IT WAS 20,000 YEARS AGO TODAY

Chapter Six

The leader led the group across a lush green field to what looked like a stone platform. Paul raised his eyebrow and looked at the Doctor.

"Wasn't that in the film? It was where the duplicate band played when the Beatles freed them? Had the blue glass ball around them?"

"Yes, I think so," the Doctor said. "It's amazing how many things they managed to duplicate in the film. The whole place looks like it does in the film."

"So…I wonder if there's a Jeremy here?" Paul said to him. "Except they met him outside of Pepperland so perhaps not."

The Doctor chuckled.

"It's too bad you don't look like you did in the film with the wacky outfit and the Egyptian eyes," he said.

"Wait a moment, that wasn't me, that was Bill!" Paul said while the Doctor giggled.

Bill looked back at them.

"What's me?" he asked.

Paul told him and Bill rolled his eyes.

"No thanks, I'd rather not look like an LSD induced nightmare," he said while his friends and family laughed.

Gorno glared at them when they laughed and the Doctor glared back. Gorno snorted and look straight ahead. He led all of them up the stairs onto the stone platform and the Doctor saw that the top of the platform was made of metal. His eyes widened when he realized what it was.

"Wait a tic, this is a teleporter," he said seconds before all of them were surrounded by a bright light and teleported away.

Seconds later, everyone was inside a large white room. Everyone except the homo sapiens swayed unsteadily for a moment while they tried to get their bearings. Once they adjusted to the effects of teleportation they looked around. The teleporter was up on another stone platform and the room was bare except for a wooden door directly in front of the steps. Gorno urged them forward and he waited until everyone was down before he stepped down, walked over and opened the door. There was a strong smell of sulfur as they stepped into someone's laboratory. There were several metal tables with chemicals, Bunsen burners and different liquids in test tubes. Along the far wall was a wooden door and beside the door were three large metal tubes that were attached to metal platforms. The tubes each had doors in them that were currently closed and several wires running between them and going over to a console that was beside them. Beside the console was a counter with books, test tubes and chemicals on it and above that was a row of cabinets.

"Gee, where's Frankenstein?" Rory said dryly while they looked around.

The door beside the tubes entered and a tall, slender alien entered wearing a lab coat, white trousers and white slippers. He looked like a human except he was paler than a normal man with slightly larger eyes and a larger nose. His hair reached down to his shoulders and was pale blonde. His green eyes looked the newcomers over while he closed the door.

"So these are the humans you found outside the gate?" he said to Gorno.

"Yes, Pepa. They and the beasts were found wandering around in the snow."

"Uh no, we weren't wandering around like gormless idiots," the Doctor said. "We were on our way here when this lot ambushed and captured us."

Pepa studied him intently for a moment.

"You aren't like the others," he said, gesturing to his companions.

"No, I'm a Time Lord."

Pepa was shocked.

"Really? I was led to believe the Time Lords never ventured away from Gallifrey, that they just sat around and acted like pompous fools."

The Doctor coughed when his companions gave him curious stares.

"I'm not like other Time Lords," he said, ignoring the stares of his friends, "I make it my duty to go out into the universe and help fight evil wherever it may be."

"I see. So what brings you here and with a bunch of humans, I assume these are humans," Pepa said, gesturing to his friends.

"They are. They are from the future."

"So my experiments were a success?" Pepa said, overjoyed. "Do they spread across the planet then?"

"Yes, they flourish and multiply, a bit too well in fact, in their time the Earth is overpopulated."

"And the others, the ones who live in caves? Are they alive during their time?"

"No," the Doctor said, forcing himself to remain calm, "they become extinct and homo sapiens become the dominant species."

"Excellent!" Pepa said. "So tell me, what marvels have the humans achieved? You must tell me."

"First you must tell us what happened to our friends, Nog and Tya, where did you take them?" the Doctor said.

"The cave dwellers? I put them in the transformer tubes here and altered their DNA, they're now homo sapiens."

Everyone gasped at that.

"You had no right to do that!" the Doctor snarled at him. "It's one thing to artificially inseminate Neanderthal with a mixture of their and your DNA but to actively change them when they've already been born is unconscionable! Nog and Tya are living beings with free will, not playthings that you can alter for you amusement! Where are they? Let us see them!"

Pepa glared at the Doctor but said nothing as he beckoned everyone to follow him. He went through the door into the next room and they gasped when they saw Tya and Nog lying unconscious on metal tables. Both of them looked completely human and both of them were now slender, hairless with shorter arms and a height gain of one foot for Tya and Two feet for Nog. Their hair which had been coarse and matted with dirt was now finer and longer with a silky sheen to them. Both of them were dressed in the gowns the other females were wearing. Paul and Jane ran to Tya while the others ran to Nog.

"Oh God," Paul said as he gathered Tya into his arms. "What did you do to them? Wake them up!"

"Very well," Pepa said.

He walked over to a cabinet and opened it. While he was doing that, Bill walked to Paul's side and stared down at Tya with disgust on his face.

"Why is it everywhere we go, there's always someone who's bound and determined to change someone into something else," he said to Paul while Paul sighed and nodded. "They're no better than the Diablons, benevolent intentions or not."

Pepa brought over a small spray bottle. He spray a pale mist in Tya's face before he did the same to Nog. They watched while Tya scrunched up her face and opened her eyes. She stared up at Paul for a moment before grinning.

"Paul," she said happily.

Paul was shocked when he heard her pronounce the L in his name without any trouble. He sat her down on the table so she was sitting up and Jane rubbed her back while the three of them examined her. They glanced over when they heard Nog panicking and the others trying to calm her down while Pepa watched with an air of detachment. Bill walked over to Nog and the moment she saw him, she calmed down.

"What's going on? Where am I?" Nog asked.

The Doctor sighed and started to explain to her what happened while Tya got up on the table and hugged Paul. Paul put his arms around her and supported her while he walked away from the table with Jane. He held Tya close to him while they walked around to Nog who was examining her body with a mixture of shock and horror.

"I'm a Tall One now?" Nog said horrified.

"You're like the homo sapiens now, my dear," Pepa said, coming up to her. "Now you have more intelligence and you can be creative and imagine things."

"She can also damage her ecosystem more easily since intelligence tends to suppress instinct including the instinct to naturally coexist with her surroundings. She can also hate more easily and see prejudices and faults in others. You may think you improved these people but eventually there will be war, pollution, racism, poverty and cruelty on this planet and part of that is due to man evolving into a thinking, imagining creature. So I fail to see how changing them from Neanderthals to modern man has done them any good."

"They are now more advanced than they were before," Pepa said angrily. "The planet is thawing out, the ice age is ending and when that happens, the Neanderthals will die out since their brains and bodies aren't capable of adapting. I've just given these two a chance at a long, full life where they can flourish and survive. If that makes me a monster, then so be it. I see now that our people were correct about the Time Lords. You may have ventured away from Gallifrey but you brought your pompous mindset with you. You have no idea what this planet is like."

"Ooooh, I believe I do know. I've made it my personal mission to protect Earth and I've lived among the humans so I think I know more about them than you."

Paul frowned. He suddenly noticed Pepa staring at the Doctor with a weird look in his eyes, as if he suddenly became interested in him. Paul was about to say something when the lab door opened and another Andrakian stuck his head inside.

"Sergeant, you're needed. It's urgent," the alien said.

"Sergeant?" Amy muttered to Rory, "Sergeant Pepa? No way."

Paul heard her and came forward to stand beside the Doctor.

"You're in the military? I thought you were a scientist?" he said.

"I'm both, actually. All our kind are required to go through military training at a young age. I also went to an Academy and learned genetics and interplanetary biology and got a degree in each."

"I thought the Doctor said you're a peaceful race though," Paul said.

"We are, but we're not fools. There are others in the universe who would invade us if they got the chance. Our training is merely for defense. Now if you'll excuse me…"

Pepa walked over to the door and the other alien stepped aside and let him pass. The alien closed the door and the Doctor looked at everyone.

"Apparently my people were not told of the full extent of the Andrakians participation. The forced conversions are a complete surprise to me," he said to them. "And I agree with Bill, in that regard, they are no better than the Diablons."

"Doctor, Pepa was giving you an odd look before he left," Paul said. "Like he was suddenly interested in you. You don't think he might try something with you and do to you what he did to Tya and Nog."

"I don't know but I think it best we get out of here and get outside before that happens. He could very well run experiments on all of you seeing as how you're from the future and I'm sure he'll want to know what changes have occurred in your bodies and minds. Follow me and we'll go back to the teleportation room."

They walked over to the door and tried it. The Doctor cursed and started to take his screwdriver out of his pocket when suddenly purple gas began to quickly spew out of the ventilaton system. Everyone began to cough and tried to get away from it but the gas filled the room in seconds and everyone slowly fell to the floor unconscious. The gas was allowed to linger in the room before the ventilation was reversed and it was sucked out of the room. Once that happened, the door opened and Pepa came in with the other alien.

"Take the Time Lord; he's the only one I want for the moment. I wanna try an experiment on him," he said to the alien assistant. "Hurry, we don't have much time now before the invasion begins."

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