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Kiwi author's short stories - by Kiwi Author

Golem – A short story by Heath Ling Nov 07

‘Robbie, dinner is ready’ a voice called up the stairs and through the open door the led into his room.

‘Just one moment mum’ he called back down to her before continuing to mold the small clay figure he was making.

‘Hmm, that looks okay’ he thought to himself as he placed it upon his study desk before going downstairs and into the kitchen for his tea.

‘Maybe I could make another figure to go with it’ Robbie was thinking as he climbed up the stairs and walked into his bedroom, only to stop suddenly as he saw that his clay figure looked different somehow?

He was certain that he had left it with its left arm raised whereas now it was down by its side and he couldn’t see the join where anyone had reattached the arm.

‘Okay sis, great joke and very funny’ he called out, only to be met by silence.

‘I’ll get her back later’ he thought before taking another piece of clay and started to mold another shape, although this was a lot larger than the human shape from before, and before he had realized it, a large creature like humanoid form sat in his hands.

‘Robbie bedtime’ his mother said as she walked past and started to put the washing away in the airing cupboard.

‘Okay mum, in a minute’ he replied as he played with the figures on his desk.

‘It’s a school night honey’ she said walking into the room before saying ‘And aren’t you a bit old at 13 to be playing with clay figures?’

‘Ahh mum’ Robbie protested as she got his school uniform ready and started to tidy his stuff up.

‘You can play with these tomorrow, but now it’s clean you’re teeth and then lights out’ she told him with a smile.

After cleaning his teeth he jumped into bed and fell quickly asleep after his mum turned the light out.

The next morning it was a rush to get ready for school and just before the bus arrived, Robbie quickly rushed up the stairs to get his clay men and put them in his bag.

But as the bus pulled up, he was dismayed to see Vincent and Dwayne, the school bullies pointing at him in a menacing way and he knew from past experience that this would mean trouble.

The only free seat was close to them at the rear of the bus and as he moved closer, one of spat ‘ Hey pipsqueak gimmie the bag’ as he snatched the bag from Robbie’s hands and opened it.

‘Ha, what have we here’? Dwayne said as he pulled the two clay figures out and showed them to the other hangers on in the gang. A mean laughter echoed from the group as Dwayne threw them down onto the floor of the bus, breaking them both before putting his face close to Robbie’s and snarling ‘Next time bring us something better or else’ before giving him a hard punch to the chest.

As the youths then started to torment a girl sitting on the other side of the bus, Robbie picked up his broken figures, anger welling up inside of him as he thought ‘God, how I hate those guys’ as he tried to repair the damage.

The rest of the school day was fairly uneventful and after tea, Robbie decided to make clay figures of Vincent and Dwayne and have his clay creature tear their arms off. ‘Let them bully me now’ he thought to himself chuckling as the creature attacked them.
He didn’t really give it any more thought until the next morning when whilst waiting for the school bus, he was surprised to see three police cars and an ambulance drive past at high speed with their lights and sirens going.

He looked at his watch ‘Hmm the bus is ten minutes late too’ he thought to himself before spotting it turn the corner into his street.
Normally there is lots of noise but today the bus was deathly quiet and as he got on, Robbie noticed that the bullies from yesterday weren’t there.

‘Have you heard?’ Asked the girl sitting in front of him.

‘Heard what?’ He replied puzzled.

‘That there is a bear loose and it got Dwayne and Vincent last night as they were smoking in the church yard’ she told him.

‘Are they okay?’ he asked quietly

‘From what I hear, the bear tore both their arms off before eating part of them both’ the girl replied with a shrug before turning around.

Robbie said nothing for the rest of the journey and just wanted to get the school day over done with as the talk of the school was all about the dreadful thing that happened to those two.

Upon reaching home, Robbie rushed upstairs to his room and shut the door before going to look at his clay figures, stopping in fright when he saw some extra figures on his desk and upon looking closer, he saw that both of the extra figures had their arms pulled off.

Robbie took a step backwards unsure what to do next when suddenly one of the clay figures moved. He stood there silently watching as the figure started to make something using the clay from the other figures. ‘It looks like a tree of some kind?’ Robbie thought to himself before realizing where he had seen it before.
‘The fisherman’s tree?’ he said out loud, surprised to see the small clay figure nod its head once.
Robbie was intrigued now and all the earlier thoughts disappeared as he picked up both of the figures and ran down the stairs.
‘Won’t be long mum’ he called out before running out the front door.
He grabbed his bike and headed off towards the river and the tree was situated. He had played there once or twice and it stood in a small copse of willows along the river bank.
It didn’t take too long and after leaning his bike against a fallen log, he made his way through the undergrowth towards the river, stopping suddenly when the tree loomed into view.

Robbie looked around but couldn’t see anything apart from a mound of freshly dug soil or something. Then he reached into his bag and pulled out his two figures, placing them on the soil, only to be amazed as he watched them slowly disappear into the ground.

‘This is bizarre’ he thought to himself as he moved closer to examine the soil.

Then without warning, the earth started to move under his feet and Robbie jumped back in terror as two large arms made of soil broke the surface, followed by the head of the creature he had made the previous night. At sight of this Robbie’s nerve broke and ran as fast as he could back to his bike.

This was just a short story we had to write for my writers group as we had to include a lump of clay into the piece.

Copyright 2007 Heath Ling

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Comet turns people into Zombies

February 28th 2007 06:23

Ziggy Stardust and the Zombies from Mars 21/08/06

Michele was feeling quite pleased with herself, for she had just managed to trade in her old banger of a car in exchange for a sleek red two door sports car. Leaving the car dealer shaking his head as oil dripped from beneath the bonnet as she sped off.

‘Ha’ she thought, her foot pressing down hard on the accelerator, the car shooting forward, tires squealing on the tarmac.
She glanced at her reflection in the shop windows, admiring the gleaming body of her latest toy.
Just then she looked at her watch ‘Damm I’ll be late for my hair appointment at Minger Gegs’ she muttered under her breath before selecting a lower gear and flooring the accelerator once more. Giving a slight smile as a couple drongo youths jumped out of her way.

It was as she was parking nearby the hairdressers that she saw something that caught her eye, it was a new travel agents that was opening up, ‘Hmm Julia’s Travel Bureau, sounds interesting’ she thought making a metal note to take a look after she had her hair done.

Opening the door to Minger Gegs, Michelle was greeted by the owner Santino
‘Ahh darling, good to see you again’ he purred taking a hold of her hand before leading Michele to the closest empty chair.

Michele looked around, where was her usual hairdresser she thought?
Santino sensing what she was looking for said ‘Don’t worry Fifi has moved on but we have a new stylist, let me introduce Storm’.

‘Hello’ a dark haired woman said stepping from behind the curtain that led to the back room area.
As Michele explained what she wanted, Santino called out ‘Ah my favorite song, Ziggy Stardust’ before turning the radio up loud.
Storm placed the soothing eye massage blindfold on Michele before starting to wash her hair.
Michele closed her eyes, feeling the soothing coolness of the blindfold upon her eyelids.

Just then she heard Santino cry out ‘Look at that green light in the sky’ before everything went strangely quiet.
‘Storm, Santino are you there? She asked with concern rising in her voice.
No answer, so slowly she took off the blindfold, putting her hand to her mouth as she did so, for Storm and Santino had both changed into blind zombies.

This was just a very quick writing execise using three items although can't recall what they were at the moment?

Hal

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Doctor Who saves school children!!

February 21st 2007 08:51

This is a short story written by one of my writers group for her niece and she kindly gave me permission to post it on here, so enjoy.
Incidently I wrote Captain Jack and the Teapot of Doom after this one as bit of a spoof.

Copyright 2007 Michele Clark

Erin and the Doctor

Chapter One

*Sigh* How boring was this lesson! Erin slouched further down in her chair. Maths  As Miss Oxtail went round the class, marking everyone’s work; Erin couldn’t help but start to daydream. Last day but one of the summer term, and it was a warm summer day. There were so many things she would rather be doing.

As she started to pull herself upright, Erin noticed that it was suddenly starting to get hotter and hotter. She couldn’t remember it ever being so hot before and it seemed stifling, as if the air was being sucked out of the sky. And then, suddenly, a whoomph whoomph whoomph noise and the air was back to normal. She looked at her friends, who were busy writing and didn’t seem to notice anything different. She looked around the classroom and everything seemed the same, but still she had a feeling that something had changed.

Erin shrugged her shoulders and glanced down at the paper in front of her. Oops, she had better concentrate. There were doodles of stars and planets, but not much work. She shook her head to clear her mind, and as she did so, caught a glimpse of an extraordinary sight. A man’s head bobbed up and peeked into the classroom window then bobbed down again out of sight. She blinked quickly and looked hard at the window. Nothing. Could she have imagined it? Miss Oxtail was moving closer to her, so Erin tried hard to work out the maths problems on her worksheet, but she was so sure she had seen something that she kept stealing a glance at the window.

She wasn’t disappointed. About five minutes later, the man’s head appeared again. It seemed to Erin that he was looking directly at her. Just then, Adrian Wanstall called out “Miss Oxtail, Erin Clark isn’t doing her work; she’s staring out the window.” As she turned angrily to glare at Adrian, the man’s head bobbed down again.

“What were you looking at, Erin” Miss Oxtail asked her. “Nothing Miss” Erin muttered, thinking that she would repay the tell-tale later when he wasn’t working hard.

Soon it was playtime, and Erin was too busy running round the playground with her friends to think about the man again.

For the rest of the day, nothing else strange happened. By the time her mum came to collect her, Erin had almost forgotten about funny atmosphere and the disappearing/reappearing man. Her karate classes had finished for the holidays so she spent the evening catching up with Home and Away.

Finally, the last day of school! It was games day, and everyone could bring in board games or hand-held computer games if they wanted to. Erin had a couple of games in her back pack as she trotted up the road to the school grounds. Chatting away to her mum and dad, she almost didn’t notice the strange blue box that stood on the pavement near the gates. It was as big as a phone box, but was made of wood with little windows near the top. A light sat in the very centre on top of the box, and a sign saying “Police Public Call Box” was fastened on it. Erin stopped mid-sentence and stared at it. “What’s that, Mum?” she asked. Narumon looked at her daughter. “What do you mean?” she asked. Erin pointed at the box. Narumon and Russell exchanged puzzled looks. “Hon, that’s just the old Police phone box; it’s always been there” Russell told her. Erin looked at her parents as if they were mad. The box had never, ever been there before. Then she looked at everyone else streaming into the school gates. Nobody gave the box a second glance.

Erin decided not to say anything yet, but she had already decided that something very strange indeed was happening at St Mary’s school. Just as she turned to say goodbye to her parents, her friend Karen ran up to show her the “Home and Away” magazine she had brought in. Erin was quickly engrossed in a discussion about last night’s episode and hardly bothered to wave goodbye to her parents.

Chapter Two

In assembly, everyone was chatting excitedly about their plans for the summer holidays, and comparing games. Mrs RAMSBOTTOM, the Head Teacher, called for everyone to be silent, but Erin was so intent on her discussion with Karen that she didn’t hear her.

“So anyway, I think that I’ll be able to go for my next belt in Tae Kwan Do by September” she said loudly. The rest of the children in her row started to giggle. Erin had kept on talking even though everyone else had stopped and the whole school had heard her! She blushed bright red, and slunk down in her seat. Mrs RAMSBOTTOM cleared her throat and pretended nothing had happened, as she asked everyone to stand up and sing “All Things Bright and Beautiful”. But, at the end of assembly, as everyone was walking back to the classroom, Miss Oxtail called Erin to one side.

“Erin Clark, how many times have I told you not to be such a chatterbox?” she scolded her. “Please wait here in the corridor; I think I will be giving you lines to do instead of playing for this period to teach you a lesson about talking in class.” Erin was stung into anger at the injustice. Everyone had been talking, not just her! She slumped against the hallway wall, as Miss Oxtail herded all her friends into their classroom, and as the door swung shut behind them, Erin slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. She stuck out her bottom lip, and started moodily picking at the stitching on her backpack. It wasn’t fair. Not only had everyone heard her talking, but now she was missing out on the best day of the school year.

Erin sat there for ages and ages. The corridor was completely silent. Not even the slightest noise came from her classroom. Her legs started to get pins and needles, so she stood up and wandered around the hallway. There was a buzz of voices and laughter from the other classrooms as she went by. She couldn’t believe how quiet her class was! She became even more bored and fed up, so she practiced some of her Tae Kwan Do kicks and moves.

The quiet of the hallway was shattered by a piercing noise, almost deafening her for a minute or so. The bell for morning playtime. In seconds the hallway was filled with running and laughing children, pushing by her to get out to the playground. But her classroom door remained firmly shut. As the hallway emptied again, Erin started to feel the first pangs of worry. In the far distance she could hear the sound of the other classes playing and she knew that down the corridor in the staffroom were the other teachers and Mrs RAMSBOTTOM. So what was there to worry about? But Erin’s hand was trembling as she pushed open the door to her classroom.

At first the door wouldn’t move, so she shoved harder. She could hardly believe her eyes as she stared into the room that was so familiar to her. She had seen her friends and classmates walk in; she had seen Miss Oxtail follow them and shut the door. There were no other doors from the room, just some windows that hardly opened. And yet, there was no sign of anyone at all in the room. Every single person had disappeared.

Erin stood stock still for a whole minute. For one strange moment she thought that they were all playing Hide and Seek, and were hidden under the tables. But there was nowhere for anyone to hide.

“Ah” said a voice from behind her. “Yes, you know Erin, I rather thought this might happen.”

Chapter Three

Without even turning around, Erin knew it was the man she had seen yesterday. And because he was there, she knew that her friends weren’t playing Hide and Seek at all. Something terrible had happened.

Tears started to prickle at the backs of her eyes. “Now now, young Erin” said the man briskly, “we have a lot of work to do if we are going to rescue your mates”. She turned around and looked up at him. He was holding out a big red hankie, all screwed up and wrinkled but it looked clean. She took it and dabbed her eyes. Then for good measure, she blew her nose on it. She gave it back to the man, who looked at it for a second then handed it back. “You keep it” he said dryly. “But who are you?” she asked, stuffing the hanky into her back pack. “And where are my friends?”
“Silly me! Where are my manners?” the man said, smacking himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand. He held the same hand out to Erin for her to shake. “I am the Doctor. And I know who you are, so that’s the introductions over with. Now, let’s get cracking.” And he slapped his hands together and started rubbing them. He strode into the classroom, and started rushing around, lifting up bags and books and shifting furniture.

Erin watched the strange man for a second or two. He was white, with messy black hair and he wore a suit with basketball boots. Although he was funny, he had a very serious expression on his face. He didn’t look much like a doctor to her.

“Ah, now then. This is very interesting. Come and look at this”. Obediently, Erin trotted over to the Doctor, who was leaning so far into the big cupboard where all the paint and stationery was kept that all she could see was his bottom sticking out.

“I don’t think there’s anything very interesting in there, Mr Doctor. It’s just where we keep glue and paint and things.”

The Doctor straightened up, and looked at her properly for the first time. “It’s Doctor, actually, just Doctor, not Mr Doctor. And I think I had better have a little chat with you, hadn’t I? To let you know what’s going on here?” “Well, yes,” she said. Then, because she was starting to feel cross as well as upset and scared. “I think you had better because I have to go and tell Mrs RAMSBOTTOM that my friends are missing. And that I saw you hanging around yesterday!”

To her amazement the Doctor threw back his head and laughed. “Good for you, Erin” he shouted. “Ha! I knew you had the makings of a good companion when I was watching the school.” The Doctor perched himself on the edge of Miss Oxtail’s desk, and started swinging his legs as he looked at her. “I’ll make you a deal” he said. “Let me tell you my story, and if you like what you hear, then I would very much appreciate your help with a very serious matter. If you think I’m barking mad, I’ll go with you to Mrs RAMSBOTTOM’s office. How’s that sound? Deal?” He tilted his head quizzically to one side, and again he offered her his hand to shake. Erin didn’t know what to do, she shouldn’t trust this man of course, but to her surprise she found herself saying “Deal” and giving him a huge grin.

“Excellent” he said, hopping off the desk. “Now the best place for a story like this will be … hm. I know, the TARDIS. Come on then.” And with a flurry he shot out of the room.

The what? Erin trotted after him, almost having to run to keep up with his long legs. One or two of the children in the playground called to her as they hurried up the drive, but all she could do was wave at them. At the roadside, the Doctor stopped. He started fishing through all the pockets in his jacket and trousers pulling all kinds of strange objects out and then shoving them back. He was muttering under his breath “where is that key? I know I put it somewhere safe. Ah!” In his hand was a long, golden, slender key. To Erin’s great surprise, he turned towards the blue police box and slid the key into the lock. As he pushed open the door, Erin felt the same stifling feeling she had felt the day before.

With a dramatic gesture, the Doctor faced her, bowed, and flung out his arm towards the open doorway.

“Welcome, Erin, to the TARDIS” he said.

Chapter Four

Erin stepped into the strangest place she had ever been in her entire life. Inside the blue box was enormous, as big as the inside of her whole house. Her mouth dropped open as she stared around her. There was a circular control console in the centre, with a huge glass tube in the middle. All around the edges were pipes, tubes, flashing lights, and buttons. At the back was a spiral staircase, leading downwards. Surely there couldn’t be another storey. Very slowly, Erin backed out of the TARDIS and into the street again. Everything else looked just the same. She walked all the way around the police box, then very carefully peeked back inside it.

The Doctor was laughing at her. He shook his head and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “Everyone, I mean absolutely everyone does that that” he told her. “Come on then, we’ll have a cuppa and I’ll try to explain everything.” He nodded his head towards the door, and they both stepped through. He pulled the door closed behind him, and the noise of the street she knew so well was completely blocked out. Instead, there were little electronic chirps and buzzes. And the noise of the Doctor opening and closing cupboard doors as he searched for cups. As he clattered about, he asked her what she liked to drink. Erin wondered what strange things he had in the little cupboards that looked like part of the curved metal wall, but when she asked for orange juice he opened one door that covered a fridge and he pulled out a carton of juice. But the glasses he poured it into were shaped like human skulls!

“Oh, these” he said, realizing why she looked so dismayed. “They aren’t real, of course.” He handed her one, and she told herself not to be so silly. They were plastic of course. “No, no,” he continued breezily “these are Zarathin skulls. When they die in battle, their skulls are prized trophies.” Erin spat the orange juice straight on the floor in her shock. As she bent to wipe up the mess, using the Doctor’s red handkerchief again, the Doctor continued “I picked them up when I was on the Planet Zarath, oooh, let me see now, must be a couple of centuries ago.”

He paused to watch her reaction, which was to stand with her mouth wide open.

“You look like a gold fish” he told her. “Or maybe a bluuble.” Then he laughed loudly at his joke, which of course Erin didn’t understand, having no idea what a bluuble was.

Annoyed with him, Erin frowned.

“Doctor” she said firmly. Are you telling me that you have traveled to other planets and are over 200 years old?” She folded her arms and tapped her foot looking just like an irate school teacher. “Yes, Erin, that’s just exactly what I am telling you.” The Doctor smiled gently at her. “I am a Time Lord, the last of my kind. It is my fate to travel through time and space to protect time. To make sure that nothing that happens in the universe that changes the fabric of time. I have been to the past and the future of hundreds of planets, and I’ve been to Earth dozens of times to save the planet.”

Erin had no idea what he was talking about. She thought about it for a few seconds. “So, basically, like an Inter-galactic goody?” she asked? “Something like that. And there are some baddies who have taken your class. Now, are you with me in rescuing them?” He held his hand up to her, palm forwards. “I sure am Doctor” said Erin, giving him a high-five.

Chapter Five

They settled into a couple of chairs shaped like eggs, but strangely comfortable. They had risen from the floor when the Doctor had pressed a button on the central console. The Doctor waved his arm around him. “This is the TARDIS. That stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. Basically, it’s a machine that moves through time and space. It’s a bit unreliable really, and the button that changes what it looks like on the outside isn’t working, so it always looks like this, even if I land in the middle of a desert. Still, she’s a good old thing really” he added, giving the central console a hefty slap.

“She does tend to land me in it, though, the old girl. I mean, once, I keyed in the co-ordinates for Earth, 1901, because I fancied going to Queen Victoria’s funeral, but I ended up on a totally different planet that was being taken over by an invading race who weren’t even supposed to invade for another couple of millennia. Very tricky situation.” He jumped up and started walking around.

“It’s her nose for trouble that’s brought me here today, well yesterday to be exact” he continued, pressing buttons and pulling levers. A screen rose from the console and tilted towards Erin. “Here you go, watch this” he told her, flopping back into his own seat.

The scene that took place on the screen was amazing. With the help of the Doctor’s commentary, Erin watched in disbelief.

At first, the screen showed a landscape, there were no houses, and it looked rocky and wild, with forests covering the lower ground. A river wound through it. As the images flickered, Erin realized that time was passing before her eyes at an amazing rate. Soon, little huts made of straw and logs appeared and figures of humans wearing clothes of animal skins moved around. Trees disappeared and others grew. Animals were there for a second and then gone. The shape of the landscape changed – tiny fields began to be carved out of the huge hills and plans, separated by little walls of rocks that took only a moment to build. The huts began to be more solid, and the clusters grew larger.

Just as Erin’s head began to whirl, the pictures began to slow down. At the top right-hand corner of the screen, a white light began to appear. The tiny animal and human figures all stopped and stared up at the sky. The animals began to run to the safety of the forest, and the humans covered their eyes and fell to their knees. Erin guessed they were praying. Even with no sound, Erin felt the mighty crash as a huge object smashed into the highest peak that towered above the settlement. She turned to the doctor in horror. “Those poor people” she whispered. He nodded silently at the screen again.

Erin kept watching as the images zoomed past, faster and faster. The great crater where the object had smashed through disappeared, grown over by trees and heather and gorse. The settlement became a town, a great mansion was built on the hill, carriages and then cars filled the streets. She started to recognize the fashions being worn and then some of the streets and shops even looked familiar.

“Doctor” she said “that settlement is Newcastle-under-Lyme, isn’t it? And where that thing crashed, that’s here, that’s Keele!”

Chapter Six

The Doctor looked at Erin gravely. His normal whimsical expression, which looked as if he was just about to start laughing was deadly serious.

“Erin, exactly 1,000 years ago a meteorite crashed into the hill where Keele University now stands. It contained the seeds of an alien being, one that lives a subterraneous life for many years. It carves out rocks into tunnels and huge caverns as it grows, and as it multiplies. As the number of these creatures grows, so does the need for food, land, etcetera. So far, it has survived by stealing cattle, sheep and crops. Now, I am afraid that they want to come to the surface and take what the humans have for themselves.”

Erin’s mind whirled. She had a million questions, but the one that terrified her the most had to be asked first.

“But my friends?” she asked, her lip trembling with fear and horror for the first time. “What has happened to them?”

The Doctor swiveled his chair to face her. He gently took her hand in his and softened his voice.

“I believe that the aliens took your friends. They have recognized that human beings are the dominant species on this planet, and need to observe them at close quarters to see what their strengths and weaknesses are. They have chosen a class of children because they are weaker and easier to steal. They will watch them grow up into adults and use the information to launch their bid to take over the surface of the planet. When that happens, they, will have no mercy. They will try to kill all humans, starting with your friends.”

Erin felt the tears start to roll down her cheeks – how could this be happening? Surely it couldn’t be true?

“No” she sobbed “no, I don’t believe it.” She wept hard for a few minutes into the red handkerchief, while the Doctor awkwardly patted her shoulder. As her crying started to ease, the Doctor spoke again.

“Erin, that’s only if we don’t manage to save your friends. You’re a brave girl, and I’m a centuries old inter-galactic hero. Between us we have a hard task to face, but I’m sure we can do it.” He smiled encouragingly at her, and she smiled back. Then she had a sudden thought.

“Doctor, why me? Why not tell Mrs RAMSBOTTOM? Why not tell the police or the air force?”

“Ah yes. Call in the Government.” The Doctor looked embarrassed. “Well, actually, I did try them of course, when I first started to observe the aliens as they came to the surface to steal things. Been happening for centuries of course, but when they started to steal prototype weapons from the secret laboratory at Keele, I thought I should do something. So I popped along to see Tony, and got rather an icy welcome. Yes, yes, Cherie cut me quite dead, and Tony had me thrown out. They seemed to think I was quite bonkers, especially after I materialized at the Queen’s 80th Birthday Tea Party chasing a rogue Dalek.”

He swizzled around on his chair, coming to rest facing her again. “So, you see, if I went to any adult with this story, they’d have me locked up. I’d be able to get out of course.” He pulled a long silver tool from his jacket pocket and waved it around. “Not a lock built by humans that can’t be sorted with the old sonic screwdriver. But a waste of time being locked up, and they’d be on the look-out for me. No, I needed a young person who’d believe their eyes; someone with some local knowledge, a bit of pluck, and, most importantly, who hadn’t just been kidnapped with the rest of her class!”

Erin felt proud, scared, and quite pleased that Adrian Wanstall had told on her yesterday. Now he was kidnapped and she would be rescuing him!

“OK Doctor,” she said as bravely as she could manage. “What’s the plan?”

Chapter Seven

“Plan? Well, I thought we’d go back to your classroom, down the hidden tunnel in your Art Supplies Cupboard, find out where your chums are hidden, and then wing it.”

It didn’t sound like a very good plan to Erin, but she couldn’t think of anything better. She hopped off the seat, and as she did she was struck by another question.

“Doctor, what do these things look like? These aliens? And have they got a name?”

“Oh yes they have a name; this happens quite often as you can imagine, what with all the meteors in the universe and everything, so they have many names. The easiest one to pronounce is the Nori. And they look like this.” He pressed another button and the screen that had been blank flashed into life again. It filled with the image of a vaguely humanoid creature, with scales, fins and huge eyes. Huge hands with claws and sharp teeth. It was terrifying. Erin gasped and backed away from the screen. “They smell pretty disgusting, too,” the Doctor added. “You know when you walk into a toilet after someone else has been in there and you breathe in by mistake? That’s what they smell like. So golden rule number one – don’t get too close.”

The Doctor hopped off his seat, pressed a couple of buttons and the seats and the screen slid down. The seats vanished from sight and with a small clunk a section of flooring slid back to cover the hole. The screen stuck half way down, and the Doctor bashed it hard, confidently saying to Erin “don’t worry if it looks like I’m being rough, I know exactly what I’m doing.” The screen snapped off under his hand, and dangled by some wires from the console. “Huh, I told Rose not to mess about with that screen before she left” he muttered.

Ignoring the mess he walked to the door, pressed the button to open it and beckoned to Erin. Together, they stepped out into the street.

To her astonishment, it was as if no time at all had passed. The children were still playing in the school grounds. As they waited, the bell rang for the end of playtime, and in a few seconds the playground was empty. They waited another couple of minutes to make sure that everyone was back in their classrooms, before walking quietly back up the drive, into the hallway and into her classroom. She paused at the doorway. “Uh, Doctor, before we go into the tunnel, I just need to, you know, all that orange juice?” And quickly Erin ran over to the girls’ toilets as the Doctor walked into the classroom.

When Erin came back, the room still looked abandoned. The silence was so deep that Erin began to tip-toe towards the cupboard.

“What on earth are you doing?” The Doctor’s voice boomed around the room, making Erin jump. “I’m keeping quiet so that the Nori don’t hear us coming” she hissed, irritated. “Good idea” the Doctor whispered back, and started doing a really silly, exaggerated impression of her tip-toeing. He straightened up, and walked softly to the art supplies cupboard, and carefully opened the door. He pushed at the back of the cupboard but nothing happened. He started to knock, tap, push and eventually shove harder. “Doctor” said Erin, “why not use that sonic screwdriver you told me about?” The Doctor glanced at her. “Yes, actually, I was just about to do that, actually” he muttered.

He took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket again, pointed it and as a light glowed at its end, the back of the cupboard began to move silently upwards. Beyond was blackness. Holding the sonic screwdriver in front of them, the Doctor stepped through the gap, Erin close on his heels, too nervous to be left behind now.

They dropped down about a meter in depth. The first thing she noticed was how cold it was, the second that it seemed to be solid rock around them. They were in a tunnel that sloped downwards from the foundations that her school was built on. The Doctor started off, setting a fast pace, and Erin trotted on behind him. They hurried along for what seemed like miles, and she started to feel tired.

Gradually she noticed that the air felt cool and fresh, and that there was light filtering in from somewhere. The Doctor switched off the sonic screwdriver, and shoved it into his back pocket, gesticulating upwards as he did.
“Bore holes” he announced. “The Nori have drilled or carved holes up into the surface to let in air and light. Oops” he added skidding a patch of wet rock. “And rain” said Erin, laughing slightly. As the Doctor righted himself, the sonic screwdriver fell out of his pocket. Helpfully, Erin picked it up, and tucked it into her own trousers pocket.

The tunnel became wider and smoother, almost like a corridor, and other tunnels started to appear along the sides. All of a sudden, the Doctor stopped and Erin bumped into the back of him. He turned round, with his index finger in front of his mouth, so she kept quiet, and peeked past him.

They were at the entrance to a great cavern, with many other tunnels running off it. This must be the centre of the Nori’s territory, where the meteor had landed a millennium ago. She could see the strange creatures hurrying about, and there were tables, like work benches, scattered around. Several of the Nori wore white coats, like scientists and doctors, and were bending over piles of electronic equipment. Mostly they did not wear coats, but some had sashes slung across their chests decorated with badges and pieces of cloth. They must be the leaders, she guessed. The Doctor tugged her sleeve and pointed to the side, where a huge cage stood. In it were her classmates, but Miss Oxtail was missing. Her friends had been crying, some still were, but mostly they slumped against the bars, too scared to do anything else.

They stood and watched the activity for half an hour. It must be lunchtime now, Erin’s tummy started to rumble, and most of the Nori vanished along one particular tunnel where she guessed the dining room was. Three Nori remained, standing guard outside the cage. They were communicating in gurgling sounds, too far away for her to hear.

“Right Erin, this is it. You have the sonic screwdriver, don’t you? Look carefully around you so you remember this tunnel. It’s the way out. I’m going to distract the guards, you rush in, open the door to the cage, and get your friends up the tunnel to safety. Tell them to run straight to see Mrs Ramsbottom. And when they’ve seen it, tell them to explain exactly what has happened and ask her to call in the military. I think we are going to need some help closing off these tunnels.” Before Erin had chance to object or to tell him off for making such a rude joke, he was gone.

He ran right into the middle of the cave, and started dancing around, waving his arms and sticking his tongue out at the guards. They gave a terrific shout, and shot off after the Doctor as he ran up one of the tunnels.

Erin dropped the red handkerchief at the mouth of the tunnel so she she would know which tunnel to lead her friends up and ran across the cavern. Holding the sonic screwdriver in shaking hands, Erin pointed it at the lock of the cage, and pressed down on it. The light came on, much more feebly than before but with a ping the door of the cage opened.

“Quickly” she cried to the children. “I haven’t got time to explain, follow me and we’ll escape back to school.” Her classmates were surprised and seemed to want to ask questions but one or two had worked out that she was saving them, and ran out of the cage, looking at her to see which way to go. She pointed at the tunnel that lead to their classroom, and pulled and pushed until they were all running and stumbling up the tunnel. It seemed to take for ever but at last they were back in the classroom, confronted by Mrs Ramsbottom and two police officers. She had realized that an entire class was missing, and quickly called the police. Dozens of anxious parents had called to collect their children, and chaos reigned for a couple of hours.

Erin had to talk to Mrs Ramsbottom with her parents and another gentleman. He seemed to believe her story, even though it seemed extraordinary. He sighed gently and shook his head when she mentioned the Doctor. At the end of her explanation, he held his hand out to her for her to shake.

“Erin, I am Air Vice Marshall Dusty Clark. The Doctor and I have met before. I think we will be able to seal up the tunnels so that the Nori have their own world but no longer come to ours. We will be setting the charges shortly. Thank you for your bravery, but you really should have gone to Mrs Ramsbottom here first of all. The Doctor is a rather foolhardy sort of chap, gets us all into a lot of trouble if you ask me.”

Erin was shocked. The Doctor had tried to warn the Government and they ignored him. Now this man was going to seal up the tunnels with the Doctor still down there.

“What about the Doctor? And Miss Oxtail? They will be trapped with the Nori!”

“Well, young lady, if they aren’t out of there in 2 hours, then I am afraid they will spending their lives with their new friends. The Doctor is a little too fond of aliens for my liking” said the Air Vice Marshall grimly.

Erin stood up and left the room, too distraught to even say good bye. Outside in the now deserted hallway stood Adrian Wanstall. He was waiting for Erin with a huge bar of chocolate in his hand. Shyly he handed it to her. “I just wanted to thank you for saving us all, Erin” he said. “And I am very sorry for telling on you. Are you all right? You look upset.”

Erin shook her head. “No, I’m not all right. The Air Force are going to block up the tunnels to save us all from the Nori, but the Doctor and Miss Oxtail are still down there.”
For a moment Adrian didn’t say anything. Then he asked “how long have we got?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean how long have we got to rescue them before they blow up the tunnel entrances?”
“2 hours.” Erin grinned at her new friend. “Are you suggesting that we go back down there?”

“Well, I don’t think anyone else is going to help them, do you? Come on.” He headed towards their classroom, but paused at the doorway. “Um, 12 hours is quite a long time, and I didn’t see any toilets down there, so I’m just going to, you know.”

“Yeah, I know” said Erin. “Good idea. I’ll wait for you.”

Chapter Eight

For the second time that day, Erin was carefully walking down a tunnel towards the Nori lair. This time, she led the way, with Adrian Wanstall puffing along behind her.

At the end of the tunnel, they both dropped to their stomachs and crawled forwards to see what was happening. The red handkerchief was still there. To Erin’s horror, both the Doctor and Miss Oxtail were talking to one of the Nori, leaning against a work table and drinking tea from what looked like cups stolen from the school cafeteria. Was the Air Vice Marshall right and the Doctor was in cahoots with the aliens all along? What about Miss Oxtail? Was she a traitor too?

“We need to get nearer, to try and hear what’s going on” she whispered. Adrian gave her the thumbs up, and they crawled and sneaked until they were hidden right behind the cage.

“Great plan” the Doctor was saying. “Genius in its simplicity. Get one of them” – and here he nodded at Miss Oxtail –“to do your dirty work, spying, stealing and so forth. Find a prototype weapon to deal with any resistance, start picking off the weaker of the species and bobs-your-uncle world domination. Yes, very clever. Completely flawed of course. Never work, never.” The Doctor finished his cup of tea and banged it down with a flourish.

“Oh really Doctor” purred Miss Oxtail, resting her hands on the Nori leader’s shoulder and giggling slightly. “What is so flawed? We take over the world, I become the Queen, no more wars, no more poverty. A clean slate.”

The Nori leader spoke then. “What are these flaws you speak of Doctor?” His voice was raspy, gurgling but Erin found she could understand him. She whispered to translate for Adrian, guessing that because she had been in the TARDIS she could understand alien languages. She hoped that meant she’d be able to do French easily from now on.

“Well,” said the Doctor, hoisting himself onto the workbench and holding his hands up so he could tick off each point. “First up, you Nori have been underground so long you burn in even the weakest sunlight. Happened before you know, when you tried to take over Gibsonia. You all burnt to a frazzle. And a few sneaky night raids is nothing like being out there in full sunlight. “Second of all” he continued, not giving the leader chance to interrupt, “you have no idea how to operate that weapon. Third, it’s only a prototype so it probably doesn’t even work properly; fourth, you have completely under-estimated the human race. All the invading aliens do that. I know I have had to pop over and rescue them a few times, but they mainly manage to save themselves. The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Slytherin – all history now.”

The Doctor hopped off the workbench and stood face to face with the N ire leader. “And fifth, mate” he hissed, poking the leader in the chest with his index finger. “Fifth, is you’ve made me very angry.” With a great snarl, the Nori leader raised his arm and swiped the Doctor to the ground.

“Guards!” he roared. “Lock this earthling scum away.”
“Actually, it’s Time Lord scum if you don’t mind” called the Doctor as he was dragged into the cage by two Nori.

Erin and Adrian watched in helpless silence as the guards slung a chain around the door and a bar of the cage, and fastened it with a huge padlock. They walked away with the leader and Miss Oxtail, leaving the cavern empty apart from the two children and Dr Who.

“Doctor, Doctor, it’s me Erin. I’ve come to rescue you. They are going to blow up the entrances to the tunnels in an hour and a half” whispered Erin.

“Yes, Erin I saw you and your young friend. That’s why I insulted them to get them to throw me in the cage. Quickly, use the sonic screwdriver, there’s no time to lose.”

Erin slipped around to the front of the cage and pointed the silver tool at the padlock. She pressed but nothing happened. She pressed again. Still nothing. The Doctor groaned – he took the sonic screwdriver from Erin and pointed it at the padlock from inside the cage. Nothing.

“Would you believe it? The batteries are flat. Now what?” To his and Erin’s surprise, Adrian suddenly appeared from the workbench, holding a key. He inserted it into the padlock, and gave them a wink as he unlocked it.

“They’d left the key on the table as they went out. I saw them as you two were talking” he told them. Erin and Adrian headed back to the tunnel that led back up to the classroom, Doctor Who hard on their heels. As they ran, they suddenly felt the ground start to tremble beneath their feet. Small rocks fell from the roof and the tunnel filled with dust. A roar that grew louder and louder filled the tunnel. The Doctor grabbed the children’s hands and started to pull them back the way they had come.

Above the noise, he shouted to be heard. “They must have sealed the tunnel to your classroom early to keep the school safe. We’ll have to find another way out.”

They ran into the cavern and the Doctor stopped, turning to each of the tunnels in turn. He lifted his hand and pointed. “That one. I can feel fresh air and there’s some light. There must be a bore hole up to the surface.”

All three ran along the tunnel, which was much narrower and rougher. It sloped steeply upwards until all of a sudden it stopped. They looked upwards. Daylight. It was a bit of a climb, but they should be able to get out. The Doctor lifted Adrian up above his head and the boy gripped hold of a rock. He started to clamber upwards.

“It’s pretty narrow, but I think you’ll make it Doctor,” he called down. Then suddenly, he was just a pair of waggling feet and he was gone. The Doctor turned back to help Erin who was standing stock still, staring back down the tunnel. In front of her was the Leader of the Nori holding the some of the strange electronic equipment. It must be the prototype weapon, Erin guessed. She dropped into a Tae Kwan Do position, and gave the leader a sharp kick. He grunted and fell backwards, but still kept hold of the weapon. To her surprise, the Doctor just laughed, and lifted her from behind. He have her a huge shove, and almost before she knew it, she was popping out of the hole, like a rabbit. She and Adrian lay on the grass in a field not far from Erin’s house. As they watched the hole in the ground, a tangled mess of wires was flung up and out, followed by the Doctor’s head and shoulders. The two children pulled and pulled and soon the Doctor was lying on the ground with them.

From across the field they heard shouts and saw figures in camouflage uniforms running towards them, waving their arms. The threesome leapt up and ran towards them. They crouched behind the military trucks and watched as a small explosion filled the tunnel they had escaped from.

Chapter Nine

Later that evening, the Doctor and Erin were sitting in Erin’s parents’ house, drinking hot chocolate, and eating the huge bar of chocolate that Adrian had given to Erin to thank her for saving them all. He was safely back at his mother’s house in Keele Village. Erin’s granny had just telephoned to say how proud she was of her grand-daughter, and the Doctor was tossing the tangled wires from hand to hand.

“I suppose I had better ask you to give these back, Russell” he said, tossing them to Erin’s Dad. “They are the circuitry from the prototype weapon. I stole them when the Nori weren’t looking, so the weapon would be useless.”

“I feel sorry for poor Miss Oxtail, spending the rest of her life with all those aliens down there” said Erin’s mother. “Well, don’t be,” said the Doctor. “She would have enslaved you all, if she could have. All because she wanted more power.”

He jumped to his feet, and shook Russell and Narumon’s hands and gave Erin a salute.

“Must be off” he said. “More worlds to save you know. More adventures to have.” Then he looked at Erin. “Anyone want to come with me?” Erin shook her head. One adventure was enough for now. “Maybe the next time you’re here though?” she asked hopefully.

“Oh definitely, quite definitely” said the Doctor. “And here is a little keepsake for you.” The Doctor handed her his dirty and torn red handkerchief. Erin took it, laughing, and when she looked up, the door was open and the Doctor was gone.

Five minutes later the atmosphere seemed stifling, as if the air was being sucked out of the sky. And then, suddenly, a whoomph whoomph whoomph noise and the air was back to normal. Well, thought Erin. Nothing will ever be normal again, with the Doctor in her life.

The End

So click onto Captain Jack and the Tea Pot of Doom, to follow the further adventures of Erin and the Dr

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Time Slip - a story about greed

February 19th 2007 08:16

This is a short story I wrote tonight after watching a tv doco about the Battle for Berlin in 1945 and as I watched it, I asked myself the question 'What if?' What if the Germans knew in advance what was going to happen, so wrote a quick story about that.
I would say thats how I write most of my stuff by asking the question 'What if'.

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Captain Jack and the Teapot of Doom

February 14th 2007 07:42

Hal 2007 copyright

This is another short story from the depths of my writers group and we had to include a teapot, maneating plant and the third item escapes me, so enjoy

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Nine Days in May continued......

February 8th 2007 08:38

Nine Days in May continued.....

Journal entry May 13th (continued

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Nine Days in May

February 7th 2007 08:22

This was a very quick sci fi story I wrote in 2000 but it has something to make you think (hopefully) copyright 2007 Hal

Nine Days in May

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Captain Jack the World's Smartest Cat

February 5th 2007 08:28

This is something I knocked up for my writers group, we had to include a cat, denim jacket and a wine glass, so thought I would write something just a bit different from what I normally do.

Hal copyright 2006

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The Auction part 2

February 4th 2007 07:38

Here is the second part of the Auction, not alot I'm afraid but that can be changed in the future.

There was a blur of movement as her other hand grasped tightly around the man’s throat and started to squeeze hard

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The Auction

February 3rd 2007 08:31

H.A.Ling copyright 2007 (not to be reproduced in any way without authors permission)

This story is the result of work colleagues asking me to write something that included, a snow storm, leopard print g string and a 13th century belly/navel ring, hope you enjoy

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