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judas priest

The White Horse of Uffington in Oxfordshire for centuries has stood the test of time and defeated the elements. It is said that if you stand in its eye, turn around three times and make a wish, your desire will come true.

A foolish myth? But some people still come to carry out the ritual wishing for everything from a packet of sweets to total domination of the world.

At this precise moment in time a priest was standing at the very centre of that eye...what is this man wishing for? What are his intentions? Surely no harm could come from such a harmless superstition could it? Even from a priest?

~~~

Through the Time/Space Vortex the familiar shaped TARDIS belonging to the Doctor continued its journey to new sights and new adventures. Aboard, the Doctor now in his seventh regeneration a shorter and somewhat 'bouncier' character than his previous incarnation had been, was actually making minor repairs to the TARDIS console. Minor repairs were fine, it wasn't the chameleon circuit ( which was in need of major repair ) it was simply a communications link, but at least it was a start.

'Ah, that's better,' he declared to himself - there was no one in the console room with him. Ace had gone off to get herself something to eat as she hadn't eaten since they left 18th century Earth and that was two days ago - 'Just a matter of disconnecting Line Nine and we'll have internal communications to the dining area restored.' As the Doctor continued his repair there was a spark from the chip board he was working on causing him to drop it onto the console, which in turn caused a short circuiting of the lighting aboard the TARDIS.

'Oh great, that's all we need!' The Doctor's hands moved across the console in order to undo the damage he had caused. Within moments, full lighting had been restored and a bewildered Ace entered.

'What's going on, Professor? I thought you were trying to repair some internal communication not risk giving me a heart attack in the process by messing about with the lights.'

'I don't understand what happened. I was in the process of disconnecting Line Nine when...' The Doctor was cut short. He suddenly found himself trying to keep his balance from a sudden attack of the mind.

Ace looked at him, 'Are you alright, Professor?'

The Doctor appeared to be in some sort of trance. He tried to speak but nothing. Not a word emitted.

'Hey, Professor, snap out of it!' Ace shook him which only resulted in the Doctor almost falling on top of her before hitting the floor. She pulled the Doctor upright and gave him some support. He began to mumble to himself.

Within his mind images began to form... a car... a man...his name...Rattacomb...Danger, Rattacomb in danger...He sees the car moving fast...he cries a warning.... 'No! No! No!' At that moment the Doctor awoke and came face to face with Ace.

'Doctor, are you alright' Ace asked, her voice soft, caring.

'Yes, yes, I'm fine. I must have passed out.'

Ace helped him up off the floor. 'Who's Rattacomb?' she quietly asked

The Doctor turned to look at her. 'Rattacomb? I've no idea. I don't recall ever knowing of such a person.' He suddenly became curious as to how Ace knew of Rattacomb. Ace answered before the question arose.

'You called out his name. It sounded as if this Rattacomb was in danger.' A puzzled look came over Ace's face. Noting this, the Doctor went on:

'Who is Rattacomb? We've got to return to Earth,' and with that he quickly ignored any more questions that were bound to emerge and set about clearing the console of the debris that was scattered from the Doctor's short lived repairs.

Ace suddenly noticed something odd. 'Hey, the co-ordinates are already set for Earth, Professor. Who could have set those?' she asked.

The Doctor looked blankly at her. Such questions he didn't want to answer. Again, he ignored her questioning. 'Why do I feel such an over whelming darkness engulfing me?' he whispered.

Ace looked at him; her eyes stared hard at him. Why wouldn't he answer her questions? Why the secrecy?

The Doctor looked over at Ace and smiled. 'We're going back to Earth. This time it's the 20th Century.' At first, he thought Ace was going to ignore him and continue with their earlier line of questioning but he was pleased to see her smile in return.

'Great!' she suddenly, and surprisingly declared, 'At least we'll get to hear some great music for a change!'

~~~

London 1989 - a bustling metropolis, even in the suburbs, amongst the many sky scrapers that lined the sky, stood the unimposing NATO building. Here amongst the many employees worked the man who appeared all too briefly in the Doctor's vision...Rattacomb.

A man in his mid thirties, tall, handsome, smartly dressed and obviously with other things on his mind, other than work. He had been ignoring the constant beeping emitting from his intercom on his desk for far too long. Moving from the window, which seemed to hold his attraction he reached out over his desk and pressed a switch on his intercom. 'Yes, what is it?'

A female voice emitted from the speaker - Rattacomb's secretary. 'I'm going now, Mr. Rattacomb.' The voice sounded harsh, clearly annoyed at being kept waiting. Concern however now began to show when she said, 'Mr. Rattacomb are you alright?'

There was no reply.

'Sir?' his secretary's concern was showing even more in her voice.

'Yes, yes, I'm fine, Stella. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight, sir. Oh, you won’t forget your appointment at ten in the morning, will you sir?'

'I won’t, Stella. Goodnight.' and before anything else was said, Rattacomb switched his intercom off and returned to his gaze out of his office window.

Through it he had a clear view of the street below. Being only on the fifth floor of the twenty story building he was able to see the faces of passers-by quite clearly. At that moment he could quite clearly see Stella leave the building and make her way to her car parked just below the window. She briefly turned back and looked up at Rattacomb and with a despondent smile entered her car and drove away.

He continued to stare ahead of him. Then, suddenly he became aware of an object just appearing on the corner of the street below. 'At last!' he declared in a muted whisper and grabbing his coat off the back of the office door he excitedly made his way out to the street below.

Once outside he made his way to the tall blue object that had now solidified into the shape of a Police Box. The fact that a Police Box should appear from nowhere didn't appear to bother him too much, what concerned him most, was that this was the Doctor...whom he had been waiting for some time...

he Doctor and Ace emerged and came face to face with Rattacomb. The Doctor recognised him immediately as the man from his strange vision. 'Rattacomb, I presume?' and he tipped his hat in gesture.

'Rattacomb? The man from your vision?’ Ace whispered.

'Yes, shhh!' he whispered in return and indicated to Ace for her to be quiet. 'Mr. Rattacomb, I don't believe we've met, but I do know of you...in a vision...'

'I've been waiting for you, Doctor.' Rattacomb sounded anxious, 'Why, I don't know, but perhaps you have some answers for me.'

'Answers? Answers to what?' asked Ace.

The Doctor looked at her sharply. The look was enough for her to understand what he wanted. He turned back to Rattacomb, 'I'm interested in knowing how you were expecting me.'

'I don't understand as much as you do. All I remember are dreams, nightmares...horrifying nightmares...' Rattacomb covered his face with his hands and fell to his knees. Fear enveloped him. The Doctor felt it too.

'Fear,'

'Fear?' asked Ace in a hushed whisper. The Doctor chose not to ignore her this time.

'Yes, fear. I can feel it all around us.' He knelt down beside Rattacomb. Ace looked about her. The air was still. She suddenly felt a chill run through her and immediately moved over to the Doctor and Rattacomb.

Rattacomb was mumbling, '...I'm always in another time...I remember seeing another man - we fought and...'

'Somehow, your dreams and my vision are linked. How did you know my name and when I was coming?'

'I don't know, I just don't know...' Rattacomb wiped his face with his hands and suddenly declared, 'Thwister!'

'Who?'

'The name of one of the men I fought in my dreams. I remember killing him...I felt a knife in my hand...his blood was good on my fingers and I felt cleansed!' He stared at his hands, '...he died...in 1609. He's buried here not far away at St. Luke's Church...'

'How do you know so much about him?' Ace asked, her interest in all of this, growing by the minute.

Rattacomb stared hard at her. 'If I killed him, why shouldn't I?'

~~~

St. Luke's Church stood in a quiet part of the capital. There, the TARDIS' arrived un-noticed and the Doctor, Ace and Rattacomb emerge and made their way to Thwister's tomb. Rattacomb went on ahead of the others, fear driving him on.

'Doctor, you said you felt fear. From where?' asked Ace.

'From Rattacomb, somehow my vision coincided with a nightmare Rattacomb was having, which inevitably brought us here. The

fear in him was strong enough to be felt by me...'

'...through your vision.'

'Yes.'

'But, fear from what?'

'That's what we're here to find out--' The Doctor was suddenly interrupted by a cry. 'Rattacomb!'

They both ran on to catch up with Rattacomb who was making enough noise to be heard by anyone. 'Rattacomb, what is it? What's wrong?' asked the Doctor.

Before the both of them stood a large tomb with the usual stone cross atop. Around its base were yellow markers, police markers. Something was clearly wrong with the tomb itself, for to one side there was a large gaping hole smashed out with some considerable force through which Rattacomb had entered.

'Rattacomb, what are you doing in there? Come out!' shouted Ace. She was about to enter herself but the Doctor pulled her back just as a police constable appeared, obviously alerted by all the shouting Rattacomb had caused.

The constable approached the Doctor, towering over him he said, 'What's your friend doing in there, sir?'

'Umm, just looking...' stumbled the Doctor.

'We're looking up our ancestors!' declared Ace, smiling. The Doctor looked at her. The look he gave her was clearly a reflection on her poor excuse.

'You do realise, sir that this area has been cordoned off for investigations.'

'Yes, it appears so, I wonder could you possibly tell us what happened here?'

'Vandals, sir. No respect what-so-ever.'

'No. Indeed not. When did this occur?'

'Last night. The body inside was disturbed.'

'A body? Still inside that?' Ace indicated the tomb from which Rattacomb had now emerged.

'Yes, miss. It's the tomb of Lord Thwister of Chelsea, I believe. He was murdered you know,' he said matter-of-factly, as if the constable knew everything about the murder case itself.

Ace moved over to Rattacomb and while the Doctor continued his questioning with the constable, they made their way back to the TARDIS.

'Well, constable, you've been most helpful.'

'That's alright, sir, just doing my...'

'...duty. Yes, well, thanks again.' and with that the Doctor donned his hat and made his way to the TARDIS.

'Just a minute, sir. I thought you were...' The constable stopped and looked at the police box standing before him. Obviously he couldn't remember seeing it there before. He watched as the Doctor entered. 'Wait! Sir, that's for emergencies only...' and with that the TARDIS disappeared. The constable was left staring into space, speechless...

~~~