the cafe page 2

The spider had found its way back to its master very easily. It's body materialised back on the panel of components it had originally entered through. There was one thing that was different about it. The spider seemed to have put on a bit of weight.

‘Oh, so you're back are you?’ The spider looked at the man happily. ‘I thought I told you not to nibble anything important.’ The spider looked away sheepishly. The Intruder saw this and said, ‘Still, not to worry my friend. I see from your little weight problem that you have found some silver for me.’ The spider looked back at him and nodded. The Intruder then held out his hand and the spider scuttled along it to his palm. He thought to himself that it was a pity that he had to destroy the spider. It seemed to have developed a little personality of it's own. Still, he would see what he could do about the sad situation. As in its creation, he enclosed it within both hands. After a moment he opened his hands. The likeable spider had been converted into the raw material he needed for the bridging unit. He then clasped his hands together again. This time in his hand was a small, silver printed circuit board. It looked like a perfectly normal circuit, but the strange thing about it was that the fact that there seemed to be a spider's head embossed on its corner. The head appeared to be smiling.

~~~

The sun started to set on the gardens. The shadows it caused grew longer. Dodo sat on the grass beside the locked TARDIS. If you looked at her closely, you could tell from the look on her face that she was very unhappy with her lot.

The air around her was just starting to get a little chilly. She looked around her surroundings for the umpteenth time, and decided to get up and give the TARDIS doors a vicious beating. As she went to do this, the doors opened unexpectedly in front of her.

The Doctor looked from out of the open doors at her. He said, ‘Come on, my dear.’ She paused and looked rather defiantly at him in amazement. ‘Hurry up will you. We haven't got much time left!’

~~~

Back in the void between the plasmic shells, a ripple of turbulence hit the Intruder. ‘The owner must have opened the main doors. I wonder if he has gone to get reinforcements?’ As he just recovered, a second ripple hit him. Logically, he thought to himself, the pilot must have now closed them again. As he relaxed a second time he said, ‘It seems as if I will have to pull my finger out.’ With that utterance, he placed the silver bridging unit that he held against the area of open TARDIS circuitry. As they touched there was a melding of both. The Intruder looked very happy with his handy work. ‘It won’t be long before I can complete the task that I started.’ Then he questioned the bridging unit, ‘Are you ready yet?’ The spider's head on the unit looked at him and smiled again. The unit continued with the final stages.

~~~

Lights started to flash wildly on the console. Someone was tampering with the operations of the TARDIS. The Doctor, followed by Dodo moved from the console to the fault locator. He suddenly stopped dead and to his amazement a new display screen had appeared below the usual digital display. He turned to Dodo and said, ‘This is most strange, my child. It may sound insane, but that screen seems to have appeared from out of thin air!’

She looked at him strangely. ‘Are you quite sure about this Doctor?’

The Doctor caught her in a cold stare. ‘Are you intending to question my eyesight? Um? Or are you insinuating that I've become senile?’

Dodo looked at him apologetically, ‘I'm sorry Doctor. I didn't mean to imply anything. I thought you might have simply made a mistake.’ There was a pause.

The Doctor's attitude softened and he replied, ‘I am very glad to hear it my dear. But I want to make something very clear. I may be a little long in the tooth, but I am still the owner of this vessel. I do not think I could make a mistake such as this!’

Dodo looked happier and said, ‘That's all right. All I can say is sorry again, Doc.’

He smiled at her and added, ‘Very well. Ah, one final thing my dear child. Please kindly refrain from referring to me as DOC! It really is most irritating!’ With the air cleared between them, as far as he was concerned, the Doctor turned his attention back towards the new screen.

~~~

The bridging unit had almost completed its job. It wouldn't be long before the Intruder could pass into the TARDIS interior. Then the Intruder would have to secure it from the pilot. This wouldn't give him any problem. From what he could gather from tapping the TARDIS telepathic circuits, the pilot seemed to be a frail old man. The machine itself was an old vessel and was not in the best of conditions. He only hoped it could get him to his destination, in one piece. He must overcome the pilot carefully, and not damage him. All in all, he could not see that anything could go wrong. He looked again at the bridging unit. This time it winked at him. It was nearly time, and this would be a pushover. How wrong could he have been?

~~~

The Doctor and Dodo stared at the message on the screen. As he touched the screen it spoke:

++IMMINENT DISRUPTION OF CONSOLE ROOM WALL FABRIC…ALIEN INTRUDER MAY SEEK CONTROL OR DESTRUCTION OF VESSEL…DO YOU WISH TO ACTIVATE DIMENSIONAL CONTAINMENT FIELD UNIT?++

The Doctor replied, ‘Yes.’

The voice continued: ++UNIT WILL BE SET UP IN CONSOLE ROOM. ACTIVATOR WILL BE LINKED TO MAIN DRIVE SWITCH. DECISION AS TO WHETHER ALIEN IS DESTROYED WILL BE LEFT TO PILOT.++

He turned from the screen and crossed to the central console. Dodo turned to him and said, ‘You can't just destroy the alien for no reason.’

The Doctor frowned and said, ‘The decision is mine, and mine alone.’ He stood silently in thought. His hands clutching both lapels of his frock coat. After a moment, he moved his hands to the console to steady himself and announced,’Before I despatch it, or if I despatch it, I will want to know its reason for disturbing my peace.’ After he said this, he realised that he would have to keep his dark side in check.

Dodo started to plead with him, ‘I don't care what you say. Whatever happens please don't kill it.’

He looked at her and uttered, regretting his earlier statement, ‘Of course I won’t kill it! What sort of a barbarian do you take me for?’ After this his hands returned to his lapels.

The bridging unit signalled to the Intruder that it had finished its task. He reached towards it, his fingers making contact. As they touched it, his entire body was thrust through the gap it had created.

The Doctor heard Dodo scream, ‘Doctor quickly! Look at the wall!’  As he looked, he could see what had alarmed her. The shape of a body was slowly emerging from the fabric of the roundelled wall. After a moment, it resolved itself into the shape of a man and as it became totally corporeal, you could see he was wearing a grey suit and a striking silver waistcoat. On his shoulder sat a smiling silver spider.

The Doctor looked at the new arrival with contempt and said, ‘Who on earth are you, sir? What do you think you are doing interfering with my vessel?’

The Intruder looked at the Doctor, and said, ‘I want this vessel, old man. Please don't try to stop me. I wouldn't like to damage any of your tissues.’ The Intruder became fully corporeal and now stood before the Doctor, over whom he seemed to tower.

The Doctor stared at him and said, in an icy tone, ‘Don't try to intimidate me, young man. In my time, I've been threatened by the masters of the arts. To be perfectly frank with you, I don't think you measure up to any of them!’

The Intruder laughed and then replied, ‘Very tough talking from an old man that is on the verge of total cell rejuvenation.’ He then tried to probe the Doctor's mind for more information, but the Doctor realised this and set up a mental block.

‘Well, well.’ The Doctor paused and then continued, ‘Tried to have another rummage through my mind, did you? Unfortunately, you won’t get away with that parlour trick again.’ The Doctor laughed.

The Intruder seemed to shrug this off. He crossed to the console and started to set co-ordinates. He detected a movement behind him. He sensed it was Dodo. Without looking, he clicked his fingers. Dodo found that she couldn't move a muscle. The Doctor moved to the opposite side of the console looking over at the Intruder.

‘I hope my young friend here, Dodo is unharmed.’

The Intruder looked at him and nodded and reached for the drive switch. The Doctor saw this, his face grim and said, ‘I really think that you should reconsider this folly.’

‘Whatever you say now cannot stop me. I require this craft.’ affirmed the intruder.

‘Very well, carry on with this madness. But on your own head be it!’

The Intruder flicked the drive switch to the 'ON' position and to his annoyance, he was sucked into the dimensional containment field and was now trapped without any escape.

The Doctor peered at the little figure within the centre of the field. ‘I did try to warn you, my dear fellow.’ He gave the containment field a loving pat and walked back to the console. As he approached it, he could see that Dodo was starting to recover from her paralysis remarkable fast. He put his arm around her, and led her from the console room. As they entered the corridor the Doctor said, ‘After all that excitement, I think we both could do with a nice rest and some refreshment. Don't you agree my child?’ She replied, ‘I think you're absolutely right.’ They decided to head to the lounge.

~~~

The quaint little cafe was closed, but then again it always was. Inside it, there were eight tables, each of which had a red and white checked tablecloth on it along with usual condiments, and gleamingly clean knives, forks and spoons. If you looked towards the only window in the cafe, you could see that the curtains matched the table clothes in colour and pattern. If you were of a mind to draw the curtains, and look out of the window, you would get quite a shock. The sight that would greet you wasn't one of a peaceful street scene, that you would generally come to expect, but one of a vastly infinite starry void. The cafe seemed to be suspended in space.

In the corner of the quaint cafe, sat a man and women. She was a tall, slim blonde dressed in a blue satin dress. The man was blonde, as well, and wore a grey suit and tie. They were the cafe's only customers, and they had been here for quite a time. For longer, in fact, than they could care to remember. The couple sat at opposite sides of one of the tables. They held hands across it. A faint blue glow enveloped them, and they stared intently into each other's eyes, or was it each other's minds. The man spoke to her in her mind, Can you take time back, to where we were before this trap was sprung? 

Her mind spoke back to him, No, I'm not able to here. I think there must be some kind of barrier.

So, we really are confined in this place for the foreseeable future.

I think we may be trapped here for eternity! It seemed there was no escape for the couple. Unless, of course, help came from outside.

~~~

Time passed.

The Doctor had been enjoying a refreshing rest in the lounge area of the TARDIS. Relaxed he left the lounge and once again stood in the console room, in front of his prisoner. ‘So my friend, it seems that you have a lot of explaining to do.’ He peered into the containment field's interior.

The Intruder looked back at him. ‘I've already told you, old man, that I need your ship.’

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