Chapter One

Sami and Alice were rather confused. The Doctor (in a complete reversal of fortune) had allowed them to choose their next destination – so long as it wasn’t Earth of course. This simple task (or so it seemed at the time anyway) involved browsing the TARDIS’ Databanks.
‘The databanks’ explained the Doctor ‘contain all of the knowledge that I have accumulated over my travels’

There was one very obvious flaw with consulting the Databanks though – to their minds the Doctor had never visited a place where he would like to go again. It seemed that there was an ongoing curse which made any visit to any place and any time turn into another battle against some alien menace. Luckily, there was a brief and unexplained reference to the ‘Union of Satellite Acolytes’, which aroused their interest.

‘Doctor’ asked Sami ‘What is the “Union of Satellite Acolytes”’
‘Oh just a collection of small planets that share a governance’ came the muffled reply from underneath the TARDIS console. ‘There’s nothing particularly interesting about there’

‘Ah! I’ve done it’ shouted the Doctor gleefully
‘Done what?’ asked Alice; more than a little confused
‘I’ve managed to reset the perceptional danger circuitry’ he replied
‘The what?’
‘It’s the device that determines whether our destination is safe or dangerous. It alerts us to any possible risk of unfortunate happenings that may or indeed shall occur as a result of us landing there. It keeps the TARDIS from going to dangerous places inadvertently’
‘So that’s why we’ve always encountered danger! The circuit was back-to-front’
‘No. Well almost. It certainly wasn’t w**king properly’

At that point the Doctor disappeared into the engine room leaving Sami and Alice by themselves.
‘I wonder what the real reason that he doesn’t want to go to the USA is?’ pondered Sami.
‘The USA?’ asked Alice, clearly puzzled
‘Union of Satellite Acolytes’ Sami replied
‘Oh! I don’t know. Maybe we should probe a little more’

*

On the small dusty planet of Extas, Rob Byron was standing in front of a mirror shaving the half-beard that had grown on his face as a result of his high workload over the past five days. He was part of the campaign team for the presidential candidate Jack Kelly. There were six Acolyte months left until the elections and the campaign had reached a pivotal moment. He knew that whatever happened in these last six months would determine the result of the election. Moreover, he knew that the rival campaign team would be putting as much w**k in (if not more) as he at this moment.

After his shave, he went downstairs into his horridly small Kitchenette, where he placed a packet of some breakfast meal into the microwave cooker. The food tasted foul because he had overcooked it yet again! Despite this, he felt compelled to eat it all up as he would be getting little nourishment until late at night. His long day was about to begin.

*

‘So why are you against going there?’ asked Sami as she abruptly entered the engine room of the TARDIS.
‘I’m not against going there’ replied the Doctor level headedly ‘I just don’t think that it would make for a very interesting visit that’s all’
‘So will you agree to take us there then?’ Sami replied gleedully
‘If you insist’ replied the Doctor cheerfully
The Doctor picked himself off the floor and placed the various tools back inside his jacket before entering the console room.
‘One trip to the planet Extas coming up’ he said comically
‘Extas?’ asked Alice
‘Yes it’s one of the small planets in the Satellite Acolytes’ he replied.

The Doctor then flicked the various switches, turned several other controls and pulled back the lever sending the TARDIS on another journey through time and space.

*

Upon his arrival to the Hotel that hosted the campaign for the short time that they would be on Extas, Rob was greeted by the normal prep-talk that was conducted every morning to instil confidence and determination into the publicity team. These prep-talks were laborious in the extreme. Every day that wretched woman by the name of Cordineezer Mite would shout and scream at the top of her voice informing them that they must w**k harder. Rob already knew this and assumed that the same must be true for the rival campaign team. That team would of course be trying to keep President Shrub in power. His publicity was meant to show that the current administration as useless and irresponsible and therefore unfit to govern for another term of office, because it would only make matters worse.

After the meeting, he went into the overcrowded hall that contained the large group of campaign members. Rob’s principle job was to discuss new strategies for promoting Jack Kelly and scathing Gorge Shrub (the rival).
‘Oh for goodness sakes! Won’t she just go away!’ thought Rob as Cordineezer strode relentlessly towards he and his fellow promotion strategists.
‘They’ve made a fresh accusation’ said the short, black haired demonic woman’
This was something that regularly started the day. This attracted a fresh; loud sigh from the four of them.
‘Don’t do that!’ she barked ‘We pay you to be more creative. We will lose if you don’t come up with something that will ruin those despicable Caliprebun’s chances of re-election’
‘We are aware of that!’ shouted an outraged Rob. The stress was clearly getting to him and; clearly this additional stress was impairing his ability to conjure up an amicable retort to the Caliprebun campaign (whatever it was!)

Luckily, Cordineezer stormed out of the hall and slammed the door behind her allowing Rob to regain his concentration and focus on the task at hand. Where to begin; where to begin…

*

In the clearing of a small wood, a strange mechanical whining sound could be heard. The sound of course signalled the arrival of the TARDIS.

Inside the girls were getting ready to go outside, whilst the Doctor checked the instrumentation.
‘Come along you two, we’ve landed!’ he called in the direction of the living quarters.
‘Just a minute’ came Alice’s reply who was trying to put on her boots, which had shrunk after she had put them through the polishing machine on the Doctor’s advice – something she would never do again!

Ten minutes later, the girls appeared wearing the sort of attire associated with going to a nightclub on Earth.
‘Oh dear!’ sighed the Doctor, knowing all too well that those were hardly the clothes to wear on this planet.
He turned on the scanner to reveal the wonderful wood around the TARDIS.
‘It’s beautiful’ remarked Sami in awe. This was a sight that she rarely saw on Earth by living in London. It’s replacement was the sight of hoards of Cars belching out stinking fumes. The Doors opened and the three of them stepped outside.

‘That’s much better’ said Alice, satisfied that they had arrived on a trouble free planet.
‘There are certainly not going to be and Cybermen; Daleks; Autons or dangerous renegades here’ replied the Doctor equally satisfied with his choice of destination.
They strolled casually through the wood until they reached a road. Further down the road was a sign indicating that the largest town; Shuton was one kilometre away.
‘Doctor; What is there to see in Shuton?’ asked Alice
‘I honestly have no idea. But since it’s not too far away it wouldn’t hurt to pay a visit would it?’ he replied mischievously.

*

When they reached Shuton, they found the local population amassed in a square in the centre of the town awaiting a speech. It appeared to be six months from an election, shown by the various posters plasted all over the place. They stood in the amassed crowd as a short almost child like man walked up to the podium. He tapped the microphone head thrice and the noise of the crowd died as he did so. The square was now silent in anticipation of his speech.

‘Over the past four years’ began the speaker ‘our government has improved the living standards for everyone in our system of planets. Nominee Kelly wants to end all of that. Today, I have received news of an affair. The details although sketchy reveal that he had spent the last six months of his campaign visiting his personal assistant in her room every night. His wife Sareta only knew about this because a member of my staff felt it was her duty to tell the truth’
‘This doesn’t sound like an election speech!’ said an outraged Alice.
The Doctor didn’t reply. Instead he just watched as the crowd screamed and applauded. He gestured to Sami and Alice to walk away from the square.

They passed through the crowd with some considerable difficulty and walked into what appeared to be the main shopping street.
Alice was not interested in shopping. She was deeply troubled at the speech. Sami however was in her element darting around each shop pointing at almost everything. The Doctor went along with Sami’s enthusiasm, hoping that he could forget the speech. It was not his place to question the affairs of a planet’s government.
‘Aren’t we going to do anything?’ asked Alice hesitantly
‘About what?’ replied Sami cheerfully
‘About that speech. That’s no way to get elected!’
‘I’m afraid that there is nothing we can do’ replied the Doctor ‘If we interfere, there shall be grave repercussions for us all’
Alice looked at the Doctor and then Sami before walking out of the clothes shop they were in and in the direction of the square. Sami was puzzled and she looked worriedly at the Doctor.
‘We better follow her’ said the Doctor apologetically.
They left the shop and after spotting Alice, walked after he hoping to catch her up.

When the three of them reached the square, another man was on the podium. This man looked older, but just as devious thought the Doctor. The question on the Doctor’s mind was what Alice was intending to do? He was about to find out.

The man on the podium regained his composure after some more loud cheering from the crowd.
‘Citizens of Extas thank you. As we have learned today there is only one choice in these elections. The alternative is full of deceit; lies and prone to disloyal tendencies towards the people and even towards his wife. Vote for President Shrub’

Just before the cheering began, Alice flared up full of rage. The volume of her voice; easily matching that of the microphone retorted ‘That is no way to conduct an election! You cannot win by making childish; libellous remarks about your opponent! I doubt that any of them were actually true! Where is your proof?’
The square stood silent. The Doctor was extremely worried. He would have made her back down, but he knew that he couldn’t stop her from saying what she had said.

The man at the microphone quietly conversed with the aid standing behind him
‘Find out who she is’ he said ‘She must w**k for the Comradetic party. Have her and her friends followed’
‘Do I take any further action?’ replied the aid
‘No. Not yet. I want them humiliated publicly first. Then we shall take further action’

END OF CHAPTER ONE

Chapter Two

‘Come on’ said the Doctor looking around at the crowd of stares. ‘We better get out of here’
They decided to resume their tour of the shopping street, which cleared Sami’s mind of the drama at least. The Doctor and Alice stood silent. He worried about the repercussions of Alice’s outburst. What would the local authorities think of it? Alice was worried about what the Doctor might do if she opened her mouth.

Standing suspiciously outside the shop was a tall, lean dark haired man. He was of course observing the Doctor; Sami and Alice. He was slightly confused as to why they had chosen to go shopping. It was expected that; as evident members of the Comradetic party they would return to the campaign headquarters on the northeast side of the town.
‘Perhaps’ he thought to himself ‘they are trying to cause a distraction to appear distant from the rival campaign’ The real reason however was that they were just tourists wasn’t considered by him.

The Doctor looked at the street outside. For a split second, his eyes met that of the man standing outside.
‘We’re being watched’ he said simply and quietly to his companions.
‘Watched?’ said an alarmed Alice ‘By who?’
‘There is a man standing outside the shop’ replied the Doctor
Alice turned to face the window, but the Doctor told her not to.
‘We must get back to the TARDIS he said ‘Come along Sami’
Sami reluctantly hung the outfit she was admiring and followed the Doctor out of the shop. The Doctor decided that they would head back via an alternative route that avoided the square so that no-one else would follow them.

Their movements were being carefully recorded and reported back by their stalker, who kept a slow but steady pace behind them. He was even more confused now – where could they possibly be going? They were heading southwest in the opposite direction to that of the Comradetic Party’s HQ.
‘Maybe they are arranging a rendezvous?’ he thought.
If this was the case, he would require a little help.

*

News of the outburst in the square reached the Comradetic campaign. Rob Byron knew that this outburst was the very thing that he needed in preparation for the next campaign advert. For campaign purposes, the outburst displayed a public distrust in the current government – a sign that the Caliprebun campaign wasn’t going too well.

One person was however strangely absent at the time of this revelation. Cordineezer was nowhere to be seen in the building. After a few off-hand discussions, Rob had figured out that she had been absent for four hours. Did his outburst affect her more than he had expected? If that had been the case however, would he not have been subject to disciplinary action? He couldn’t help but think that something was strangely amiss.

*

There appeared to be a strange noise following them. It sounded very much like a Jet, although whenever they looked up there was nothing to be seen. The Doctor caught several glimpses of their stalker, which meant that they were being followed intently and that their route though several back roads had failed to confuse the man. It was then that he had a thought – were they being led into an ambush?

*

It seemed that backup had arrived. The Spy-Omnicopter was following the people from the Comradetic campaign. Except their latest reports seemed to focus more and more on a strange rectangular blue object in the woods outside the town. The crew of the Omnicopter suspected that they would be heading in that direction. He asked the local security to check out this blue box. If it was to be their destination, then it would be possible to have the three of them apprehended for an environmental charge. This would serve as something that the campaign could use to discredit them in their future adverts and speeches. With this in mind, he decided to allow the Omnicopter to drift further away and focus on the Wood. The trap was set.

*

The Doctor was the first to realise that the strange noise had faded away. This put him in two minds as to what this meant for them. ‘Did they make a mistake or have they prepared a trap?’ he thought worriedly. In the not too far distance was the TARDIS resting there just as before. He was relieved that they could now leave and forget about the whole thing. The three of them walked into the wood and began their final paces towards the TARDIS.

Suddenly a man appeared in front of them. He was wearing a black body suit and carrying a Truncheon. They stopped dead in their tracks, all of their faces full of fear as similarly attired people appeared; surrounding them. They had been led into a trap.

Their stalker walked calmly towards them as the black suited figures stood silent, watching the three of them.
‘You wish to use our conservation area as a garbage disposal site do you?’ he said evilly ‘Well, I would like to inform you that it is against the law. I do hope your Comradetic party colleagues will not miss you as you shaln’t be playing an further role in this campaign’

He waved his hand and the local security officers grabbed the Doctor, Sami and Alice.
‘You can’t do this!’ shouted Alice defiantly
‘Can’t we?’ replied the stalker ‘Do not forget who still holds the office of power’
The three of them were pushed head first into an ion drive transporter.

*

An hour later according to Sami’s watch, they awoke in a very high-tech cell. The Doctor thought to use his sonic screwdriver to get out, but he could hear two pairs of footsteps pacing the corridor outside.
‘Oh if only those guards would go away!’ he cursed to himself.
Sami had been overwhelmed by the whole experience and was sitting in tears in the far corner of the cell.
‘Why have they arrested us?’ she balled
‘Well it’s certainly not on an environmental charge’ replied the Doctor bitterly ‘Perhaps it is something to do with someone’s foolish outburst!’ he shouted.
‘I’m sorry’ said Alice quietly ‘I thought that it was unacceptable to make slanderous remarks in a campaign speech’
‘I understand what you say Alice, but we must never interfere in matters that have absolutely nothing to do with us’ replied the Doctor a little more calmly.
‘That man referred to us as Comradetic party members. What is he talking about?’ asked Alice now that the Doctor had calmed down a little.
‘It sounds like they think we are members of the opposition party’ replied the Doctor.
‘Then we are prisoners of conscience. We are political prisoners. A society that holds elections, yet locks up anyone who opposes their rule. It’s a feign democracy’ Alice replied.
‘A dictatormocracy’ said Sami half comically, still in tears.
‘Well evidently, that is what it appears to be’ said the Doctor glumly ‘But I’ve always been led to believe that the Union of Satellite Acolytes is a peaceful, democratic society. They were wrong’
‘Who was wrong?’ replied Alice wondering who he was referring to.
‘The mysterious they of course’ replied the Doctor
‘Oh them’ said Alice sarcastically as they sat hoping for the guards to change shift and give them an opportunity to escape.

*

News had reached Rob that the people responsible for the outburst at Shrub’s campaign speech had been captured and were being held at the high security detention centre in the Northwest of Shuton. These people were now even more useful to the campaign as they could demonstrate that they had been locked up for the outburst, of which was by no means illegal. This operation required two things. The first was a means of getting there without being spotted by the Caliprebun party security and the second (and most important) was a gullible prison officer who could take a bribe and let them go free.
Rob hired a travel pod so not to use his own (the registration details of which had was sure had been carefully recorded by the Caliprebun campaign) and headed towards the detention centre.

*

It was getting dark outside the Doctor noted through the thin slats of the cell’s window. They had been locked up for six hours now and not a single sole had come to visit or interrogate them. They had not been given any food of course.

Suddenly, they heard two people having a conversation outside. Could this be the opportunity that they had been waiting for? But, before the Doctor could get out his sonic screwdriver and get to w**k on the lock, the cell door opened. Standing in it were two men. One was evidently a prison guard, but the other tall red headed man was wearing casual clothing. Alice assumed that this man was part of the thugs that had ordered their imprisonment.
‘Come to ask us some questions?’ she said viciously.
‘That comes later’ he replied ‘I have come to release you. There has been a misunderstanding. I am really sorry about this. If you would like to come with me please’

The three of them followed the red headed man out of the centre and boarded a transport of some description. The Doctor was suspicious however.
‘Who are you and why have you released us?’ he said angrily.
‘Now that we are outside the centre, I can tell you. My name is Rob Byron. I w**k for the Comradetic party campaign. We heard that you had denounced President Gorge Shrub’s speech.’ Replied Rob.
‘I see’ said Alice happily ‘You are one of the opposition team’
‘Yes’ replied Rob ‘I am taking you three back to the campaign headquarters where you will be safe’
‘Before you do’ interrupted the Doctor ‘could we visit the wood in the southwest. I’m worried about something that I’ve left there’
‘OK’ replied Rob ‘But you had better be quick’

The engine started and they travelled to the wood via an indirect route. When they reached their destination, Sami was puzzled.
‘Isn’t this where you left the TARDIS Doctor?’ she said
‘Yes, I’m afraid it is’ he replied mournfully ‘They’ve stolen the TARDIS’

END OF CHAPTER TWO