The Doctor was just about to speak when in flew the strange parrot, squawking agitatedly as it landed on Professor Gardener’s shoulder.

“Oh hello, Amnesia,” said Gardener, taking a handful of birdseed out of his pocket and offering it to the green and yellow parrot. “I hope you’ve been keeping out of trouble.”

Shortly after its arrival Ace, Peter and Mrs Pocock walked in.

Peter stopped suddenly and pointed. “That’s the bird who I found in the classroom,” he exclaimed.

“So you’ve met my travelling companion,” asked Gardener of the new arrivals.

“I did just as you asked, my lord,” squawked the parrot, “Keep him out of trouble and your TARDIS!”

The Doctor gave the Professor a quizzical look. “It seems your… companion knows something we don’t. Would you mind telling us the whole story this time.”

“Yeah tell us everything,” joined in Ace.

“Lets start at the beginning. Which species are we dealing with here,” asked the Doctor, leaning on the red, question mark handle of his umbrella.

“The Zograsco. An enemy from times past,” replied Professor Gardener, gravely. “They were once the lords of time until their world crumbled, rotting from the inside. I don’t know the exact figures, but I believe that a few of the survivors are tired of wandering the universe and plan to colonise earth.”

“How do you know all this,” asked Ian, intrigued by the professor’s explanation.

“Friends in high… and low places, young man,” replied Gardener.

“Wait a moment. Doctor, can’t we use the TARDIS to go forward in time and stop these Zograsco,” asked Ace.

“I'm afraid not. Whatever has frozen time has trapped us as well and we can’t use the ship until we neutralise the effect.”

“That’s not right,” said Ian. It had suddenly occurred to him, “Time isn’t frozen.”

“What do you mean,” asked Mrs Pocock.

“The note…on the radio. If time weren’t moving we wouldn’t be able to hear it, but we did and it was repeating itself. Were in a loop,” explained Ian.

“Your quite correct,” commended the Doctor. “I should have spotted that straight away.” He frowned. The Doctor was worried at his slip, maybe he had given Ian more than just a few images from his mind. He sighed inwardly after so many regenerations his brain was getting a little full and needed a little clear out, hopefully he hadn’t given away too much to his former companion.

Chapter 9

By Rachael Wallis

Mrs Pocock looked at the strange little group. What was going on here?  This had to be something she would watch on the TV. Colonisation of the earth sounds like something agent Mulder from the

X -Files would say. She had a question and she was dammed if she was going to let a parrot, her boss, a small child, a weirdo from a supposed alien world, a girl with a base ball bat in her rucksack and a small apparently Scottish man with an eccentric dress sense stand in her way.

“If we are in a time loop then what are the dragon things that we saw? Some kind of guardian to keep us from finding the exit and stopping their plans?”

The Doctor gave a smile. Someone on earth who was open minded, who takes in all of the facts and comes up with the right answer thought The Doctor as he took a deep breath.

“I think you have hit the nail on the head… miss?”

“Rachael Pocock, and its Mrs,” she replied showing him the plain, but what seemed to be very expensive weeding ring on her finger.

“Ah, Mrs Pocock. Are you a science teacher because you made a very good guess there at our predicament?”

Rachael gave a laugh at the Doctors comment and replied, “No, no. The only science I did was GCE and I got a C. No, I am the head of drama here at the school. I am just very perceptive must be all of the time I have spent on stage you learn to read what people are thinking and also look at what is going on around you in grate detail. So was I right about the dragons keeping us here?”

The Doctor saw the sword hanging by Rachael's side.

“Well it would explain a lot. You, Ace and young Peter where getting a little to close to the truth so they decided to try and stop you.”

“Yes and we got rid of them, by just thinking they where not real,” pitched in Ace.

“Well is that right Professor Gardener?”

“Ah. I wondered when you would get to me. Yes, that’s right. The Zograsco don't want anyone to interfere with their plans, so they place phantom guards to stop people from wondering in to place they don't want you too. They did not have the forethought when it came to their expectations of the strength human mind,” replied Gardener, “On the other hand it's a lot harder to get out of this time loop.”

When e had finished his little speech the professor went silent and sat down in a chair contemplating the situation in his head.

“Why the sword Mrs Pocock,” asked the Doctor.

"I was scared of what had taken over the school and felt a little happier with it thinking I could attack the things that where here,” she replied, taking the sword from her belt and placing it on the desk. “I suppose it’s not much use against hallucinations.”

Ian looked around the room. “Now what do we do, sit here? Build a fire, maybe sing a few camp songs,” he suggested jovially.

Ace scowled. She hated all of this waiting around. The Doctor looked around the room. The lights seamed to be getting dimmer and dimmer. Then all at once they went out all over the school. The little group was left in the dark.

“I think,” said the Doctor as a blue light crept under the door of the office, “we are going to meet our captors.”

Chapter 10

by James Parkin 

For a moment nobody spoke.  Then, quite unexpectedly, the lights began to come on again, dimly at first and then quite brightly.

“They can’t be ready for us yet,” said Rachael.

“I agree,” said the Doctor.  “They have us where they want us now.  The Zograsco placed outside the door can keep us here until the time is right.”

“And we can do nothing but wait, I suppose,” said Professor Gardener.

“Well, if I still had my recorder I could play you a tune.  But as I don’t have it we can only wait, as you say.  Excuse me, I need a word with my young companion.  Women’s matters, you know.”  He led Ace into the corner of the room and asked her in a low voice, “any ideas how we can get out of this mess?”

“Well, one or two things did come to mind, Professor.”

“Right, well keep them to yourself.  The Zograsco have a spy in this room so we must keep our cards close to our chest.” He nodded over to where Peter was sitting.  “Go and comfort that poor boy.  This has stopped being fun for him, he’s terrified that he’s not going to get out of this alive.”

Ace looked over at Peter.  “He seems all right to me.”

“That’s because he’s been brought up to think it’s socially unacceptable for a boy to show his true feelings.  He wants to cry and if he bottles it up much longer he’s going to explode.  Go and give him a cuddle.  Let him cry.”

Ace walked over to Peter while the Doctor slipped into quiet thought.

* * *

The Head Zograsco led to group of eleven boys down the corridor.  “After we have crossed the time barrier,” he announced through his translator, “we will make our way to the Headmaster’s office.  We will collect our advance scout who is presently residing within that office, everyone else can be destroyed.  After that we begin our conquest of this miserable planet.  Onward!”

Jason, at the front of the procession of boys, smirked.  He lovingly felt the weapon he had in his hand.  This was better than smashing up telephone boxes and beating up black kids and it sure beat working for poxy CSEs.  Until this morning he’d been a nobody, destined, according to his teachers and social worker, only for the Young Offenders Centre.  Now he was going to take over the world. 

He thought back to the selection procedure.  The whole school had been summoned by some mysterious force to the drama studio.  All the 16-year old boys had been called, one by one, into the small room just off the studio.  Each had been asked to bring his girlfriend with him and he’d duly brought Karen Pollock into the room with him.  She hadn’t been his girlfriend for long, nobody was his girlfriend for long, just until a fresh face who might be a better prospect came along.

Once in the room the blue shining creature had announced that their studies had shown that a small percentage of human males were sufficiently strong willed to assist in the task that lay ahead, a task that would bring unlimited glory and power to all participants, and they needed to know which males fitted this description.  He had been handed the weapon, a kind of energy blaster and it had been explained to him how it worked.  After being warned that the weapon was useless against the Zograsco he was asked if he was ready for the test.  He grunted that he was.  The test was simple.  He simply had to use the weapon to kill his girlfriend. 

There had been no hesitation on his part.  He activated the blaster, aimed it at Karen’s waist and seconds later the 15-year old lay dead on the floor, murdered by the boy who two nights ago had told her how much he loved her and how he would never leave her.  

Bit of a shame about Karen, though Jason, as he continued down the corridor.  But never mind, there were plenty more girls like her around.  Indeed, when he had a share in ruling the world he could have all the women he wanted and more.  The prospect pleased him.

* * *

Back in the drama studio sat all the girls who had not met a recent sudden death along with the boys who were either under 16 or who had been termed ‘weak-willed’ by the Zograsco.  Four Zograsco guards, all armed, stood watch over the group.

In the front row sat Graham, cradling 14-year old Jennifer Thompson who was sobbing in his lap.  Before today he had never spoken to her.  Having no girlfriend, but not wanting to admit to that fact, he had selected her at random and asked her to accompany him into the changing room.  When he had discovered the nature of the test he had flung the weapon to the floor in disgust.  Now as he gently rubbed the shoulders of the crying girl he was quietly contemplating.

If being weak-willed meant that you were only prepared to fight for what was right and not indiscriminately kill people in return for promises of power and glory then he was weak-willed and proud of it.  And he was certain that the aliens would regret dismissing the majority of the planet’s population in this way.  When the time was right the weak-willed would rise and fight back.

* * *

Ian wondered if he’d ever felt less in control of events at his school.  He suddenly became aware that the Doctor was talking to him.  “Sorry, what was that, Doctor?”

“I asked what year this was.”

Ian had heard the Doctor ask this question of other people so many times that it didn’t surprise him.  “It’s 1983, Doctor.”

“As I thought.  And can I ask whether Mrs Pocock has been working for you for long?”

“No, only a couple of weeks.  She’s here temporarily, while Miss Wilson is on maternity leave.”

“That’s right,” said Rachael.  “Six month contract.”

“I see,” said the Doctor turning to face the drama teacher.  “Tell me, Mrs Pocock, did you find passing your GCSE in Science difficult.”

“Not particularly.”

“Really?  Oh, that’s interesting.  You see, I would have thought you’d have found it extremely difficult to gain a qualification three years before it was introduced.”  He sighed.  “You really should sort out your facts before you start time travelling.  It would avoid these anachronisms.”  The Doctor turned his attention to Rachael’s sword.  He picked it up and glanced over it.  Then he muttered some words in Old High Gallifreyan and tapped the sword upon his left leg.  Suddenly he was holding in his hand a gleaming medieval sword of the highest calibre.  He admired it sadly.  “Avvon’s, I presume.  Oh dear.  I’d really hoped that with your guidance he would give up his bloodthirsty ways.”

“Parenting’s not easy, you know,” replied Rachael.

Ace and Peter wondered over to admire the sword.  “Wow, Professor,” said Ace, “that’s a wicked piece of hardware.”

“Awesome,” said Peter.

“Hmm,” replied the Doctor, “perhaps you’d like to try it for size.”  It was so heavy that Ace and Peter had to combine their strength in order to hold it straight.  “Now just make sure our Mrs Pocock doesn’t move for a moment.  I’ve removed the disguise on the sword, now it’s time to see her in her true colours.”  He reached for the side of her face and seemed to grasp the skin behind her left ear.  Peter recoiled as he watched the Doctor appear to pull off Mrs Pocock’s face and reveal a new one underneath.

The Doctor stared sadly at the face now in front of him.  It was familiar to him yet it had altered immeasurably since he had last seen it.  Once it had been full of youthful beauty, now it showed the scars of dashed hopes and shattered dreams.

“Well then, Lady Fleur de Temps, perhaps you’d like to tell us just how deeply you are involved with the Zograsco.”

Chapter 11

By Sarah

“That’s not Fleur,” exclaimed Professor Gardener, getting to his feet.

“What do you mean fa-ther,” she replied her voice slightly jerky.

Gardener stepped forward, reached into his pocked and removed a small silver device with a purple crystal inset. Holding the device up he said you are an illusion. Suddenly a glowing blue beam of light shot out from the crystal towards ‘fleur’. The image became distorted, in a state of flux, and then abruptly cut out. The ‘fleur’ illusion was no more.

“What was that,” exclaimed Ace, a look of awe on her face.

“The advanced equivalent of a photocopy,” replied the Doctor, “It was meant to distract us, slow us down.”

“How do we know no one else is an illusion,” asked Ian.

“Because that particular type of projection is only short range and has a limited memory,” said Gardener. “And when we were searching the room before I spotted the projection device. It’s in the air duct.”

“It was handy you had a wide spectrum-dissolution-filter with you,” commented the Doctor, raising an eyebrow.

“Then what about the real Mrs Pocock? Where is she?”

“I'm not sure, but one thing that is certain, she’s not here,” replied the Doctor.

***

The Zograsco Sovereign sat on his elaborate throne, set up in their new base of operations. His servants going about their duties with studied ceremony. The throne room was always the first thing to be set up when the Zograsco settled a world, and he, the Sovereign was the most important and revered leader. No one questioned his orders, not unless they were weak willed and wished to die. He let out a cackling laugh. The foolish inhabitants of earth would soon learn subservience. His people would make the miserable planet their own and the humans their slaves. I had been fortunate that the Zograsco people had come into possession of the information they needed for invasion. The imprudent bearded fellow had been all to happy to tell them all, now he would discover that the Zograsco Sovereign never kept his word with ‘otherworlders’.

***

The Doctor observed Professor Gardener with an air of suspicion.

“Maybe we aught to remove the projection device,” suggested Ian.

“Certainly,” replied Gardener, stepping up onto the chair and pulling the letter opener out of his pocket, “I just had to get this air duct open.” He used the point of the opener to unscrew the grill. Then he reached inside the duct and pulled out the object. Suddenly the professor exclaimed, “Oh dear.”

“What’s the matter,” asked Ace, putting a protective arm round Peter, who seemed petrified.

“It’s been wired with an anti-tampering mechanism. I think I might have set it off,” replied Gardener holding the projector carefully.

“What kind of anti-tampering device,” asked Ian.

“The explosive kind,” quipped Gardener, “Any ideas Doctor?”

Chapter 12

Rachael Wallis

The real Miss Pocock woke up she gazed around her. She was in a room. Well, at least she thought she was in a room. It was too dark to tell. It smelt funny. She could not quite put her finger on what it was until she remembered it was the smell that had put her off eating meat. It was the smell of blood, of death. What was going on? All she could remember was going out for a meal with her husband, Ben. Then coming home intending for a good nights sleep and getting up for work, but things after that where in a blur. Rachel could remember going into the school building and that was it.

She felt around the room. The walls seamed to be alive. They where buzzing and trembling with life. She could hear a faint buzzing sound it seamed to be all around her. She patted the floor and felt a wet patch of something she lifted her hand up to her eyes she could just make out what was dripping from her hand it was blood. She jumped back in surprise, and nearly slipped over. Rachel grabbed fro something to steady herself, but found only a floor.

"This is just a bad dream. It has to be."

Miss Pocock pinched her self to try to wake up and winced at the pain. "Nope then,” she said to herself, “its not a dream because if it was a dream I would not be able to hurt myself. Where am I? I want to go home!"  She called and called, but the only thing listening to her call where a group of Zograsco watching her on a monitor.

"She does not seem that strong sir," said one of them to their leader, who was sat on a stone like throne.

"Oh but she is. There is something different about her. A fire we can use against this world. Then we can feed and live again. The humans will be ours. They will save us from the consuming fire that is killing our race. And when that day comes we will take our place as Gods in the universe once more."

***

"What are we going to do,” asked Ace.

The Doctor looked at the device that was in the vent shaft. "Don't worry. I think I know how to defuse this thing. All I need is some time."

"How do you know how to defuse it," Gardener queried, as the Doctor began his work.

"Oh someone I knew on our home world. I think she was General or something. We got in a little spot one day sorting out the Quintons and we where stuck in a room with a bomb just like this. She showed me how to defuse one,” in his head he added not that I couldn’t figure it out eventually, “now I can almost do it with my eyes closed. Come to think of it she did defuse the Quintons bomb with her eyes closed."

Gardener raised an eyebrow and looked at the little man by his feet. "You knew the General? Hmmm, lucky man," he said with a touch of sarcasm.

The Doctor gave a smile and finished his work. "There. All done. See its not that hard when you know how and you have friends in the right places."

The lights when dim again and a pulsating could be heard something like a heart beat.

"Very good Doctor you have completed my little test!” The new voice echoed the room like thunder.

"Who are you,” exclaimed the Doctor.

"Oh you will find out in time, but you are a trouble to me so I will put you somewhere where you can't be a bother."

The Doctor was there one moment, then gone the next. Everyone in the room was left stunned.

***

Rachael heard an impact accompanied by an exclamation.

"Who is there,” She called out as she stood up.

Then the voice of a man spoke.

"I am the Doctor. You must be the real Rachael Pocock," he replied.

"How do you know my name?"

"Ah, well, let me tell you of my story."

"NO STORYS,” Cried a voice as the lights in the room came on with a bang. They were in what appeared to be some kind of mortuary. The Doctor was appalled sight. Rachael looked with horror.

"I know some of them. What has done this and why,” Rachael began to cry.

The Doctor whispered, "Why indeed?"

Chapter 13

By Drew Payne

Ace grabbed the sword, which she suddenly found easy to lift and her hands folded around the hilt as if it had been made for her, and shouted:

"We have to find The Doctor!"

"Wait a minute, young woman," Professor Gardner said. "We're in a lot of danger here. There is a Zograsco guarding the door. We have to think about this seriously. We need a plan."

"Stuff-you, Egghead!" Ace shouted at him, anger boiling over into action within her, and marched over to the office door. She grabbed hold of the door handle, wrenching the door open, at the same moment she struck out with the sword - without thinking her right arm moved with a fast and downward movement. There was a loud, almost ear-splitting, screech and a blinding flash of blue light.

Ace blinked, momentarily stunned by what had happened, and then looked out into the corridor. It was empty, no one or no-thing in sight. Whatever had been guarding the door was gone.

"Wicked!" She exclaimed. "Perivale sixty-five-thousand-million, evil aliens zero!"

"It's gone," she heard Ian Chesteton's voice behind her say.

"Let's get out of here," she said.

"No, no, wait a moment. It's still very dangerous out there," Professor Gardner protested.

Ace turned back, taking her eyes off the empty corridor. Ian Chesteton and Peter were stood behind her; Ian now had a protective arm around Peter's shoulders, the boy still looked terrified out of his life. Professor Gardner was stood at the desk, his face set in a stern expression.

"The Doctor's gone and they'll be coming for us next," she snapped at Professor Gardner. "We've got to get out of here."

"I agree, Ace is right," Ian said. "It's too dangerous to stay in here."

With that, Ace turned back to the door and marched through it, followed by Ian and Peter. Professor Gardner remained stood at the desk.

 ***

Rachael Pocock shuddered, folding her arms around herself, and slowly followed The Doctor over to the row of mortuary tables, that stretched along the far wall. Each table contained a body, most of them partly or fully covered with white sheets. The two bodies on the far left, a middle-aged man and a teenage boy, were obviously dead. Their chests had been ripped open, leaving gapping red holes. She didn't look closely at them, at any of them.

The Doctor was busy inspecting the bodies, bending over them and examining them one by one. She held back. This was like some nightmare she might have had after she and Ben had watched some cheap horror film, but this was real and she knew she wasn't dreaming. Her foot stepped in something wet but she didn't look down.

The Doctor, was he a medical doctor or an academic she wondered, seemed to be examining the bodies closely, concentrating on their heads. He was examining a body on one of the middle tables, a girl who looked like... No, she must not think it, Rachael told herself.

"Are they all... Are they all dead?" She asked The Doctor, nervously breaking the silence hanging over them.

"No... No, I believe they're not all dead," The Doctor replied, not looking up from his examination of the girl. "Those two unfortunates have been butchered, but the others still seem alive."

"Alive?"

"Yes. It's as if they're in a catatonic state."

"But why?" None of his words were easing her fear.

"That is a very important question," he replied as he looked up at her.

 ***

Jason held his weapon close to his chest, now he'd have the chance to use it again, to kill again. His mind was buzzing with excitement. This was the best day of his stupid little life so far.

He was at the head of the column of boys, just behind the Zograsco, so he'd be the first to enter the office and the first to start the killing.

When they reached The Headmaster's Office the Zograsco indicated Jason to open the door. Expecting the door to be locked Jason throw his whole body against it but, to his surprise, it opened easily and he almost fell into the room.

There was only one person in the room; a tall, thin man with a van dyke beard, stood at old Chest-aches' desk. Jason didn't care; it was still someone to kill. He pointed his weapon at the man, but the cold body of the Zograsco pushed passed him and knocked his weapon out of the way.

"Where are they?" Screeched the Zograsco.

"They've escaped," the man replied.

"Escaped!" The volume of the Zograsco's voice seemed to shake the very air around them.

"Yes. The girl has bonded with the sword and it’s turned her into a formidable warrior. She killed the guard you left behind."

"She did," the Zograsco's voice had eased in volume.

"It was stupid to leave an ancient Gallifrian weapon in here. Those damn things are so unpredictable."

The Zograsco turned to the boys and said:

"Find them and kill them. If you don't I will have you all killed."

Again holding his weapon close to his chest, Jason ran out of the office. He was going to hunt them down and kill them, things got better and better.

 ***

They were racing down the back corridor towards the school's kitchen. At least Ace was racing ahead, as each moment passed she looked more and more like an avenging warrior, while Ian did his best to keep up with her, dragging Peter behind him. Ian now felt his age, his middle age, running after Ace like this.

They rounded a corner and came to a sudden halt. Ace stood with the sword raised above her head, ready to strike, at her feet was the crouching figure of a young man.

"Stop!" Ian shouted, as Peter let out a cry of horror. "He's not one of them."

Slowly Ace lowered the sword, but she still stood over the young man, who was still crouching on the floor.

Ian stepped pass her and up to the young man.

He was probably sixteen or seventeen years old, thin and pale. He was dressed in a tight-fitting pale purple tee shirt and very flared jeans. His black hair hung long and straight about his face (the young man looked as if he was disguised as a nineteen-seventies teenager).

Ian looked into the young man's pale face.

"I'm tripping, oh God I'm tripping," the young man cried out. "I only took two puffs. Jacko said it was what all the rock stars did. Then everything went weird."

"What's your name?" Ian asked him.

"Chaz, Chaz Wentworth."

"And what year is it?" Ian added.

"Nineteen-seventy-two, I think. Yeah, Nineteen-seventy-two."

"What?" Ace said, she was stood next to him now, the sword held at her side.

Ian turned to her.

"I think our alien friends are not as good at time control as they pretend to be," he said to her.

"Why?" Ace asked.

"Chaz," Ian nodded at the young man still crouched on the floor, "was a pupil here in nineteen-seventy-two. One day, he simply vanished from the school premises. There was a terrible scandal, they searched everywhere but no Chaz or body or anything was ever found."

"Now he turns up in here again, in nineteen-eighty-three," Ace added.

"Yes."

"We need to find The Doctor and fast," Ace said.

"Someone's coming," Peter called out.

"Quick, move it!" Ace shouted.

Again brandishing the sword, Ace ran off down the corridor. Ian, pushing Peter behind her and dragging Chaz up off the floor, followed her. It was like old times with The Doctor, Ian though for a moment, running down corridors and away from danger.

The four of them ran towards the kitchen.

 ***

The Doctor had pressed his fingers tightly into the catatonic girl's temples and had bent forward with his forehead against the girl's.

Rachael stood next to him and simply watched him; there was nothing else she could do. The Doctor had said he was going to wake the girl. That had been, what seemed, an age ago. Since then, all he had done was stay silently hunched over the girl, like he was now, and remain motionless. He hadn't moved or spoken. She couldn't see how this was helping the girl or anything.

Then, everything happened at once.

The Doctor jumped up and backwards, letting go of the girl as if he'd suffered some sort of electric shock.

At the same moment the girl sat bolt upright on the mortuary table, her eyes open and her face twisted up in terror.

"They’re going to kill us all!!" The girl screamed, making Rachael step backwards in shock.

Then the girl's lifeless body fell back onto the mortuary table.

Chapter 14

By Sarah

Marching down the corridor between two guards was Fleur, and from the look on her face she wasn’t too happy about the situation.

“You wont get away with this you know. If the Doctors involved he’ll stop you,” she stated.

“There you are wrong. He is safely in our custody,” replied one of the Zograsco, named Quilp’zon.

***

“Hurry up,” hissed Ace as Ian, Peter and Chaz followed her inside the kitchen.

In the corner of the room was an industrial size freezer. They could hear the voices of the owners of the footsteps. Right outside the door.

“They are coming in here,” exclaimed Ian.

“We’ve got to hide somewhere,” replied Ace.

Chaz hid himself in the cupboard under the sink, Peter also hid in one of the lower cupboards. Ace hid in the pantry and Ian pulled open the freezer door, just about closing it in time.

***

“Ian,” exclaimed a familiar voice.

“Doctor? What are you doing here,” asked Ian, somewhat confused. Adding, “Rachel…I mean Mrs Pocock? Your alive?”

“It would appear so,” she replied.

“Were being held prisoner by the Zograsco,” said the Doctor.

***

Meanwhile, back in the office…

“Wait,” cried Gardener.

“What,” asked the Zograsco Officer, angrily.

“When are you going to release my daughter? I’ve held up my end of the bargain.”

“You must wait until we have captured the runaways, then maybe she will be set free, but then again she may not.”

“But-but, I made a deal,” protested Professor Gardener.

“Take your complaints up with the Sovereign,” replied the alien, his tone menacing. “Now I must hurry. The dissidents must be eliminated.” He left the room, following the others.

“Oh, you underestimate me. I don’t betray my colleagues,” whispered Gardener under his breath, “Amnesia, come!”

The parrot flew down from where it had hidden in the air vent and landed on his shoulder.

“Now is the time,” she squawked, ruffling her green and yellow plumage.

“Exactly,” he replied.  

Chapter 15

Rachael Wallis

Ian and the Doctor looked at the body that had fallen heavily on the table. Rachael hung back and looked at them she had no idea what was going on, all she wanted to do was go home.

"What has happened to theses people Doctor?" Ian asked in a croaked voice.

"Well it looks like there sole or life energy has been drained from them, some are still alive probable because they where able to resist, but have been turned into a vegetable for their efforts."

The Doctor began to pace the room and examine the bodies again.

"Why would anything want to that?" Rachael asked in a whisper.

"Well to feed and survive." The Doctor muttered in a dark tone.

A group of Zograsco came in to the kitchen after a group of humans, they could not be seen and they could not be bothered to search for them knowing full well they would not escape. They where about to leave when they heard voices coming from the freezer. One of them grinned and walked over to the door attaching a device on there.

"There that will lock the door so they won't be able to get out and no one will be able to get in unless we unlock it." The Zograsco smiled an evil smile.

"I know what we could do." One of them said.

It walked over to the temp control and turned it down.

"Ha now they will freeze to death a fitting end for those that have caused us trouble. Set the devise so no one can tamper with the temp controls."

The small group left the room.

Ace got up from her hiding place and so did Peter and Chaz.

"There going to die man, there dead as dead can be." Chaz muttered to himself

"No they won’t die we have to find a way of getting them out!" Ace screamed at the boy grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him.

"Doctor?" Rachael asked.

"Yes what is it." He said looking up from another body.

"Is it me or is it getting colder in here?"

The Doctor stopped for a moment.

"You know I think it is. Ian did you hit the temp controls when you came in?"

"No Doctor."

"Doctor! Doctor! Can you here me?" It was Ace calling from the other side of the door.

"Ace what is going on?"

"I don't know Doctor. Theses creatures have put something on the door so we can’t open it and locked the temp controls so it’s going to get colder. There is no way that I can unlock them. You are going to freeze to death!"

Chapter 16

By Drew Payne

Lady Fleur strode into the office, ahead of her two Zograsco guards, defiantly ignoring them. Her finely embroider cloak, covering her equally elaborate full dress, brushed over the doorframe. She stopped in the centre of the office and, with a stern expression on her face (hiding the anger she felt boiling just under her controlled exterior), scanned around herself.

“You have brought me to an empty office, for what purpose?” She demanded of her guards, now turning to face them.

“He’s gone,” the nearest Zograsco to her said, but more to itself then her.

“That must be obvious, even to a life-form as poorly evolved as you!” She snapped at it.

Before the first Zograsco guard could reply or make a move towards her, the second Zograsco, stood just inside the doorway, let out a loud and sharp cry of pain. Its large hand clutched at its thick neck, the other hand dropping its weapon onto the floor, as it itself fell back against the office’s wall, its ugly complexion suddenly turning dry and creased.

As the first Zograsco rushed to help its comrade, Lady Fleur simply stood there in the centre of the office, her hands held together in front of herself.

“Well…” She whispered under her breath as she felt a shudder of Time Disturbance ripple through the room.

***

Ace, frustration spilling over into anger, raised the hilt of her sword and struck the Zograsco device that was keeping the freezer door locked. But, only adding to her anger, the sword’s hilt merely bounced off the device without leaving a mark on it.

“Bloody stupid…” Ace swore at the device and stuck it again with the sword’s hilt, but again it only harmlessly bounced off it. So she stuck it again.

“Hey, hey keep the noise down,” Chaz’s voice spoke, from somewhere behind her left shoulder, but she ignored him.

“Professor! Professor” She shouted at the locked the door in front of her. “Professor, I can’t get this door open! Professor, what should I do?”

The reply she got was obviously The Doctor’s voice but it was so muffled she could barely make out the words he was saying.

“What Professor, what?” She shouted back, the adrenalin pounding in her head.

“The sword,” The Doctor’s voice came through the metal door. “Ace, use the sword, it’s a very powerful weapon.”

Quickly she turned the sword around, so that the blade was pointing at the door, and so doing she felt the sword pulse with energy. In that instant she knew what to do, it was as if the sword had actually put the thought into her mind. She plunged the sword into the metal door, which it slide through as if the metal were merely soft butter, and began to cut around Zograsco device.

***

Jason, leading two other boys (their names he had not bothered to remember) stalked along the back corridor, rapidly making their way to the school’s kitchen. They had run into three Zograscos, on the main corridor, who had told them they had left some humans to die in the kitchens. Well Jason was determined to finish them off. So far, no matter where he looked in this stupid school, he’d not found any of those the Zograscos had sent him to kill. Now he knew were they were, now he could really prove himself to the Zograscos, now he could use his gun again and feel the power from it as he killed another.

***

Rachel was standing close behind The Doctor, who was stood staring at the freezer’s locked door. Ian, himself, stood in the middle of the room and watched them. The Doctor was shouting instructions through the door to Ace. Rachel was hugging her arms about herself and nervously moving from one foot to another. Ian felt equally uncomfortable. The air in the freezer had become painfully cold; every breath he exhaled formed a white cloud of vapour in front of his face.

Suddenly there came a bright flash of light from the freezer’s door, as if Ace was using some kind welding torch actually on it.

Acting on instinct he step backwards, and then again, backing way from the door.

As his foot touched the floor with his second step he felt it. The skin on his hand and arm prickled and tightened, as if his flesh was being shrunk upon the bone. He glanced down at his arm and saw it was grey and withered, as if it belonged to a dried old corpse. With a cry of horror he leap back towards The Doctor and Rachel, in doing so his arm returned to normal.

As he stood there, rubbing the restored flesh of his arm he heard Rachel scream:

“Oh God, oh dear God no!”

He looked down at the far end of the freeze, the direction in which Rachel’s pale and frightened face was staring.

The bodies, lying on the mortuary tables, were now just dry and grey husks, looking like they had aged for decades in an airless tomb. Even the tables themselves were rusted and beginning to fall apart, as if they were as equally old. The far end of the room was aging and aging unnaturally fast.

“Doctor, look at the other end of the room,” Ian shouted out in alarm.

“Ian! Rachel! Quick, move down here by the door,” The Doctor’s voice called out.

Ian didn’t need to be told twice. Quickly he backed from the far end of the room, but keeping his eyes on the dry bodies there.

“What’s happening?” He asked The Doctor when he reached him, a terrified Rachel hunched next to him.

“It seems that the Zograsco’s Time Technology is very unstable and is now breaking down. Unfortunately it’s causing Time Disturbances to appear all over this building.”

“That explains the boy we found earlier,” Ian said.

“What’s… What’s a Time Disturbance?” Stammered Rachel.

“It’s what is causing that,” The Doctor pointed his umbrella at the far end of the room, just as one of the mortuary tables collapsed into a pile of rust. “And if we do not get out of here soon it will age us to death, too.” The Doctor then turned back to the door and called out: “Ace! Ace! Hurry up!”

It was then that he saw it, a sword blade glowing white as it slowly cut a circular whole in the door from the opposite side.

***

Lady Fleur now strode fast along the school’s main corridor, she had to find The Doctor and as fast as possible. Only moments before she had watched the two Zograsco guards rapidly aged down into two piles of dust and rags. Her escape from the office had been simple; she had just stepped over those piles and walked out of the office.

As she hurried along that corridor she realised that she had not encountered anyone else. Neither Zograscos nor humans were to be seen on this corridor, no one there to stop or approach her. There most be something else happening somewhere else in the building, this made it imperative that she find The Doctor.

Then she walked straight into it, unseen by her. Suddenly she hit an invisible wall.

One moment she was rushing along, the next moment she was lying flat on her back on the floor.

She looked up and saw a woman, a human woman standing over her.

“I say, what are you doing here?” The woman said as she offered Fleur a hand. With a surprising amount of strengthen the woman pulled Fleur up onto her feet. The woman looked middle aged, for a human that was, with a short and stocky body. She was dressed in a matching woollen jacket and skirt, in a green and brown checked pattern, with her dark pulled back in a tight bun.

“I think I fell over,” Fleur said to the woman.

“I’m Margaret Rock, Miss Rock, English and Religious Instruction,” the woman continued. “Where’s everyone gone? I’d just let the Upper Fourth out to celebrate. It was on the radio, you know, the Victory in Europe. We beat the bloody Hun!” A note of triumph in her voice.

This woman, this Margaret Rock, must a victim of the Time Disturbances, Fleur reasoned. One of them had obviously picked her out of her own time and dropped her here with Fleur. Margaret Rock was also obviously disorientated because she did not stop talking, chattering away.

“But where is everyone?” Margaret Rock carried on. “I mean my boys from the Upper Fourth were all around me. They were just plain excited by the news…”

“I think you had better come with me,” Fleur interrupted her. “You will be… I will explain as we go.”

“What about my boys from the Upper Fourth?” Margaret Rock continued to chatter as she followed behind Fleur.

***

Professor Gardener walked slowly into the middle of the drama studio, his arms outstretched in front of himself. Amnesia, still ruffling her green and yellow plumage, had perched on the back of a chair, at the edge of the room.