Prologue

Green City, Harbourshire, UK. 4th May 2006.

It was largely dark in the basement. Only a few random rays of unnatural light could be seen across the large expanse of the room. One of them shone on a corner, fairly unsuspecting. Another shone on the door on the far side of the room. The third shone on Mr Joel, who was strapped to a chair that had been placed in the centre of the room. Mr Joel was a large man, middle-aged, with short grey hair and a matching goatee beard. Many of his students saw him as a man who was going through a mid-life crisis, but he didn't care much for the opinion of others. He sat there, tied to the chair, looking defeated. His breathing labored as the ties around his torso cut into his fatty tissue with every intake. Or, at least, it felt like that's what was happening.

The room was cold, damp and was covered in mold. No-one had been down here for a very long time, so it was the perfect place to kidnap somebody and take them. The door, on the far side of the room, was rotted and falling apart. But it still seemed like an impossible dream to Mr Joel. If he could get out of his imprisonment and get there, he could easily kick it down. It wouldn't take much. But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get out of the ties that bound him. The chair was uncomfortable too. Hardly sufficient for a man of Mr Joel's weight and stature. He continually struggled to break the fabric bars around him, but to no avail. He'd given up crying for help some hours ago. Losing hope of rescue, Mr Joel slumped into the chair and stared into the distance.

"...I'm not getting out of here, am I?"

"That depends entirely on you, Mr Joel..."

Another man walked around the chair to stand in front of Mr Joel. He looked fairly young, but was almost deceptively older. He had black hair, wore nice looking clothing, and spoke with a fairly soft Scottish lilt. Despite his charming exterior, he had a smile that hid more than anyone could know.

"That depends on what you're willing to trade in order to convince me!"

Mr Joel sighed, his jowells rippling as he did.

"What is it you want, exactly? Money? I have a sizable pension waiting for me from the Army if that's what you want?"

The Scottish man laughed. Almost sarcastically.

"You humans are funny. You think money is the answer to everything, don't you. Well, riddle me this. What do you offer someone that isn't human? What do you offer a creature that has no use for money?"

Mr Joel looked confused.

"...You want food?"

The Scot sighed in exasperation.

"No I...NO! I don't want food. Why would that be...no. I don't want money and I don't want food. I want something much more than that. I want something unique. I want something rare. I want something you have and I know that you have it because I've seen you..."

Mr Joel looked even more confused now. 

"And what is that?"

The Scot walked back over to the chair and leaned onto Mr Joel, so that their eyes and face met at every point. With only a few centimeters between their faces.

"I want the Caretaker..."

Mr Joel chuckled.

"You want Owen? I mean, I think he's married but I'm sure we can arrange something if that's what you're into!"

"Not the Caretaker of the school, you facetious moron. I mean the Caretaker of Earth".

Mr Joel's face soured at the mention of that term. Despite his best efforts to hide his fear through humour, this particular request struck a chord.

"I know who the Caretaker is. I know who her predecessor was and I know exactly who will be her successor. But I need HER. And I know you work with her as a scientific adviser, in your capacity as a science teacher of course".

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Come now, Mr Joel, we both know that's a lie. I have been watching you for some time. I've been watching you and I've been watching Miss Roberta Neave, the Caretaker, working together to take down alien threats. Nice job on the Leptils by the way. Shame many died before it worked though but you can't win them all!"

"You are mistaken..."

The Scot slapped Joel. The sound echoed throughout the room as Joel cowered in fear. The Scot looked progressively more angry with each passing second. The Scot moved in closer.

"You can riff and you can lie all you want. But I know the truth. As do you. So how about we don't waste both our time and let's just get to the bit where you tell me the truth, huh? Does that sound good to you?"

Joel doesn't answer. He's still recovering from the Scot's attack. But the fear in his eyes, and on his face, are very real now.

"Who are you? How do you know so much about the Caretaker?"

The Scot smiled. 

"Mr Joel, my dear, you wouldn't believe me if I told you".

The Scot got up and shook himself down. He took a deep breath and looked once more at the still cowering Mr Joel. He smiled down on him.

"I'll tell you what. I'll set you free if you do two things for me. That's all I ask. Just two".

Mr Joel tried not to look at him. But the fear had taken its toll.

"Two things and you'll be free. Deal?"

A few moments passed before Mr Joel finally plucked up the courage to look at his captor. Tears fell down his cheek as he did so.

"What do you want?"

The Scot smiled.

"Firstly, I want to know if Roberta Neave is close to working out that I'm here and who I might be".

Mr Joel starts to cry more as he realises me might need to betray his friend in order to save his own life. The betrayal grew within him, and with it his guilt.

"She's knows something's wrong. She knows someone's here. But we never got close to working out who it was. Or that it was you we were looking for".

The Scot smiled once more. There's almost a relief in his demeanor.

"Wonderful. Now, the second thing. All you have to do...is say yes".

Mr Joel looked at him in puzzlement.

"I beg your pardon?"

"All you need to do is say yes".

"You want me to say yes? To what?"

"Say yes and I'll set you free".

Mr Joel looked at the Scot suspiciously for a few moments before considering his options. The Scot leaned in again.

"Come on...what you got to lose, huh?"

A few more short moments passed before Mr Joel swallowed. He had no other choice. He was desperate to escape.

"...Yes...Yes!"

The Scot's smile grew once more.

"Perfect..."

In almost a millisecond, the Scot plunged a knife into the chest of Mr Joel. Mr Joel cried out in pain and shock as the blade pierced his heart. The Scot still smiled. Unable to clutch his painful chest, and unable to do anything at all, Mr Joel had no choice but to accept his fate as best he could. He cried as he realised he was about to die. His chest felt like it was on fire as the blade remained.

"Seeing as you're about to die, and no-one on this planet can access the Veil yet, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tragedy. I am...well...ageless. I'm a visitor. And, there are certain things I need to do to keep the timeline going. Unfortunately, Mr Joel, you can't be a part of that. Oh, and a reminder for next time. Never say yes before asking what it is you're agreeing to!"

The room started to spin as Mr Joel's life drained away. It was almost like falling asleep. but with a tremendous amount of pain following it.

"I did say I'd set you free..."

"You won't...you won't win...whatever...you're going...to do..."

Tragedy thought for a moment.

"Funny. You said that last time too..."

After a few more moments of shallow breathing and acceptance, Mr Joel's body went limp. His death has lasted longer than Tragedy had expected. Once he was sure Joel really was gone, he removed the blade and dropped it onto the cold, hard floor. Out of his pocket, he produced another device. He stuck it into the wound for a few moments before removing it again. The small device was covered in blood. Its once green appearance completely changed by the scarlet liquid now dripping off of it. Without any hesitation, Tragedy plunged it into his own chest. The blood fell into Tragedy's new wound and, without any pause, Tragedy's body started to change. His chiseled features now started to resemble Mr Joel. Tragedy stared at Joel's lifeless body as his form changed to match that of his former prisoner. Once the process was complete, he dropped the device onto the floor and sighed.

"Well, at least one of us is getting out of here. I would stick around but, you know what it's like. Things to do, people to see. And, besides, I have to make sure that a young man reaches his full potential..."

Chuckling to himself, Tragedy walked towards the door on the far side of the room. As he reached it, he turned to Joel's body once more.

"Let's see what this universe has in store for us then..."

The old door opened with a loud creak the reverberated throughout the room. Tragedy walked through it with a smile on his face. His plan was working like clockwork. Tomorrow was a new day. And he couldn't wait to see the look on everyone's face when the time was right...