The Wanderers

The Wanderers is the twelfth story in the Lilith!Verse and the series A Different Story. It is a rewrite of the TV story Frontios and features Lilith III, the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, and Vislor Turlough.

Summary
Lilith joins the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough as they crash land on the planet Frontios, a human colony where deaths go unaccounted for. What's beneath the surface, dragging its victims down?

Plot
Lilith's sudden appearance on the TARDIS startles Tegan and Turlough. While the Doctor tries to work out where to position the TARDIS hatstand, his ship drifts far into the future and comes to rest around Frontios — one of the last outposts of human civilisation following the collision of the Earth with its sun. The Doctor refuses to land, as the colony is still in its infancy any interference could prove disastrous. But before he can depart the TARDIS is swept up in a meteor shower — and, much to his surprise, his ship is dragged down to Frontios by the planet's gravitational pull.

The TARDIS materialises as the bombardment begins to die down, and the Doctor and Lilith instantly rush to the aid of an injured colonist. Turlough and Tegan help Norna, Range's daughter, to carry the injured to the medical shelter, where Range is surprised by the presence of the four strangers. The Doctor is taken aback by the primitive state of the medical facilities, lack of basic medical technology and the almost non-existent lighting. Despite the rules against interference, the Doctor tells Tegan and Turlough to fetch the mu-field generator from the TARDIS so he can at least provide Range with decent lighting. Lilith insists on staying behind with the Doctor, reminding him that she is not supposed to leave his side.

The Doctor doesn't pay attention to Tegan and Turlough's story about the TARDIS when they return, despite Lilith's insistence that it's important; he's fully occupied by Range's explanation of how the colony ship crashed on Frontios. All of their technology failed and was destroyed in the crash, and after they spent a decade tilling the fields the bombardments began. Although there is little doubt that the colonists of Frontios are being deliberately attacked, nobody yet knows why, or by whom.

Plantagenet marches into the medical shelter to confront the Doctor, and accuses him of spearheading the invasion for which the bombardments have been a softening-up process. Range protests that the Doctor has tried to help, but Plantagenet refuses to listen — particularly when Brazen arrives with word that Range's daughter has helped the other two "invaders" to break onto the colony ship. The Doctor warns that fear and paranoia will only drive the colony to extinction, and offers to show Plantagenet and Brazen the harmless interior of the TARDIS. But as they leave the medical shelter, Norna arrives with the unconscious warnsman — and the bombardment begins. The Doctor, Lilith, Tegan, and Turlough find shelter under a wing of the colony ship as the colonists rush back to the medical shelter. They wait out the bombardment and decide to leave the hostile colonists to their own devices. But as they approach the TARDIS, they find only the Doctor's hatstand stuck in the middle of a smoking pile of rubble. The TARDIS has been destroyed.

The group is surrounded by an impromptu firing squad of orderlies. Norna stands in the line of fire, pointing out that even if the Doctor is an invader he will at least know why the colony is under attack. When the Doctor is unable to answer the question immediately, Plantagenet orders his men to open fire. Since Lilith is restrained and unable to get to her blaster, Turlough grabs the nearest weapon, which happens to be the TARDIS hatstand, and threatens Plantagenet and Brazen. Plantagenet and Brazen are convinced that the hatstand is in fact a weapon. Turlough uses the hatstand to hold the orderlies at bay, while the Doctor offers his help to find answers. Revere spent his life trying to find precious minerals beneath Frontios, but the Doctor intends to analyse the meteorites instead and find out where they're from.

Plantagenet and Brazen reluctantly accompany the Doctor and Lilith back to the research room, held at bay by the hatstand — but once in the research room Plantagenet tries to strike Turlough down with a crowbar. Turlough swings around with the hatstand and Plantagenet, although untouched, collapses, clutching his heart. The Doctor puts an end to the farce and checks out Plantagenet — who was struck a glancing blow during the bombardment and has been trying to carry on regardless. Lilith and the Doctor accompany Brazen and Plantagenet to the medical shelter while Turlough and Norna begin analysing the meteorite fragments.

The Doctor uses the acid battery jar as a defibrillator to save Plantagenet's life. Brazen still isn't sure of the Doctor's intentions but is more willing to trust him. Plantagenet is still weak, but refuses to leave the medical shelter for his quarters on the colony ship; he must stay in full view of the colonists, for if they believe he is dead anarchy will result.

The Doctor, Lilith, and Range return to the research room, leaving Tegan and Brazen in the medical shelter. They find the open floor panel in the research room, and Range admits that he believes Revere closed the quarry after discovering something dangerous below ground. They enter the tunnels to search for Norna and Turlough, but it's Turlough who finds them — he's rushing back along the tunnels, screaming, and babbling about Tractators. As Turlough collapses into catatonia, the Doctor and Lilith continue onwards, and Tegan arrives moments later and follows them. The two find Norna surrounded by a group of Tractators, creatures that look like giant termites, who are exerting some sort of force to hold her immobilised. Tegan nearly stumbles into their midst, and the Doctor warns her back — but he is spotted, and the Tractators use the same force to drag him into their midst along with Norna.

Tegan throws her phosphor lamp to the ground, the burst of light and fire distracting the Tractators and breaking their grip on the Doctor and Norna. Tegan gets Norna to safety, while Lilith and the Doctor keep the Tractators occupied. She then returns for the Doctor and is able to escape being by the same gravity beam which is holding the Doctor and Lilith. Range arrives to see the Doctor and Lilith being dragged away by controlled gravitational forces, and the Doctor warns him to get Norna, Tegan, and Turlough to safety. As the Tractators approach, the Doctor throws his own phosphor lamp at them, breaking their hold on him. He and Lilith run into the tunnels and manage to shake off the pursuing Tractators.

As the Doctor and Lilith search for a way out of the tunnels, they find clear evidence that the Tracatators are technologically advanced, and are mining out the tunnel system and polishing its walls for some reason. The leader of the Tractators, the Gravis, is holding Plantagenet prisoner in the Tractators' main cavern, waiting for the old driver of the excavation machine to expire before it installs Plantagenet in his place. In the tunnels, the Doctor and Lilith hear the machine approaching and are forced to retreat from it into the main cavern. There, they watch in horror as the machine enters the cavern — with the emaciated body of Captain Revere held in its clutches, his mind slaved to its controls.

The Gravis seems to know the Doctor by reputation, and is intrigued when Lilith inadvertently reveals that they travelled to Frontios by TARDIS. As the Tractators have been marooned on Frontios for centuries, the Gravis is obsessed with means of travel. The Doctor seems to side with the Gravis, pointing out that the Tractators were here long before the humans arrived; Lilith is irritated with him, but the Doctor informs the Gravis that she's a malfunctioning android and the Gravis has a Tractator pinion her in a side cave out of the way.

The Orderlies reach the Tractators' caverns, where they, Tegan, and Turlough rescue Lilith and rush into the main cave. The Doctor takes advantage of the distraction to release Plantagenet from the excavating machine, and when he breaks the link an electrical charge earths itself through the nearby Gravis, stunning it. The Tractators are unable to function independently without the Gravis, and in the confusion which follows the orderlies attempt to retreat. Turlough, however, is mesmerised by the excavation machine, which symbolises all that is evil about the Tractators in his unconscious memory. Brazen and Lilith manage to pull Turlough away from the machine but Brazen is caught by its thrashing linkages. He orders the Doctor to get the others to safety as the machine runs out of control and begins to tear him apart.

The Doctor, Lilith, Tegan, Turlough and Plantagenet shelter in the nearby tunnels, and Plantagenet reveals that he knows the Gravis' plan; the extended tunnel system is to act as a gravity motor, enabling the Tractators to pilot the entire planet throughout the galaxy and conquer other worlds. And Turlough has remembered the Tractators' greatest weakness; the Gravis is the source of all their power, and once separated from it they will become harmless burrowing insects. The Gravis recovers, and they are forced to run into the tunnels.

Lilith and Tegan wander around in the tunnels and come across bits of the TARDIS’ inner walls. They are chased by the Gravis, who has now regained consciousness, and two of his Tractators. They inadvertently comes upon one of the TARDIS’ inner doors and open it to find themselves in the TARDIS console room, which has bits of rock wall mixed in with its normal walls. They also finds the Doctor, Turlough, and Plantaganet hovering around the console. The Doctor ushers the Gravis in and then tricks him into reassembling the TARDIS by using his power over gravity. The Gravis pulls the TARDIS back into its normal dimension. Once fully assembled, the Gravis is effectively cut off from his fellow Tractators, which revert to a harmless state. The Doctor and Tegan deposit the now-dormant Gravis on the uninhabited planet of Kolkokron. Returning to Frontios, the Doctor gives Plantaganet the hat stand as a farewell token and asks that his own involvement in the affair not be mentioned to anyone, especially the Time Lords. Once the TARDIS has left Frontios, it is time for Lilith to move on in her travels and the Doctor, who previously denied being her father, tell her that no matter what his former incarnations say, she is his daughter.

Characters

 * Lilithanadir III
 * The Fifth Doctor
 * Tegan Jovanka
 * Vislor Turlough
 * Norna
 * Range
 * Plantagenet
 * Brazen
 * The Gravis