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The Snowmen – Part One

The year was 1842, and in a snowy London park, a boy stood building a snowman alone as his peers laughed and shouted and pelted one another with snowballs. The boy ignored them; they were stupid and rowdy, and he didn't need them. He didn't need anyone. "Walter, don't you want to go and play with the other boys and girls? They're very nice" his mother tried to persuade him, but Walter was having none of it. "I don't need anyone else" he insisted.

He could hear his mother talking to his father. "He never talks to anyone. He's so alone. It's not right. It's not healthy" she declared. Walter was glad when they went back inside, and left him alone. Why couldn't anyone understand that he just wanted to be alone? He glanced up at the other children and scoffed under his breath, muttering to himself, "I don't want to talk to them. They're silly".

Walter almost yelled in fright when a voice came from his snowman. "They're silly. Don't talk to them. They're silly" it said. Shocked, Walter turned and ran away from the snowman, but he stopped when he heard it say, "Don't need anyone else". Very cautiously, he approached the snowman. "I can help you" it said, piquing Walter's curiosity. "How?" he asked.

/

Fifty years later, Walter Simeon stood watching homeless men scraping samples of snow from snowmen with sharp toothed grins. His face was gaunt and sour, like Scrooge, and he held no emotion in his icy eyes. When a carriage was loaded with jars full of snow, he drove it back to his laboratory at the GI Institute. A large globe stood on a dais, filled with flurrying snow. Simeon carried some of the jars up to it. "The last of the arrivals have been sampled" he informed the snow.

"The great swarm is approaching. As humanity celebrates, so shall it end. Will the final piece be ready?" the snow inquired in a deep, foreboding voice. "It's in hand" Simeon assured it, "I serve you in this, as in everything else". He spooned the snow from the jars into the globe, until each one was empty. "And do you keep my secrets, those men who helped us tonight?" the snow asked, and Simeon replied, "It won't be a problem. I promised to feed them".

He went out onto his balcony, looking down at the workers in the courtyard. One of them looked up at him and said "Beg pardon, Doctor Simeon. It's been a long day. I don't see any food here" he pointed out, gesturing around. "I do" said Simeon, not even blinking as snowmen burst from the ground and began to attack the men with sharp teeth and icy breath. "What is this?" the man cried, looking horrified. "I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to" Simeon answered coldly.

/

"Ask me another one!" Emily demanded eagerly, tugging on her dad's sleeve. "Alright, alright, um…did anything interesting happen in this year?" he asked her. Emily closed her eyes and delved into her newfound knowledge of the universe; it had only been three or so months since she'd looked into the Untempered Schism, and she was getting very good at spouting snippets of facts about any year they gave her. Specific dates were a still a bit shaky, but she'd get there.

"It's the 22nd of December, 1892, and…on Halloween the Sherlock Holmes books were published" she said at last, looking up at her dad to see if she'd got it right. The Doctor ruffled her hair and smiled proudly. "Good job, sweetheart. Now, you'll be good for your godparents, won't you?" he asked. Emily nodded dutifully. "Yes, daddy…ooh, mummy, you look really pretty!" she said brightly, as Romana entered the console room wearing a deep blue corset and gown.

She smiled at her daughter, and thanked her. "You look beautiful" the Doctor murmured, drawing her into a kiss. Emily pulled a face and skipped over to the Corsair, who scooped her up and tossed her into the air, catching her easily as she squealed with glee. "We'd better get going" Romana admitted, coming over to give Emily a kiss on the cheek. "Be a good girl, and Corsair, listen to Flavia when she says it's Emily's bedtime" she warned the other Time Lord, who gave her a mock salute.

"Don't worry, Romana, I'll keep an eye on them both. Goodness knows they'll need it" Flavia rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Now go on, off with you both, or you'll be late" she said, ushering the Doctor and Romana out of the door. They stepped out onto the cloud and made their way down a spiral staircase, an invisible spiral staircase. They had decided to visit the Paternoster Gang for Christmas, only to arrive a fortnight or so early, and not wanting to give Vastra, Jenny and Strax any trouble they'd landed the TARDIS on a cloud, just like when Romana had been pregnant.

Strax met them at the bottom of the staircase, waiting with a brougham carriage. "Sir, ma'am" he greeted with a short nod, getting down and opening the door for them. "Thanks, Strax" the Doctor said as he helped Romana into the carriage, before climbing in himself. Strax drove them to an alleyway close to a tavern, the Rose and Crown. Their actual destination was a restaurant a few blocks away, but they both felt like walking some of the distance, despite it being so chilly.

They left Strax with strict instructions not to kill the horse (again), challenge any drunken men to a duel (again) or try to use his grenades (again). The Sontaron had sulked, but agreed. The couple enjoyed a lovely meal at the restaurant, with the finest wine the chefs could afford. It had been a while since they'd gone on a date, just the two of them. The temptation to find a hotel and get a room using the psychic paper was there, but they both wanted more to get back to their daughter, and their friends.

As Romana and the Doctor walked past the Rose and Crown again, arms linked together, a barmaid in a red dress asked them "Did you make this snowman?"

The snowman in question was standing in the middle of the small yard, looking strangely intimidating. "No, we didn't" the Doctor replied, walking on, only for the young woman to continue talking. "Well, who did? Because it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared, from nowhere" she revealed, and the Doctor stopped dead in his tracks. He and Romana walked over to the snowman, which had an odd spiky grin carved onto it; it creeped Romana out and she shivered, but not from cold.

"Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen" the Doctor surmised, brushing his fingers across the cold white surface. The barmaid scoffed slightly in disbelief. "What, snow that can remember? That's silly" she asserted.

"What's wrong with silly?" asked the Doctor, and she shrugged. "Nothing; still talking to you, ain't I?" she pointed out; normally the Doctor would have looked indignant at being called silly, but he was distracted by the snowman. "What's your name?" Romana asked the girl; for some reason this human sounded familiar, but Romana couldn't put her finger on where she'd heard this voice before. "Clara" the barmaid replied with a smile.

"Nice name, Clara" the Doctor nodded, putting an arm around Romana and steering her away. "You should definitely keep it. We have to be going now" he informed Clara, leading Romana around the corner. Theta, is something wrong? she asked in concern; he never just walked away from people. "Oi! Where are you going?" Clara demanded, following them to the carriage, "I thought we was just getting acquainted".

The Doctor stood back to let Romana climb into the carriage. "We really do have somewhere to be. It was nice meeting you, Clara, goodbye" he said firmly, climbing into the carriage. As it trundled off, Clara began to head back to the inn…but then she changed her mind and ran after them. She had questions and those two obviously had answers, and she was going to get some.

Inside the carriage, Romana turned to the Doctor and asked "Is something the matter, love? You don't usually do this" she pointed out, and the Doctor looked quizzically at her. "I don't usually do what?" he inquired.

"Walk away from a mystery; two mysteries, in fact. That creepy looking snowman, and Clara"

"What's so mysterious about Clara?"

"Well, don't you think she sounded familiar? I could swear I've heard her voice before" Romana told him with a frown. The Doctor shrugged, and hoped the conversation would end there; but Romana pressed him for an explanation and he soon relented. "Okay, I'm not saying I'm not interested; but every time I get involved with something like this, it escalates. Just once I'd like a Christmas with no invasions or crashing spaceships or anything – just a nice, quiet holiday with my family" he explained.

Romana smiled softly in understanding. "Fair enough, but Doctor, don't you think Clara will be cur"- she was interrupted by a thump on the ceiling, and the carriage jerking as Strax pulled it to a halt. Suddenly Clara had poked her head through a hatch in the roof, staring at them upside down. "Doctor?" she asked, "Doctor who?"

Before either Time Lord could respond, Clara's eyes widened as she was pulled back out of the hatch. The strange little bald driver of the carriage shooed her off into the snow, shut the hatch, opened the door and barked "Sir, ma'am, you must vacate the vehicle post haste!" The man and woman got out, with the woman saying "Strax, what's gotten into you?"

Suddenly Clara found herself being bundled into the carriage, the door of which was shut behind her. "Oi! What're you doing? Let me out!" she cried indignantly, rattling the handle. She heard the driver, Stacks or something, announce "I have captured the spy that tried to attack you both, you are quite welcome!"

"What? I ain't a spy; now let me out of here!" Clara demanded hotly, banging on the door. "Madam, that is highly inadvisable-!" her 'captor' asserted, moments before she heard the door unlock. The woman opened the door, saying "Really Strax, you've got to stop jumping to conclusions. Clara here wasn't spying or attacking us. Out you come" she smiled at Clara, helping her out of the carriage. "I'm Romana, by the way, and this is my husband, the Doctor. Just the Doctor" she added, as Clara opened her mouth.

Clara quickly shut her mouth and looked over at Strax. "What is he?" she asked; it was obvious he wasn't human. "Silence, boy!" Strax ordered, making Clara raise an eyebrow and Romana snicker. "That's Strax. And as you can see, he's easily confused" the Doctor explained, giving the Sontaron a pointed look. "Silence, girl" Strax corrected himself, before adding "Sorry, lad".

"Sontaran; clone warrior race. Factory produced, whole legions at a time. Two genders is a bit further than he can count" the Doctor elucidated, and Strax stiffened. "Sir, do not discuss my reproductive cycle in front of enemy girls. It's embarrassing" he stated. Clara smiled in amusement, before turning to Romana. "How come you just ran off like that?" she asked her.

"Sorry about that; the Doctor can be a bit rude sometimes. We just wanted to get home to our daughter"

"What's her name?"

"Emily, she's just turned eight this year. She's such a sweet girl"

"I'm sure she is. So what's all this about snow that remembers? Where did that snowman come from? Snowmen don't just appear out of nowhere" she insisted. Before Romana could try to explain, the Doctor interrupted, saying "It's nothing you need to worry about, and besides, soon you're going to forget you ever met us. We'll need the worm" he told Strax, who saluted sharply and said, "Sir".

Alarmed, Clara's eyes widened. "You'll need the what? The worm? What worm?" she questioned. Romana frowned, which did nothing to appease her concern. "Is that really necessary?" Romana asked the Doctor, who replied "Well, she's obviously not going to just walk away. Don't worry, it won't hurt, but one touch on your bare skin and you'll lose the last hour of your memory" he explained to Clara, just as Strax returned empty handed.

"Where is it?" asked the Doctor, and the Sontaron butler looked at him blankly. "Where's what, sir?"

"I sent you to get the Memory Worm"

"Did you? When?" asked Strax, before spotting Clara and demanding "Who's he? What are we doing here?" He looked around and exclaimed "Look, it's been snowing!"

The Doctor sighed in exasperation; behind him, his wife and Clara sniggered behind their hands. "You didn't use the gauntlets, did you?" he realised. Strax frowned in confusion. "Why would I need the gauntlets?" he asked, before something dawned on him, "Do you want me to get the Memory Worm?"

"You…" the Doctor made a strangling gesture at him and snapped "Yes, I do!"

/

Meanwhile, a man was dropped off at his home by a carriage. The door was opened by a maid, named Alice. "Good evening, sir" she greeted politely, stepping back to let the man, Captain Latimer, inside. "Pond's frozen over" Latimer noted, "Hasn't frozen since the night"-

"Since the night your children's governess died, a year ago" a cold faced man in a suit and coat finished, appearing in the hallway. "Doctor Simeon, sir. He insisted on waiting" Alice explained, as Simeon approached and gave Latimer a cursory handshake. "She drowned in this very pond" Latimer nodded, sounding regretful. "Which then froze. You didn't find her till a month later, when the ice finally melted" Simeon continued for him, his voice near emotionless. "I recall the incident. It is the sort of thing one remembers" Latimer replied stiffly.

"The ice remembers too" Simeon said mysteriously, moving past Latimer. "Who are you? What do you want here?" the Captain demanded. Simeon calmly handed him a business card for the Great Intelligence Institute. "The pond is yours, Captain Latimer, but what is growing inside it, when it is ready, is ours. Good evening".

On the way back to his carriage, Simeon was stopped in his tracks by a young woman in black leather trousers, her hands on hips. "Well, Doctor Simeon, you're out very late tonight" Jenny commented, as Vastra stepped from the shadows behind Simeon. "Almost makes one wonder what you've been up to. But then, I have often wondered about the activities of Doctor Simeon and his exceptionally secretive Institute" she commented, stalking up to Simeon, who looked completely unfazed.

"Well, I am honoured this evening. The veiled detective… and her fatuous accomplice" he sneered. Jenny smirked and gave a mocking curtsey. "At your service".

"You realise Doctor Doyle is almost certainly basing his fantastical tales on your own exploits? With a few choice alterations, of course. I doubt the readers of The Strand magazine would accept that the great detective is, in reality, a woman" Simeon observed, lifting Vastra's veil. He barely blinked at the sight of her green and scaly skin. "And her suspiciously intimate companion" he added, glancing back at Jenny with a look of distaste.

Vastra raised her head haughtily and informed him, "I resent your implication of impropriety. We are married".

"More than can be said for you, eh, dear?" Jenny smirked, but Simeon ignored her. Vastra scooped up some snow and let it fall through her fingers. "Now then. This snow is interesting, don't you think? The ice crystals seem to have a low level telepathic field. Almost as if it can detect and respond to the thoughts and memories of the people around it. Memory snow. Snow that learns" she mused. Simeon gave her a withering look. "How fascinating" he intoned bluntly.

"I hope it's listening to the right people. It could be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands, don't you think?" Vastra asked Simeon, but he merely stared coolly at her. "I think winter is coming" he replied, "Such a winter as this world has never known. The last winter of humankind. Do you know why I'm telling you all this?"

"I am intrigued"

"Because there's not a single thing you can do to stop it" Simeon declared, before striding towards and past Jenny. "Perhaps I can't, but I know four people who can" Vastra called after him. Simeon paused and replied, "I look forward to meeting them", before going on his way. Jenny looked at Vastra and asked her, "You mean the Time Lords? They might not help us, the Doctor did say he just wanted a quiet Christmas".

"I know, my dear, but you're forgetting something important" Vastra told her, "no matter how stubborn the Doctor might try to be, he can never stand up to the assault from his little girl's puppy dog eyes".