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- CHAPTER THREE -

LOSING A FRIEND

GRAHAM'S FRIEND ON the phone had given them the exact information they needed, the location of the multi-tentacled alien. It was on a rooftop, just sitting there and sparking like it was waiting for something. They all stood in front of it with a piece of equipment in their arms as the blonde woman stood in front of them.

"Hi. Us again." Blondie clamped a crocodile clip attached to a car battery to a fire escape ladder and then she turned to Grace who was stood in front of the thing. "Now!"

Grace jabbed it with an electrical drill, causing sparks to fly everywhere before it flopped onto the ground, seemingly immobile.

"Get in! It actually worked!" Ryan exclaimed, running closer.

"For now..." Penny piped in, pessimistically.

"Of course it worked. I'm not an amateur. Overloaded its socket, stunned it for a bit. Not sure for how long though. Best be quick. And thank you to Kevin the bus driver for location intel." The woman crouched sown beside it and retrieved her sonic from her breast pocket, scanning the creature.

"See? Always ask a bus driver." Graham smiled, a little smug.

The woman was still scanning, "Half organic, half machine. Starts to make sense now. Wait. It's a Gathering Coil. No, dozens of Gathering Coils."

Penny cut into the explanation, "Gathering coils? But that means these tentacle-y things are creatures that gather information."

The blonde grinned proudly at the Anoulian, "Yes, Penelope! They've been lashed together and augmented into one super-creature. But why? What data are they gathering? Unless..."

"So that's an alien species?" Yasmin questioned as the Time Lady stood up.

"Not really. More of a semi-species. Weaponised bio-tech." She replied.

"You said there were two aliens in a battle." Yaz reminded her.

"You're right, I did, but now I think I'm wrong and I'm trying to catch up with what that might mean. If I can access the data it's gathered..." The blonde stuck the screwdriver into the coils and an image was projected. An image of Karl.

"It's Karl from the train." Graham gasped in surprise.

Realisation struck the Time Lord, "Karl's the data. That's what it was gathering on the train."

"But what would the alien want with him?" Graham asked.

"Which one of you shall I kill first?" The alien covered in metal armour announced from behind them, making them all turn around in surprise. Penny subconsciously moved closer to the blonde beside her.

"I'm voting none of us. Get behind me now." The Time Lady instructed, moving to the front. She held her arm out in front of her, "Stop right there. Come any further and we'll blast whatever that thing is."

"You're interfering in things you don't understand." The alien replied.

"Yeah, well, we all need a hobby." She quipped back.

"You're not human." It stated, glancing between Penny and the Blonde, but no-one except the Anoulian seemed to notice. "Who are you?"

"Me? I'm... Oh, it's gone again. I had it a minute ago. So annoying. Same question back at you. No, in fact, before that, because it's really bugging me. No- actually not bugging me, offending me. Why the teeth? Bad enough you kill, why take a tooth from the victim?"

It removed it's faceplate to reveal that its head was studded with teeth. An image both grotesque and disturbing. "A Stenza warrior wears his conquests. You may tell your children you were once privileged to encounter Tzim-Sha of the Stenza."

"That is a face I will never get out of my head." Penny grimaced, looking at the hundreds of teeth littered all over it's blue face.

"Tim Shaw?" Blondie misheard him.

"Tzim-Sha."

"Tim Shaw." She repeated.

"Tzim-Sha! Soon to be leader of the Stenza warrior race, conquerors of the Nine Systems." He said aggressively.

"When you say soon to be leader, what are you now, the office junior?" The Time Lord retorted.

"Eh? No, don't wind him up." Graham complained fro behind.

"There's nothing wrong with a little teasing, old man." Penelope grinned, turning towards the alien with a teasing smile, "By the way, do you have to brush those teeth to keep them clean? They're looking a little yellow."

Tzim-Sha glared at her before saying, "Tonight is my challenge. Trace and obtain the selected human trophy."

"It's a hunt. You're on a hunt." The blonde realised.

"Well done. Your tiny mind must be burning with such effort." He insulted her.

"Did he just say I had a small mind?" She asked the group behind her.

Penny confirmed, "Yep! You're in for it now, Tim Shaw."

"The challenge is simple. Our leaders randomly designate a selected human. I'm sent here, alone, no weapons, no assistance. I must locate and obtain the trophy and return home with it, victorious. By doing this, I ascend to leader. This is the ritual of the Stenza."

Yaz put the pieces together, "And it's happened before. Rahul's sister."

"Earth is not a hunting ground." Blondie stated, her facial expression hard and unforgiving.

"Access was granted." Tzim- Sha disputed.

"No, it wasn't. It was a misunderstanding. Access revoked as of now, by me." Ryan protested immediately.

"Just to pick up on one thing. You don't mind, do you? You said the rules were no weapons, no assistance." The woman acknowledged.

"Correct." Tzim-Sha agreed.

"How did you kill them? What caused the ice burns?"

"We Stenza live at temperatures far below this planet, one touch of my cold skin will kill a human."

"So, this super-powered Gathering Coil right here, you're not meant to have it, are you?"

"The creature is irrelevant."

"I don't think it is. I think you smuggled it ahead of you. I think it located the randomly designated human for you. I think you broke the rules. Some leader you're going to make. Tim Shaw is a big blue cheat!" She accused, but Tzim-Sha wasn't having any of it. He raised his hand, his palm glowing with cold blue energy. 
The blonde stepped aside out of the way, the others following her lead. "Okay, fine, have it."

Tzim-Sha moved forward, crouching by the Coil and they all watched as energy flowed into him.

"What's it doing?" Ryan asked.

"Total transference." Penny answered grimly. Tzim-Sha finished the transfer and stood up, facing them all.

"If you've finished, let's be really clear. You're not taking any human from Earth tonight. Leave now or we're going to stop you." The Time Lady warned him.

"Good luck." He replied before a blinding flash of light encased him and then both he and the Coil were gone.

"No! Short-range teleport. Double cheat!"

"Where have they gone?" Yaz quizzed.

"To hunt."

"Hunt who?" Ryan asked.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Penelope gasped, "He's going after Karl."

  ✦ ✦ ✦  

As quick as possible, they all clambered into Grace's Volvo and drove off. Yasmin was trying to get a hold of him by the number he gave her back on the train while Ryan was looking up where he worked.

"Karl's number's going straight to voicemail." Yaz informed them, hanging up her phone.

Ryan sat up straighter in his seat, "Got him! Karl Wright, operator for Skylark Building Services."

"I know where their site is. It ain't far. Grace, next right, love!" Graham instructed.

Grace did as she was told and soon the Volvo was parked outside the building site. The Time Lady ran ahead of the others and up to the hole Tzim-Sha had made by walking through the security fencing. One by one, the cautiously stepped through the fence and into the construction site where they found an old man on the floor clutching a radio, dead. Karl's voice was screaming out the the radio's speakers.

"Dennis, I need help! Somebody's on my crane!"

"Oh, great. Karl's a crane operator. He would be, wouldn't he?" The blonde thought aloud, beginning to think of a plan.

"I'm going to hate Tetris so much when this whole thing is over." Penelope sighed, looking up at the crane that Karl was supposedly in.

"It's over there." Ryan pointed out, following Penny's gaze to the crane where Tim Shaw was climbing up to the top.

"And that creature's guarding the bottom of it." Graham added on.

"Graham, Grace, Penelope, I need you to take this equipment and get everybody off this site. Don't care how. Use your initiative. Do not come back in, understand?" The woman commanded and everyone nodded. "Ryan, Yaz, how are you with machinery, and heights?"

They split up into their designated teams, Ryan, Yaz and the blonde going one way and Grace, Graham and Penny going another. The three O'Briens were quick to find florescent vests and clipboards in order to blend in with the workers and guide them out of the site.

"Thank you very much. Total site shutdown. Quick as you can, please. Thank you. Major power issues, very serious, emergency services on their way." Graham said, shooing the workers along.

"Off site immediately, please. Matter of urgency" Grace continued politely, but Penny took a different approach.

"Get a move on! Go, go, go!" Penny demanded, glaring at a group of workers who were having a cup of tea. They jumped at her voice and basically bolted away from her.

Once all the workers were clear, Grace and Penelope exchanged a look before running off together towards the cranes. Doing the exact opposite of what they were told to do. 

Graham grabbed their arms and stopped them, "Grace, she explicitly said not to come back. It's not safe."

Grace looked at the Gathering Coil as it climbed up the second crane, the one Yaz, Ryan and the blonde were on. "Look, it's swapped cranes. It's trying to bring it down. We have to stop it."

Both Grace and Penelope handed over their florescent vests to Graham before storming off. Graham sighed, taking his off too and followed them. For a brief moment, they look up and spot the Time Lady jumping across  to the other crane.

"Oh my, God!" They exclaimed in disbelief. When they saw that she got up safetly they got back to work unpacking the cables, battery and stuff they used on the roof top against the Gathering Coil.

"Yeah?" Grace looked at her husband and daughter-in-law.

"Yeah. Come on." Graham nodded. They broke into the high voltage shed.

"Right, you rewired the house, so you sort things out this end, Penny and I will climb up." Grace told him.

"I don't want you or her doing that." He protested.

"Graham, Ryan's in danger. We don't have time to argue." Grace scolded him. "Give me the signal when you're ready."

"Okay."

Grace kissed him, "Is it wrong to be enjoying this?"

"Yes!" Graham exclaimed.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Penny gave him a kiss on the cheek before joining Grace. They climbed up the crane together, sending each other reassuring looks as they faced the Gathering Coil. As Penelope climbed, she swore she heard Blondie's voice in her head.

"I know who I am. I'm the Doctor."

"Put a bomb in me, would you? Now, Graham!" Grace exclaimed, jabbing the metal pole she had clutched in her hand into the creature. Graham threw the master switch and electricity surged through the wires and metal pole into the Coil, causing it to short circuit.

"It's working!" Penelope shouted in glee, but her excitement was short lived. As the Coil fell apart, it knocked Grace and Penny down to the ground too, and it was not a short fall. Penny used her powers immediately to soften the fall, but they didn't do much to help. She was too rusty and her powers were weak from the lack of use. 

She laid there on the ground beside Grace, to weak and sore to move. She was sure that her ribs were broken, putting pressure on her lungs, but all she could think about was Grace. Graham knelt down between them, clutching onto both of their hands. Penelope could only smile at him.

"Don't be cross with us." Grace breathed out heavily, she was having trouble holding onto the little life she had left.

"I'm not cross, baby. I'm not cross." Graham assured her.

"Promise me... you won't be scared." She said to him.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Without me..." Grace let out a final breath. She had passed away. Penelope clutched Graham's arms when she felt the sharpness of her broken ribs scratching her lungs.

"Grace. Grace..." Graham sobbed as Ryan and Yasmin ran over, then the Doctor.

"Blondie..." Penelope called her over. The Doctor crouched down next to Penny who was having a hard time breathing.

"Oh, Penelope! I'm so sorry this happened to you. Everything's going to be alright. I promise."

"Agh, my bloody ribs." Penny seethed, her face scrunching up in pain. "Yep, I was right before. I officially hate Tetris. You're still on the end of your regeneration cycle, right?"

"How did you know?" The blonde asked.

"Just give me your hand, Time Lord." Penelope rolled her eyes playfully. The Doctor set her hand into Penny's and bright, glowing regeneration energy danced around their palms from the Doctor, absorbing into Penelope's skin. The sight was enough to distract the Time Lord from the tingling feeling that ran up her arm when their hands connected. 

The Doctor's eyes widened in realisation and she gasped, "You're an Anoulian! I should've known!"

Penny sat up and let out a sigh of relief when she felt her ribs back in their rightful place and then she grinned, "I borrowed some of your regeneration energy to heal myself. I hope you don't mind."

"Never!" The Doctor declared, "We've already lost one friend today, we didn't need to lose you as well."

  ✦ ✦ ✦  

After Grace's funeral where Graham said some very heartfelt words, they all decided to go to Ryan's house. So there they were, stood outside his front door, all a lot less happier than they were a week before.

"What did you mean in your speech, you thought you'd run out of time?" The Doctor asked Graham with a certain softness in her voice. They were all treading on eggshell around him and Ryan.

"Oh, well, er, I had cancer and er... Well, strictly speaking, I'm still in remission, three years gone. And Grace was my chemo nurse. That's where we met and fell in love. So by rights, I shouldn't even be here." He replied grimly.

Yaz looked at the Doctor, "Have you got family?" 

"No. Lost them a long time ago." She answered.

"I know how that feels." Penelope empathised.

"I would think you do." The Doctor nodded with a small smile, barely even noticeable. "You and I, we're the last of our kinds."

"How do you cope with that?" Ryan questioned.

"I carry them with me. What they would've thought and said and done. I make them a part of who I am. So even though they're gone from the world, they're never gone from me. I'm sure Penelope does the same."

Penny nodded in agreement, "I do."

"That's the sort of thing Grace would have said." Graham smiled.

"So everything we saw, everything we've lied to people about, is this normal for you?" Yasmin queried.

"I'm just a traveller. Sometimes I see things need fixing, I do what I can. Except right now, I'm a traveller without a ship. I've stayed too long. I should get back to finding my Tardis."

"Doctor. Can I just say, you really need to get out of those clothes." Yaz quipped, causing Ryan to burst out in laughter.

"Right, yeah. It's been a long time since I bought women's clothes." The Doctor agreed.

Penelope chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll help you."

She and the rest of the group took the Doctor to a charity shop where she was instantly shoved into a changing room and given clothes to try on. Clothes were being thrown everywhere as The Doctor tried to find something she liked.

"Not that. Not that, not that. Ah, not that. Oh! Yes! Now, that's what I want." She exclaimed from behind the curtains, pulling them open to reveal her new outfit. She was wearing an ensemble of a navy blue top with two horizontal stripes across her torso, a pair of blue half-mast flares held up by yellow braces, and a pale grey long coat with hood.

"That's what you're going with?" Yasmin asked with a raised brow.

"Yep! Got any cash? Empty pockets." The Doctor asked, causing Ryan and Yaz to look at Penelope. She was the one who made the most money out of the three. "Also, I've been thinking about my Tardis. So you think you guys might be able to help me?"

"As long as you take me on a trip. I've been dying to get off of this planet for decades." Penny replied, retrieving her purse from her pocket.

The Time Lady grinned, "That can be arranged."

  ✦ ✦ ✦  

The group were back in the industrial building where the Doctor was putting the final touches to a very Heath-Robinson lash-up.  Penelope, wanting to use her brain a little more, helped her set it up.

Graham was clutching a car battery, "How long have we got to stand here for? I'm getting cramp."

"Seriously, Graham, trying to concentrate here." The Doctor notified without taking her eyes off of her task.

"Do you understand what they're doing?" Ryan asked Yasmin and Graham.

Penny heard his question and answered, "A Tardis uses a particular type of energy. She's tracked that energy trail from the moment she lost it to where it is now."

The Doctor took out her sonic screwdriver, and went from place to place, "Now, given this is a transport pod, I'm configuring it to send me to the planet where my ship seems to have ended up."

"You're going to another planet?" Yaz questioned.

"Well, trying to. Except Stenza technology's really annoying and super hard to decipher. 139 layers, seven of which don't make sense. Right. Graham."

"Yeah?"

She handed him some large crocodile clips for him to attach to the large car battery he was holding. "Clamp those onto there. Oh and by the way, Penelope wants to come with me. Hope that's alright."

"All right. Wait, what did you just say? Penny? You're going with her?" Graham looked at the Anoulian with wide eyes.

"Sorry, old man. I need an adventure, this is my chance." Penelope beamed, glancing at the Time Lady beside her.

"Yaz, thread the cable onto the top. Ryan, you turn on the switch. Okay, you three, I'm almost gonna miss ya." The Doctor said, looking at them all. The microwave beeped. "That's it. It's connected up. It should work."
She set the timer on the microwave and moved back.
"Moment of truth, then. Wish me luck. And goodbye. Oh, deep breath. Not you lot. Me and Penelope."

The two aliens inhaled, grabbing each others hand, this time both feeling the shivers that travelled up their arms as the Doctor activated her sonic. They looked at each other in shock, both realising what the feeling meant just as the microwave timer reached zero and power surged through cables... and they all disappeared. 

The Doctor opened her eyes to find that she was floating in the vacuum of space, with her bonded clutching her hand and her three new companions close by.