inferno fiction

he Doctor was speechless as he plodded out of the TARDIS onto the mind boggling landscape of Ashralis, the popular tourist resort of the ninety-zenith quadrant. Jamie followed also quite speechless, jaw hanging lower than ever before. Their mouths made a few uncoordinated wobbles, while their eyeballs tried their best to climb out of their sockets. They continued to stumble around in this ridiculous state for about seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds when the Doctor finally said:

'Jumping, gobstoppers, Jamie!'

'W-where?'

'No,no .I mean, it's...it's...well...it's indescribable, isn't it?'

'Aye!'

Spreading out in every direction was a thoroughly, indescribable sight. Rippling blue sands, whisked into sweeping dunes, and deep, hypnotic velvet pools. The sky constantly melting from orange to pink and then to orange once more. Glittering crystal and rock formations climbing from misty mountain tops...that sort of thing. Ultra pleasant.

'Yes, yes. This is definitely one of my favourites of the seven hundred wonders of the Universe. Although, that collective title is little inaccurate now, mainly due to the high criminal element in the galaxy at the moment...'

Jamie groaned a quiet Scottish groan. The Doctor was waffling again. They started to walk away from the TARDIS and towards a large, purplish crater about half a mile away.

'For instance,' the Doctor continued, 'take the famous alcohol springs of Inebrius 4. All the fifth zone breweries opened up there, totally pushing any fourth or sixth zone competition out of business, so they pooled their resources and blew up the planet's sun! Everything dried up...terrible waste. Nobody ever did find out whether it had twin suns or not. Anyone who got within sight of the place were also within sniffing distance and was in no state to tell...'

'Yes, alright, Doctor. I'm more interested in how we got here.'

'Well the theory of time travel is a bit difficult for you to grasp, but in a nutshell...'

'Och, no, Doctor! I mean do the Time Lords still have control of the TARDIS?'

'I'm afraid so, Jamie.'

'But I thought we'd finished with the Sontarans after that Destari business?'

'So did I.'

As the two figures strolled further and further away from the TARDIS, a grubby, bleeding, pathetic figure crawled from a small rocky sand pit and shambled towards the TARDIS. Reaching the door, he smiled as it slowly opened. Inside, he collapsed.

~~~

ow much longer before Commander Skarr arrives, Prillet?'

'Only another fourteen time blocks, Sir.'

Zodge was beginning to get nervous and who could blame him. This latest Interstellar Network Corporation Incorporated ( INC. INC. ) project was very near completion, and it looked like being their most profitable yet. Zodge, a small and, shall we say, well built chap was pacing up and down the spotless white corridors of INC. INC's main office on the planet Drabbe ( which is a very appropriate name for the place, as you find if you were to go there ). He and his fellow Director Himmle, not to mention their aide Prillet, were the heads of the entire organisation ( well, two of them still were ).

Suddenly, their grand computer which planned and controlled just about everything they ever did, the Compendium bleeped and blipped into action.

#
'Ah, there seems to have been a small drilling accident.'

'Has the organic material been damaged?' Himmle asked, fearing the worst.

'No. No it hasn't,' Prillet murmured continuing to check the display screen for information, 'Only the work force has been injured. Some dead.'

'Oh well, that's alright then.' Zodge cried, relieved that the project could continue unhindered. 'Lucky they'd completed their work.'

~~~

o where are all the tourists, Doctor? It's a pretty amazing place.'

'Well, I don't know. There are usually...wait a minute. What's causing all that smoke?

At the lip of the crater they were heading for, thick black smoke was billowing from an unknown source within it.

'And what a terrible smell!'

The Doctor also noticed this and his face hardened. they ran to the top of the crater and for all the battles Jamie had seen as a piper in eighteenth century Scotland, nothing prepared him for what he saw as he looked down. His stomach did somersaults and he quickly turned away. The Doctor closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them again and muttered a 'Stay here,' to Jamie and walked down into the centre.

ISSUE ELEVEN

ISSUE NINE

ISSUE EIGHT

ISSUE SEVEN

ISSUE SIX

ISSUE FIVE

ISSUE FOUR

ISSUE THREE

ISSUE TWO

ISSUE ONE