In The Realms of the Unreal

Chapter 4

Mulder and Scully spent the rest of the day relaxing. At one point they took a brief walk to sample the nearby Devon countryside. At this time of the year, the air in southern England was fresh and a little chilly, but still tolerable and the plants were just starting to bloom. However when they returned, something interesting happened.

Stepping into their room, the pair found a note on the floor which simply read:
 The time is nearly upon us. Head down to the restaurant and sit at table 24. All will then be revealed
"So this is it" Mulder said "We're finally gonna get some answers"

"Or be the victim of a stupid prank" Scully rolled her eyes.
Mulder smiled "Come on Scully. At least we know they're serious about this"
Sensing Scully's sceptical attitude, Mulder tried to explain
"I mean come on. If they've really come all the way to England to follow up the letter, then they've gotta be serious right? Nobody would go all this way just to mess with us"
Scully still wasn't totally convinced "You really think so?"

"Do you have a better explanation?
"
Scully folded her arms "Ok Mulder. We'll have it your way for now. Besides I'm hungry so we'd better get something to eat"

"Be careful Scully" Mulder said mockingly "You know what they say about English cuisine"



When the two of them reached the hotel restaurant, Mulder and Scully looked around. A few seconds later, they spotted table 24. And sitting at it was Doctor Smith.
As Mulder and Scully walked up to the table, he smiled
"So we meet again!"

Scully turned to Mulder "You know this guy?"

"Yeah" Mulder eyed Doctor Smith suspiciously "We had a little conversation earlier
"
"Well I'm glad you remembered" Doctor Smith grinned "Now why did you come over to this table? To chat with me again?"

"Hardly" Scully replied "We found a note in our room that mentioned coming down to this table and so here we are"

This got Doctor Smith's attention "You don't say. I've come here for a very similar reason."

Now it was Mulder's turn to get suspicious
"Which is?"

"Not too long ago, I was told by...Aquantences that there was supposed to be some sort of ancient evil being reborn on Earth. And I'm supposed to be part of the team that's putting a stop to it."
"That's funny" Mulder frowned "We're here for the same reasons"
"Hey!"
Mulder, Scully and Doctor Smith looked up to see Mcclane standing behind them
"What's goin' on?" he asked "I get told that I'm supposed to head to this table and I find you guys here! Is there a party or something?"

"Let me guess" Doctor Smith said "You recieved a note telling you to head to this hotel because a dark evil was about to be reborn in the world
"
Mcclane was a little shocked "How'd ya guess?"

"Because we got the exact same notes" Mulder told him

"Ok what the heck is going on?" Scully asked. For a second nobody got an answer. Then a female voice said "Ah! You're here!"

The group looked up and saw a figure walking up to them. She was dressed in black clothing and had thick brown hair coming down off their scalp. What was most striking about her appearance however was a porcelain mask similar to what would be expected in a venetian ball during the renaissance.
The figure walked up to the table and stared over them. As she did so, the group felt an air of intimidation. As though this figure was somebody incredibly powerful who had seen a lot more in life than any of them ever had. After a second she spoke.
"Wait a minute. There's one missing"

"What?" Mcclane blinked in surprise "There's more of us?"

"Indeed" replied the figure "Not to worry, she'll be here very soon"



Outside the hotel, a car pulled up. The figure inside checked the document she'd been given.
"This must be it" she said to herself before stepping out of the car and walking towards the hotel.

"So who's the other women who's supposed to be here?" Scully asked
"A veteran of these sort of affairs" replied the figure "Like the rest of you, she has experience in defeating this sort of evil."

Just then, the figure turned around 
"Ah. And here she is now"

At this, another woman walked over to the table. She was an older woman dressed in a brown coat although despite her age, she gave off the demeanour of somebody more than capable of holding her own in a fight. When she saw the group, she smiled
"Oh is this the meeting. It's a pleasure to meet you all"
She then held out her hand "Emma Peel at your service"

Once Emma had sat herself down, the woman in the mask spoke again
"Now I suppose you are wondering why you've been summoned here at this particular time"

"Yeah" Mcclane replied "It did cross my mind a couple of times"

"Well I shall now answer you in a manner that hopefully will be enough to satisfy your curiosities"
The woman then cleared her throat
"My name is Mater. I'm the last of an order formed to protect society from the Outer Gods"
At this, all the group went silent. Scully was the first to speak
"Which are?"
"An ancient race of beings from beyond the solar system. There are many of them, but all of them spell disaster."

"And I suppose this ancient evil that you've mentioned to us is part of them" Doctor Smith interjected
"Correct" Mater replied "The one in particular is a malicious perverse force that shall spell doom as soon as it is reborn in our world"

"You couldn't elaborate on that could ya?" Mcclane said "Only if I'm gonna take down some alien god thing, I'd really like a better description then some vague ominous description"

"Unfortunately I do not know much more" Mater said "But I do have a source on where information can be found"
"And where's that?" Mulder asked
"In a village several miles north of here in the area of Wales" Mater told them "If you accept my task, your first duty will be to head there and locate a file in the archives of the village
"
Emma blinked "The village?"

"Yes" Mater nodded "It's a long abandoned site in the north of Wales. Deep within it's bowls is a government archive that may just hold the information you are looking for"
"
And just how do we get there?" Scully asked "If my geography knowledge is correct, Wales is several miles north of here"

"That's where I come in" Doctor Smith said "I've got something out back that'll get us exactly where we're going"

Mulder raised an eyebrow "Which is?"

"You'll see it soon enough" Doctor Smith grinned and turned back to Mater
"I guess all that remains is to see who's in on this adventure"



For a second, nobody in the room spoke. Finally Mulder broke the silence
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I sure as hell am in. I've not come all this way to England for nothing"

"If Mulder's in, so am I" Scully added "To be honest, I'm kinda intrigued by how this will play out"

"And I'm definitely in" Mcclane added "I ain't got nothing to lose in my life anyway"

Everyone in the room then stared at Emma
"I'm definitely in" she said "There's not much work for a former spy these days"

"You're a former spy?" Scully said
"Yes" Emma replied "But since the cold war ended, there's not as much of that as there used to be. The IMF is a shell of it's former self, U.N.C.L.E. has disbanded and I've not even heard from old Harry Palmer for god knows how long"
"Then it's settled" Doctor Smith said "Follow me out back everyone, I've got a surprise for you all"



"This is it?" Mcclane blinked in astonishment. Doctor Smith had lead them out of the hotel and behind the bins, only for them to be greeted with an old blue telephone box.
"Don't knock it" Doctor Smith grinned "Just step inside and you'll see what I mean"


Upon doing so, the group practically passed out with shock. The inside of the box was far larger than it had been outside. The interior instead consisted of what appeared to be a control room of some sort coloured almost completely white.
Scully could only ask "What the...?"

"I know" Doctor Smith laughed "It's astonishing isn't it? Welcome to the TARDIS"

"The what?" Mcclane was even more confused now
"Time and Relative Dimensions in Space" Doctor Smith explained

"Just curious" Emma raised her hand "Where on earth did you get something like this?"

"That's just it" Doctor Smith replied "I didn't get it on earth at all"
At this, the group were even more confused. Doctor Smith smiled
"Well I guess it's time to drop the act. My real name is unimportant, but you can simply call me the Doctor. I'm from a race of thousand year old beings called Time Lords and-"

"Ah don't talk bullshit" Mcclane waved his hand dismissively "You off your meds or something?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" The Doctor replied
Mcclane stared at him for a second "Well shit. I guess you really are from outer space"

"I guess you could say so. But that's not important. What I should say is that the TARDIS can take us to anywhere in space and time. Got that?"
The group nodded
"Good" The Doctor walked over to the control panel of the TARDIS.
"Now fasten your seatbelt. We're off to the village.!"

Notes:

Emma Peel comes from the 1960s Spy tv series The Avengers (Not to be confused with the Marvel franchise of the same name)

The IMF is a reference to the TV series Mission Impossible while U.N.C.L.E refers to 1960s tv series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 

Harry Palmer is a character from Len Deighton's The Ipcress File