Our first character is Constable Bob Hawkins:
October 3rd 1889, Blackfriars.
Tonight has been slow. Apart from cuffing the ear of some pickpockets, Blackfriars has never been so quiet. It’s like the night is expecting something to happen. You roust a prostitute and her John out of an alleyway and then you notice…a silver door.
It’s roughly hewn and seems unreal, superimposed on the dank reality of Victorian London. As you draw near you can tell it’s cold, colder than the air on this smoggy London night, colder than the chill from the Thames.
You reach out, conscious of the chill emanating from the plain silver metal and the door opens, sliding almost imperceptibly into the brickwork. Darkness beckons beyond and one step later, you’re inside.
There’s a low hum emanating from the very walls of the room itself.
The door opposite you flashes and standing suddenly is a lithe figure in a form fitting uniform – it looks like a young woman with some sort of dark paint over her naked body! Scandalous! The figure is wearing some sort of ball on her head and wheels on her feet. Her hands seem to be replaced with spiky, nasty weapons. Your right hand drops to your nightstick and your left grasps your whistle.
You take a step back and blow on the whistle but your back hits the door, which had silently closed behind you.
Our second character is Zanna Hughes, a late 21st Century Murderball player:
It’s the top of the innings and Caligary, top player in the Eastern League is bearing down on a lone player, unsupported by her team but holding the ball, a silvery and slipper globe with a suspension field. He readies his chainsword and primes his illegal taser upgrade. A flick of his wrist and the taser fires at the fleeing figure. Missed! He’s got fourteen seconds before she’s even in the score zone and they’re about to enter the Maze. All sorts of bad things can happen in the Maze.
The walls of the Maze close in – a chicane-like tunnel with holes and loops from which an opponent can leap. Zanna ducks and weaves from tunnel to tunnel trying to stay ahead – one false move and she could wipe out on the slippery surface or receive a horrible injury from a chainsword slash. The ball feels light in her hand so she grips it tighter. A dark tunnel ahead and she speeds towards it and through… into a strange bronze control room…and it takes a real effort to not crash into the console in the middle. Coming out of the door opposite is a stocky man in a black coat – he reaches for a hefty stick and blows a whistle…
Meanwhile, a dimension away Caligary slams into a silver door which materialised in a tunnel. He dislocates his shoulder, cracks four ribs and loses the match.
and finally, our Time Lord, The Lords Marshal.
Awake. A comforting low hum (with an equally comforting clank) emanates from the floor of the room. Your cheek is wet, your tongue confirms it is the coppery tang of blood. Pain. A throbbing pain in your right temple is likely the source of the blood.
You’re in a room walled by roundels, everything is a bronze colour. The room you’re in is empty other than you and a doorway.
You hear a high pitched whistle from the doorway. You instinctively reach for the book. The book.
This will be followed by “Episode 1: The Thief of Never”
