The Tower Of Shadows

Author's Note: Okay, so here's the thing. I was planning on writing the second part of The Storm Trilogy I've been working on and then – I sort of didn't. I'm still working on it, but I wanted to write another Dr Who fic, so here it is. As before, all my Dr Who fics are linked, so it'll be confusing if you haven't read any of the others.

Summary: The crew of the TARDIS go looking for that bar mentioned at the end of Coming of the Storm but take a wrong turning and end up somewhere entirely unexpected and, as usual, find plenty of trouble to keep them entertained!

Chapter One: Necropolis

'What's this place going to be like, then?' Rose asked, leaning over the Doctor's shoulder.

'It's the best place for a night out in the entire universe,' he replied, concentrating intently on what he was doing.

Xan looked up from the other side of the TARDIS controls and grinned. 'We're going to New Ibiza?' he joked.

Rose looked startled. 'You what?'

'New Ibiza is a huge island on the planet Exovornidas,' the Doctor said, not looking up, 'named after the one on your planet because it's become famous for its partying lifestyle. There's a permanent party going on there, the nightclubs never close and – well, you can imagine.'

'Best holiday I ever had,' Xan said.

'You've been there?' the Doctor asked.

'Yeah! Spent two weeks in hospital afterwards but it was soooo worth it.' He paused, then said, 'Well, maybe not…'

'Is that where we're going?' Rose asked the Doctor.

'No,' the Doctor said, frowning at Xan. 'We're going somewhere a little more civilised than New Ibiza.'

'Where, then?' Xan asked.

'It's a surprise,' the Doctor replied.

'As long as we can buy alcohol,' Xan said, 'I'm happy. I need a drink and Rose has to try an Intergalactic Lagoon. It'll blow your head off,' he said to her.

'I'd like to keep my crew's heads intact, if you don't mind,' the Doctor called over to them and punched a button on the control panel. The TARDIS groaned then lurched, almost hurling everyone into one of the walls.

'I maintain that you need seatbelts in this thing!' Xan yelled.

'Stop complaining!' the Doctor yelled back and started stabbing buttons and pulling levers. There was a crash from somewhere and the entire TARDIS shook, then there was silence and the Doctor said cheerfully, 'Here we are. The best place in the universe for a great time without needing to go and drink yourself into a two week hospital stay.'

Xan laughed.

The Doctor leapt down the steps and flung open the door.

They all stopped and looked thoughtfully at the sight beyond.

'I wouldn't exactly call this the best place for a night out in the universe,' Xan said eventually. 'In fact, I think it's a stretch calling it a place.'

'Doesn't seem to be much of a party going on,' Rose said.

'Maybe there's a lot going on under the surface,' Xan said.

The Doctor frowned. 'Odd.' He looked at his watch. 'Oh, I got my coordinates around the wrong way,' he said, sighing. 'That explains it.'

'In fact,' Xan continued, 'this is quite literally the complete opposite of the best place for a night out. Maybe this is where people who have the best night of their lives actually end up.'

'Shut up,' the Doctor said matter-of-factly. Xan grinned. 'Well, this is interesting.'

'No, it looks boring,' Xan said.

It was a huge, stone room, with high arched ceilings, all of solid grey stone. There were large flagstones on the floor, each one with deep engraving on them, names and dates. There were stone tombs everywhere, lining the walls, with carvings on top of each one, some vaguely humanoid, others most definitely not. Rose was reminded of tombs in cathedrals back on earth.

'What is this place?' she asked.

'This is Necropolis,' the Doctor said.

'Necropolis?' Xan queried. 'I thought that place was just a myth.'

'No, it's real,' the Doctor said in a distracted voice, walking a few steps, examining the wall and the arches of the ceiling with his hands in his jacket pockets. 'Very real, and this is it. There's quite a few places like this scattered across the universe. Rather morbid, if you think about it.'

'What is it?' Rose asked, looking around with dubious fascination.

'It's a vast graveyard,' the Doctor said softly. 'This is where the universe brings its dead. Well, those it wants to be buried in state.' He smiled briefly. 'Some of the greatest beings in the universe have been buried here.'

'Not exactly buried,' Xan observed. 'More - entombed.'

'The old fashioned way,' the Doctor added. 'In stone, which is unusual for anyone who isn't fifteenth century human, that is.'

'I heard that,' Rose called.

'You were meant to.' The Doctor sniffed. 'Very damp in here. Isn't it damp in here? Don't you think it's damp in here?'

'Maybe,' Rose said, looking around with a mixed of disgust and fascination. 'Does it matter?'

'I don't know,' he said. He smiled. 'Shall we take a look around?'

'Thought you were never going to ask,' she replied.

'Door over there,' Xan said, pointing as he walked over. 'Shall we go?'

'Why not?' the Doctor said. 'Let's go see if we can find someone to annoy.'

'You're good at that,' Rose joked.

---

It was a small room, filled from floor to ceiling with monitor screens and computer equipment, humming with energy, and the room was hot from all the electrical power.

A figure sat in a chair, silently viewing the screens as countless images flashed over them, footage of the entire planet and every room, corridor and tomb passing through that room. No human could have coped with the sheer amount of information on those screens alone, but this was merely a simple security device. This figure, human female in appearance, sat motionless. There were wires trailing out of the back of her head, connected to one main computer which was then connected to most of the other computers, feeding the information from the screens directly into her brain. Her eyes barely blinked, she rarely moved and she might as well have been a model for the movement or emotion she showed.

Another figure sat across the other side of the room. This one was male, and far more relaxed and animated. He was watching another screen, a huge screen that took up most of one wall and was filled with moving code. He was reading it intently, almost totally focused upon it, and occasionally made a minor adjustment to the mass of codes, occasionally deleting some of it or adding several pages of it.

The woman opened her mouth and spoke. Her eyes did not move from the screens she was watching, it did not register any emotion, her voice was flat and dry and empty.

'Itruders detected,' she said.

The man slammed a hand down on the keyboard, freezing the code. 'Who are they?' he demanded. 'No one was scheduled to inspect, no one is scheduled to be buried today!

'Unidentified personnel.'

'So they are actual intruders,' he mused aloud. 'How many are they?'

'Three.'

'What kind of craft have they arrived in? You didn't pick any incoming space craft or teleporting craft.'

'Unidentified alien craft.'

He frowned. 'Okay. What species are they?'

One human. One human-Amraki hybrid. One unidentified.

'One unidentified? What species is it?'

'Unidentified.'

'What can you identify?'

There was a pause and the woman's hands moved swiftly across the keyboard. More images, too fast to be processed by human eye, flashed across the main screen, accompanied by some text. ''Identified as potential threat.'

'Are they all identified as a threat?' he asked intently.

'Two identify as potential threat. One identifies as harmless.'

'Only one?' he said, rising and leaning over her shoulder. 'But two are enough – takes steps to neutralise the threat.'

'Specify action to be taken.'

He thought, then laughed. 'Don't worry. I'll do it myself. I want you to find out their species and who might have sent them. Cut down surveillance on all other areas of Necropolis to the minimum security levels we require and focus on finding out all about these intruders. I want to know why they're here.'