 |
A Ham and Cheese Toastie with a Pumpkin Latte
|
|
The Doctor encounters a number of people as he travels throughout various eras. Each time he offers them a ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté, but departs when they seem confused by his sudden and weird visit. First, we see him visit an elderly couple during World War II, then a woman called Sylvia Trench on the Orient Express in 1962 Italy and then Edmund Hillary and his team at the Base Camp on Mount Everest in 1953.
Meanwhile, in London in 2024, a woman named Joy Almondo arrives at the Sandringham Hotel, where she asks the hotel's proprietor, Anita Benn, for a single room for the week. Once in the room, she notes an unusual locked door, but dismisses it as being something found in every hotel room. Suddenly a Silurian with a briefcase attached to his arm emerges from the locked door. Shocked by the Silurian’s sudden appearance Joy threatens the unwanted intruder with a hairdryer, that she has just taken from a draw. Then without any warning The Doctor arrives through the same door, making the same offer of a ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté. Seeing Joy and the Silurian, The Doctor grins.
In London of the far future the TARDIS materialises inside the Time Hotel. It is Christmas in 4202 and we see The Doctor exit his TARDIS. As he emerges, yawning widely, he is wearing a dressing gown and carrying two mugs. He takes them to a drink dispenser to fill them with milk. As he does so he observes a man, with a briefcase chained to his arm, approach a reception desk and ask for a room on the third floor. The Doctor is then approached by a hotel employee, Trev Simpkins, who asks The Doctor if he is a guest as the refreshments are for hotel guests only. The Doctor admits that he isn't, telling Trev that he only needed some milk. Spotting the TARDIS and that The Doctor is also carrying a newspaper Trev asks The Doctor if the TARDIS is a toilet. Trev also asks The Doctor if he has someone with him as he is carrying two mugs. The Doctor is initially confused until he remembers that he is now travelling alone after Ruby Sunday left him in the previous story. The Doctor though is more interested in observing the strange man with the briefcase.
 | Joy Almondo |
|
Handing Trev one of the mugs he is carrying The Doctor enters the TARDIS and changes out of his dressing gown into a coat. He exits the TARDIS again, observing that the man with the briefcase is still at the reception desk. The Doctor is again approached by Trev, who is still confused by the presence of the TARDIS. The Doctor holds out his psychic paper, telling Trev that he is a special agent sent by head office and that Trev is now working for him on a task to observe the strange man with the briefcase. The Doctor tells Trev that if he needs him to use his implanted psychic graft and to just use the codename ‘The Doctor’. Trev promises The Doctor that he won't let him down.
Meanwhile, unable to obtain a room on the third floor, due to them all being currently occupied, the man with the briefcase, on the suggestion of the receptionist, enters a nearby bar, apparently to wait for one to become available. The Doctor approaches the receptionist and orders a ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté, which to The Doctor’s surprise is instantly delivered. He is informed that this is because the hotels’ kitchen is 30 minutes in the future. Meanwhile in the nearby bar the man with the briefcase approaches the barman. After telling the barman that ‘The star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise’ the stranger then holds out his briefcase, asking the barman to put it behind the bar. However, as the barman reaches for it, the briefcase unchains itself from the strange man and attaches itself to the barman instead. An automated voice is then heard stating that access is upgrading. The stranger then becomes confused and disorientated especially when the barman tells him to make himself comfortable and that he will be dead quite shortly. The barman then exits the bar area and approaches Trev in the reception area asking him to give him a hand. Once Trev is inside the bar area the barman transfers the briefcase to him. Trev then watches in horror as the strange man, who originally had the briefcase, disintegrate before his eyes followed soon after by the barman. Trev, now being controlled by the briefcase attached to his arm, exits the bar and approaches the reception desk. There he speaks to the Hotel Manager (who is a Silurian). He asks the manager if he has priority access to all of the hotel's time portals. When the Silurian confirms that as the Hotel Manager he does, the briefcase unfastens from Trev and attaches itself to the Silurian.
 | Joy and Anita |
|
As all this has been happening The Doctor has been investigating the various doors in a nearby corridor. But as he tries a door, he is informed that access is not available due to the person in the time period is still in residence. Frustrated by this The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and overrides this, thus beginning his journey of offering the ham and cheese toastie with a pumpkin latté to the people he encounters from various time periods - returning to the Time Hotel each time. The last of which he spots the Silurian with the briefcase enter one of the portals. He communicates with Trev who informs The Doctor that he has let him down, before disintegrating like the others. The Doctor then enters the same portal as the Silurian and it is then that he discovers him in the hotel room with Joy.
Back in 2024 and having two people appear suddenly in her hotel room, one of which is obviously not human, causes Joy huge confusion and she is determined to get answers from The Doctor. But The Doctor initially ignores her as he is more interested in the Silurian and the briefcase, which the Silurian tries to pass to The Doctor. But he is naturally wary of why the Silurian is so keen for him to take the briefcase. An annoyed Joy points out that they are in her hotel room, again demanding an explanation. But still she is being ignored and so, aggravated by the continued lack of explanations, Joy grabs the briefcase instead. It immediately chains itself to her. The Doctor is very concerned and examines it with his sonic screwdriver. But he is distraught to witness that the briefcase, having now taken control of Joy, causes the Silurian to disintegrate. As well as being saddened by the Silurian’s death The Doctor warns Joy that what happened to the Silurian will now happen to her unless he can discover a way to save her from the same fate. Being controlled by the briefcase she just repeats that ‘The star seed will bloom and the flesh will rise’. The Doctor tells her that it is not her speaking but she is being manipulated by the briefcase. Then using his sonic screwdriver The Doctor is able to open the briefcase and inside he discovers a bright, glowing orb. The Doctor is initially pleased with himself until an automated message is heard stating that the briefcase must be closed within 20 seconds or the current holder will be disintegrated. Just before the countdown reaches zero Joy forces the briefcase closed. Initially pleased that her death has been aborted Joy and The Doctor’s relief is short lived when the closing of the briefcase prompts the appearance of a small keypad that pops up from the briefcase and another announcement is heard. This time stating that Joy will be disintegrated if the correct four-digit security code is not entered within 15 seconds. The Doctor admits that he did not see this coming and Joy asks if he knows the code, which The Doctor replies that he doesn't. He also informs Joy that there are 10,000 possibilities and there is not enough time to try them all. He also states that he can't use the TARDIS again in the Time Hotel as that would create a causal nexus.
The Doctor suddenly shouts ‘Come in!’ and another version of himself, from the future, suddenly appears from the hotel room’s closed door and gives the current Doctor the security code. The current Doctor quickly enters it on the key-pad, disarming the briefcase. Distracted by the arrival of his future-self the current Doctor is unable to prevent Joy (who is still attached to the briefcase), along with his future-self depart the hotel room via the portal that takes them both back to the Time Hotel. As his future-self leaves the current Doctor asks how this all works, how he gets to be him. The future Doctor replies that this will be ‘the long way around’. The future Doctor refuses to give any more answers other than that he must stay there and complete the loop as that is the only way that he will get the code. The future Doctor then departs sealing the portal so leaving the current Doctor stranded in 2024. The current Doctor realises that he is going to have to wait until Christmas 2025 before he will be able to reach the Time Hotel so allowing him to become his future self that gave his current self the correct security code number. The Doctor takes up residence in Joy’s hotel room and to pay for it he takes up a job at the hotel. During the year he befriends Anita and, using his sonic screwdriver, he also repairs and improves things around the hotel and in Anita’s life. The Doctor also uses his time trapped in 2025 to try and work out what the device in the briefcase is - covering the walls of his hotel room with scientific calculations and sketches.
 | Hotel Guest? |
|
A year later The Doctor leaves Anita and the Sandringham Hotel and travels to the Exeter Hotel in New York, which he uses to re-enter the Time Hotel. This enables him to give his past self the security code and depart with Joy, so completing the paradox. Back in the Time Hotel, The Doctor follows Joy (who is still being controlled by the briefcase) as she enters a lift to take them to a higher floor so that she can locate a portal that will take her further back in time. Inside the lift The Doctor starts to insult Joy. On the higher floor Joy, followed by The Doctor, enters another portal that takes them to a wooden platform high up overlooking a forest. There much to Joy’s dismay The Doctor continues to insult her saying that no self-respecting person would stay alone at a hotel on Christmas Day. This goads Joy into lashing out, explaining that her mother died in hospital on Christmas Day, with Joy only able to say goodbye through a screen due to COVID-19 regulations. This anger allows Joy to break the mind control and the briefcase disconnects from her. After apologising to Joy, for any upset he has caused her, The Doctor cautiously approaches the briefcase that is trying to attach itself to The Doctor’s arm. Using his sonic screwdriver The Doctor is able to once again open the briefcase which reveals itself to be of Villengard origin - an arms manufacturer that The Doctor has encountered before (see "Boom"). The Doctor discovers that the device is designed to use time travel to go far back in time where it plans to detonate a ‘star seed’ to use as an energy source.
However, before The Doctor can discover more a Tyrannosaurus Rex arrives from the forest and attacks the wooden platform nearly killing The Doctor and Joy, Instead the Tyrannosaurus Rex eats the briefcase. All The Doctor and Joy can do is flee back through the portal, leaving the briefcase in the distant past. Back again in the Time Hotel, The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to contact Trev (who connected psychically to Villengard's system before he died). The Doctor asks Trev to tell him where and when he is. All that Trev can reveal is that he is in Room 48. The Doctor and Joy take off to find this room and using its portal they arrive inside an ancient monument. But The Doctor discovers that the briefcase is sealed inside a tomb. The Doctor explains to Joy that eventually the dinosaur would have either thrown up the briefcase or deposited it and that someone must have found it and then sealed it inside the shrine. The Doctor notes that it is getting warm and asks Trev, via his implant, how long have they got until detonation. He initially replies that it is about four-and-a-half millennia. But when The Doctor asks him to double check Trev comes back that it is actually four-and-a-half minutes.
Realising that they do not have much time The Doctor tells Joy that he is going to force open the tomb and then throw the briefcase into space using his TARDIS. He rushes off, leaving Joy alone, to get a rope and grappling hook from the Mount Everest Base Camp that he saw during his earlier visit there. Then with one end of the rope tethered to the entrance of the tomb and through the portal back to the Time Hotel, he then uses the portal that returns him to the Orient Express. There at the end of the train The Doctor lobs the grappling hook, tied to the other end of the rope, so that it catches and the momentum of the train is enough to shatter the tomb’s entrance stone in the shrine that has been holding the briefcase in place.
The Doctor then rushes back to the shrine but discovers that both the briefcase and Joy are no longer there. A flight of stone steps however, leads him to the outside world and to the top of a hill. There he discovers Joy again under the briefcase’s influence, but before he can intervene to rescue her, Joy reveals that she has let the star seed enter her and that it will bloom but that he need not worry because she, along with the others who came in contact with the briefcase, will be far away in the sky when the star seed detonates. Realising that Joy thinks that she is saving the world, he tries to protest saying that he is supposed to be saving her and that he will not allow the Villengard do this to them. The Doctor continues to plead with her that she will burn and die. Joy though tells him that she is not dying, only changing into something beautiful that will shine everywhere and forever. With that Joy pilots the star seed into space, where it detonates safely. As The Doctor returns to the Time Hotel, it is revealed that the star created by the seed has become the Star of Bethlehem that guides the three wisemen to the birth place of Jesus which becomes part of the Nativity - and that Joy has truly brought ‘Joy to the World’.
|