Something at the Door (short story)

Something at the Door
Doctor:	Second Doctor
Companion(s):	Polly, Ben, Jamie
Main enemy:	Swarm of creatures
Main setting:	The Doctor's TARDIS
Key crew
Writer:	Mike Tucker
Read by:	Rachael Stirling
Illustrator:	Rohan Eason
Release details
Part of:	Tales of Terror
Release date:	7 September 2017
Tales of Terror
← Previous	Murder in the Dark
Next →	The Monster in the Woods

Something at the Door was the second short story in Tales of Terror, featuring the Second Doctor.

Summary

Ben, Polly, and Jamie wander the hallways of the TARDIS, exploring the hallways with the newly arrived Jamie. Eventually, the trio arrives at a smooth, metallic door that opens with a large amount of exertion from Jamie. Entering the room, the three find themselves in a secondary control room. Excitedly looking around, Polly discovers a Ouija board in a chest in the room, and gets Ben and Jamie to join her, despite some misgivings from Ben.

Arriving back in the main console room, the trio set up on a card table, and begin to use the board. An unknown force takes the glass, and spells out "TARDIS", then "VORTEX". Suddenly, the glass moves faster and faster, spelling out "WE WILL DEVOUR YOU", after which the glass spins off the board and smashes against the ceiling. As the board flies around the room, and the three try to protect themselves, the board focuses on Jamie, before Ben smashes it in two with a broken chair leg.

Later, the Second Doctor, having heard of the events of earlier, angrily admonishes Ben, Polly, and Jamie. Softening when Polly begins to cry, he suggests they pick up the console room, while he expresses his hope that the events of the game went unnoticed.

Much later, Ben, lying in his bed, thinks about the last message, trying to grasp the meaning of those final words. Hearing footsteps outside his door, and goes to investigate them. He eventually reaches the control room to find Jamie fiddling with the TARDIS controls. Ben enters and asks what Jamie is doing, only for Jamie to reply with a sinister smile. Just as Jamie does this, something begins loudly thudding against the outside of the TARDIS. As Jamie attempts to open the TARDIS doors, the Doctor, arriving behind the two, cries for Ben to stop Jamie. As the banging intensifies, Ben grapples with Jamie, attempting to stop him. Eventually, with the arrival of Polly, Ben is able to pin Jamie to the wall.

As Jamie was pinned to the wall, he vomited out an enormous, dark cloud, which began to swarm around the console room. As it did so, the Doctor began reading from a leather-bound book. Even as the tendrils of the cloud lashed out at the Doctor, he continued to read, until eventually the cloud disappeared. The Doctor then explained his actions to his friends, telling them that he had sent the cloud out into the Time Vortex, using a recipe for Bajaxx Stew written in Ancient Gallifreyan. He explained that the cloud came from the vortex, through a doorway of sorts, and hid in Jamie's mind, following their game with the Ouija board. As the crew is alright, the Doctor suggests that he look up a breakfast recipe to help fill up his companions.

Characters

• Second Doctor
• Ben Jackson
• Polly Wright
• Jamie McCrimmon

Worldbuilding

• The Doctor repels the swarm from the Time Vortex by reciting a recipe for Bajaxx Stew in Ancient Gallifreyan.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• Polly, Ben and Jamie discover the second control room. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora)
• Jamie has just recently joined Doctor on his travels. (TV: The Highlanders)
• Ben recalls the Doctor's recent regeneration (TV: The Power of the Daleks) and suggests that there may have been further incarnations before the First Doctor, perhaps with beards. (TV: The Brain of Morbius)