He's Behind You (short story)

He's Behind You
Doctor:	Tenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Rose
Main enemy:	Autons
Main setting:	Masque Magestrix
Key crew
Writer:	Dave Rudden
Read by:	Sophie Aldred
Release details
Part of:	The Wintertime Paradox
Release date:	15 October 2020
The Wintertime Paradox
Next →	Father of the Daleks

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He's Behind You was the first short story published in The Wintertime Paradox.

Summary

to be added

Plot

It has only been a few weeks for Rose Tyler since the Battle of the Game Station. Only a few weeks since the Ninth Doctor regenerated into the Tenth, a man Rose is still getting used to. As the two discuss Rose's experiences, or lack thereof, in her primary school Christmas play, the Doctor decides to take Rose to Masque Magestrix to see The Saga of the Time Lords, an inaccurate retelling of Time Lord history, particularly the claim that the saga is unfinished. Though the silly hats are accurate.

When the Doctor uses his psychic paper to get them in however, the paper indicates Rose as the galaxy's pre-eminent expert on Gallifreyan culture (and lupine mortality). Offered a backstage tour, the two are given teleportation locks. Before the Doctor can finish explaining what they are, Rose is teleported away into a room full of Dalek props where she is greeted by Shara Betomax.

Throughout the Masque Magestrix, a message is conveyed. The correct audience has been detected.

As Rose and Shara have tea, the latter's assistant, Gabadine Tho, has a violent reaction to the term "Time Lord" revealing herself to be an Auton. Without wasting a moment, Rose and Shara flee for their lives, assaulted by the play's deafening opening score, into a green room.

As Rose explains the Autons to Shara, her mind flashes back to the mishap with the psychic paper, realising that they've stumbled into a trap for Time Lords. Using Shara's knowledge of the playhouse's layout, the two try to make their way for the teleportation controls but are barred by Autons at every point before the Doctor teleports in. After being told what's happening, the Doctor realises that the Autons have been undercover for so long that acting out the script is now part of the plastic. It's time to improvise.

Dressed in High Gallifreyan robes, Rose is ushered onto the stage, quickly getting Remiere Dupont's attention whose plastic morphs into a combat configuration. Following the Doctor's notes, Rose speaks of the Time Lords, even adding in some of the Ninth Doctor's earlier disparaging comments about his race's arrogance. And finally, how the Time Lords fell.

As the Autons melt, the Doctor and Rose take their leave, even if the Doctor is pretty sure that Shara is an Auton, Rose assuring the Doctor that as long as he's still around, the saga of the Time Lords is still being written. Taking her hand, the Doctor disagrees. The saga is still being written but by both of them.

After

In the ruins of the theatre, the Girl with the golden mask and the Boy with the silver mask regard the scene and how chaotic Time Lords can be. Though the Boy believes the Time Lords will be their own end, the Girl believes she can do it faster.

Characters

• Tenth Doctor
• Rose Tyler
• Shara Betomax
• Remiere Dupont
• Gabadine Tho
• Autons

"After"

• Girl with golden mask
• Boy with silver mask

Worldbuilding

Individuals

• Rose does not like pantomime.
• When Rose was 8-years-old, Jackie Tyler took her to France on a ferry. At the same age, she suffered bad stage fright when playing the Angel Gabriel at a school pantomime.
• The Doctor writes fan fiction, which he compares The Saga of the Time Lords to.
• In his youth, the Doctor played a female version of Omega in a school play.

The Saga of the Time Lords

• Remiere Dupont is cast as Rassilon, who is called the "President of Time".
• Gabadine Tho is cast as "Brother Braxiatel"
• Shara Betomax is cast as "the Hand of Meg", a variation of Omega and the Hand of Omega. It is considered the most important role in the whole play.
• The play incorporates various props of Daleks.

Species

• Draconians and Judoon are in the audience.

Music

• The Doctor once attached Rose's MP3 player to the TARDIS console to play "Destiny's Child" in space.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• Rose recalls the battle against the Dalek Emperor, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) whose true conclusion the Doctor eventually told her. (TV: Doomsday)
• Rose recalls her prior encounter with the Autons, and how they needed the original in close proximity to create a duplicate. (TV: Rose)
• Time Lord society endured for ten million years before the Last Great Time War. (TV: The Ultimate Foe)
• The Doctor and Rose believe that the Time Lords are extinct, (TV: Dalek) while the Boy and the Girl know that they still live. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)