Breaking the Habit

Episode One

by esherrouse

The large white room seemed empty with the exception of two noises which seemed to create an odd rhythm. One was the faint hum of a machine. This sound fluctuated with the central column in the room. The other sound was that of a deep chant that sounded like,"ohm na-ani paham ne o". Together the sounds meshed into an excellent ensemble.

Then suddenly a door on the far side of the room opened and a girl entered exclaiming,"Why do I have to wear this, Professor? It looks so, so.."

"plain?" came a voice out of the air.

Then a figure seemed to materialize in front of the girl on the floor sitting cross legged.

The girl looked a bit shocked for only a moment and then said, "How did you do that Professor?"

"I was merely meditating using a trick an old friend taught me a long time ago. Though I can not ever get it quite right." He then stood up and began dusting off his legs. "Excellent timing, Ace. It seems we have landed. and I do like the outfit. Nice choice."

"You picked it out" she retorted.

He looked at her with a grin and said,"I know."

He then activated the door mechanism and they walked out of the TARDIS.

As they emerged from the Police Box the Doctor looked up behind the ship to notice a huge crucifix taking up most of the wall.

"That is pretty scary," said Ace with a look of discomfort across her face.

The Doctor ignored the comment and then began to look around the vast hall they were in. It was all stone and there were many different statues and artworks. As they began to walk along the hall they could see a few more paintings of various figures on clouds and in what looked to be tremendous battles.

"So are we in some sort of fortress or castle of some sort, Professor?"

"By the looks of things and judging from all of the religious artifacts I would suspect we are in a Monastery or Convent of some sort." replied the Doctor.

"Creepy." Ace shivered.

They continued down the corridor and then Ace noticed a faint glowing light at the end of one of the passageways on her right.

"Check this out Professor"

The Doctor stopped and looked down the hall to see a faint glowing light. "Most likely a candle of some sort flickering."

As he muttered his last word the Light intensified and seemed to almost look like a light shade of blue. A scream came as the light faded back to a flicker.

"Now that is one hot candle." said Ace.

The two crept stealthily down the hall, and hid behind a large vase at the end of the corridor. Beyond the vase was a huge, tiered room. At the farthest level down they could see a pit filled with teenage children carrying various metallic objects around in wheelbarrows. There were some older and some younger, but mainly teenagers it seemed - slaves.

As their eyes moved to the next and closer tier, they saw a row of cloaked figures apparently hovering about. They seemed to be overseeing the labour camp below.

Ace mutterred to the Doctor, " What is this place?"

The Doctor tried to put his hand over her mouth before she could speak, but one of the overseers had heard. The figure turned and revealed a fully garbed nun with a large metallic rifle in her hands. Her eyes began to glow blue as she scanned the area. The Doctor and Ace ducked...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Episode Two

by Atmosphere97

The Doctor and Ace backed away. "I don't believe it!" cried Ace. "A nun with attitude!"

The eyes of the nun seemed to glow brighter, engulfing her form in a ghostly blue haze. The Doctor placed himself between Ace and the Blue Nun.

"Bless each soul, Holy Mary, mother of Christ," he chanted eerily.

"Professor, what are you doing?"

"Attempting to reach some level of understanding." The nun raised the weapon. "But evidently without any degree of success. RUN!"

Ace and the Doctor retreated back they way they had come, turning at the first junction and ran the length of the corridor. They stopped and looked behind them, as shadows cast odd shapes along the walls. There seemed to be no sign of pursuit from their assailant. The Doctor removed his hat and fanned his perspiring face, exhaling a breath of satisfied relief. Ace reached down and tore the skirt away from her outfit, revealing her more familiar black leggings with the jagged red stripe down the side of her leg. Amazingly, the overall image of the dress wasn't ruined for praciticality's sake. The Doctor raised an approving eye-brow and replaced his hat. He started edging his way back towards the slave pit.

Ace caught his arm. "Newsflash, Professor, but we just escaped from there!"

"I know. But I want to know what's going on. Those were children being enslaved, Ace. Made to work under threat of punishment."

"Yeah, I know that, but that hippie nun looked trigger-happy to me! There's got to be some other way around. You know, sneak up on them from behind."

An arm suddenly reached out from the darkness and snared Ace's elbow. She instinctively whirled around, out of reach, and retreating several paces to take up a defensive posture, arms poised ready to fight. Her face fell into a frown to find an old gentlemen dressed in a suit and white cotton gloves standing before them. He held a candelabra in one hand, and was still reaching out with the other. The odd thing about the candelabra, despite all five candles being lit, was it seemed to shed no light whatsoever.

"Excuse me, sir," the man spoke softly and eloquently. "I was wondering if you would care to dine with the Master, tonight? He has expressed his wish for you to join him in the study immediately."

"Has he, indeed?" smiled the Doctor. "In that case, we'd be delighted, wouldn't we Ace?"

"Would we?"

"We would," he winked, and raised both eyebrows to the newcomer. "Would you lead the way, Mr...?"

"Harrows, sir. Simply Harrows."

"Harrows it is then."

Harrows turned and led the way further along the corridor, and up a flight of stairs. Ace took the opportunity to whisper aside to the Doctor, "Do you know what's going on?"

The Doctor simply shrugged. "We've been asked to dinner."

"Yeah, but who knows we're here?"

"The master of the house, presumably? Perhaps he might be able to fill in one or two blanks. Yes... I think this meeting will be very interesting indeed."

"It feels creepy. And what about Niles the Creepy-Butler, here? Is he for real?"

The Doctor tapped his nose, knowingly, although Ace wasn't convinced for a moment he had a clue what was going on.

Harrows led the pair up the steps and onto an elaborate landing. Crimson red carpet embraced the floor of the lavish Hall, while chestnut wood-panelling and brilliantly fashioned paintings were decoratively displayed along the walls. There seemed to be no electricity in the place, as everything was lit by candles. Rather more successfully than Harrows' candelabra, Ace noted. She couldn't help but feel odd. A cloud of ambivalence shivered through her being as she debated whether such luxury was beautiful or disgusting. She remembered the slaves just one level below,and couldn't help but feel that they were somehow instrumental in allowing this luxurious atmosphere come to be.

The Doctor seemed to share her thoughts. "Every Paradise has it's serpent." Ace wanted to remark that their host was undoubtedly the serpent, but kept her opinion to herself. She didn't know what sort of surveillance a place like this could have, not for a moment believing that they had arrived sometime in the 18th or 19th century. She wouldn't give in to appearances only to have the consequences of it come up and stab her in the face.

"This way, sir, lady," Harrows was holding a tall door open for the Doctor and Ace, gesturing for them to enter the Study. Ace felt a chill rush through her as something reached out and touched her mind. Almost subconsciously, she could make out a peculiar sound just barely within the threshold of hearing. The Doctor didn't seem to notice. She looked around the empty Hall, straining to grasp exactly what it was she could hear. It lasted just a moment, and was gone.

The Doctor paused over the threshold. "Ace? What is it?"

She shook her head slowly, unable to articulate her thoughts. "I heard something. It was like.... I don't know. Weird. Hard to describe."

"Have you ever heard it before?" She shook her head. "Can you still hear it?"

"No. And what's frustrating, I can't even remember exactly what it sounded like! Like it was never really there. But it WAS there, and it was real!"

Harrows approached worriedly. "Is she ill, sir? Perhaps she would care for a cup of herb tea. I'm told it does wonders for a lady's constitution."

The Doctor put his arm around his companion. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just a little dizzy. I'm ok though." The Doctor guided her towards the inviting door still being held by Harrows.

"Come on, we'll find you somewhere to sit once we get insi-"

As the Doctor and Ace crossed the threshold, their sense were attacked by a fierce strobic light, penetrating their minds through the backs of their eyes like needle pin-pricks of colour and sound. Ace shut her eyes tight against the onslaught, but found it still penetrated her vision. She felt a cloud of blackness overcome the spectral kaleidoscope in her eyes, and sagged to the ground like a crumpled doll.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Episode Three

by esherrouse

The Doctor fought as hard as he could to resist the continual battering of lights. Ace seemed to collapse to his feet as he tried to look away. He noticed Harrows standing in the doorway emotionlessly staring into the room as if nothing were occuring. The Doctor then noticed Harrows beginning to shimmer, his image flickered between one of an outline and a silohette with the full version materializing inbetween at random intervals.

The Doctor stumbled into the room and fell to the ground. Blackness and Silence swam around him.

"And that is why I say that the Government has lost touch with the people. They have left it to the little man to face the horrors of the world. A world created by the Titans of life. I mean how is one to confront reality when the reality is not even on of their own creation? That is why each man, and in some circles women, should be allowed to realize the commodity of reality and taught how to invest in such a luxury."

The Doctor opened his eyes to see a dimly lit room. In a chair about 10 feet away from him on his left he could see Ace still unconscious. He looked around the room for a face to be applied to the voice. The smell of Tobacco suddenly filled the room.

"You see I want to help man realize their fullest potential. Elevate their puny minds as it were." A puff of smoke rose from a chair in the far corner of the room which appeared to be facing away from the Doctor and Ace.

"Would you care for a drink, sir?" Harrows had appeared at the Doctor's side without so much as slight sound of a footstep.

"Why yes, I do believe I could use a glass of water."

The voice in the dark corner continued, "Excellent I see you have returned to us. I was becoming worried that we had been too hasty in our defenses. Bring the man a glass of water."

"Yes Sir." And before the doctor had noticed, Harrows had vanished from his side. He turned to look toward the doorway as well but still saw no one.

"He does get around for a man his age, doesn't he?"

"He? Oh, you might say that." came the reply with a slight snigger. The Doctor looked over to Ace and began to speak but was cut short with a response, "Your Friend is as unharmed as you are my dear. She is weak and needs her rest. Harrows has already prepared a room for her to retire to."

"Ah excellent. She could use a bit of a relaxing nap on a comfortable bed."

"Besides you and I have many things to talk about."

"Yes, what is it you were saying about reality? And Commodities?"

"In due time, friend. We must first discuss how it is you come to be here at such an auspicious moment in time. One might suggest that there is an element of necessity in your arrival."

"Well, we are travellers and we just happened upon your happy home here." The images of the children down below flashed into the Doctor's head momentarily. He then looked over at the fireplace and noticed above it there was another large painting of a vast heavenly city. Beneath it was a world engulfed in battles and chaos. He then turned back to the shadowy region of the room and continued, "On as similar note. Aiding human development and what not. I could not help but notice a rather angry nun in the lower regions of this house. She and her sisters seemed to be intent on keeping the children there busy."

"Merely illusions my friend. We are a simple house and we must be certain of who our guests are. Did they not chase you?" Another slight snigger came from the darkness and another puff of smoke.

"That is a phenomenal system to broadcast such mental imagery to two individuals. You have accomplished quite a lot in Virtual reality or Holoprojection for this time period." The Doctor hesitated momentarily, realizing he was still not certain when this time period exactly was.

"What the...!" came a loud shout from the Doctor's side as Ace was apparently startled awake by Harrows who had once again appeared with little announcement.

"Would you care for a glass of water my lady?"

"Wha.. No. Doctor, what is going on?"

"It's alright Ace. We are the welcome guests of..." He paused and looked to the corner for a response.

There was another puff of smoke and then a reply came, "You may call me Sir Eric Ward."

"Wonderful to meet you" The Doctor stood up and approached the shadows.

"You will stay where you are!" came a disturbingly loud command. The Doctor paused and looked back to Ace momentarily. She had a look of suspicion on her face. "I thought we were guests in your house."

"Please forgive me. I have not been around others for many years now. I would rather keep my distance for the time being."

"As you wish" The Doctor retraced his steps to the chair and glanced at Ace once more. Harrows had returned with her glass of water.

"Why are you hiding in the shadows?" Ace jumped in and said.

"The lights are too bright for me. I must reside in the shades of this world."

"What are you an albino or something?"

"Not exactly my child."

"I think that you should take that nap that our gracious host, Sir Eric, has offered you."

"What? I am not taking a nap around..." Ace noticed the Doctor's expression before continuing, "but I suppose I have had a pretty rough day." She thought to herself for a moment. What did he expect her to find? And where would she start?

Harrows appeared at the doorway and said, "this way my lady." Ace looked at the Doctor and then followed Harrows down the hall.

"So Doctor, I am intereseted in your arrival here. We have not had guests in many many years. One might even struggle to remember the last one who crossed our threshhold."

"That is a very difficult story to explain."

"Try me, friend."

Ace had just closed the door behind her and was looking around the room. It was similar in size to her room in the TARDIS, but it had a much more earthy home feel to it. She then noticed a large chest at the foot of the bed. "What the?" It resembled one from her mother's house in Perivale. She knelt down beside it and felt the wood. She then opened it to see a collection of Quilts that brought back a flood of memories. And there was a small stuffed bear. She looked at it with an expression of delight mixed with fear. She then looked around the room and began to notice various similarities. She walked to the mirror and noticed a picture of her and her mother when she was ten. Her facial expression revealed a growing sense of fright and confusion.

Then in the mirror she noticed the reflection of an old friend. She turned and in the corner behind the door stood a baseball bat. She nearly ran over to it and picked it up. "Now we're talking" she said. She then opened the door and went to leave only to be face to face with a nun. She was carrying a similar weapon to that of the one they had seen earlier.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Episode Four

by Atmosphere97

Ace stared at the frightening facade of the armed nun. "Lights out!" the nun called out to Ace disapprovingly. "And no toys!" She grabbed the bat out of her hands and slammed the door shut in Ace's face before she realized what had happened. Grumbling to herself, she flopped onto her bed.

This was naff! Trapped in a Victorian house either in the past or the future, in a room which seemed a possess certain characteristics from her past homes, and all the while the Doctor was happily nattering on with their supposed "guest". She bounced off the bed and paced around the room. This was stupid! She wasn't going to sit around while the Doctor sorted everything out. Ace knew what she would do. Find a way out of here and sort out those nuns watching over the child-labour camp she and the Doctor had come across. A glance around the room revealed nothing suitable for use, either for escape or as a weapon. No window, no bat, no nitro... If only this was her bedroom in Perivale, she could slip through the trap-door in the ceiling of her closet, through the unfinished roofing space, and through the old cracked window facing the side.

Eying the half open door of her closet, she slowly inched towards it and pulled it open. Hoping against hope, she looked up at the ceiling. Her heart leapt in excitement when her eyes came to rest on the very thing she was after. "Wicked!" she grinned, and ran to get a chair to help her make her escape.

"So you're saying you've been trapped here for a very long time?" the Doctor commented, before raising the cup of tea to his lips. Suddenly the time seemed to have leapt from midnight (when the Doctor and Ace arrived) to quarter past four, at which time Harrows promptly arrived with a cup of tea for the Doctor, who politely accepted.

"Longer than I seem capable of recalling," the stranger replied from the shadows. "You may have noticed that time does not pass here as readily as other places."

"I often get that feeling," the Doctor smiled. "Although usually in an entirely different manner. And it does worry me how the TARDIS was able to materialize here." The Doctor looked worried.

"I had fully resigned myself to living the rest of my natural life here. It would have kept me comfortable and entertained, however it cannot replace reality, as you or I know it."

"No. Indeed not." The Doctor wore a worrying frown. "Tell me, when you first came to this planet, what was the appeal? I mean, aside from the obvious attraction for entertainment purposes, you must have had some overwhelming urge to travel such a distance."

The shadowy figure seemed to sit upright momentarily, before falling back into his chair. "Why, to see the Earth, of course! It has long since passed away, and I so desperately wanted to experience some of it's character. The universe remembers the planet very fondly. Even though humans have never interested me much, I must admit, the planet itself had character. Certain periods in human evolution appealed more than others, yes, but I needed to see it for myself. And here, I could." He was quiet for a moment. "I'd long since given up hope of ever being discovered here."

"Really? But what about the-" he indicated the doorway through which Ace and himself had fallen victim to their host's defensive measures.

"Set a long time ago and... forgotten about. But now, with your arrival, I can leave here."

The Doctor looked up from his cup of tea, rather darkly, and replaced the cup on it's saucer and set it down. He shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid I can't do that." The stranger shifted uncomfortably in his chair, but said nothing. "Don't you realize exactly how long you've been trapped here? Hasn't it occurred to you that not only years, but centuries, possibly even millennia have passed since you first entered this artificial world?"

"What are you saying? Your words are contaminated by illogical reasoning!"

"On the contrary." The Doctor stood up. "There's a reason why you hide in the shadows, isn't there? It's not merely part of the program. You know, on some level, don't you? You realize the implications of your prison. The same program executed round and round without realizing you no longer exist in the real world!" The Doctor began walking towards the stranger.

"No! Don't come any closer to me!" "Why? Afraid of what I'll see? Or, rather.. what I WON'T? The game is over. It's been over for a long time. There's nothing left." The Doctor stopped in front of the stranger.

He stood up and walked out of the shadows, and into the light, verifying the Doctor's fears. The man was just a shape, a form. There was no face, nor any distinguishable features. He was a husk, a mere shadow of his corporeal form.

"Your body has long since passed away into nothingness. Only your mind has been freed. Free to live trapped in an endless program for all eternity."

The humanoid shape whirled about, as though looking for something. It bent over slightly from the head', looking down at it's form as though for the first time. It sunk to it's knees', arms' gripping it's head' in despair.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Episode Five

by esherrouse

Ace crawled through the small opening and hoped that once she made it over the hall the nun would not still be waiting. She edged along. The space was covered in dust and cobwebs. She began to cough but then realized that the nun was right below her. She tried to refrain, but could not.

With the sound of the cough the nun turned and looked toward the ceiling. Ace withdrew into the darkness and tried to remain silent. The nun began hitting the floor with Ace's baseball bat and said, "Child! You will get down there this instant!" Ace remained silent. The nun raised her weapon and aimed for the slight opening in the ceiling. Ace began to peek out and then noticed this and tried to scurry back the way she had come, but it was too late.

The weapon discharged a blue bolt into the ceiling virtually dissolving what was Ace's surroundings. Ace crashed to the floor and looked up at the Nun. She was stunned. The nun looked down at Ace and smiled,"You have been a very very naughty child today. You will have to be punished." The Nun raised the weapon toward Ace, but before she could pull the trigger a scream rang through the hall, "Noooooooooooo!"

The Nun looked around confused and then began to dissolve. Ace stared in amazement at the disappearing robed figure. "Wicked" she muttered as she got to her feet and looked around. The walls were vibrating and seemed to shimmer in and out of various shades of colour. She looked down the corridor and noticed children running around followed by armed nuns. All seemed to be vanishing with each step they took. She began to run back toward the room she had left the Doctor in.

The Doctor stood over Sir Eric with a look of pity on his face.

"You must save me Doctor" Sir Eric cried as he raised the shell of his hands toward the Doctor.

"I can not save you any more than you can save yourself. You are beyond the point of atrophy. It has been only your exclusive will that has allowed you to stay here this long. Without any external realities to conflict you never knew you had long since passed on. The environment of this planet allowed you mental energy to sustain itself as long as you believed yourself to exist."

"What are you saying, Doctor?" cried the disolving Sir Eric. The pain of his mind accepting eternity was in his voice. Ace ran through the opening as Harrows arrived with yet another cup of tea.

"Another cup sir? You will be staying?" He asked. Ace looked at Harrows as if he were mad and noticed that he too was beginning to fade in and out.

"Harrows!" exclaimed Sir Eric. "Save me!"

"He is just as much a figment of you mind as you are yourself. He can not save you." The Doctor interrupted.

"Eh!? Doctor, the whole place is starting to fall apart around us."

"Yes. We have to get out of here, before we allow our minds to create a new world to replace this one."

"Come on, Ace." The Doctor turned away from the begging figure of Sir Eric and pulled Ace towards the doorway. Ace watched as Sir Eric continued begging at Harrows feet as Harrows seemed to stare at them leaving.

They ran down the corridor. The walls altering shapes around them as they continued. At one moment Ace could have sworn they were running through the TARDIS corridors. But then she would see the overwhelming artwork that was there when they arrived. Flickering back and forth they continued. "Where is the TARDIS, Doctor?" Ace realized that they were back where they had arrived in the large open corridor, but the TARDIS was nowhere.

"Concentrate, Ace. This place is trying to trap us here, to sustain it's program. Try and see the TARDIS."

Ace looked around and then the wall began to flicker away and the TARDIS appeared. "There!" she exclaimed as she began to run toward it. In the corner of her eye she saw another image shimmering. Another TARDIS! She stopped and looked at the Doctor.

"Which one did you see first?" He asked.

"That one" "Come on!" He grabbed her and they ran to the second one that was shimmering in the shadows. As they approached the door the TARDIS began to shapeshift and their surroundings looked like that of the TARDIS interior. They were standing in front of the console.

"Come on Ace!" A hand reached from inside the console and grabbed Ace by the arm. Suddenly she was next to the console again, but this time with the Doctor frantically activating various levers and switches to dematerialize.

"We just made it." The Doctor smiled as he looked up from the last switch.

The End.

