Manhattan, 1987. A woman was walking down the streets on an errand for her boss. And, of course, she HAD to do it in company-approved heels. Why couldn’t that jerk of a boss just let her and other women wear comfortable shoes? Ballet flats are fine enough, but NO! He just HAD to say that these damn ankle-killers were good enough! She rounded a corner and someone stepped out of an alley. The person was short, wore some sort of black and silver armor, and had a domed helmet. “Hey! I’m walking here!” barked the woman. “Get outta here!” The figure didn’t move. “…Hey! Didn’t you hear me?! I said-!”
“Katharine Benson…” whispered a woman’s voice.
“…H-Hello?” asked the woman.
“Welcome…to a new war!” continued the woman’s voice. Something then rushed at her from the alley, causing her to scream in terror! The short person watched on.
Outside a firehouse, a familiar blue box faded into view with a familiar Vworp Vworp. The door swung into the box as the Doctor and William stumbled out with smoke joining them! “What kind of repairs do you call that?!” he gagged as he tried to get the smoke out of his lungs.
“That wasn’t me!” protested the Doctor. “That was a dimensional disturbance, disrupting repairs!”
“Dimensional disturbance?! What’s that supposed to mean?!” said William as he shut the TARDIS door.
“It means, William, that something very large came from outside our reality and entered this one, choosing this specific time.
“And what time IS it?”
“Judging by the air, I’d say late 1980’s. Manhattan, if you want to be precise in spatial terms.”
“Manhattan?” repeated William. “We’re back in New York?”
“Yes. We went forwards in time, now backwards,” replied the Doctor.
“And staying just outside of New England,” remarked William. “So, whatever made the TARDIS go haywire has picked this point for some reason. But why?”
“No idea,” mused the Doctor. She looked up to see that the TARDIS landed outside a firehouse with a sign out front. It looked like a ghost trying to get through a red no symbol. William looked up and gasped when he saw the sign.
“I know that business!” he said.
“Business?” asked the Doctor.
“Yeah! My grandfather used to work here! Doctor, we’re in front of Ghostbusters HQ!”
“Ghostbusters? Now they might help figure out that dimensional disturbance, given that they’ve dealt with plenty of extra-dimensional entities. Let’s go see if they’re here.” The Doctor and William then entered the firehouse and looked around. There was a redhead sitting at a desk, looking like the stereotypical bored secretary.
“Huh, no Ecto-1,” remarked William. The secretary heard that.
“Dr. Venkman and his team,” she explained in a bored Brooklyn accent, like she was just reading a script, “are currently out on a call and they’ll be back as soon as possible. In the meantime, do you have any job details you want me to pass on to them?”
“Actually, I think there’s something they can help me with,” replied the Doctor. “My friend and I encountered a dimensional disturbance and we want to make sure it isn’t anything to do with the containment system. Of course, we wouldn’t dream of checking without your employers’ permission.”
“…You must be a scientist if you’re gonna mention their equipment like that,” remarked the secretary as she wrote down the details. “Name?”
“The Doctor and Dr. William Davies,” answered the Doctor.
“…Doctor who?”
“Just the Doctor.”
“Seriously, that’s all she calls herself,” muttered William.
“Well, I gotta have a first and last name here,” said the secretary.
“…How about Joan Smith?” suggested the Doctor.
“Doctor…Joan…Smith…” repeated the secretary as she wrote it down. “And do you have a phone number so we can contact you later about further details and billing?”
“…Well, the number isn’t exactly an American phone,” replied the Doctor. Just then, everyone heard a car come into the firehouse. It was a white Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel limo-style endloader combination car with all sorts of gadgets and sirens on its roof and the Ghostbusters logo on its sides. The doors opened as the Ghostbusters stepped out…as well as a flying green blob with a huge mouth, eyes, and arms.
“SLIMER, YOU GET BACK HERE!” shouted one of the Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman, as he chased the ghost, Slimer.
“Peter, you really shouldn’t have taunted Slimer,” remarked the driver, Winston Zeddemore. Ray Stanz and Egon Spengler then removed the traps from the back.
“Erm, excuse me,” called the Doctor. Ray and Egon looked to her.
“Another customer!” said Ray. “So!” he pulled out a notebook. “What’s the spook?”
“Erm, no spook, Dr…Stanz, was it?” replied the Doctor. “My friend and I encountered a dimensional disturbance and arrived here thanks to it. Could it be possible your containment system is causing it?”
“So you’re extradimensional beings yourself?” asked Egon.
“Time travelers, actually.” Egon stroked his chin.
“I have to admit, this is a new one. I don’t think our containment unit should be able to interfere with temporal travel, unless your vehicle is dimensionally transcendental like the containment unit is.”
“Dimensionally transcendental?” asked William.
“It’s bigger on the inside,” replied the Doctor. “And yes, Dr. Spengler, my ship is dimensionally transcendental.
“That would cause problems if a ghost was trying to break out,” said Egon. “Maybe we should check.”
“May I help?” offered the Doctor.
“If you’re interested,” replied Egon.
“What about me?” asked William.
“I can give you a tour of the place,” offered Winston once he closed the hood on the Ecto-1.
“…Might as well. The science I studied is how to keep a body alive, not whatever this ghost science is.”
Katherine was terrified out of her mind! First an alien, now a ghost?! This is a nightmare! She was stuck on the alien ship, languishing in a cell. She was getting hungry now. Her cell’s door opened to reveal an alien guard. “You!” barked the alien. “Follow!” Kathrine stood up and followed the alien. Maybe this was all a misunderstanding? Maybe she was gonna be freed after pleading her case to the alien commander? …No dice. She was led to what looked like a laboratory with two aliens standing by. Both aliens were helmetless, so Katherine could see their potato-shaped heads and identical faces.
“Sir, please!” begged Katherine. “Whoever you’re looking for, I’m not her!”
“Who said we’re looking for a specific individual, woman?” replied one of the helmetless aliens.
“Sit on that bench,” directed the other. He then waved the guard away. The guard left and Katherine sat on the bench.
“D-Don’t hurt me!” begged Katherine.
“We make no promises,” remarked the second alien.
“My batch brother and I,” said the first alien, “have been wondering if it’s possible to genetically program troops against the effects of temporal and spectral energies.”
“I don’t understand!” cried Katherine.
“Of course, you don’t,” scoffed the first alien. “Shut up.”
“Just lie still,” directed the second alien, “while the array is moved into position.” Said array lowered over Katherine.
“My brother, our ally, and I,” explained the first alien, “have been working on a genetic restructure that, in theory, should negate the natural propensity for entropy.”
“Of course,” remarked the second alien as he fiddled with the controls, “such an idea goes against the very laws of life and the afterlife…but what’s the point in dreaming small?”
“This WILL hurt,” said the first alien.
“Is the subject ready?” asked a new woman’s voice in a whisper.
“We’re all ready here,” replied the first alien. A transparent woman with mist rolling out of her waist where legs should be then came forth. She raised a clawed hand.
“…Now,” she said. The aliens then fired up their machine and bombarded Katherine with something painful! Katherine screamed in absolute agony for what felt like an eternity to her.
“A little pain is only to be expected,” said the second alien. “After all, I can hardly rewrite your entire genetic code without SOME discomfort.” The aliens then powered their machine down.
“And there we are,” chuckled the first alien as he switched on a recording device. “All done. Now, be honest with us. How do you feel?”
“B-Burns!” wheezed Katherine. “Everything…burns!”
“Pathetic!” scoffed the woman in her usual whisper. “Such a low pain threshold. You should try fighting the Time Lords!”
“Let us see how you deal with the combined bombardment of temporal and spectral energy,” said the first alien. “In theory, you should now be impervious to both.” Another machine lowered as the woman pointed a finger at Katherine. Light then spilled forth from both the machine and the woman’s finger, striking Katherine.
“Just imagine!” called the second alien. “All the ravages of time! The warping of your body’s cells when exposed to spectral radiation! Might they, with our assistance, have become nothing but the brush of a gentle breeze? A thing of…inconsequence?” Unfortunately, Katherine proved them wrong through her screams as her body warped and contorted before aging rapidly to dust along with her clothes. “…Or,” sighed the second alien as he turned off the machine and the woman ceased her treatment, “will you simply mutate then decompose to dust like the other test subjects? Shame.”
“No matter,” replied the woman. “We learn.”
“Yes,” agreed the first alien. “We learn.” He then switched on a comms unit. “Stregg to scouting unit. Gurast and I need a fresh specimen. And have maintenance brought down here.”
“Yes, Sir!” replied the person on the other end. “Sontar HA!”