The Bell
The Bell, codenamed Project Big Ben, was a teleportation device constructed by the British Army during World War II, based on the designs of the Wyrresters. The name was derived from its shape. It was constructed in response to the discovery of a German version, Die Glocke.
History
Initial transmissions
The workings of the Bell were initially devised by the Wyrresters during ongoing population crises on their home planet Typholchatkas. Hoping to launch a military operation on Earth, the Wyrresters sent the instructions for building the machine as coded radio signals to the planet which was in the grips of World War II. The signals were intercepted by both Britain and Germany.
The British struggled to translate the message, sending it to Bletchley Park like Alan Turing and Dr. Judson. After they were finally translated around the early stages of 1944, the British decided to built the machine after Allied agents in Europe confirmed the SS had begun work on their own version, Die Glocke. The German experiments were unsuccessful and the British were advised on how to avoid many of their fatal mistakes by the occultist counter-intelligence operative Aleister Crowley. Crowley warned about the type of energy used and the machine's proximity to ley lines.
Testing
The village of Ringstone in Wiltshire was selected as the test site, as The King's Guards monument acted as the ideal stone circle required by the instructions (Stonehenge was considered too much of a security risk). The village was evacuated, a blackout was enforced and a decoy site on Salisbury Plain was lit up to lure away Luftwaffe spotter planes. Site security was provided by Sergeant Desmond Hughes and the 14th Wiltshire (Ringstone) Battalion Home Guard. Professor Jason Clearfield, a Wyrrester pawn, was the experiment's lead scientist. The experiment was planned to go ahead on 21 March 1944 during the vernal equinox.
When the test began, a Wyrrester emerged from the opened portal and attacked Professor Clearfield, injecting him with a neurotoxin. The Home Guard fought back but were all slaughtered in less than ten minutes. Only Private Robin Sanford survived, as his heart condition held him back. With very brief assistance from the Twelfth Doctor and Charlie Bevan, Sanford shone the searchlight on the test site, alerting the Luftwaffe overhead. Bombs destroyed the Bell, the Wyrrester the control facilities and all the research notes, while an unexploded one damaged the stone circle.
Aftermath
The Bell's residual mutagenic energy reacted with the neurotoxin injected into Professor Clearfield, stopping him from ageing and enhancing his mental and physical capacity. This allowing him to survive the bombing, although one side of his face was still burned to the bone. Due to the expenses involved, Clearfield saw no hope in reviving the project, especially after the war ended. The Wyrresters were able to keep contact with him and convinced him the experiment could yet succeed if he located the Nazi Bell and used that instead. He eventually discovered its location in Neuschwabenland, Antarctica.
The British Army kept the experiment a secret. In his later years, Sanford visited the local school to talk to pupils about his time in the Home Guard, but his stories about fighting giant insects during the war were ridiculed by the other villagers.
In 2014, ahead of the next vernal equinox, Clearfield attempted to repeat the project after the retrieval of Die Glocke. The attempt was thwarted by the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald, and the involvement of the Army. Department C19 removed all evidence of alien activity in the aftermath. (PROSE: The Crawling Terror)
