NCBBDAS: The Mysterious Red Button
NCBBDAS: The Mysterious Red Button
Trauma Conga 1.2
Starring Brenda Blethyn as The Doctor with Ted Danson as Calvin and Stevie Nicks as Millie
Previously on Doctor Who...
The Doctor and her companions Millie and Calvin are in a white void, having escaped from Planet Two-Two-Two. The only thing that might be slightly jarring for newcomers is Millie is actually Amelia Earhart but believe me it barely comes up.
Chapter One
Suddenly sirens blared. The door to the Zero Room slammed shut and the Zero Room disconnected itself from the TARDIS, falling through time and space."What's going on?" Millie screamed.
The Zero Room landed with a thud. The door slid open. The Doctor poked her head out to find herself in a white void.
"I swear. Every other week..." She muttered.
Millie placed her hands on her hips. "Well, what are we to do?" She asked, slightly off-put by this.
"Well, let's stay together. Whatever's going on here, I have a think about white voids. They make for awfully traumatic experiences." The Doctor mumbled. "If any of you find a dead body on the floor, don't eat it."
They strode into the white light together.
* * *
As they walked, Millie came up to Calvin.
"We haven't really met. Hi, I'm Millie Earhart." Millie said, extending hand to Calvin.
"Hi. I'm Calvin." Calvin said. "I'm... um...do kids nowadays say groovy?"
Millie shrugged. "Never heard the word before."
"Ah! Hip at last." Calvin exhaled happily. "The Doctor sort of recruited me. Was a bit of a shotgun wedding, but I enjoy working with her. She likes that I'm laidback and calm under duress."
"Mm, and why's that?" Millie asked. "Any combat experience? Or did you grow up on the street?"
Calvin shrugged. "The Doctor says I'm, and I quote, 'chill.'"
"It's true!" The Doctor hollered. "Can you two see what I see up ahead?"
"No." Millie said. "You're a bit ahead of us."
"We're coming up to it now. The void stops. Funny." The Doctor said. "I usually expect these things to go on forever. Adds to the mystique."
Millie came up to the Doctor. "Huh. This is weird. It just... ends. Is that a podium?"
Indeed it was, as Millie, The Doctor and Calvin came up to some kind of podium extending out of the ground.
On it was a red button labelled "Push Me."
Chapter Two
"Let's consider the facts." The Doctor said. "The TARDIS ejects us. Throws us right on out. And now we're here. In a void. In a place that my sonic doesn't even register, mind. With a button, that's demanding us to click it."
"I say click it." Millie said.
"Why? Do you do everything a button tells you? If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you too?"
"Yes." Millie said bluntly.
"That's an awfully dangerous way of living life, Millie." The Doctor commented.
"I stand by my friends when they're in trouble. I like to help." Millie said. "Although I do have to admit, the button does give me the willies."
The Button sat there while ominous music played in the background.
"I don't know. Perhaps we should deliberate further." Calvin said. "If this button is clicked, what are the consequences? Do we leave? Do we stay? Does the button effect us, or does it effect other people when we press it?"
"Right, right. It could be like a Prisoner's Dilemma game where there are two rooms. If one of them presses the button, the other team dies, but if they both press it, they both die. Like, if we're speaking hypothetically." Millie said. "Could be a huge thought experiment."
"Right. We have to consider the consequences. What could pushing a button do?"
"Launch nuclear missiles?" Calvin suggested.
"It could summon balloons and confetti," Millie said adversely. "It could be a button for national hug day, or give us free puppies."
The Doctor examined the button. "Seems to be a button. This podium is made of pure plot armor. There's no way we can break through and see what it's wired to." She frowned.
"Oh, so they don't want us to see what it does. Interesting." Calvin said.
"I'll sonic it. Scan within and figure out what it does." The Doctor said. She paused. "Then again there is the scientific theory that observing an item changes the item in itself by being observed."
"Oooh," said Millie. "Look at me and all these atoms I'm looking at. They sure do be regular atoms!"
Calvin placed his hand on his chin. "The anticipation is rather annoying. But I am kind of concerned about the whole 'we're in an place beyond comprehension that the TARDIS ejected us into' kind of thing. It's...rather disconcerting. Speaking as a Chill Person."
"What do we know about this place? It starts in one direction and you think it's a boundless void, but you walk for ten minutes and oops, that's the end of it. I'm betting that's the case in all of the directions." The Doctor said.
"How'd you figure?" Millie asked.
"Eh. There's a floor plan here." The Doctor said, holding up a floor plan on a blueprint.
"Where'd you get that?" Calvin asked.
The Doctor shrugged. "That's the concerning thing. I'm not entirely sure..."
Ominous music played as the button continued to sit there....
Chapter Three
"Floor Plan. Okay, let's check the floor plan." Calvin said. "This place clearly wants us to."
"Why are we doing what this place wants?" Millie asked.
"I thought you were all for doing what this place wants. Clicky clicky button button." The Doctor commented.
"Look, that was before we had an ominous floor plan." Millie said.
The floor plan ominously continued to be held by the Doctor.
"I do know the last me...would have clicked that button in two seconds flat. But I- I'm not sure whether I should now..." The Doctor said. "It feels like it's some kind of creepy thing."
Calvin looked at the floor plan. "Huh. This floor plan just tells us that it's a 100 by 100 interior. It's even smaller than I thought it was. And look..the fragment of the Zero Room we landed in is on the map."
"How does the map know that we landed here? That was ten minutes ago!" Millie said.
"Someone's got a fast office printer?" The Doctor suggested.
Calvin continued to analyze the floor plan. He flipped it over. "Huh, this side just says 'Push Me' over and over and over."
The other side of the blueprint indeed did just that. The words push me printed over and over across the sheet.
The sheet continued to sit there as ominous music blared.
"What's with all this horror movie music? It's really not contributing to my thinking here." The Doctor commented.
The Button continued to emanate creepy vibes.
"Well, let's consider. We can't leave." Said Millie. "What other options do we have? We have to push the button."
Calvin nodded. "Clicky Clicky." He said stolidly.
Chapter Four
The Doctor leaned in to push the button. An unearthly noise began to grumble throughout the room.
"Ah!" The Doctor said. "Do I still push it? What was that noise?"
Calvin looked about. "Maybe it is a soundstage." He said.
Millie bit her lip. "Not a soundstage."
The Doctor threw her scarf to the floor in frustration. She shook her fist at the air. "What kind of place is this! Tell me, accursed button!" She shrieked comically, before stopping to take a breath.
She then picked up her scarf and caressed it gently. She couldn't bear to be without it.
Millie cracked her knuckles. "If none of you are gonna click it, I'll go for it."
The Doctor sighed. "No. I'm in charge. I'm responsible. If this is like a suicide button or something, or something that hurts, I have to push it."
Calvin sighed. "We aren't going to let you hurt yourself, Doctor."
"We don't even know what it does!" The Doctor shrieked, hands in her hair and lopsided hat.
"Well, one way to find out. And I don't know what else we can do." Millie said.
The Doctor leaned in. The ominous music began to play.
She pressed the button...
The button ended the story.
The End
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