I don't think I ever released this. Enjoy!

The automatic doors suctioned closed again, but not before allowing a cloud of freezing air into the emergency room and causing Rachel to shiver briefly. She hurried herself along to warm up again. It had been desperately cold the last few weeks, even for December, leading to a rush of frostbite cases, colds, flu, and other weather related issues. She was on her way to another frostbite case now: another residence-challenged person who was having difficulty feeling their extremities. Third one she’d seen today. The weather was deadly.

She heard the doors whoosh open behind her, a babble of excited voices accompanying the blast of frigid air. She glanced behind her and saw the gurney coming in time to flatten herself against the wall so that she wouldn’t be run down by it. A young blonde woman lie motionless on the gurney as the EMTs shoved the transport device towards the trauma room. Doctors and nurses scurried along with them, the EMTs passing along the woman’s status as they moved. Her legs had been pinned (under or against what?) and her left arm looked like it was bleeding. She was pale and quiet at the moment. Rachel watched as the gurney was pushed into the room and the medical personnel began work on her. Rachel shivered again, but not due to the cold. The young woman couldn’t be much older than she was, if she was older at all. It was a creepy thought.

Her friend Peter bounded up to her. He was handsome, his face and body were both thin, and he had large, warm, comforting brown eyes. “What happened to her?” Rachel asked after exchanging hellos.

Peter glanced in the direction of the trauma room briefly. “I’m not completely sure,” he responded, “I didn’t get the call in, I only heard about it now. From what I heard, a building collapsed on Third and Millcreek. She and her friend were in it at the time.”

“Friend?” Rachel echoed.

Peter grinned. “Didn’t I mention? You’ve got something else to do right now instead of unfreezing the homeless.” Politely he removed the chart from her grasp. “I get that joy.”

“Doctor Williams still mad at you?”

“How did you guess? Her buddy should be here any second. From the sound of it he’s not badly hurt. Gotta go.” He strode off.

“I tell you I can walk perfectly well,” growled an accented voice behind her. Turning she saw a young man being pushed in a wheelchair by an EMT.

Despite the EMT’s general air of politeness, Rachel could tell he was getting impatient with his charge. “Sir, your ankle was trapped when we found you. It’s just safer if you don’t walk yet.”

The odd young man in the chair stopped arguing and shook his head gently. “There’s no trust in this world anymore,” he muttered to no one in particular.

The EMT nodded Rachel’s way. “They said you’d be taking care of him.” Rachel nodded. The EMT smiled widely. “Then he’s all yours.” He left while he had the chance.

She steered him towards an open exam room and tried to remain cheery. “Just a slight ankle wound sir? Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“It’s not a problem,” he noted crankily, his British sounding accent adding to his projected mood. “Where is Julie?”

“Who’s Julie?”

“My friend, they took her before me.”

“She’s in one of the trauma rooms being worked on.”

“Then I should be there.” He moved to get up.

Rachel stopped him. “If you burst in there and get loud, they’ll call security and they’ll put you in restraints. How does that sound?”

“Unpleasant.” He sighed and sat back in his mobile chair. “I’m sorry. It’s been rough these past few days and I’m worried about Julie.”

“I understand. Can I look at your ankle now?”

“If that’ll amuse you, go right ahead.”

Rachel unwrapped the bandage from his right ankle and carefully probed it with her fingers. “I don’t detect any damage,” she muttered.

“I did say I was uninjured, didn’t I?”

“Then why the bandage?”

“I never said I wasn’t injured at some point.” He stood up, walked around a little and then danced a little jig. “Do I pass?”

Rachel smiled. “I’ll even give you a flying color or two.”

“Most kind. If I won’t be allowed in by Julie, would it be possible for you to check on her for me.”

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Will you?”

“Sure, I’ll be right back.” Rachel stepped out of the room, glanced back to make sure he wasn’t following her, and walked down to the trauma room where Julie was being worked on. She watched through the windows in the doors for a moment before poking her head inside. “Her friend wants to know how she’s doing.”

The mostly bald doctor in charge of Julie’s care glanced up over his glasses at her. “She’s stable, in no immediate danger and should be just fine. Her right leg’s a bit weak, but no need to tell the friend that.”

“Thanks.” She started back but was interrupted by Doctor Williams enroute. She was a woman designed on small lines. While not unattractive, her general facial expressions made her look unappealing. She tended not to be a happy person. “The young man they brought in, how is he doing?”

“He’s alert, uninjured as far as I can tell.”

“Good. Start collecting some identification information for him and his friend.” She thrust an extra clipboard at Rachel and stalked away, her business complete. Rachel quickly stuck her tongue out at Doctor Williams retreating figure and returned to the exam room. Despite looking rather bored, the young man was still there. He raised his eyebrows questioningly at Rachel. “Everything’s going well. She should be fine.”

He smiled, genuinely relaxed. “That’s pleasant to hear.” He sank back on the bed and wrapped his tan trenchcoat tighter around himself.

“I need to ask you some questions for our files.”

“So be it.”

“Your name?”

“Doctor Patrick Peel.”

She wrote that down. “Address?”

“No fixed abode.” Rachel gave him a puzzled look. “My friend and I travel a great deal. Personally I don’t have a home as such. I suppose you could say I live out of my vehicle.” He smirked at this, which she thought was odd, but she wrote it in all the same. “If I can ask, what do you do on these travels? Are you a banker or something?”

“You can ask the question, but I can’t answer it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not allowed to do so.” She looked particularly puzzled at this, so he continued. “If memory serves, I’m only supposed to offer my name, rank, and serial number, only I don’t know that I have a rank and I’ve forgotten my serial number, so that doesn’t leave much else, does it?”

Her eyes widened in realization and he grinned back, satisfied that his hinting had accomplished it’s goal. They were spies or whatever spies were called in this post Cold War era. “Um, well, in that case, what’s your friend’s name then?”

“Steed. Juliana Steed.” He grinned, shifted uncomfortably for a moment, and then resumed grinning at his own personal joke. “Have one of your people call this number, and the rest will be taken care of.” He rattled off a 1-800 number that she transcribed dutifully. “By the way, what’s your name?”

“Rachel. Doctor Rachel Parker.”

“A pleasure to meet you Rachel.” He shifted again and then sat up quickly. “What is back there?” He checked the bed, but whatever had been bothering him wasn’t there. “Is there something on my back?” he questioned.

She stepped closer. She was about to say ‘No’ when she saw something glint in the light. “Actually, I think so.” She peeled a tiny, round green item from the back of his coat and then handed it to him when he turned around. It was a half sphere of green that looked totally unimportant to her, but when he saw it, his face dropped noticeably. “Rachel, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we are all in grave danger right now.”

“From that?”

“It’s a tracking device. We’ve been followed.” He stared at the small round object for a moment before speaking again. “What do you have in the manner of security at this building?” A loud crash, followed by a loud nervous scream, turned their heads towards the door. “Ah, too late, they’re here.”

Rachel was struggling to wrap her head around these recent developments. “Who’s here?”

“Those who would do us harm,” he replied somewhat enigmatically. He paused again, briefly, and continued “I need to go, I have to lure them away from Julie.”

“They’d do something to her if they found her?”

“At the very least use her against me. If I offer myself as a target to be found, they may not look for her as readily. Hopefully they didn’t mark her like this as well.” He started to mutter to himself and Rachel barely caught what he was saying. “They must have done it when they captured me yesterday, that makes sense.” He removed his sock and shoe from a trenchcoat pocket and quickly began putting them on the foot he’d insisted wasn’t injured. “I must hurry.”

“I’m coming with you.” Rachel realized suddenly that she’d said those words and a thrill of excitement rushed through her. It had been a long time since she’d done something daring and it felt right.

He tied his shoe. “You shouldn’t. It’s likely to be dangerous.”

“I know the hospital, you don’t. I can help you hide.”

“I haven’t the time to argue. Stick with me and don’t get killed, I’ve got enough guilt the last me a few thousand years already so I don’t need any more.” He pushed the door open slightly glanced into the hallway and gestured to her. “Come on.”

More screams rent the air and chills tap danced up and down Rachel’s spine. Doctor Peel was slowly making his way towards the entryway, where the bad guys had likely come from. “Where are you going?” she hissed after catching up.

“They have to know I’m here before they’ll chase me, right?” She nodded. That did make sense. He glanced around the corner, gave her a ‘Stay There’ look and bounced into the next corridor. “Looking for someone?” he questioned loudly.

Rachel stayed put, but peeked around the corner; curious to see whom they’d be avoiding. Her jaw dropped in surprise at the sight. Four very bulky and tall . . . creatures stood in the hallway near the admissions desk that was visibly damaged. Another smaller, but similar creature stood by them, taking charge. All appeared to be wearing some sort of armour, the smaller creature’s being more ornate and featuring a cape. The armour was green and bumpy, as if made from the corpse of an alligator. Tufts of dry brown hair jutted from the joints of the armour. They wore strange green helmets with red visors. The skin that did show underneath the helmet was green and scaly. They were obviously not human. Rachel darted back behind the corner, her heart pounding madly in her chest. She was so confused she could barely think about the fact that she was that confused.

Doctor Peel darted around the corner, drawing her from her non-thoughts. A high pitched whine filled the air, making her wince. The wall behind where the Doctor had been standing shimmered briefly before warping and melting slightly. She stared at it, blinking incredulously. “W-wha . . .” she stammered.

“Sonic guns,” Doctor Peel noted, as if it were nothing. “Come along, they may be bulky, but they’re not that slow.”

She began to run after him, not really thinking about where they were going. “What are those things?” she asked as they rounded a corner.

“The former inhabitants of Mars.”

“Martians?”

“Former Martians,” Doctor Peel corrected helpfully. He opened a door to a stairwell and gestured for her to enter. “What’s wrong? Disappointed that they’re large rather than little green men?”

“No, it’s just that . . . this makes no sense.” Her eyes glazed over slightly, distant and confused.

“They haven’t seen you yet, there’s no need for you to accompany me if you don’t want.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No, you need my help.”

“If you insist, then move along.” They headed up the stairs. A flight up, they heard the door to the level below crash open. A hissing wheeze echoed through the stairwell. “Doc-tor,” the voice wheezed. “Running iss futile. You will be desstroyed for what you’ve done!”

He tugged Rachel to continue going up the steps, just more quietly than before. “Seems to me that I wasn’t the one that caused the building to collapse on us, that was someone else. Hmm, who could it have been?”

“Do not act the fool with me! You will pay for your interference and the death of my men!”

“Your priorities have been noted. Your men are less important than my interference.” An exasperated noise was his answer. Having climbed another level, Doctor Peel gestured towards the doorway and Rachel nodded at him. He opened the door, trying to be quiet about it and failing miserably. “After him!” hissed the creature from below and the Doctor and Rachel scurried through the door. “Are those doors ever oiled?” he questioned agitatedly.

They moved away from the door and Doctor Peel watched the bustle of the floor they were on while Rachel watched him, wondering what unusual thing would happen next. “We need to get people out of this building. They’re not safe with the Ice Warriors roaming about.”

“Ice Warriors?” Rachel repeated. “I thought they were Mar . . former Martians.”

“It’s a nickname,” he noted, scratching his chin idly, still watching things happen around him. “They’re not particularly fond of it themselves.” He thought for a moment. “It’s a tricky decision. If we find a way to evacuate people, they run the risk of getting injured from the cold until they reach safety, if they stay in the building the Ice Warriors can use them against me or just kill them if they feel impeded. I can’t leave the building because they’ll follow and they’re stronger out in the cold, as well as the fact that there are people out there to be killed as well. Each way one goes the danger is great.”

“Why are they stronger out in the cold?”

“They function better in the cold due to their body chemistry. Inversely, the warmth affects them negatively.” He spun to look at her. “The main heating controls are in the basement, correct?”

“I think so.” He gave her a disappointed look. “I never have to change the temperature of the building generally.”

“Point taken. How do we get to the basement, apart from taking the stairwell behind us or the lifts?”

“There’s another stairwell on the other side of this building.”

“Lead on.” They moved away quickly. Seconds later the massive bulk of an Ice Warrior crashed through the door, hissing and wheezing. They ran, the Doctor yelling for people to get down as the screaming started around them. He whipped Rachel around a corner as the Warrior fired his sonic weapon in their direction. Rachel’s ears rang, but otherwise the blast missed them. Doctor Peel continued running, so Rachel did her best to keep up with him. Suddenly, he darted around an empty wheelchair and moved to the far wall. Rachel watched as he flipped up the plastic cover over the red button in the wall. Gasping for air, she glanced behind them to see the large Ice Warrior moving towards them, it’s clamp like hands opening and closing quickly in a disturbed fidget. Doctor Peel’s face settled into a determined look and slammed his hand down on the button. The fire alarm screeched out its warning. She gasped for air and turned to look at the Ice Warrior again. With surprise she noted that it was down on one knee, grabbing its head in pain. “H-how did that happen?” she questioned tiredly.

“Their helmets tend to trap noise. The alarm should slow them down and it’ll evacuate people. Come on, the basement.” They continued on at a quick jog, saving their energy for when they might need it more. They made their way down the stairwell slowly, trapped by the mass of humanity that was working to escape the building due to the alarm. Once they reached the first floor again, two things happened: the foot traffic lessened as no one else was attempting to reach the basement and the alarm stopped. Rachel gave Doctor Peel a worried look but his gaze remained determined and she felt a wave of trust for this strange man because of it. “Come on,” he noted when she slowed down. “Nearly there.” When she had been little, she had played with her friends’ games of imagination, games of cops and robbers, space adventure, and acting out characters from their favourite movies and television shows. She remembered the thrill of being space pirate Raquel who had always been much more interesting than she felt she was in real life. The games had been fun, but, after a while, they stopped playing them. This was like one of their games, only serious. Doctor Peel fascinated her because he gave off the feeling that he did this sort of thing all the time. The big green aliens didn’t phase him, and he knew how to defeat them. In this game, he’d gotten the hero’s role, the best part, and he was playing it well. She had to help the hero; it was the right thing to do.

He held the heavy basement door open for her and they entered the sweaty dank area below. She found the air a bit thick and hard to breathe with an oily mechanical taste to it. Doctor Peel sniffed it happily. “Ah, it’s warm, isn’t it?” He began skulking around the machinery, looking for the temperature controls. Rachel followed, but at a distance, keeping an eye out for the creature she was sure was waiting to jump out at them. It was dark down here and hiding places were everywhere. The maintenance personnel all seemed to have left when the alarm went off.

When she caught up with the Doctor, he was tinkering with the controls on a large piece of machinery. “I’m sure the person who’s responsible for this won’t be pleased with me, but it’s in a good cause.” He cranked up the thermostat so that the building temperature would rise into the nineties. That task completed, he stood back and looked his work with a smile on his face. “That should do the trick.” He gestured with his head that it was time to go. “Let’s find them.”

“Aren’t we trying to avoid the Ice Warriors?”

“We were. Now we have the advantage, so perhaps now they’ll listen to me. Maybe now I can convince them to leave without causing anyone else further harm.” He had been in the process of walking away, back towards the stairwell. However, when the Ice Warrior staggered out of the shadow, lunging for him, he jumped back, startled and Rachel squeaked in surprise. The Ice Warrior’s breathing was very laboured in the thick warmth of the basement to the point that it was audible above the noisy temperature control machines surrounding them. “You . . mussst . . be . . desstroyed,” the bulky Warrior expressed, barely standing.

Doctor Peel seemed more distressed over the creature’s condition than pleased he was defeating his enemy. “You followed me down here? You fool, you’ll die!”

The Warrior seemed to ignore him, focusing more on the currently difficult concept of aiming his sonic weapon at the Doctor. After a moment, the creature gave up and collapsed. Rachel looked at Doctor Peel and saw the anguish on his face. “What do we do now?”

“What can we do now? He’s too heavy to lift and I can’t significantly change the temperature down here, and if I could it would take a long time to change.” The Warrior groaned once and then, before Rachel’s astonished eyes, seemed to melt away to nothing. Doctor Peel noted this reaction from her. “Self destruct charge that activates upon death, they’re not actually made of ice.” He sighed deeply and rubbed sweat from his nose. “Come on, let’s see if we can find their leader.”

The stairwell felt cold to Rachel compared to the basement. Doctor Peel ‘hmm’ed as they walked upwards. “It’s already getting warm out here.” She looked at him funny and shivered.

They returned to the ER. There they found the more ornate looking, smaller of the Ice Warriors slumped up against the admit desk, across from the doors that led outside. A slight chill would occasionally sneak through the doors, but it was very slight. “Lord Vrassmis, I have taken control of the temperature within the building,” Doctor Peel noted.

“Ironic,” the Ice Lord noted, “asss I have taken control of the temperature outsside thiss building.” He gestured towards the doors with a slight nod of the head and wheezed. “Would thossse doorss open, I would be bathed in life giving cold, but I am too weak from thiss heat to activate the mechanissm. I am weak indoorss and you are weak out of it.” He hissed a bit and suddenly Rachel realized he was laughing. “I am tired.”

“Call your Warriors together,” the Doctor pleaded, “and leave this planet. Promise me this and I will open the door, restore the internal temperature to normal so you can leave safety. There is no need for this to go on any longer.”

Lord Vrassmis lifted his head slightly to look at the Doctor better. For a moment, he did nothing but stare. “I believe you would do that.” Doctor Peel smiled slightly at this declaration of trust. “However, I will not do it.” The Doctor’s face fell instantly. “If we die, sso be it. You cannot sstop what we have begun. There are more of usss. When the cold ssuroundss thiss planet and the humanss are dead, they will come. It will not take long. If we musst die to enssure that, sso be it.” Tiredly, he raised a clamp.

“No!” shouted the Doctor, diving to stop the clamp’s descent. He was a moment too late, as the clamp made contact with a communicator button, sending out a signal. The Doctor rolled to the side, avoiding the slight discharge as the Ice Lord melted away. Sadly, the Doctor stared at the puddle left by the creature. He sighed and shook his head. “That was unnecessary.”

The doors whooshed open, letting in cold and firefighters. Upon seeing them there, the lead firefighter growled at them. “Didn’t you people hear the alarm? You should be evacuated, there’s a fire in here?”

Doctor Peel popped up, comic surprise on his face. “A fire? My goodness!” He pulled a handkerchief from a trenchcoat pocket and mopped his sweaty brow. “I’ve not seen any traces of fire, but the temperature gauge certainly seems to be stuck in here. Perhaps that set off a circuit breaker or some such due to the heat?”

The firefighter was visibly sweating. “That’s entirely possible. We’ll check into that. Until we’re sure, you folks gotta leave.”

“Fair enough.”

“You’ll be escorted to the safe area.” He directed one of his men to take them away and away they went.

Once they got to safety, in the gymnasium of Lincoln High School which was a whole block and a half away, Rachel was located by her workmates who quickly surrounded her and started asking if she was alright, where at she disappeared to, who were those people? Her insistence that those creatures were aliens was met with laughter. They must have been terrorists in costume or something, right? When she went to ask Doctor Peel for confirmation, she found he was gone.

Much later she found him sitting by his injured friend’s bedside. For some reason, she didn’t approach them right away when she noticed they were talking, nor did she leave them alone. For a moment or two, she just listened.

“How you feeling now Julie?”

She was groggy looking, but smiling. “Not bad, mostly just tired and sore. My right leg’s a bit stiff.”

“That sums up the chart pretty well. Nothing serious, nothing that can’t be fixed anyway, hmm?”

“Is everything dealt with?”

“Nearly. If I can figure out a way to shut down the machine, we’ll be fine.”

“Oh, you know you can do that Doctor.”

He smiled. “Most likely. For the moment, you rest. If nothing else, it’ll give me a chance to think.” She nodded and let her eyes rest.

Rachel stepped into view and helloed. The Doctor returned the greeting, apparently undisturbed his moment to think had been removed from him. “Can you do me a favour?”

“If I can,” he answered, “what?”

“Explain to my friends about the Ice Warriors. They think they we just people in suits, terrorists, not aliens.”

The Doctor sighed. “What makes you think they’ll believe me?” That slowed her down. She hadn’t thought of that. She saw no reason not to believe him, and just assumed they’d feel the same. What reason did they have to believe him? “Chances are the incident will be explained away as an attempted firebombing or something similar by terrorists in costume, as they already believe. If you insist they were aliens, they’ll end up putting you through therapy, saying you must have been traumatized by the incident.”

She nodded. He was right; no one would believe her. “They were aliens though, weren’t they?”

“Oh certainly. You didn’t forget about the sonic guns already, did you?”

She shook her head. “That could be classified weaponry or something. How do you know for sure when no one else will believe?”

He smiled strangely and she knew that, whatever he told her, it wouldn’t be the complete truth. “Because I know. I don’t have to believe because I know.”

She knew there was more to it, but if he didn’t want to share it, she couldn’t make him. “Fair enough.”

“Sometimes, even when you know, you can’t convince others. Your friends will likely never believe they saw aliens today, no matter what you tell them.”



He was right. No one ever believed the story. The Doctor and his friend disappeared not long after that, as did their records, charts, and the surveillance footage from the period when the Ice Warri . . . terrorists were in the building. For a while, people were saying someone from a group named ‘UNIT’ came to collect it, but most of the people who said they were there when it got collected have been transferred to other hospitals now. That’s just considered a rumour now.

The Doctor was right, no one believed when I said aliens attacked our hospital. I don’t bring it up much anymore. Some days, I’m not even sure it happened anymore as everyone, the people around me and the media and everyone else, seem so sure it was terrorists. But I know they were aliens . . . weren’t they?