Attack of the Krynoids

The sun felt warm against Giles face as he mowed the grass, keeping the landscape neatly trimmed. He wiped away a bead of sweat from his brow as stopped to catch his breath, he wasn't as young as he used to be as his wife kept reminding him.

He hated the fact she was always right.

Once he had given his pacemaker a chance to catch up he continued with his long task of making sure the grounds looked wonderful for the grand opening. He looked across the grounds and saw the large house in the middle, Chase Manor. Apparently it had all but burnt down in the mid-seventies and then a trust belonging to some other millionaire purchased the land and the house and had spent a lot of money on turning the place from a burnt out wreck to a place where people could come and just walk around and look at the house and the grounds.

Apparently, it was fun. Giles couldn't imagine anything worse.

Still, he thought, I'm not being paid for my thoughts, I'm being paid a lot for my work. So he continued to trundle the lawnmower along.

When the grass had been trimmed he turned his attention to trimming the bushes back to allow the public to access the footpaths. He began chopping away humming an old song he remembered from his youth, those where the days my friend, I'd thought they'd never end… While cutting his allowed his mind to wander back to when he had first heard that song. It was when he had just met his future wife. Giles and his friend had entered the small village pub where he had used to live. He remembered the smoke across the room, glasses clinking, people laughing. It hadn't taken long before he saw her. She was standing by the snooker table, chalking her cue. He remembered she was doing very sexily and looking at him. Giles had then calmly and coolly lit a roll up, there were a new thing in his days, and he turned to his friend, "I think I'm in here!" He had said. He noticed a glint in her eye.

Snap.

The snap brought him round from any more imaginings.

Snap.

He held the large scissors before him, the sharp edge of the weapon sticking out.

Snap.

He turned.

And gasped.

Before him stood a large plant like thing, tendrils all over and it let out a roar as it attacked.

Giles never even had time to use the scissors.

Not that they would have done any good anyway.

His body fell into the bush his neck twisted at a funny angle, the branches swaying wildly before snapping back to their previous positions.

The large green thing lumbered away, heading towards the house, there it would report back to the cloaked ship high in Earth's atmosphere.

From the moment Kurt Hummel had stepped of the plane, he knew he was going to like England. Blaine Anderson appeared behind him and grabbed his hand, walking down the steps onto the ground at Heathrow Airport. Kurt smiled when he watched Blaine, he really loved him.

The first week had been a rush of activity. They had visited anywhere and everywhere before they headed out into the country for a quiet final week of their holiday. They had found a quaint little B&B in the country and planned what they were going to do over the week. They had visited castles, farms, zoo's and then planned on one of the last days to visit a newly opened Chase Manor. According to Blaine, who had read the leaflet, the mansion had burnt down in the seventies under mysterious circumstances before being bought by a Christopher Mace, a local millionaire who built the place up again before opening the place up to the public and tourists as a must visit museum.

Chase Manor currently stood before Kurt and Blaine and they soaked up the sight. The house was truly beautiful, it was large and grand and Kurt imagined himself living there with Blaine at his side as lords of the manor, standing by a large window looking out over their land. Blaine smiled when he looked at Kurt, he took his boyfriend's hand and pulled him towards the house's entrance. Overhead the birds sung joyously in the trees as they played around the branches.

A helicopter flew above the trees, scattering the birds before turning to land out of the sight of the public. The door on the side of the helicopter was pulled open by the pilot who waved his hand before him with a theatrical flourish.

"Here we are Mr Mace."

"Thank you Dancer," a tall man replied as he stepped out of the plane and onto the ground.

Christopher Mace had arrived.

Also arriving, was a large blue box, which seemed to appear before disappearing before reappearing again. A strange wheezing, groaning sound filled the air before the machines ancient engines landed the box safely behind a set of stone steps out of sight. The box wasn't really a box at all, in fact it was a TARDIS and it belonged to a man called The Doctor, who was now in his fifth incarnation. Despite the fact that the outside of the ship was small, inside was a different story. The TARDIS was dimensionally transcendental which meant it was bigger on the inside. The main doors allowed access into the console room which housed the console that The Doctor could operate the ship from. He stood with his hands in his stripped trouser pockets, looking down at the controls.

"What's the matter?" A loud voice asked.

Tegan stepped into the console room, closing the door, which lead to the corridor behind her.

"Nothing. We were just brought here, rather than landing here." The Doctor continued to inspect the controls.

Tegan activated the main viewer and looked at the screen. It showed a lush green field.

"We've landed in the middle of a field." Tegan said, pointing at the screen.

The Doctor didn't answer.

"I said, we've landed-"

"Yes, I heard you," The Doctor cut her off.

Tegan fumed slightly at having been interrupted and was about to say something rude when the Doctor's other companion, Nyssa, entered the console room. Tegan looked at Nyssa. Nyssa was Tegan's best friend but every time she looked at her she felt sad for what Nyssa had lost. Her stepmother was dead, she was followed by the death of her entire planet and her father was taken by The Master. Tegan had no idea what her friend must be going through, it surprised her that Nyssa even got up in the morning.

"It looks peaceful enough," Nyssa said, stepping up next to Tegan.

"Looks can be deceiving," The Doctor muttered while he pushed up the door control.

A warbling sound filled the console room as the large doors opened granting the occupants access to the outside world.

High above Earth, which hung suspended in space, sat a spacecraft. It was no normal spacecraft, instead of being made of metal, the ship was made of vegetation. The spaceship was spherical in shape and in the centre a large column ran the height of the ship. On the column were hundreds of little pods, all ready to be shot into space to colonize other worlds, or to conquer them. A rustling sound meant the arrival of a being. The being was much like the one currently on Earth. It was large and seemed too made of vegetable matter, much like the ship, currently carrying it.

"Empress," it spoke.

"Speak."

The being moved towards a large throne like seat.

"Sensors show a time disturbance down on the planet."

A long twig like finger reached out and tapped the arm of the throne. "We will continue to monitor it. Our main task is to discover what happened to the first two scouts we sent out all those years ago. However, alert the scouts on the planet. There might be someone who is trying to stop us."

"Yes, Empress." The creature moved away, it had its orders.

Kurt and Blaine walked up to a set of steps which rose above the ground and then allowed access to the main house. If they had looked down, they would have noticed the blue box and three strangers who would soon change their lives.

Christopher Mace walked into the glasshouse and immediately headed towards the central table. On it sat a small green pod. Professor Maddison walked up to Mace.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice," Maddison said, shaking Mace's hand.

"Of course. Has something happened to our little friend?"

"Yes, a few days ago this was just a small cluster of spores. Now they seem to have combined into a pod," Maddison spoke looking directly at the pod.

"And it's identical to the data collected by Mr Keeler?"

"Yes."

Mace smiled. In his glasshouse sat an alien being.

The pod sat quietly on the table. A few days ago the spores had combined themselves, turning into the green pod. The scientists all thought the pod wasn't sentient. In truth, it was reaching out with its 'mind' to others of its kind.

It was waiting to strike.

"Blaine! Blaine over here!" Kurt shouted.

Blaine scrambled over, "What is it?"

"Just imagine how strong these knights must have had to have been with all that metal on and then to be able to swing a sword."

"They must have been muscle men," Blaine agreed.

Behind them the small group of strangers entered the main hall of the house. The man carried a small device in his hands which let out a bleeping noise every now and again.

"What is that thing?" Tegan asked pulling her white camisole top around herself. It really was cold in here.

"It detects alien presences." The Doctor replied, extending the aerial.

"The bleeping noise means it's found something?" Tegan questioned.

"Yes."

"Then what's it found?" Nyssa asked.

"I'm not sure yet. Do you know, I've got the feeling I've been here before." The Doctor looked round the large room.

"What do we do if there are aliens here?" Tegan asked.

"We ask them what they're doing here and offer them passage of off this world back to their own." The Doctor replied.

"And what if they want to stay?" Nyssa asked.

"Then I'll twist their arms."

"And if they haven't got arms to twist?"

The Doctor smiled, "Don't worry, I'll find something. In the meantime, I suggest we split up. I'll continue to search the house. Nyssa, you and Tegan take the grounds."

"What are we looking for?" Asked Tegan.

"Anything that doesn't look like it belongs here."

"Right," and with that, Tegan and Nyssa headed for the grounds, while the Doctor continued to ponder on his feelings of Deja ja vu.

"Empress," the thing spoke.

"Yes?"

"The scouts report back in acknowledgement of your orders. It also reports it has located the other of us."

"Excellent. Tell the scout, it is to begin its attack. The other of us is too brought here."

"Yes Empress."

As the thing scuttled away, the Empress sat back in her throne. The attack was about to begin.

Nyssa and Tegan hurried through the grounds, so far they hadn't found anything.

"Oh it's hopeless," Tegan sat down on the grass, her back to a large bush.

"It does seem like there's nothing here. Maybe The Doctor's looking for trouble where there really isn't any." Nyssa sat beside her friend.

Tegan tutted and lay back.

As she lay back, the back of her head connected with something hard. She turned to remove what she assumed was a rock and swore.

Loudly.

Turning to see what her friend had found, Nyssa saw the body of Giles lying in the muddy ground. All across his body was a strange green fungus with bits of plant beginning to protrude from the skin.

"We need to find the Doctor. He was right, there is something going on here." Tegan jumped up followed by Nyssa and they set off towards the house.

Once they were at a clear distance, the bush began to shake wildly. A hand reached up and grasped hold of the shaking branches to haul its lifeless body up.

The dead Giles walked.

The Doctor continued to walk around the main hall, device in hand, smiling and nodding at anyone who happened to look in his direction whenever his device beeped. Over the past five minutes the Doctor had noticed that the beeping had become more and more frequent. The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end.

Kurt and Blaine continued to look around the main hall. Blaine was obviously enjoying himself but Kurt found himself being irritated by a tall blonde man with a funny device in his hands. Just who was he?

Mace circled the laboratory table a second time, "According to the surviving records by Harrison Chase, the pod needed human flesh, it seemed to make come to life," he looked at Maddison.

Maddison gulped, Mace couldn't surely mean that he…

Any further speculation was cut short when the pod suddenly burst open a long shoot rippling in the air. It seemed to know where the nearest source of human flesh was, directly to its right, Maddison. The shoot surged forward burrowing its way into Maddison's arm. Maddison screamed as he fell to the floor, clutching his arm which felt like it was on fire. Mace was instantly surrounded by his guards who loaded their guns and fired the empty pod into oblivion. As the smoke from the guns began to settle, a thing that had once been Maddison stood up.

Outside the plant thing continued to lumber along towards the house. Already it could feel the minds of Giles and Maddison in its own and knew that the plan was succeeding. The Empress would be pleased.

Tegan and Nyssa raced towards the house. Tegan screamed a little as she stopped, her arm out to halt Nyssa, she pointed, "Look!" Tegan pointed towards the house. Lumbering up the steps was something that looked like it had lost a fight with a bowl of particularly violent salad.

"What is it?" Nyssa whispered.

"I don't know," Tegan muttered.

They both watched as the thing climbed the stone steps to the front of the building and they both saw a security guard try to stop th approaching being but get cut off by two hands round his throat.

"We've got to get to the Doctor," Tegan whispered.

"Agreed," Nyssa looked for an entrance which wouldn't attract too much attention. Her eyes settled on an open window not too far away from them. The only problem was, they would be seen, because of a set of large windows between them and the small open window. Tegan followed her friend's eyeline.

"Let's go." Tegan whispered.

The two girls headed for the window as quietly as they could.

The main hall had been calm moments before the great wooden doors had burst open and in had stepped the plant man. There had been a few moments of confusion, people asking if this was a show, someone dressed in a knight's outfit would come and do battle? Then the confusion had descended into chaos when the plant man began to throttle people. People ran in all different directions. The Doctor stood in the centre of the pandemonium and the device slipped from his hands, smashing into a million little pieces. It didn't matter. He knew what he was up against. It was a Krynoid.

Somewhere in the distance, The Doctor saw someone fall.

Kurt made to move towards Blaine but felt someone shove him and he landed on the floor. He let out a loud "oof!" as he crashed down. Blaine tried to move towards his boyfriend but the crowds kept coming towards him, pushing him back. Kurt raised his head and noticed the sharp pain. When he had landed he had smacked his head on the solid floor. Darkness overwhelmed him and he descended into the void.

Mace watched as the thing that had once been Maddison killed his two guards and then watched in horror as the thing began to come towards him.

"No stop!" He cried out. "I want to help you!"

The thing continued to head towards him.

"I know what you are." The thing stopped. "You're a Krynoid."

The Krynoid that had once been Maddison looked at him.

"I'm from an organisation that wants to help you. The great plant kingdom," Mace said.

"You will be of help," the Krynoid rustled.

"I will?"

The Krynoid tilted its head slightly before it spoke again. "What happened to the first of our landing party?"

"The first of your landing party?"

"They made planet fall sometime in the last century." The Krynoid moved closer.

"They were destroyed," Mace said, "Others destroyed them."

The Krynoid gripped hold of Mace's arm and he let out a squeal of pain.

"You will come with me." The Krynoid hissed.

"Why?"

"The humans destroyed two of my kind. They have just declared intergalactic war upon the Krynoids."

All Mace could do was obey as he was hauled towards the main house.

Kurt woke with a splitting headache. The first thing he sensed was that Blaine was with him. He felt his warm hands wrapped protectively around him. Then his head lolled to one side as he smelt the vile smell in history. The strange blonde man was wafting a small bottle under his nose. Satisfied that the boy had sufficiently, The Doctor returned the bottle of smelling salts to his large pockets.

"Can you tell me your name?" The Doctor asked.

"Kurt. Kurt Hummel," Kurt managed.

"Nice to meet you Kurt Hummel," The strange man smiled. "I'm the Doctor."

Kurt wondered what the man was talking about. "The Doctor? Doctor what? Doctor Who?"

"If I had a pound for every time someone has said that!" The Doctor smiled.

Kurt managed a small smile, although he wasn't altogether sure what he was smiling about. He noticed the cramped room and turned to Blaine. "What happened?"

"I'm not too sure," Blaine began. "The doors opened and that green thing came in. Then it started killing people and you were knocked out. The Doctor managed to save us."

"Thank you," Kurt whispered.

"That's ok. I couldn't have you dying on your holiday now could I. That would really ruin it."

Kurt smiled weakly. The holiday was already ruined, the thought. He turned to Blaine, "Where are we?"

Blaine looked around, "I think it's called a priest hole. We have been locked in here."

Kurt looked at the door, a wave of unending fear filled him. "So we're trapped?"

"Not trapped exactly, just locked up. We're momentarily right where they want us," The Doctor smiled at Kurt in an attempt to make him feel better.

It didn't work.

Tegan had wedged herself halfway through the open window, she struggled to pull herself free. Nyssa was behind pushing. It would comical, if it wasn't a life and death situation.

"I think, I'm nearly through," Tegan rasped as she pulled herself through. She flew through the window like a cork out of a bottle and landing on the hard ground. Nyssa climbed through without any difficultly and Tegan glared at her.

Nyssa rushed to the door and turned the handle gently, peeking round the large oak door. She was grateful to see that there wasn't anybody around. Tegan and Nyssa left the small store room and entered the corridor outside. They could hear faint voices but the people speaking where too far away to be a problem just now.

"If the Doctor was in the main hall when that plant-thing attacked, he would have tried to talk to the thing. That would have probably failed miserably and he's probably got himself locked up. We need to find where," Tegan walked in the direction that took them away from the voices, Nyssa closely following behind.

The Doctor felt the door, then sat down and empty his pockets. A yo-yo, a bag of jelly babies a diary on which was written, 200 yr. old diary, a teddy bear, a Barbie doll and a dozen other devices that Kurt and Blaine had never seen before and could only imagine about what they were.

"One day I must get a proper survival kit together," the Doctor sighed, putting everything back into his pockets, he left of the crumpled bag of jelly babies and popped one in his mouth, and he offered one to Kurt and Blaine, both taking one. Then he heard a key rattle in the lock and all three of them jumped up. The Doctor stood behind the door, his arm raised in a Venusian attack position. Tegan entered the room and the Doctor saw who it was just before he struck her on the back of the neck.

"Doctor!" Tegan and Nyssa exclaimed at the same time.

"What took you so long?" The Doctor questioned.

"What do you mean, 'what took you so long?' You sent us to investigate the grounds, we found a dead body and then came back to tell you. We reached the house and saw this plant-thing going inside, then there was lots of shouting and screaming and then we had to try and fit through a small window," Tegan was cut off by the Doctor.

"How did you get in here?" He asked.

"The key was still in the lock," Nyssa replied.

"Who are they?" Tegan asked pointing to Kurt and Blaine who stood in a small corner of the room.

"This is Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson," The Doctor smiled. "Kurt, Blaine, this is Tegan and Nyssa,"

"Hi," Was all Kurt could say.

"What's the plan Doc?" Tegan asked.

"We need to find out what the Krynoid's want."

"You know them?" Nyssa queried.

"I've met them before, in my previous incarnation."

"What do these Krynoid's want?" Kurt asked.

"Normally they come to colonise and expand their reach, but this time feels different. The natural order on this planet is that the mammals eat the vegetation right?"

"Of course," Kurt answered.

"Well, on any planet where the Krynoid gets itself established, the vegetation eats the mammals."

"But that's terrifying," Blaine piped up.

"Yes it is," The Doctor thrust his hands into his pockets, "I once had a friend who said virtually the exact same thing as you."

"How do we stop them?" Nyssa looked to the Doctor.

"I will find out what they want, you, Tegan, Kurt and Blaine, find something to stop them with. The last time, we blew the house up and they don't particularly like fire."

"So flame throwers?" Tegan seemed happy.

"Well, something less violent certainly, if at all possible I want them to leave in peace."

"And when had that ever worked?"

"Well, it might do one day."

The Empress of the Krynoid's walked through the main hall of the large house. She nodded to the scout, the thing that had once been Maddison and the dead Giles, who was sprouting roots. All saluted back. In the corner of the room cowered Christopher Mace.

"Where are the others of my kind?"

Mace didn't answer.

The Empress reached down and lifted Mace up of the ground, holding him by his neck.

"I asked you a question."

Mace still didn't answer, his feet dangled away from the ground and his eyes felt like they were going to burst.

"Very well," The Empress gripped hold of his neck in an even tighter grip and went to snap his neck when she heard a voice from behind her. She dropped the gasping Mace to the floor who landed in a crumpled pile on the hard wooden floor.

"Stop what you're doing!" The Doctor stepped into the room.

So surprised where the other Krynoid's that none moved.

"I know what you are," he said, speaking directly to the Empress.

"You seem to have us at a disadvantage," The Empress said.

"I'm The Doctor," he smiled.

His name seemed to instil fear in the Empress but she tried not to let it show.

"I am giving you one chance. Leave now." He said.

"And what if I say no?"

"Then I will have to stop you," the Doctor said.

"I'd like to see you try," The Empress snarled. "The two scouts which landed on this planet a few decades ago have been destroyed. Because of the destruction of our kind we will now raise this planet."

"I gave you the chance," The Doctor whispered to the Empress.

The Empress snarled and leapt at the Doctor but he was able to knock her aside with a Venusian aikido strike. She landed with a loud slap on the floor. One of the other Krynoid's went to move towards the Doctor but a loud smashing noise filled the room and in an instant the Krynoid burst into flames. The Doctor ducked back to dodge the flames. Tegan burst into the room firing a flame thrower across the room and the flames hit the other two of the Krynoid's. Nyssa and Kurt ran into the room and rushed to the Doctor's side, making sure he was fine. The Doctor batted them away and struggled to stand.

The Empress was on her feet in seconds and she grabbed Kurt by the neck.

"Follow me and he will die," She snarled.

A transport light filled the room and in an instant, Kurt and the Empress had vanished.

"Where did he go?" Blaine screamed, running back into the room, a flare gun in his hands.

"Presumably they have a ship somewhere in orbit." The Doctor raced towards the exit and back to the TARDIS.

Tegan, Nyssa and Blaine raced after him but when they got to the where the TARDIS had been they discovered it was gone.

Kurt felt reality bend around him and suddenly he was somewhere else entirely. He fell to the forest like floor, retching. The Empress stepped over him and headed to a bank of computer-like consoles.

"Beginning arming procedure," A computer voice blared out.

Kurt instantly knew what it meant and he couldn't let it happen. He hurled himself across the room and crashed into the Empress and they landed in a mess on the floor. They began to struggle to break free from one another and Kurt reached up, his hand slapping down on something on the console.

A strange noise filled the chamber and a large blue box appeared. Out of it stepped the Doctor who helped Kurt into the TARDIS. The Empress screamed as the TARDIS disappeared. She reached the console and heaved herself up.

What had the stupid human done? She looked along the console. She must avenge the death of her scouts. Nothing on the console indicated a fault so the Empress continued with her plan. She pressed down her hand on a panel and the ship exploded in a burst of flame.

The Krynoid attack, was over.

Kurt hugged Blaine tightly.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Blaine said into Kurt's neck.

"I told you, I'm never saying goodbye to you," Kurt replied.

The Doctor stepped forward. "How about I give you two a lift home?"

Kurt looked at Blaine and they smiled. "That sounds good."

"In you go," The Doctor smiled, opening the TARDIS door.

Kurt and Blaine stepped into the TARDIS. Tegan and Nyssa were standing by the console.

"Welcome to the TARDIS," said the Doctor.

"This is unbelievable," Blaine whispered, stunned by the size of the room, which seemed to fit inside that small box outside.

The Doctor smiled and closed the doors.

"Now to get you home," he turned a few dials and the central column began to rise and fall.

Outside, a blue box vanished.

Mace stepped out of the house, sirens drawing closer. He decided he had better not tell them the truth.

When the questioning had finished, Mace was free to leave the police station. Outside stood a man leaning against a stretched limousine. He opened the door and Mace stepped inside.

"You must the man who contacted the station,"

The small man next to him smiled. "I want your expertise, come and work for SunTrap Enterprises." The strange man held out his hand.

Mace took it, "What have I got to lose?"

The strange man smiled and the limousine drove away.

"Master, Master. The events you predicted are in motion."

A man sat with his face turned away.

"Excellent. Are the two humans Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson on board the TARDIS?"

"Yes master," the servant said.

The man turned and looked at his servant, "Wonderful. So the contest begins."

Fenric smiled.

THE END

Next Episode – Invasion of the Daleks