Doctor Who - The Colony Of Lies Part 1

THE COLONY OF LIES.

COLIN BRAKE.

Prologue.

Ace was bored.

It was His fault, of course. With all of time and s.p.a.ce to take her to He had brought her here to a place that was, in essence, nothing more exciting than a museum. And in Ace"s book that meant just one thing: that it was dull with a capital "D". She could still recall, with mind-numbing detail, the tedium of a school trip to the British Museum that she had endured when she was 11. The younger Ace, then still Dorothy (and annoyingly and all too often Dotty), had trudged without enthusiasm through endless dusty, airless halls that had been filled with gla.s.s cabinets displaying ancient artefacts, as if age automatically made a cracked plate interesting. Ace, then and now, thought not. The young Dotty (cringe) had found that only the mummies held any fascination for her, and then only because of the gruesome thought that the desiccated bones and bits of some real ancient Egyptians were actually contained within the crumbling wrappings. Aside from the Ancient Egyptian Hall she"d found the whole trip about as exciting as a Schools"

Science Television Broadcast. Ace had decided, there and then, that museums were not for her. Museums were too retrospective, too distanced from the stories they wanted to tell. Ace wanted to see things as they happened, not represented by c.r.a.ppy souvenirs years after the event, and that was what she found so exciting about her travels with the Professor: he offered her the chance to go anywhere, any when. In short, he offered her excitement. In short, he offered her excitement.

Except on this occasion, of course. She had stepped out of the blue sh.e.l.l of the TARDIS and her heart had sunk when, after a quick glance at her surroundings, she realised exactly where it was that the Doctor had brought her. He was clearly still on his teacher-kick, trying to educate Ace on the sly, like some favourite science experiment. She thought he"d agreed to drop all that after that business at Gabriel Chase, but apparently he had forgotten his promise. Ace started to sulk, almost on automatic pilot, but then she"d been distracted by the reality of the museum in front of her.

With her second glance Ace had to admit that this museum was a little more impressive than shed first allowed. She was looking at a gravity-defying collection of floating buildings linked by near-invisible walkways and moving pavements, all set in a dazzling purple-hued sky above a deep green ocean sprinkled with what looked, at first sight, to be exotic tropical islands. Ace looked again and realised that the "islands" were in fact giant terrapins swimming languidly in the becalmed sea. Despite herself Ace had to admit that it was quite a sight. According to the Doctor it was one of the Seven Hundred Wonders of the Universe: the definitive Museum and Archive of the Tellurian Stain. Although she was meant to be sulking Ace had immediately picked up on that.

"Don"t you mean "Strain", Professor?" she had asked.

The Doctor had looked a little embarra.s.sed, shuffled his feet and then leant on the red question-mark handle of his umbrella before finally answering. "No. I meant stain. I"m afraid that"s how eternity views Earth"s spread through the known universe - as a stain on history."

"History can get stuffed!" Ace had retorted.

"Don"t feel too bad about it, Ace; your planet"s contributed much more to Galactic Culture than you could imagine...

that"s why I"ve brought you here. To give you a sense of what your incredible race has achieved."

That had been an hour ago but Ace had seen little to change her mind in the intervening time. In fact the more she walked around the museum, the more down-to-Earth (ha!) it appeared to be. It might have a stunning setting but in the final a.n.a.lysis it was still dust and broken stuff in gla.s.s cabinets.

While the Doctor had amused himself with various interactive displays Ace had watched interminable multimedia presentations about Federations and Empires forming and falling in a never-ending cycle. From what Ace could gather there had been a sequence of expansions and retractions of humankind"s presence in the wider universe.

There were periods of exploration, then colonisation and settling, the development of complex political organisations linking planets and solar systems light years apart in ever more fragmenting unions until an apex was reached and the whole thing would go into reverse, with human beings abandoning their far-flung colonies and retreating back to Earth. And then the whole thing would happen again. Not for the first time today Ace found herself yawning.

"Ace. Take a look at this..."

Ace found the Doctor at the doorway to a small, dark room.

"Not another naff slide show..." she began, but stopped herself as the Doctor shook his head with a smile. "I think you might like this one..."

He stepped inside and Ace followed and gasped as hidden sensors registered their presence and immediately began the show. Suddenly Ace was somewhere else: in the open air, in the midst of a crowd of people.

"Professor!" she began, her tone a mixture of complaint and surprise.

"Don"t panic, it"s just an illusion." Ace looked over and found the rea.s.suring presence of the Doctor right beside her.

"Some kind of hologram?" she guessed.

"Far more complex than that," muttered the Doctor, without elucidating further. "But sshh, it"s about to begin."

Ace took a moment to look at her new surroundings. She appeared to be at some kind of open-air press conference.

The air was warm and seagulls suggested a nearby ocean.

Amazingly she found she could smell the salt air on the slight breeze. Whatever the technology providing the illusion was, it was multi-sensory and very convincing. On a platform at the front of the small crowd was a microphone-encrusted podium. A man was looking out at the audience from the stage, waiting for the expectant whispering to die down. As a backdrop to the entire presentation Ace could see a giant screen displaying an image of a silver and white vehicle on a launch gantry; the design was unfamiliar but it was clearly some kind of ma.s.sive stars.h.i.+p. The man cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for coming and welcome.

I think you all know who I am, so I"ll spare you the tedious details..."

There was a splattering of laughter from the a.s.sembled journalists but the humour was lost on Ace. "Any chance of a crib, Professor?"

"His name"s Stewart Ransom, and although you wouldn"t know it to look at him, he"s in his seventies."

Again Ace was surprised. Even from this distance she could see that the man looked much younger than that. "Tucks, lifts and plastic all over?" she asked cynically. The Doctor nodded. "The best that money can buy. He"s a trillionaire several times over."

Ace noticed that Ransom was talking again. "When I look back at my career to date..." Ace leant over to whisper into the Doctor"s ear again. "When is this?"

"The year two thousand four hundred and twenty three," he answered without bothering to lower his voice. Ace noticed that no one seemed to react to his interruption; in fact she now realised that she and the Doctor seemed to be totally invisible to the other people at the press conference.

"...much to be proud of..." continued Ransom. "The major investments in off-world leisure facilities and s.p.a.ce hotels; the desert reclamation projects here on Earth; the building of New Atlantis in the Pacific Ocean; but tonight I have a major new project to announce..."

Ace noticed that the Doctor was smiling, enjoying the moment.

"Care to share?" she asked. In answer he just held a finger to his lips. Typical, thought Ace, turning her attention back to Ransom.

"I"ve had somewhat of a transformation in my old age; undergone what you might call a radical ideological s.h.i.+ft. For years I have lived a life of luxury, a good life, but while I and my family have enjoyed all the benefits of modern life - the health care, the technology, the freedom - all too many of the 60 billion people who live on this planet are living in poverty and fear."

Ace could sense the intake of breath amongst the crowd: a vivid and sudden shared surprise. Despite herself she found that she wanted to hear more.

"The Back to Basics Back to Basics movement has campaigned for years for a return to a simpler way of life, a life less dependent on science and technology, a more self-reliant existence. I have to confess: I"ve always thought they were cranks. Fools." movement has campaigned for years for a return to a simpler way of life, a life less dependent on science and technology, a more self-reliant existence. I have to confess: I"ve always thought they were cranks. Fools."

Ransom smiled warmly and shook his head slightly.

"But it was I who was being foolish. It"s taken a very special person to make me see the error of my ways, someone who had the resolve, the determination and the arrogance to take me on... my daughter, Kirann."

Ransom gestured to a woman standing at the side of the stage, a well-built woman with jet-black shoulder-length hair, whose family resemblance to the old man was clear to Ace.

The woman, attractive but somehow stern-looking, suddenly smiled, and was instantly transformed. With the smile a hitherto hidden personality was revealed; Kirann now seemed a warm, determined and intelligent human being. Ace could imagine her wearing her father down over years of argument.

"It"s probably too late for Earth but not for the human race.

Today I"m announcing that I will be establis.h.i.+ng a colony to operate on Back to Basics Back to Basics principles. It will be a fully independent Earth colony and will begin with 5,000 dedicated men and women, pioneers of a new way of life, a more human way of life. Thank you." principles. It will be a fully independent Earth colony and will begin with 5,000 dedicated men and women, pioneers of a new way of life, a more human way of life. Thank you."

As suddenly as it had begun, the program ceased and Ace found herself back in the small black room, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sudden lack of light.

"Whoa, talk about your abrupt endings. What happened next?"

The Doctor smiled, obviously pleased to see that he had managed to spark her interest. He moved across to a small panel on the wail and his hands fluttered over the controls.

"Let"s find out," he suggested. This next sequence is nine years later. And be warned, we"re on a s.p.a.ce station..."

Ace frowned, not understanding, and then suddenly the moment of transition came again and she found herself floating. What the -?" she exclaimed, taken by surprise.

"I did warn you," came the Doctor"s voice from below and then he was extending his umbrella like a shepherd"s crook to capture her and bring her back down to the floor. "Hold on to something," he suggested and Ace saw that he was gripping a handrail. Ace did likewise, not quite sure how what was clearly an illusion could affect her physically.

They were standing in front of some kind of ma.s.sive window or porthole. Through the transparent material Ace could see the extremities of the s.p.a.ce station itself, thrusting out into the blackness of s.p.a.ce. At the end of one long arm there was a gigantic white and silver s.p.a.cecraft with the words The Big Bang The Big Bang written in large letters along its side. In the background the familiar blue orb of Earth hung in the starry void, sparkling in the glare of the unseen sun. written in large letters along its side. In the background the familiar blue orb of Earth hung in the starry void, sparkling in the glare of the unseen sun.

"Ransom did it, then?" she asked the Doctor, recognising that The Big Bang The Big Bang was the realisation of the image she"d seen at the Press Conference. was the realisation of the image she"d seen at the Press Conference.

"It appears that he did. In fact we"re about to witness the historic launch."

Ace and the Doctor joined a crowd of people gathered to see Ransom and his team board the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Most of the volunteer colonists were already on board, the majority already in cryogenic sleep, in which they would remain for the duration of the journey. Ace wondered what it might be like to sleep for years, to have lost consciousness in a medical room in Earth orbit and then to wake, apparently moments later, on an alien planet. On balance she decided that the time and s.p.a.ce travelling she and the Doctor enjoyed in the TARDIS - traversing vast distances in days, if not minutes - was much preferable.

Ransom and his daughter watched the last of the crew enter the s.h.i.+p and then prepared to embark themselves. At the hatch they halted, waved to the crowd and took one or two final questions from the privileged journalists whose networks had paid top dollar to secure them the exclusives.

"Why did you name the s.h.i.+p The Big Bang The Big Bang? Isn"t it asking for trouble?" asked one journalist, his combination camera and microphone droid hovering at his shoulder. Ransom just laughed and smiled in his charming way.

"It is meant to be symbolic - a new beginning, wiping clean the slate. What are you worried about? You think I"m going to drive that thing into a planet?"

Still laughing, Ransom boarded the s.p.a.cecraft and the hatch closed. There was a time transition; the images blurred and reformed and then Ace found herself watching the launch itself. Slowly the ma.s.sive craft had detached itself from the s.p.a.ce station, manoeuvred itself to a prearranged point, and then when it was a safe distance from the base it activated the Star Engines and accelerated away.

And Ace and the Doctor were back in the black room again.

"Cool," was Ace"s first comment. "But that"s only the beginning, what happened next?"

The Doctor shrugged, one of his more inscrutable expressions on his face. "Who knows? There are so many stories Ace, so many beginnings, we can"t hope to know all the answers."

Ace wasn"t having any of that. "b.o.l.l.o.c.ks. You can"t just show me something like that and then stop." The Doctor sighed, and then continued, "Legend has it that after some inevitable ups and downs Ransom"s colony was a success."

Ace wanted more details than that.

"He stayed true to those principles. Back to Basics Back to Basics and all that?" and all that?"

"So legend has it."

The Doctor had started to walk back towards the TARDIS without Ace really noticing. He suddenly seemed to have had enough of the museum. Ace was almost running to keep up with him.

"What"s that supposed to mean? What really happened?"

The Doctor stopped at the TARDIS door and fished in his pocket for the key.

"I don"t know... Maybe I did once... My memory is not what it was, you know. I"m getting old... I used to keep a diary..."

The door was now open and Ace followed the diminutive Time Lord into the console room. "You - a diary? What was that, then? Five years to a page?!"

Ace"s attempt at a joke fell flat, though, as the Doctor took it at face value.

"Yes, I think it was...I wonder what happened to it?"

Ace wasn"t in the mood to be distracted by the Doctor. "So can we go, Professor?" she demanded.

"Where?" the Doctor replied vaguely, wearing that expression of intense concentration on something a long way away that he wore all too often. Ace sometimes wondered if he needed gla.s.ses but was too vain to wear them.

"To the colony," Ace persisted. "What was the planet called - Axe-Eater Five?"

"Axista Four," the Doctor corrected automatically.

"So set the co-ordinates, let"s go and find out what really happened."

"Oh no, Ace. Been there, done that. Let"s find somewhere fresh to go to, somewhere new."

And before Ace could complain any further, the Doctor pulled the door-closing lever, flipped a few switches and began the dematerialisation sequence of the TARDIS.

Frustrated, Ace disappeared into an inner corridor, and started to look through drawers and cupboards in every room she came to. If the Doctor really had once kept a diary Ace was determined to find it, even if she had to search every room in the TARDIS, a task she suspected might take a lifetime or two to complete. But, unwilling to give up on a notion before making at least a decent stab at it, Ace ignored the logic and carried on riffling through the rooms closest to the console room.

Back in the TARDIS control room itself the Doctor crossed to a roundel that concealed a cupboard, opened it and withdrew a large leather-bound book. On the cover were the words "Five-Hundred-Year Diary". The Doctor settled down in a chair and began turning the pages of the book. A smile flickered over his face as he read and remembered.

"Ah, yes... Now I recall..." he muttered. "Now, I wonder what that"s meant to remind me of," he added in a puzzled tone, seeing a page corner neatly folded over. He looked around and checked that Ace had gone, then returned his attention to the book in his hand and began reading the once familiar handwriting.

EPISODE ONE.

Chapter One.

After a hundred years the scar was still as visible as ever: an ugly raw wound that sliced through the trees and the ground vegetation: a death-black trail of raw destruction. At the end of the trail, where the devastation was at its greatest, was the wreck itself. Most of the front of the craft had disintegrated on the initial impact and a good third of the bulk of the s.h.i.+p had quickly followed in the intense inferno that had erupted on Planet Fall, but the rear and upper sections of The Big Bang had survived, sheered away by the force of the crash landing. The command deck and main cargo bays now formed a ragged semi-derelict multi-storey building standing at a peculiar angle right at the edge of the forest.

On the nearby plain, a few miles south of the remains of the colony s.h.i.+p, the newly arrived inhabitants of Axista Four had established their first, and to date, their only town, which they had rather ostentatiously dubbed Plymouth Hope City. After one hundred years of existence the settlement still exuded a temporary air, as if at any moment it might be packed up into a few crates and taken away.

The buildings shared a common design; they were low-level, mostly wooden constructions that lined two roads laid out in a simple cross formation. On "Main Street" the major communal buildings could be found: the General Stores, the meeting hall, the blacksmiths and the inevitable tavern. The one exception to the general rule was the medical centre: a large, two-storey, cross-shaped building made up of prefabricated units. It had been the first structure erected when the survivors of the crash had established their first base and the only high-technology construction in the whole settlement. Over the years efforts had been made to disguise its unusual appearance: wooden panels had been erected over many of its walls but despite these attempts the basic structure remained visible underneath. Beyond the medical centre small tracks led of f of f to the forms and homesteads where the majority of the population of Plymouth Hope lived and worked. It was the very picture of an American Frontier town to the forms and homesteads where the majority of the population of Plymouth Hope lived and worked. It was the very picture of an American Frontier town circa circa the mid-nineteenth century - the point in time that Ransom had decided would be the boundary point of the technology available to the new colony. the mid-nineteenth century - the point in time that Ransom had decided would be the boundary point of the technology available to the new colony.

About three miles from the city centre, such as it was, was the Kartryte Farm. A large wooden cabin was testament to the importance of the family who had established the plot, but now it was home to just two members of the dynasty. On the wooden veranda an old man sat in a rocking chair, whittling at a piece of wood with a sharp knife. The chair rocked gently, like a cradle, but by contrast the old man"s hands moved quickly and decisively, chipping away like some kind of mechanical woodp.e.c.k.e.r, shaping something wonderful from the wood. The man had a lived-in face; his skin had been exposed to the elements for so long that it had the look and feel of well-worn leather, creased and cracked so much that it no longer looked like a living thing at all.

Despite his great age his eyes still shone with intelligence. At the foot of the rocking chair a teenage boy sat, watching the older man work the wood.

"What"s it gonna be, Gramps?" he asked at last. The old man said nothing for a moment, concentrating on finis.h.i.+ng his work. Finally he stopped and looked down at the boy to give him an answer.