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'Oh,' said the Doctor, 'It was the TARDIS key was it?' In his hand Peri could see the key. 'The key that I ditched was,' continued the Doctor, 'the key to my old locker at the Gallifreyan Academy gymnasium. I don't use it much.'
Peri smiled. 'Probably why you're so fat' she thought.
'I heard that!' said the Doctor. 'My mind reading maybe a bit rusty, but it's suffice!'
'Hey, cut it out!' retorted Peri. The Doctor smiled and hauled himself and Peri up. Then, like some demented four legged race, they turned in a circle, scanning the surrounding wood for Autons. The coast was clear so the hopping recommenced taking them to the TARDIS.
The Doctor inserted the key into the lock and entered. Once inside the Doctor locked the doors behind them and still tied to Peri, fetched a knife from a TARDIS locker. Once free from their bonds, yet again, Peri activated the scanner to reveal the Autons walking back towards the TARDIS. 'Doctor!' she called, but the Doctor had vanished.
A muffled thump emitted from the console and a voice called for the zircon wrench. Peri looked under the console and saw the Doctor with his head buried in a mass of writhing snake-like wires and cables. She found the tool, gave it to him and watched as he pulled a handful of circuit boards from the console's pedestal. Soldering several of the thickest cables to one of the boards, he then asked Peri to activate the de-materialisation controls. She did this and heard the familiar wheezing noise that accompanied the take-off procedure. But the image on the scanner, the approaching Autons, remained the same. She glanced down at the Doctor, still busy tinkering with the boards.
'Doctor, there's something seriously wrong - we haven't moved!'
The Doctor glanced at the screen. 'Good!' he muttered and carried on with the circuits. Peri was astonished and shocked. That was it. The Doctor had finally fliped. Gone round the twist. Freaked out. She had to do something positive when the Doctor shouted with enormous gusto 'Eureka!'. Peri nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned to the Doctor, who just grinned and pointed at the scanner.
The Autons had stopped, or to be more precise, halted - halted in their tracks. The only thing moving was the background - all the trees, leaves even rabbits were a massive blur, while the frozen Autons were as clear as day. Peri was on the verge of going bonkers. 'What is going on?' she asked, trying hard to remain controlled. The Doctor's smile spread even further over his face when he saw Peri's confusion.
'I've linked the time circuits to Dunns Wood. The TARDIS itself is going backward in time and taking the woods and the Autons with it.' His smile was widening by the minute. Peri stood and watched a the woods began to recede and vanish. The Doctor explained this anomaly: 'We're going back in time so fast that the woods haven't even grown yet - they are just the original seeds.'
The Autons hung suspended in space, unharmed. The Doctor touched a control on the console and shut off the time circuits. The Autons then started to float off into space and dissolve in melting heaps of plastic. Then, as if on cue, they exploded one by one in the silent vacuum of space, leaving small glowing fragments to disperse themselves throughout the Universe.
Peri turned away from the scanner and turned to the Doctor. 'You've forgotten one thing - when the authorities on Earth go to investigate that poor mans death, the woods will be missing. How will you explain that?'
The Doctor patching the circuits back into the TARDIS said quite simply, 'There will be nothing to explain. As the Autons were destroyed by time reversal, they, and in some respects didn't even exist or visit twentieth century Earth. The woods will be back now, as will the workshop and the model maker. You see, it didn't happen.' He smiled for the umpteenth time that day at Peri's confusion. He carried on with his work, then went to the freezer box in the adjoining room. Opening it, he removed a large chocolate cake, the same they had left on Plarrion earlier that day.
Peri's eyes nearly exploded out of their sockets. 'B..but..,' she stammered, '...you had started to feed that to the birds...' The Doctor interrupted her.
'But, because of the time reversal, we haven't even visited Plarrion.' He picked up a knife and glanced at the totally confused Peri. 'Fancy a piece of chocolate cake?' he asked.
EPILOGUE
 he Dainave birds chirruped, the Bayybol trees were slightly ruffled by a subdued breeze that floated over Plarrion's surface. The Doctor was under the umbrella, Peri was asleep. She sat bolt upright as the sun sought sanctuary behind a large cloud. She listened carefully as a small noise played on her ears - was it the noise of a hover car? No. Just the wind. She reclined back on the blanket and dozed off, while the Dainave birds feasted on a Tralavioss chocolate cake. It was just another ordinary day...
written by
ROBERT HAMMOND
copyright 2009
artwork
IAN McPHERSON
copyright 2009
  
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the unreal upon plarrion page4
