Lost Souls (1)

Chapter 1 - Rose and Maddie

The Henricks Department Store. The day passed normally as every other day. Then they al heard. “This is a customer announcement. The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you.”

Rose, Maddie and the other girls headed for the main doors. The guard shook a clear plastic bag in front of Rose and Maddie. “Oi!”

The girls looked at each other, sighing. Rose took the bag and they run back to a lift and went down to the basement. “Wilson? Wilson, I've got the lottery money.” Rose called.

“Wilson, are you there?” Maddie added.

A door with a large danger of electric shock sign also claimed to be the office of H P Wilson, CEO. Rose sighed. “I can't hang about 'cos they're closing the shop. Wilson! Oh, come on.” There was a clattering noise further down the corridor. “Hello? Hello, Wilson, it's Rose.”

“Wilson? Hello? Wilson?” Maddie added. “Its Maddie also. Me and Rose are here to bring the money.” She opened the door to a store room and turns on the lights. There were boxes of clothes, and dressed dummies.

“Wilson? Wilson!” As Rose and Maddie explored, the door slammed behind then. They run back but it won't open. “You're kidding me.”

“You don’t say.” Maddie told her rudely. More noises behind them. “Okay, who the hell is that?”

“Is that someone mucking about? Who is it?” Rose added. A male shop dummy turned to watch them, then approached. “Yeah, you got me. Very funny.”

A second one started moving behind it, then a third. Maddie had her eyes widen. “Dummies, what the hell?” It did click in her mind yet.

Rose was scared. “Right, I've got the joke. Who's idea was this? Is it Derek's? Is it? Derek, is this you?”

More shop dummies started moving as they kept backing away down the storage area. “Oh bloody hell, after this is need something to drink.”

“How old are you?!” Rose exclaimed. “How can you think about a drink?”

“I’m 21.” Maddie replied.

Finally they have them up against the wall, and the lead dummy raised its arm. Then a hand grabbed Madie wrist. “Run.” The man told them. Maddie grabbed Rose’s hand. Then she realized that she felt something, a feeling. The man felt the same, but he didn’t have the time for it. He dragged Maddie and Rose through the basement as the Dummies followed, and into a lift. The lead Dummies put its arm through the closing doors. After several tugging’s the man pulled it off, and the doors closed.

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Maddie frowned.  “Bloody hell.”

“You pulled his arm off.” Rose added.

“Yep. Plastic.” The man comment.

Rose frowned. “Very clever. Nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?”

“Why would they be students?” The man asked back.

“They are not students.” Maddie replied. “They are something else.” The man glanced at her, frowning.

Rose shrugged. “I don't know.”

“Well, you said it. Why students?” the man asked her.

“'Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students.” Rose replied to him.

“That makes sense. Well done.” The man comment.

Rose had a small smile. “Thanks.”

“They're not students.” The man revealed.

“Ha!” Maddie exclaimed. “Knew it.”

“Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police.” Rose told him.

The man frowned. “Who's Wilson?”

“Chief electrician.” Rose replied.

“Wilson's dead.” The man replied.

“That's just not funny. That's sick!” Rose exclaimed.

“It isn’t funny at all.” Maddie added.

“Hold on. Mind your eyes.” The man told them.

Rose sighed. “I've had enough of this now.” The man disabled the lift mechanism with his sonic screwdriver. “Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?”

“They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this.” The man showed them a small bomb. “So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me.” He shoved them out of the lift. “No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed.” He shut the door behind him, then opened it again. “I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your names?”

“Rose.” Rose replied.

“Maddie.” Maddie added.

“Nice to meet you, Rose, Maddie. Run for you lives!” The Doctor waved with the bomb as then he popped back inside.

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Rose and Maddie make their way to the main road, nervous of the dummies in the shop window. they runs across the road, nearly becoming a hood ornament for a black cab. “Watch it!”

KaBOOM! A huge fireball took out the upper floor of Hendrik's. Rose runs straight past an out of date police telephone box parked just in the alley between two other stores. Maddie just stared, before she took off to her home.

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Maddie arrived home, her mother busy making something, her father watching tv. “Mom, dad, I’m home.”

“Your shop has blowed up.” Liam called from the tv.

“Yeah.” Maddie called back as then she went over to her mother.

Sirena looked at her daughter. “What happened? I know you were still there, so tell me.”

Maddie sighed and told her story. “And that’s when, I met this Doctor.” She finished.

“Dummies you say?” Sirena frowned. “Don’t you mean Autons?”

“Yes, them.” Maddie nodded. “There are so many of them, I can’t keep track of it.”

Sirena nodded. “I know. Someday you will have them all in your head. Maybe you will need a bigger head then.”

“No thank you, mom. I like my head as it is now. I will just write it down.” Maddie told her mother.

“And this Doctor? Who is he or what is he?” Sirena asked her.

“I don’t know. Al i know is that i got this feeling, a very strange feeling.” Maddie replied to her. “I don't know how to explain it, mom. Its like what you told me about you and dad.”

Sirena looked deadly serious. “Are you sure? Very sure?”

“Yes!” Maddie basically shouted.

“I have a feeling he will come to you.” Sirena comment.

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The next day, Maddie was up and about as she grabbed her necklace, its something that made her hidden from her mother’s enemies, her mother has one as well. Then she walked down the stairs and into the living room. “I’m going out.”

Sirena looked up. “Where to?”

“A pizza place.” Maddie replied. “They have this pizza, that I want to try with a friend.”

“Okay, be careful, my dear.” Sirena told her.

“I will.” Maddie nodded as then she headed out.

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Not much later, Maddie arrived at the pizza place. She saw quickly her friend and went over there, but she saw also Rose and her boyfriend Mickey by another table. She quickly walked past them as she noticed something, Mickey wasn’t himself. She noticed it, but she didn’t know what it was. Then she was by her friend. “Hi.” She sat down.

Fawn greeted her. “Hi.”

Then Maddie had the feeling again and the Doctor there by Rose and Mickey. “What the hell?” She muttered. Then she looked at her friend again. “How are you today?”

“I’m good.” Fawn replied. “And you?”

“Also good.” Maddie nodded. Suddenly Plastic Mickey got up and turned his hand into a chopper. Rose runs, screaming, as Mickey wrecked the table. Making Maddie to look at them. The Doctor grabbed the Auton and pull off its head. The rest of the customers scream. Then Maddie went over to them. “Oh, a head.”

“Don't think that's going to stop me.” Plastic Mickey told them.

The body got up and started flailing around. Maddie looked at it. “Bloody hell.”

The Doctor noticed her. “Oh hello.”

“Hello.” Maddie greeted him.

Just then Rose set off the fire alarm. “Everyone out! Out now! Get out! Get out! Get out!”

“You don’t say.” Maddie muttered. She saw that Fawn was rushing out.

Then Maddie, Rose and the Doctor run through the kitchens carrying the head, while the body wrecked the restaurant before following them to the back exit.

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They rushed outside of the restaurant. Maddie watched the Doctor sealing the exit shut while Rose runs down the alley, past the Tardis. The end was secured by padlocked gates. “Open the gate! Use that tube thing. Come on!”

“Sonic screwdriver.” The Doctor told her.

“I need one of those.” Maddie joked. The Doctor looked at her, frowning.

“Use it!” Rose shouted.

Then he looked at Rose. “Nah. Tell you what, let's go in here.” Then he walked over to the Tardis and unlocked the it and went inside while the Auton hammered on the metal door, making large dents.

“Okay.” Maddie comment as she wet inside as well. She looked at the console room in awe. Then she heard Rose shouting.

“You can't hide inside a wooden box. It's going to get us! Doctor!” Rose tried the gate again then runs inside the Tardis. She stopped, took one look and runs outside again. A siren was wailing in the distance. She runs around the Tardis then when the Auton finally smashed through the metal door, she make up her mind.

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“It's going to follow us!” Rose shouted.

“Of course they gonna follow us if you shout like that!” Maddie shouted back.

“The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute.” The Doctor told them. “You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right. Where do you want to start?”

Rose looked around. “Er, the inside's bigger than the outside?”

“Yes.” The Doctor replied. Maddie grinned.

“It's alien.” Rose comment.

The Doctor looked at her. “Yeah.”

“Are you alien?” Rose asked. Maddie looked around.

“Yes.” The Doctor nodded. “Is that all right?”

“Wow.” Maddie comment, looking around.

Rose nodded. “Yeah.”

“It's called the Tardis, this thing. T A R D I S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space.” The Doctor explained.

“Its beautiful.” Maddie grinned.

Just then Rose burst into tears. The Doctor looked at her. “That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us.”

“Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?” Rose asked, tears running down her face. Maddie walked over to her, side hugged her.

The Doctor blinked. “Oh. I didn't think of that.”

“No, you didn’t.” Maddie muttered.

Rose looked at him. “He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?”

“Melt?” The Doctor exclaimed. The plastic head was melting on the console, where it was attached by cables. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” He set the Tardis in motion.

Rose blinked. “What're you doing?”

“He is following the signal.” Maddie replied.

The Doctor glanced at her. “Following the signal. It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!” The Tardis landed and he runs for the door.

“You can't go out there. It's not safe.” Rose called after him. Maddie followed him.

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Night-time on the north back of the Thames next to the RAF monument. “I lost the signal, I got so close.” The Doctor exclaimed.

“Hmm-mm.” Maddie hummed.

Rose had her eyes widen. “We've moved. Does it fly?”

“Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand.” The Doctor replied.

“I would.” Maddie comment.

Rose frowned. “If we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose.”

“It melted with the head.” The Doctor looked at her. “Are you going to witter on all night?”

“I'll have to tell his mother. Mickey. I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again! You were right, you are alien.” Rose rambled.

“Did you just noticed now?” Maddie asked. Rose glared at her.

“Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey.” The Doctor told to Rose.

“Yeah, he's not a kid.” Rose told him.

“It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, all right?” The Doctor asked rudely.

“Fine by me, Mr. Rude.” Maddie replied.

“All right.” Rose exclaimed.

“Yes, it is!” The Doctor called.

Rose calmed down. “If you are an alien, how comes you sound like you're from the North?”

“Lots of planets have a north.” Doctor replied.

Maddie rolled with her eyes. “Yeah right.”

Rose looked at the Tardis. “What's a police public call box?”

“It's a telephone box from the 1950s. It's a disguise.” The Doctor replied.

"Well, it lovely.” Maddie comment.

“Okay.” Rose frowned. “And this, this living plastic. What's it got against us?”

“Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!” The Doctor replied.

“Lovely.” Maddie muttered, not happy at all.

“Any way of stopping it?” Rose asked.

The Doctor held up a tube of blue liquid. “Anti-plastic.”

“Anti-plastic.” Rose and Maddie said almost on the same time.

The Doctor waved with it. “Anti-plastic. But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?”

Rose frowned. “Hold on. Hide what?”

“The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal.” The Doctor replied.

“What's it look like?” Maddie asked.

“Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial.” The Doctor rambled as both girls looked up. “Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible. What? What?” The Doctor turned and looked at what Rose and Maddie were staring at on the south bank but the penny doesn't drop. “What? What is it? What?” He finally catches on to what Rose and Maddie were looking at. It's call the London Eye, it's on the south bank of the Thames and it was the biggest Wheel in the world when it opened in 2000. “Oh. Fantastic!” He exclaimed.

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The Doctor, Maddie and Rose rushed across Westminster Bridge. “Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables.”
“The breast implants.” Rose added.
Maddie shivered. “The thought of it.”

“Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath.” The Doctor told them.

“What about down here?” Rose looked over the parapet and saw a large manhole entrance at the bottom of some steps.

“Looks good to me.” The Doctor replied.

“Sure.” Maddie added. They run down and the Doctor opened up the hatch. There was red light inside.

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Inside the Nestene chamber. They climbed down a short ladder into a brick-built area with lots of chains. From there they went through a door and down a flight of steps into a multi-level chamber. “The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature.”

“Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go.” Rose told him.

“Lets give it a chance first.” Maddie added.

The Doctor glanced at her again. “I’m not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance.” He went down to a catwalk overlooking the seething vat. “I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.” The stuff in the vat flexes. “Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?” Maddie watched him.

Rose spotted someone on a lower level and runs down. “Oh, God! Mickey, it's me! It's okay. It's all right.”

“That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!” Mickey shouted.

Maddie glanced at him. “Or course it can talk!”

Rose made a face. “You're stinking. Doctor, they kept him alive.”

“Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy.” The Doctor shrugged.

Maddie frowned. “I should ask my mom about that.”

“You knew that and you never said?” Rose asked in shock.

“Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?” The Doctor continued downwards. “Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?” A sort of face formed in the vat of plastic. “Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights. I am talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go.”

“Doctor!” Both Rose and Maddie shouted. A pair of shop dummies grabbed the Doctor.

One took the vial of anti-plastic from his pocket. The Doctor had his eyes widen. “That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not. What do you mean?” A door slide back to reveal the Tardis. “No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!”

“What's it doing?!” Rose asked, looking at it.

“It's the Tardis!” The Doctor shouted. “The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose, Maddie! Just leg it now!”

“No!” Maddie looked around her.

As the plastic in the vat kept roaring, Rose phoned her mother. “Mum?” Pause. “Where are you, mum?” Pause. “No, go home! Just go home right now!” Pause. “Mum! Mum!”

The Consciousness started throwing energy bolted around. “It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!” The Doctor shouted.

Maddie groaned. “Well, of course it is.”

The Eye light up with energy. “It's the end of the world.” Rose comment.

The plastic in the vat was getting extremely agitated. “Get out, Rose, Maddie! Just get out! Run!” The Doctor shouted to them.

“The stairs have gone.” Rose looked down.

Maddie also looked at it. “You don’t say.” She comment sarcastically.

The Autons tried to push the Doctor into the vat. Rose, Maddie and Mickey run to the Tardis. “I haven't got the key!”

“Me neither.” Maddie added as then she started looking around again.

“We're going to die!” Mickey shouted.

Maddie glared at him. “Shut up!”

Rose looked around for other possibilities. Then they heard the Doctor shouting. “No!”

“Time Lord.” Nestene hissed. Maddie’s hairs were standing right up.
Rose stood up and looked at the Doctor, then runs round the chamber. Maddie followed her.

“Just leave him! There's nothing you can do!” Mickey shouted.

“Shut it!” Maddie shouted back.

“I've got no A Levels, no job, no future.” She grabbed an axe. “But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team. I've got the bronze!” Rose chopped through the rope holding a very long chain to the wall and took firm hold. She runs and swung out along the side of the catwalk, kicking the two Autons into the vat. The second one also dropped the vial of anti-plastic into it. The golden Nestene screams as it started to turn blue.

“Well, that’s something.” Maddie comment, dryly.

“Rose!” The Doctor grabbed her as she swung back. “Now we're in trouble.” Explosions started and the signals from the Eye stop. The shop dummies started to stagger then fall over. The Doctor, Maddie and Rose run to the Tardis, where Mickey was holding on for dear life, and they all went inside. The Tardis dematerialised.

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The Tardis materialised on the Embankment by a row of shuttered kiosks and Mickey runs out, terrified. Rose went over to Mickey, who was trying to hide behind a pallet. Maddie followed after them. The Doctor stayed in the doorway of the Tardis. “A fat lot of good you were.” Rose comment.

“Nestene Consciousness? Easy.” The Doctor told her.

“Nope.” Maddie muttered.

Rose looked at the Doctor. “You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me.”

“Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then, I'll be off, unless, er, I don't know, you could come with me. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.” The Doctor told them. He looked at Maddie. “Same goes for you too.”

“Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing.” Mickey told them.

“Oh, shut up.” Maddie walked over to the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at Rose. “He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere.”

“Is it always this dangerous?” Rose asked.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Yeah, I can't.” Rose looked sorry. “I've er, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so.”

Maddie walked into the Tardis as the Doctor comment. “Okay. See you around.”

The Tardis dematerialised. Rose grabbed her boyfriends arm. “Come on, let's go. Come on. Come on.”

The Tardis materialised. The Doctor popped out his head. “By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?”

Rose looked at Mickey. “Thanks.”

“Thanks for what?” Mickey asked confused.

“Exactly.” Rose kissed Mickey on the cheek and runs into the Tardis.