Number 1, Gallows Gate Road (short story)

Number 1, Gallows Gate Road was a web-exclusive short story published on the Doctor Who website.

Summary
The Doctor wakes in a British home in 1940, with no memory of how he got there. He finds himself at breakfast with a household of interesting characters and realises they're being menaced by an alien intelligence. He teams up with the landlord's son, young Robert Mann, who definitely knows he wants to be something he grows up, even if exactly what changes every twenty minutes. They asks for the stories of the other residents, and the Doctor determines that someone is sapping their ambition. Robert guesses that the Doctor is an alien, because only an alien would have something like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, which he swiped from the Doctor's pocket last night.

The Doctor decides to go for the TARDIS, but as he reaches the front door, he faintes. He awakenes, declaring that somebody there is an alien. The other residents think he's overwrought. Over the objections of Mrs Mann, he brandishes his sonic screwdriver and what appeares to be a War Department warrant and searches the house from top to bottom. When he sees the cracks in the wall, he realises what is happening.

He convenes a meeting of the residents and tells them that the oak tree in the back, formerly a gallows tree, is home to an ancient alien parasite. He askes Robert to fetch an axe. He encourages Robert to cut it down as Robert is without specific ambition for the parasite to consume. As Robert choppes, the tree splits and a vortex of energy appeares. It spun and howls until it coalesces into a ball of light hat enteres the Doctor, who collapses. The other residents finish chopping the tree.

The Doctor stands up, explaining the entity couldn't be killed, it merely goes to inhabit the oldest thing nearby, him. They all have dinner together, the change in attitude and ambition palpable. The Doctor bids his farewells and leaves in the TARDIS, wondering again if she had sensed something wrong. He plans to use the telepathic circuits to flush the entity into the Time Vortex, where it can't do any more harm. The blue box dematerialises.

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Robert Mann
 * Mrs Mann
 * Major Wooley
 * M. Sillington
 * Miss Gibbs
 * Clive Plympton
 * Bertha Baxter

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor claims to be 904 years old.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions Marco Polo pinching his "caravan". (TV: Marco Polo)