Night Shade

Chapter 1: Wasteland

A man looked up into space. He could’ve sworn he saw something moving. Yes! There it was again. A shooting star perhaps? Yes, it was about to hit the ground. The dull boom confirmed the man was right, and the landing site was fairly close by.

Briefly the man considered reporting this to the authorities, but soon dismissed it. They would find out anyway, and if he reached the star first he might get some valuable trinkets.

Hurrying over the desolate landscape, he rushed to the impact site. It was still smoking when he arrived, but the moonlight was glinting off something metal. Wrapping his gloves firmly around his hands, the man went to pull out the metal. As his fingers touched it, part of the metal glided back and a small cylinder appeared. The man stared at it for a few moments before he realised what it was.

Screaming, he tried to back away, but was too slow. The laser beam burned through his skull and killed the man. The laser retracted back into the alien artefact and waited for further instructions. Waiting for the right kind of humans, those in the military, to find it.

6 months later …

The landscape was desolate and cold. The tundra plain was barren save for a few trees and snow being whipped around by the wind. That was about to change as a distinctive wheezing sound penetrated the whistling wind. Time and space rippled as the TARDIS materialised, still in its police box shape.

The door to the TARDIS opened and out stepped a familiar figure clad in a flamboyant coat and yellow trousers. He looked around the landscape first with surprise and then perplexity. Frowning, he looked at the instrument he held in his hand.

"That’s odd. Either England has become a lot colder than when I last visited or the TARDIS has landed in the wrong place." He finally pronounced. "And as the TARDIS has recently been fixed, England must be in the middle of some freak snowstorm. How very strange." He was talking to himself, but his assistant overheard him.

"Or you could have made a mistake." An American voice sounded from inside the TARDIS. "Come on Doctor, it’s cold, lets leave and try again."

"Wrong? Me! Peri, you should have learnt by now that I … am … never … wrong." The Doctor said with finality. He walked back in to the TARDIS to continue his argument with Peri.

"Of course not Doctor. It’s just that, there might have been a hitch in your calculations somewhere." Peri said, trying to placate the Doctor. His temper tantrums were getting less frequent, but they were still there and they were still very annoying.

"Hitch? Hitch? Do you mean a mistake my dear Peri? And considering what I have just said do you think that is likely?" The Doctor said staring at Peri with a trace of irritation on his face.

"Yes Doctor." Peri said. Tactically it wasn’t a good move, but Peri followed it up with a line guaranteed to defuse the Doctor’s temper, at least, it had done so before. "Even a genius like you must make the rare mistake now and then."

"Perhaps, but I would still like to know where I am." The Doctor said in an off-hand way. Peri smiled as she heard this, her plan had worked yet again. It had taken a while but she had worked out how to handle the Doctor’s quirky character. Sighing, she went back to her room to change out of her bikini and into something warm. She undid her hair and let it flow over her shoulders: just the way she liked it.

"So where are we?" She asked as she selected a suitably warm garment and began to get changed.

"I think when would be the more appropriate question Peri. Remember, we are in the TARDIS." The Doctor replied as he examined the TARDIS console. "Ah! Here we are. Oh…" The Doctor stopped mid-sentence as he found the information.

Peri, dressed now, heard the concern in the Doctor’s voice and dashed out. She knew that tone of voice and it usually meant trouble. "What is it Doctor?"

"We are on Earth, Siberia to be exact." He said with a note of concern in his voice. Peri was somewhat taken aback by this. What with the Daleks, Cybermen and that horrible Sil, Siberia seemed like heaven to her.

"What’s so bad about that, apart from the cold."

"The point is when Peri, when." The Doctor said, wagging his finger at her as he spoke. Peri was still unimpressed by this, Siberia was Siberia. It hadn’t really had anything else as far as she knew, and it was quite safe, as long as they didn’t indulge in the Doctor’s habit of interfering.

"So? When is it then?"

"Late 1981"

A few miles away the alien device was held in maximum quoranty. It started to pulsate slowly, too slowly to be detected by the monitoring systems yet. It was only a question of time before everything would be completed.

"What’s so bad about 1981?" Peri asked. "That’s almost the time I came from. It would be nice to have a look round again."

"The point, Peri, is that we are in the Soviet Union at a time when relations between it and the United States were extremely bad. I don’t think they’d take kindly to finding strangers here, and certainly not ones with American and British accents."

Peri gulped. She had heard the news reports back then of course, but it hadn’t concerned her duly. Who would have been mad enough to start a nuclear war? But to actually risk capture during this time … "Doctor, maybe we should consider leaving?"

"Normally I would agree with you Peri. But we can’t." The Doctor replied grimly.

Peri looked shocked- surely they hadn’t already been found? She hadn’t seen anyone yet. A sudden dread hit her as she saw a vision her rotting away in some Soviet prison cell.

The Doctor looked at Peri, surprised she hadn’t pestered him for more explanations. He noticed her concern and realised just how scared she was at the prospect of being captured by the Soviets.

"I’m sorry Peri, we can’t. The TARDIS has detected an alien device in the area. And I have a nasty feeling it isn’t friendly. If we leave now it could well destabilise the situation and trigger a nuclear war."

"But there wasn’t one!" Peri exclaimed, her fears and frustrations starting to well up. The Doctor tried to calm her down with some explanations, though he didn’t expect then to have much effect on someone like Peri.

"That doesn’t mean there won’t be. The only reason war did not break out could have been because we stopped it. We have to stay and help Peri."

The alien device detected the non-human machine and broadcast a signal to the other devices like it around the globe. This non-human may be able to disable this machine, but if all the devices were activated, nothing could prevent them.

"Listen Peri, if you like, you can stay here. I can do this alone."

"Are you sure Doctor?" Peri asked. She looked very distressed and the Doctor could understand why. Whilst she may not be able to do very much, well, she had saved the Doctor’s lives on a few occasions, she wanted to help the Doctor, even though she risked capture. The Doctor reflected that even though Peri could annoy him at times, but she was a great asset to him too. If she was here and he needed her, he would be in great trouble. On the other hand, if she came and was captured they would both run a great risk.

Peri evidently came to the same conclusion and made a painful decision: "No Doctor, I’ll come with you."

"Thank you Peri. Now, I’ll set the TARDIS to scan the area and see what we can find."

"Doctor, I think that won’t be of much help." Peri said with fear prominent in her voice.

The Doctor quickly looked up from his work and saw the Klasnikov rifles pointed at him and Peri.

"American scum, you are our prisoners." One Soviet soldier said in heavily accented English. "You will come with me, or you will be shot for spying on the Soviet Union."

Chapter 2: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Despite the fear she was feeling, Peri couldn’t help but wonder how the TARDIS had been found so quickly. Either the soldiers had been plain lucky, or the Doctor had managed to land next to a military encampment. Either way, things were not looking good. She was American and the Doctor was, well, he had a British accent. And these soldiers would not take kindly to their presence so far inside the Soviet Union. She moved slightly towards the Doctor, mainly for support.

"Don’t move!" One of the soldiers shouted, pointing his gun at her. "Come with us!"

"Rather impolite aren’t they?" The Doctor said to Peri. "The least you could do is introduce yourselves."

"Quiet! Do not move or speak unless told do! Follow us." The lead soldier said, motioning for the Doctor and Peri to leave the TARDIS.

"Where are they taking us Doctor?" Peri whispered as she followed the Doctor.

"To their base I would imagine. Either way, we could be in a spot of bother."

"Thanks Doctor, I would never have realised that by myself." Peri said flippantly. A shudder ran down her spine. She had the feeling they would never see the TARDIS again…

They seemed to have walked several miles through the freezing cold of Siberia. At last Peri could see their destination- a grey military complex. It was very functional, with several guards on patrol and stationed in lookout buildings. Peri reflected on the cost of building such a base here, and wondered just how many of these things there were. The Doctor didn’t seem too concerned by it, but then, he rarely did. He had probably been here when the thing was first built.

The soldiers led them to the main gate, and reported their discovery to the guards. Peri didn’t speak Russian, and was at a loss as to the conversation. The Doctor, by contrast, seemed rather interested and looked like he was about to but in. The rifles of the troops deterred him though, and they were led inside the base.

"Well, at least that’s over." Peri said. They had been led through what seemed like miles of ill-lit tunnels before suffering basic interrogation. The guards had been none too gentle in the treatment of their guests, and both she had and the Doctor had bruises on them. The Doctor’s looked like his were starting to heal: hers were only just beginning to come up badly. After all that they had been left in this cell.

"Over? My dear Peri, it’s only just begun. For all the faults of the Soviet Union, one thing they are very good at is interrogations."

"Oh thanks Doctor. I feel much better now."

"Well you did ask. Now be quiet and let me think things over for a bit." The Doctor noticed his words were not reassuring Peri in the least. Feeling slightly guilty about this he leaned over and said: "Look, Peri. There’s nothing we can do for the moment. Why don’t you try and get some rest? I’ll keep guard and maybe your bruises will heal a bit?"

Peri smiled weakly at the Doctor, pleased he was paying some attention to her. She mumbled acquiescence and lay down on the metal bench. She took a final to look around their cell, not that there was much to see. It was deserted save for the bench they were seated on. It looked like they were on for a long wait.

The alien device suddenly realised the non-human was nearby. The machine that he had arrived in had not yet moved though, so the threat was minimal. The device broadcast this fact to space and waited for further instructions. Time was running out for the humans, and this non-human.

The door slid open.

"Stand. Follow me." The soldier said.

"Not very talkative are they?" The Doctor commented as he got up. "Rather like the Daleks in that matter."

"Don’t remind me." Peri said as she followed the Doctor. Maybe now they would find out what was happening. Either that, or they would end up being shot as spies. Peri had the feeling this was turning into a very bad day.

Again they were led through the grey corridors before turning into a new one Peri hadn’t seen before. At the end was a door, which they were led through. Inside was a desk, several Soviet flags, a map of the USSR and a few chairs. Things were looking up. This looked decidedly like one of the top brass’ offices. Perhaps now they would be treated a bit better.

"Spasiba, comrade," a man Peri had not noticed before said. He moved into the middle of the room and dismissed the guard. He paced the room before turning towards them both and asking them questions in Russian. Peri hoped the Doctor wouldn’t reply in Russian, otherwise she would be totally lost.

"I’m afraid my young companion doesn’t speak Russian." The Doctor said helpfully.

"English eh? Since when did you start invading the Soviet Union?" The base commander asked.

"I’m not actually English," the Doctor started, "although I could be." He added thoughtfully.

"And your friend?"

"I’m .. I’m American." Peri stammered.

"American scum! Always you are violating our country. Your President, Reagan, prepares for war on the peaceful Soviet Union!" The commander turned to the Doctor, "And here you are, spying on us. Why are you here?"

"Strange question, considering you believe we are spies." The Doctor wondered aloud.

"You are not?" The commander asked with scorn.

"No we most certainly are not! I find the very suggestion intolerable! In fact.."

"Silence! You will not speak unless to answer my questions! Now, what are you doing here?"

The Doctor glanced at Peri before replying. "My urm, craft, crashed here. I was simply finding out where I was before your guards arrested us."

The commander considered this for a moment. "Why were you here then? Aside from the Soviet Union there is nothing else here at all. You must be spies."

"Please, not all that again. We are not, and never have been spies."

"Then what were you doing over here?"

"Our sensors were down ... as usual." Peri interjected. The Doctor looked ready to object at this, but stopped himself.

"We will check this out. Until then, you will be left in your new cells. Guards! Take these prisoners away."

Two large guards entered the room and marched the Doctor and Peri away.

The alien artefact realised it had miscalculated. The humans had not simply killed the non-human as it had planned. It was time to activate the secondary plan.

Chapter 3: The Awakening

"Perhaps this round of questioning will go better for you." The base commander said. He had ordered the Doctor and Peri to be returned for further interrogation after a few hours. This time the guards had not harmed them, although some of them had tried to with Peri. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Major Zonesovski. And you two are?"

"I’m Peri Brown."

"And I’m Doctor John Smith, although you can call me Doctor."

"We’ll call you prisoner. Nevertheless, let’s continue this interrogation at a more … civilised level." Zonesovski was talking almost amiably now. He sat down behind his desk and started a tape-recorder. "The spies Peri Brown and Doctor John Smith, as questioned by Major Zonesovski." He spoke into the tape. "Now then, why are the two of you here?" He asked staring at the Doctor with those evil eyes.

"I believe we have already answered that question." The Doctor replied somewhat petulantly. Peri almost groaned- she had only just managed to get rid of those offish guards before. What would happen if Zonesovski let them have their way with her? She gave the Doctor a pleading look to co-operate, which the Doctor picked up on for once. He quickly rushed to answer Zonesovski’s questions, lest he provoke him further: "My craft had malfunctioning sensors and we accidentally flew over Soviet airspace before crash-landing. That’s as much as I could work out before your soldiers took us prisoner. If you let me return to the TARDIS I may be able to give you a better answer, although that is probably not needed."

"Indeed. What do you know of this military base?" The Major asked, although this time to Peri.

"Well, nothing, except that … that it exists." Peri stammered, caught off-guard by the sudden change in questioning. Realising what she had said she hurriedly corrected herself, "I mean, we only knew about after we were brought here."

The Major fixed her with a cold stare. Peri suddenly noticed that he had no obvious pupils. If anything, that scared her more than anything else did. This man was cold and calculating- he could be capable of anything, or of ordering anything to be done to them. A shudder ran down her spine, which she was unable to mask.

"Thank you Miss Brown. Doctor, do you have anything to add to this?"

"Yes, but as you would not believe me there is no point in saying it. But we are not spies Major. However, before you decide to send us back to that horrid cell, perhaps you could answer a question for me?"

"Certainly Doctor. We of the Soviet Union are a friendly people. Ask your question."

"What have you discovered?" Both Peri and Zonesovski looked shocked. The Doctor enjoyed the expressions on their faces before continuing in a somewhat condescending town. "Oh come on. It’s perfectly obvious you have discovered something important. I noticed it straight away- I have a gift for such things. Many things in fact, but for this in particular. Tell me, I can help you."

"You are nothing more than a spy!" Zonesovski blurted out.

"I object to such accusations!"

"You have no rights! No rights at all! Take them away and lock them up! If they resist, give them a lesson in the arts of interrogation!" Zonesovski angrily ordered. Peri and the Doctor were roughly thrown out of the room and down the corridor. Zonesovski watched them go with concern. How much did they really know?

"Order the guard on the artefact doubled, I’ll be down for a personal inspection later." Zonesovski ordered.

The alien machine was aware of a human presence near it. Ah yes, it was the human who seemed to be in command. It decided not to take control of it. The guards on the other hand …

"Has the equipment worked-out how this thing works yet? Or to come to think of it, what it is?" Zonesovski asked his chief scientist, whilst peering at the artefact.

"Not yet, only that it is not of this world."

"I knew that already fool! You are paid to tell me things I don’t know!" Zonesovski shouted in a rage. "You had better have some answers for me by tomorrow, else I will have to make a call to the KGB." He threatened. Zonesovski peered at the artefact again. It appeared to have changed colour- yet again. He sighed, this thing was hard enough to deal with without those two spies as well. Better get things sorted-out with those two first and then move on to this. He made a mental note to have the Doctor’s craft brought here and destroyed if they refused to co-operate. As for the girl, there were other ways of ensuing her co-operation.

"Sir, we will need more time. This… this thing is beyond our levels of technology. It should be transferred to a purely scientific research station." The fawning scientist mumbled.

"And lose us the chance of promotion for discovering the only device that can crush the West? What kind of man are you? Get to work on that and give me some answers!" Zonesovski said as he left the room in a rage, why where all his staff so incompetent?

Inside the room the scientist sighed, collected his notes and continued examining the alien artefact. It was always the same with these people, always thinking of themselves rather than the greater good. Still, Majors came and went- scientists remained. The scientist attached a small ammeter onto the device and started to record the electrical readings. Suddenly the ammeter sparked and cutout. Startled, the scientist tried to prise it away from the alien artefact, only to have his fingers burnt by the heat of the artefact. Stifling a shout of pain he stared at the artefact, which had started to glow and a low vibration had begun to emanate from it.

"What the…?" The scientist wondered in amazement- nothing like this had ever happened before. He peered closer at the artefact, trying to work out what was happening.

Suddenly, a blot of pure white struck the scientist in the middle of forehead, hurling him across the room. His body slammed against the wall and to spasm whilst the white light remained attached to his forehead. The guards, shocked by what they had just witnessed, rushed to help him, but were in turn felled by the same alien beam.

A few minutes passed until the humans stood up and resumed their work. Their movements were a little hesitant at first, but soon were back to speed. The artefact changed back to its normal black colour and ceased visible communication with the humans in the room. Instead of the normal pupil though, the humans now had a flickering white light …

The device was pleased. It had taken control of the humans in this room with ease- the rest of the planet would follow now. Soon its master’s army would grow in size and they could take control of the very landscape of Earth too.

Chapter 4: Interrogations

The Doctor was thinking. He was certain that there was something seriuosly wrong in this installation. And he didn’t mean that he and Peri were prisoners, although the current state of affairs did need imprivng somewhat. Humans! Why did they never see things that were so obvious? If they really understood just what he represented, things would be so much easier. Mind you, they wouldn’t be half as interesting.

"Doctor, are you going to do something, or just pace around?" Peri asked, sounding rather exasperated. "You’re starting to make me nervous."

"My dear Peri. Good plans can’t be rushed. They must be carefully thought through. And when they’re as good as mine, that can take quite a well."

"So I’ve noticed. Come on Doctor, you’re stumped."

"Stumped? I haven’t played cricket for quite a while. Rather a dull sport I think, not my style at all."

"That’s not what I meant." Peri stopped herself when she saw the puzzled expression on the Doctor’s face and decided it was better not to provoke him. "What I meant was, are you sure you can get us out of here?"

"Certainly. I am the Doctor after all."

"I could hardly forget."

Peri sighed. They had been in here for several hours alone. Those guards had finally left her alone, and the interrogations had ceased. Now she was … bored. The Doctor seemed to know what he was doing, and that alone was a miracle, but he had better move fast. Peri had heard the stories of prisoners spending their whole lives in prison in countries like these, and she didn’t want to be one of them. Assuming they lived that was. Angrily, she told herself to stop these pessmistic thoughts. The Doctor never let her down did he? Well, not that often …

"Are there any more reports on the artifact?" Zonesovski asked his chief scientist.

"Nothing signifcant. So far the artifact has defied all tests we can put to it. My staff are working overtime to devise new ways of findoing out how it operates. Don’t worry sir, we’ll crack it."

"For the glory of the people, of course." Zonesovski said a little hesitantly.

The scientist paused for a moment, almost as if processing the commeny before replying, "But of course. As is everything we do here."

Zonesovski dismissed the scientist before pondering on their last exchange. Whilst enthusasim was often dampened by the system, that last phrase was straight from the political book. There should have been no delay in the reply. Still, the sicentists were all under a lot of pressure, failure would be decidely unpleasent for them all. Deciding to disregard the matter for the moment, Zonesvoski turned his attention back to the 2 prisoners. They had to be spies, no sane American would have come this far into the Soviet Union for any other reason, the same went for that Doctor too. Yes, the Doctor, he was the brains behind this little operation, Zonesovski was certain of that. His weakness would be through the girl, Peri.

"Bring the Doctor to me" Zonesovski ordered into his microphone.

A few minutes later, the Doctor was roughly shoved into Zonesovski’s office.

"Well, Doctor, we meet again."

"Yes, I seem to find it a habit of running into unsavoury characters. Oh well, plenty of lives left to change that. What do you want this time?"

"Doctor, I would advise you not to be flippant with me. I know your purpose here, and the girl’s."

"Still convinced we’re spies eh? The narrow-mindedness of the human mind never ceases to amaze me, and your culture is one of the worse at this time in history. Thankfully you do change, but not just yet."

"I repeat, you are spies." Zonesovski continued, apparently unconcerned by the Doctor’s ramblings. The more he went on in this pompous way, the more he dug his own grave. "I have the authority to have you executed Doctor if you continue to defy me."

"But we are not spies!" The Doctor said with finality. "Why would we arrive here in a blue Police Box, something that is bound to attract attention? Why would Peri speak in such an uncouth accent and why would we be so uncooperative? What do your rules have to say about that?" the Doctor said, pointing a triumphant fingure at Zonesovski.

"It is not my rules that are being considered her Doctor. It is the system’s rules, and they have absolute."

"Typical! Always the last resort of a desperate mind! How utterly predictable, you people are all alike, always hiding behind rules and regulations, never thinking yourselves! When will you learn?"

"Doctor, I suggest you show more respect." Zonesovski said in a low menacning tone. "I could easily have you executed and interrogate the girl."

"And that is another totally predictable answer! Why do I even bother? Go ahead! Imprison me and Peri! You will learn nothing because we have nothing to tell you!"

"That Doctor, is a fact I will discover at my own leasire. Guards! Take him away and bring me the girl. I would like to conduct a, a personal interrogation of her."

"No! Leave Peri alone, she knows nothing! What possible harm could she do to you?" The Doctor said in alatm as he was dragged away. "Please, leave Peri alone!"

"Now you understand who is in charge Doctor. Perhaps later you will be in a more co-operative frame of mind." Zonesovski chuckled. "Bring me Peri, and lock him up. It is time they both understood just who is in command around here.

Chapter 5: