"Attention humans. This is Commander Stral of the Fifteenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. We have your base surrounded. You will surrender the human fugitive known as Charles Merlin or you will be incinerated. You can not escape."
The intercom switched off. Jon and Karyn had only a moment to exchange incredulous and fearful looks before a battalion of short armored troops marched into the room. Their faces were hidden by domed helmets and they clutched their weapons with three-fingered hands. To Jon and Karyn, it was like a scene ripped straight out of Doctor Who.
The people in the food court screamed and scrambled as far away from the aliens as they could. Some even bolted for another exit, only to find that too blocked by a squad of armored Sontarans. One of them stepped forward and removed his helmet. Beneath, a face remarkably similar to a potato glared at the room.
"I ask again," said the Sontaran. "Where is the fugitive known as Charles Merlin?"
Jon gripped Karyn's arm tightly.
"Karyn, that's my grandfather's name!" he hissed.
"What?! But how?!"
Even as she said it, Karyn knew how. It was the blasted stone again. Somehow, someway, it was running wild with their wish to make the Doctor Who universe reality. 'We never should have trusted it!' she thought. 'When we get out of this mess, we are so burying this in a locked box somewhere and throwing away the key.'
The Sontaran leader, meanwhile, had grown impatient.
"Very well," he spat. "If you will not reveal his location willingly, then we will use force."
He reached down into the crowd and pulled the nearest person to their feet. A teenage girl with bright blond hair. Karyn recognized her immediately - Sarah McMillan. She looked absolutely horrible. Her nose, obviously broken, was bleeding profusely and her mascara mixed with the tears running down her cheeks. She screamed and struggled futilely to escape Stral's grip.
"Where is Charles Merlin, girl?" the alien demanded, pressing his blaster to her head. "Tell us and we'll let you live."
"I don't know!" wailed Sarah. "Please! I don't know!"
"I will ask only one more time. Where is Charles Merlin?"
"Please don't kill me! Please! I don't want to die!"
Beside her, Karyn felt Jon start to get up. She held him back.
"What are you doing!?" she hissed.
"They're going to kill her, Karyn!" he whispered back. "I've got to stop them!"
The Sontaran pushed Sarah to her knees.
"Let this be a warning to the rest of you," he announced to the rest of the room.
'NO!" Jon shouted as he broke free from Karyn's grip. He was too late.
The Sontaran leader squeezed the trigger of his weapon and Sarah McMillan crumpled to the floor with a charred hole in her head. The rest of the food court screamed once more and the people toward the front did their best to put more distance between themselves and the Sontarans.
Stral's beady eyes settled on Jon.
"So, boy. Do you know where Charles Merlin is?
