquarters about to be killed in some horrible manner? This was worse than three weeks in a gravel quarry, more terrifying than having to impersonate the Rani. "So this is it, we're going to die aren't we Doctor?"
"Huh?" The Doctor turned and looked at Mel. "I was hoping for something more positive than that."
She slipped a hand out of the manacle and scratched her nose. Then Mel tried hysterical sobbing to pass the time.
"Mel, go into my pocket, there's a book in there that may help."
Timidly Mel reached into the Doctor's coat pocket. The last time she had tried this she had discovered a mousetrap so she was wary. However there was indeed a book of sorts inside. 'Stop Screaming' the cover read. "Hey I like the cover."
"Yes, most of you do. It's the Companion's Handbook. Press the fast cue button then 'S'. Look up Shock and then Screaming."
Engrossed in the handy advice, Mel found herself relaxing. Apparently getting chained up inside alien spaceships was a common occurrence and she should do her best to free the Doctor. The screaming section was particularly handy; apparently she had the power to burst eardrums if she got the right frequency. Quickly she freed her other hand before releasing her sore ankles. Then she started to loosen the Doctor's chains. Now all she had to do was find a comfortable pair of shoes and everything would be okay.
"No Mel, there isn't time. Get out of here and save yourself."
"But Doctor, I can't leave you in here."
"You must go, go now Mel."
Mel looked deep into the Doctors eyes and seeing the sincerity in them she turned and left.
***
Wave after wave of ships rained down fiery death upon the population, the body count was horrifying, the damage to buildings turned concrete into shards of instant death and steel became sprays of burning agony. Jaco Masr could only watch as his whole world was turned upside down, inside out and then pulverised into burning debris.
***
Quietly Mel slipped away from the ship. She was surprised she had not been shot, stabbed or recaptured by the aliens. The scene outside was one of complete destruction, everything was either smashed into pieces or burning fiercely, billowing huge clouds of smoke.
***
Jaco watched as the off-worlder ran across the debris towards his location. At last he had the chance to get his hands on one of them. He waited until it got nearer and nearer until he sprung into action. He clamped one hand around its mouth and used his other hand to grasp its flailing limbs.
Mel struggled to free herself from her captor but it was too strong and she was overpowered. There was small compensation however as she bit into its hand and kicked his shins with her bare feet.
"Will you stop struggling?" Jaco tried desperately to retain his grip on the alien but it broke free from him.
"Will you let me go?" Mel demanded. "Why is it every time I go anywhere on a holiday something bad happens to me? First my parents tell me they're splitting up and now there's an alien invasion force and my best friend drags me inside to explore." The thought of how close she had been to being killed dawned on her and she hugged the stranger and cried into his shoulder. Finally she composed herself and told the stranger about her desertion of the Doctor. "He's still in there and I've got to get him out."
Still wary of the orange haired off-worlder Jaco told her about the devastation that he had witnessed. He told her of the attacks and the bodies burned to cinders. He looked deep into her eyes and realised this was no killer but somebody just as scared and alone as he was. "My city is in ruin and my family are all dead."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Mel didn't know what to say and told him so. "I'm Melanie Bush by the way, my friends call me Mel."
"Jaco, Jaco Masr. Everyone calls me Jaco."
"So what is there to do in this city Jaco?" Mel tried to remain positive; feeling depressed was not going to help either of them right now.
"We can go and rescue your friends, this mysterious Doctor friend of yours. If we can only save one life from all of this maybe I can someday forgive myself."
"You can't blame yourself for being alive," Mel started to explain.
"I know I shouldn't, but I do. Come on, before it's too late." Jaco took Mel's soft hand in his and led her outside.
***
"I'll not tell you anything." The Doctor glared at the marsupial alien. "Nothing at all."
"Tell me what the defences of this planet are now."
"They have six heat seeking penguins."
"You are not stupid, we know that. The pain you feel is only level four, tell me now and I will give you a quick painless death. Continue with this nonsense and I will raise it to level seven."
"The penguin is the most deadly device ever created, it can destroy whole cities in one blast. Imagine what six of them aimed at this ship can do?"
"This is level seven. Now tell me what the defences of this planet are."
***
"This is the way." Mel retraced her steps through the shattered buildings and shrapnel torn streets. Several times they needed to duck into meagre cover as scout ships streaked overhead, scanning for survivors. They spotted one or two others, half crazed with shock, but reluctantly they had to ignore these poor victims lest they be discovered. "We're almost there now." Mel stated finally, feeling the cold dread rising up inside her stomach.
"Impressive." Jaco stated looking at the palace-sized leviathan. "What are its defences?"
***
"One last time, tell me what the defences of this planet are now or your life is forfeit."
"The Penguin can travel at twice the speed of purple except on Thursdays when it has a rest."
"Enough of this foolishness."
"Oh but we were getting on so well! Tell you what, why don't we play hide and seek? You count to infinity and I'll go somewhere and hide."
"I would think your mind was addled if it were not for the look of intelligence in your eyes."
"Oh well it was a good plan, make you think I was mad then you would release me into the community. I used to be so good at it once."
"Now that we know your intelligence tell me what the defences of this planet are."
"I can't."
"Why not? Is it some sort of code of honour?"
"I'm not from this world, I'm a tourist."
"I find that hard to believe. We have been monitoring and destroying all ships heading towards this planet for the last three planetary orbits around the local star."
"That's obscene."
"Its progress. All life that is not pure must be swept away to purify the sanctity of life."
"I rest my case." The Doctor tried to cross his arms but failed due to the heavy, chunky metal restraints.
***
Mel pressed the correct access code for the airlock. "One of the benefits of having a good memory, I never forget my credit card numbers. It's the same with any numerical code. However remembering conversations and lectures is my speciality. I was the only person to get a double first in my year at University."
"Is boasting also one of your skills?"
"Sorry, I picked that up from the Doctor's last incarnation. We don't need guns, Jaco."
Jaco put the handful of guns back in the rack. "I thought we might need backup."
"This is their ship. No matter how heavily armed we are, guns would only end up a liability. This way." Mel retraced her exit path in reverse until they found the Doctor who was being tortured by what seemed to be an eight-foot tall koala. The shock of seeing such an awful sight made her scream as loud as possible.
"Mel!" The Doctor spotted his companion. "I told you to get out of here."
Jaco sprang into action and he swung at the tall alien with a metal bar. "This is for my wife." He swung the bar again. "My son." He swung once more. "My daughter." He swung the bar again for one final time. "For my unborn child." Then, realising what he had done, he let the blood stained weapon fall to the floor with a dull crash.
"Come on Doctor." Mel struggled at the solid metal restraints. There seemed to be a lot of buttons on a control panel but she didn't want to tempt fate; knowing her luck she would probably electrocute him first. "Jaco, help me. We have to free the Doctor quickly."
Jaco stood up and looked at the small badly beaten man. He didn't seem to be quite the hero Mel had made him out to be. "If we had a gun we could cut them open."
"If you had a gun you would get yourself killed trying to kill everyone on this ship." Mel snarled. "Now help me free the Doctor."
"Alright, just quit the guilt trip okay?" Jaco added his strength to Mel's and slowly the restraints popped open freeing the small man's wrists and ankles.
"Thank you; Jaco wasn't it? I'm the Doctor." The Doctor pulled a small grey marble out of thin air and handed it to Jaco. "Don't lose it now, it's quite my favourite."
***
Now at a safe distance, the Doctor, Mel and Jaco found themselves suddenly surrounded by troops. They weren't Hacxian though, Mel thought, they seemed to be the local military forces.
"Don't shoot, they're not enemy forces." General Kaldo barked the order for his troops to lower their weapons. "Glad to see a few civilians alive in all this..." He swept his arm at the panorama of devastation. "...This nightmare."
"Well we're all very lucky. My friend Mel and this gentleman just plucked me out of their command ship. It seems they thought I was some sort of military genius."
"Are you a military genius?" the General asked hopefully.
"Good heavens no, I'm just your regular type of genius."
"Never mind lad, we need boffins to help design some sort of weapon to get through that damned armour of theirs."
"Dwarf star Alloy. Very heavy, very resilient. What you need is a gravimetric device. Simply set up a resonance gravity pulse and it will shatter into lots of tiny pieces."
"Could you repeat that last part please, son?" the General asked. "The bit that comes after simply."
The Doctor repeated his explanation while Mel went to discover if they had any refreshments. He noticed that she dragged Jaco along with her.
***
Mel examined the compact but well supplied base. "I wonder if they have any proper clothes around here? This outfit is very thin and night's fast approaching. I'm almost frozen to death as it is."
"I'm sure we'll find you something." Jaco laughed. "It's funny, despite all we've been through you can keep my spirits going."
"The Doctor say's I'm relentlessly cheerful."
"I'd have to agree with him, we need that if we're going to get through this."
The wailing of alarm sirens interrupted their light-hearted conversation and a dozen troopers rushed past them. Above them the roof started to crack and a large chunk of plaster connected with Mel's head.
***
Trails of yellow coloured light streaked up at the purple coloured attack ships. Most of the firepower missed but there were one or two hits. However they caused minimal or no damage to the ships. The Hacxian ships however rained down thousands of energy pulses tearing up the ground once again and adding more casualties to the growing death toll.
***
Jaco threw himself over Mel's prone figure as the roof started to fall in. He offered up a silent prayer that they make it out of this alive. He looked down at Mel and hoped the impact to her head was not serious.
***
The Doctor and General Kaldo surveyed the damage to the base. The basic structure was sound but the ceilings had taken heavy damage and a lot of it was now exposed to the sky. The enemy knew their location now; they would have to find somewhere new. Entering a new room the Doctor gasped when he saw Jaco fussing over the unconscious figure of Mel.
"Doctor. She was hit. A large piece of the roof hit her on the head."
Checking the wound, the Doctor discovered it wasn't a serious injury. "Her species has the most resilient skulls, I think that hers is particularly thick."
"She's going to be all right then?"
"Of course, she should recover in a few hours. Better to leave her out of it though, there's nothing she can do here anyway. We're moving out of here, do you think you can help me carry her?"
"She can walk perfectly fine by herself thank you very much." Mel opened her eyes. "No need to worry about me really. Once the room stops spinning I'll be back to my usual self."
***
The trek through the bombed out wastelands was slow going. The resistance had by necessity been forced to split up into many small units in order that some of them had a chance of reaching the secondary base. Each unit was given their own route to follow. Some were short and direct while others were longer and more obtuse.
General Kaldo, the Doctor, Jaco, Mel and former bank clerk turned soldier Alayna comprised one such unit. They had one of the shorter routes due mainly to Mel's injury and the Generals need to start co-ordinating the resistance fight back as soon as possible. For the most part they were overcautious, pausing and waiting at the slightest flicker of light or shadow. The Hacxian scout ship caught them by surprise however as Alayna was helping Mel to traverse a particularly loose section of rubble. She more or less threw the off-worlder to the ground and opened fire at the ship with her rifle. Mel started to crawl towards shelter as shrapnel tore up the ground all around her. Suddenly there was a scream and a sickly warm liquid splashed all over Mel's back. When she saw the burning head of the soldier roll in front of her face Mel screamed and screamed until she passed out.
***
Bright light woke her up with a splitting headache. Mel saw her friend looking concerned at her. "Oh Doctor, I had the most terrible nightmare. We were on this planet and then these other aliens invaded, it was terrible."
"Hush Mel, it wasn't a dream." The Doctor held his frightened young friend as she started to shake with fear.
"Ah there you are. I've found some new clothes she can wear. Will Mel be alright Doctor?" Jaco let the pile of clothes drop onto a nearby chair. "I'd better go and see if the General needs me." Jaco left the two aliens to it.
***
"Ah Masr, feel like helping us reclaim our world?" General Kaldo clapped the civilian on the shoulder.
"Please call me Jaco, from now on it's just Jaco. My family name died with my family."
"Ah, I understand. I'm told you killed one of them one on one. Very brave of you son, very brave."
"Well I did surprise it and I had a metal bar but yeah, they can be beaten."
"That's the attitude I like to hear. Right now we need all the hope we can get it. There haven't been any more units back here in an hour. Either they've been picked off or they've been captured. I'm sure we'll get one or two more stragglers; not all of them had seen a map never mind a lodestone compass. I would like to make you my morale officer, I need someone who can keep up the spirits of the rest of us."
"Thank you General. I'll try to do my best."
"I know you will my boy, now why not go and see if that young lady needs any help? I'm not insensitive to the mood of my troops; I've seen the way you look at her. Friendship isn't anything in war, it's everything; without it we may as well not bother fighting.
"Yes sir."
***
"Jaco." Mel hugged him as he entered the room. "I never thanked you for saving my life did I?"
"Oh it was nothing, just a reflex action really."
"Nonsense you protected me after I was knocked out, it was a very brave thing to do. What do you think of the army surplus by the way? Maybe not Oxford Street but it's practical." She did a quick turn before putting her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. "Ohh, I'm still a little dizzy from the blow."
"You'd better sit down." Jaco advised. "We don't want you tripping over and breaking your ankle do we?"
"No I guess me." Mel gushed. "So what did the General say? Tell me everything."
Jaco explained how the General had made him morale officer and that many of the resistance hadn't made it to the secondary bunker. He finally told her not to give up hope.
Mel thought that General Kaldo seemed to be a very good leader and said so. She watched Jaco's eyes while she talked. He seemed to want to look at her but he couldn't.
"Yes, the General is a great man."
"I agree." The Doctor entered the room with two armfuls of electronics. "Just the two volunteers I need. You can give me a hand getting all this set up."
"A gun?" Mel asked horrified.
"A gun!" Jaco exclaimed hopefully.
"No, something better, a sonic resonance projector. I was talking about it earlier to General Kaldo. It will destroy the armour on their mother ship leaving it vulnerable to attack. Once that happens they will withdraw their forces and go somewhere else."
"Surely we can reason with them first? Isn't it better if they leave of their own accord? If we force them to leave they may return with more ships, bigger ships."
"You can't reason with them Mel. They've slaughtered too many of my people for any of us to sit around a table and talk. The sooner they leave, the better."
***
The device was finally ready. Three of General Kaldo's fastest soldiers had taken the projector to the optimum firing location. They ran back as quickly as possible although one of them was not fast enough and a scout ship picked him off with a single shot.
"You should fire it." Mel handed the control box to the General.
"No, it's the Doctor's invention. He should have the honour." Kaldo passed the box to the Time Lord.
"This is not my world, you must help yourselves." The Doctor handed the box to Jaco. "You must choose your own way in life."
"Go on son." General Kaldo encouraged the younger man.
Jaco studied the cool metal box. It was not much to look at really; it had been a remote control for an optical disc player. Now all the buttons hade been removed except one and where the batteries had gone there was now a mass of wires inserted into the cavity. Finally he pressed the button. "For Jemn." Hearing his wife's name brought a fat tear to his eye. "For my world."
At first nothing seemed to happen but then as Mel watched yellow light struck the flank of the huge spaceship. There was a terrible sound of screeching metal and slowly it began to crumble as if superglue had been poured onto polystyrene in fast forward.
"It's working." The Doctor stated before turning away to leave. "They'll leave now."
"Thank you Doctor, Melanie." Kaldo shook the off-worlder's hands. "You have done more for our world than we can ever repay you for. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Don't look for revenge. Don't become like the Hacx. Don't turn into them."
"My people are hurt and angry Doctor. What shall I tell them when they demand justice?"
"I never give advice, but I will say this; peace is there if you are willing to find it." The Doctor left to search for the TARDIS in all the debris.
"I'll give you two some room. You don't need an old soldier hanging around." Kaldo left Jaco and Mel alone.
"Come with me." Mel spluttered. "We can be together."
"I'd like to Mel, believe me. I have to help rebuild my planet first."
"In the TARDIS you could be away forever and still return the second after you left."
"Think of what you could learn, what knowledge you could find to help your people."
"That's not why I would go if I could."
"What is a good reason?"
"This." Jaco leaned down slightly and kissed Mel.
Her stomach felt like a thousand butterflies and her heart pounded the tune of love. "It's not enough though is it?" Mel kissed Jaco, this time her mind went swirly.
"One day perhaps, when I'm ready for it. Perhaps you can drop by and we can see the sun rise on an alien planet, feel the breeze on our faces perhaps?"
"I think I'd like that, I think I'd like it a lot." They kissed once more before they parted.
***
The Doctor watched as his flame haired companion made her way towards the TARDIS alone. "Not a mark on her." Her patted the side gently. "Ready to leave?"
"We will visit here again sometime? To check on how they're doing?"
"Of course we will Mel, I'm sure there's a number of things to check on."
"That's good, there are some things that shouldn't go unfinished." Entering the TARDIS Mel went to her room and filled up five pages in her diary.
***
Two figures watched the TARDIS dematerialise. "She'll be back one day lad, now have you ever though about going into politics?"
"No, what do you have in mind?"
"I've heard that the Galactic Federation requires us to send an envoy to their central council, that is if our application is successful."
