13 O'Clock (comic story)

Part One
Croxton Hall, home of Lord Percivale Tubb built in 1862, seen both world wars and seen the century turn twice. The TARDIS arrives on the front lawn despite the Doctor having set it to materialize inside the house. He came for a party but there is a sign that says keep off the grass and no lights are on inside. The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to let himself inside when no one answers. The Doctor yells inside that he is ready to do the La Vida Loca. He senses something wrong and it is why the TARDIS would not materialize inside, it also sensed something wrong. Daisy White creeps up on the Doctor but they introduce themselves to one another. She was hired help for the party. He tells her he is an old friend of Tubbs. It is the anniversary of his wedding to his wife and he was there and they’ve had fantastic parties ever since. He loves a good party. The Doctor also loves a haunted house even if he doesn’t believe in ghosts, even as a female one attacks him. Daisy tackles him out of the way; her brothers both played rugby. The thing is a partially phased spectrum shifted waveform. A male one attacks. Daisy tells the Doctor if these things touch you, you die and come back as one of them. She pulls him away from the male one. He grabs her and slides with her down the banister. They go into the clock room where the Doctor uses the screwdriver to lock the door. Tubbs is a horologist. The Doctor used to fancy collecting clocks but he could never find the time. He gave Tubbs a clock once?a wedding gift. He wonderss what happened to it. The Ghost of Tubbs comes at him.

Part Two
Daisy dives to save the Doctor from being touched and she does. Unfortunately, she is touched and is turned into a ghost. The ghosts can’t hear him and he can’t hear what they are saying. “On your again, Doctor” The ghosts start to fade away. The Doctor believes the clock room has the key: broken pieces of a clock. Lord Tubbs’s ghost is pulling a crook. This man came in to steal the clock and the man was caught in the act by Tubbs. During the scuffle, the clock fell and broke: an ancient horologe, built by Master Chronosmiths from the Older Worlds to measure the passage of time across different dimensions. It is linked to time itself. The damage has extended into time itself, causing a fracture in the universe, splitting off one time from another. Those nearest to it have slipped into a different kind of time. People caught in the fracture are fading away. If the alternative time stream splits off permanently then Tubbs and his household will disappear forever. The Doctor works to fix the clock before this happens. As they reappear fully, Daisy White stops the crook. The next morning, Tubbs and Daisy bid goodbye to the Doctor outside as he moves toward the TARDIS. The horologe clock was the wedding gift the Doctor gave Tubbs years ago. The Doctor tells them it says it was time he was going.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Daisy White
 * Lord Tubbs
 * The Crook

Reprints

 * None to date

Original Print Details
(Publication with page count and closing captions)
 * 1) DWA Issue 22 (6 pages split)
 * 2) DWA Issue 23 (6 pages split)

Continuity
to be added