Feline Trouble at the Tower (TV story)

***Feline Trouble at the Tower*** was the ninth episode of Series 1 of *Doctor Who*.

## Synopsis

The Doctor takes Elias to see London 50 years after his time, as per his request, where they soon discover a new tower block is being opened in the city centre. Once the TARDIS team find that a party is also being held to celebrate... Well, the Doctor could never resist a good fancy do.

But any festivities are put to rest when wormholes open throughout the tower’s top floor, and savage humanoid feline creatures come through. They seem to have no plan other than kidnapping partygoers; but with no way to communicate with them, the Doctor must figure how to stop them before it’s too late - or face the fury of the Silvertax!

## Plot

The TARDIS arrives in London, some 50 years after the events of *Revolution's Vice*. Elias is excited to see how his home district has changed and developed over the course of those years, however, the only noticeable structural difference is a new tower positioned near the river. The team discovers that the tower has only just opened and has its opening party on that day, via watching a news program on a massive screen within the square. Deciding the party could be fun, they return to the TARDIS to get changed into more formal clothing and move it closer to the tower. They manage to get into the party via the use of the Doctor’s psychic paper.

As the Doctor takes Fleur and Elias to the top floor, a welcoming video plays inside the elevator that informs that the tower is intended to be used as both housing and office space. They fraternise with the guests for a while and later meet up in another room for food when screams can be heard coming from the main room. Rushing in, the trio discovers that numerous wormholes have opened within the room and feline humanoid creatures have stepped through, followed by wolf-like beings. The creatures have begun to kidnap partygoers and drag them through the wormholes, nearly taking Elias with them before the Doctor and Fleur manage to pull him free. Realising there’s nothing they can do, the Doctor and co make their escape, being chased by the wolves. They enter the elevator corridor where the Doctor uses the sonic to summon the elevator quickly, the one they just used having already been taken by someone else whilst Elias and Fleur hold the corridor door closed as the wolves attempt to smash through. Elias asks why they don’t take the stairs but the Doctor replies that they need to get to the TARDIS ASAP and using the stairs would run the risk of being caught.

The elevator arrives and they all rush in, using the sonic to close the doors faster, narrowly avoiding one of the wolves getting in. They make their way down to the bottom floor to get back to the TARDIS but find the main doors have been locked and not even the sonic can open it. Elias reckons the tower’s databank room would be the place to look for the controls to unlock the doors. Once there, the Doctor expresses concern over the fact that the creatures appeared to have a form of language, but the TARDIS couldn’t translate it. Fleur suggests that their language is too simple for the TARDIS to extrapolate any real meaning from it, which the Doctor takes as one possible reason. She reasons that the creatures must be simple beings and therefore not had anything to do with the wormholes, which must be naturally occurring or generated by another power and that they are simply using it to their advantage to acquire food, liking them to an animal using a stone to crack open a nut. Fleur shudders at the thought of those people being eaten by the creatures and suggests they kill them all, but Elias reasons that a more logical and humane solution would be to drive them all back through the wormholes and close them, leaving them to where they came from. The Doctor agrees but thinks she needs to take a look at the landscape of the other side of the wormhole.

Using the room’s computers, she hacks into the CCTV and asks Fleur to keep an eye out for the creatures, whilst she gives her a radio connected to earpieces that both she and Elias will wear. The Doctor and Elias attempt to use the elevator but find the power has been cut, so make their way, via the stairs, to the top floor, which is now empty as all the remaining guests have left the room and the creatures have given chase, with the guidance of Fleur over the radio, directing them down clear pathways.

As the Doctor and Elias get ready to jump through, Fleur warns them to be careful and they step through to find a primitive-looking cave on the first inspection. Soon after the Doctor and Elias leave, a few of the creatures walk into the top floor and appear to stand guard by the wormholes, which Fleur finds curious. Body sacs hang from the ceiling which Elias suggests must be the victims who got dragged through and tries to free them, but the Doctor stops him, saying it would cause noise that would attract the creatures’ attention and the victims are most likely dead anyway. Further investigation discovers evidence of higher intelligence than originally suspected, computer banks and detailed writing line the walls, which after some focus, are translated by the TARDIS. The Doctor presses a button and machinery drops down from the ceiling, causing the wormholes to blink a few times and then close.

Their route home now closed, the guards begin to panic and howl, which leads the other creatures to start to rapidly search the building, attacking numerous people hiding even more viciously as Fleur watches, reasoning that this increased aggression would be them hitting back at the wormholes’ closure. Her presence in the databank room is then discovered by Kyllan, the chief engineer of the building. He attempts to throw her out, but she manages to convince him not to as he would be sending her to her death, asking if his morals will allow him to do that. Fleur explains that she’s been monitoring the movement of the creatures and now, as she’s finally been able to restore power to the intercom, elevator and door systems, (using skills she learnt at Jaromso, which she simply describes as “[her] home” to Kyllan) and as she waits for the Doctor and Elias, she can use the intercom to direct people to the exit, the creatures being unlikely to understand what she’s saying. She begins to guide people out, locking doors to trap the creatures when they’re nearby, with the help of Kyllan. Kyllan states that his base of operations was the main databank room, this one simply being secondary storage, before some of the creatures burst in and he was forced to hide and later, escape. From there, they managed to cut all power from escape routes, confirming Fleur’s suspicions of their higher than originally thought intelligence.

Elias questions whether they should keep the wormholes closed but the Doctor cannot find the controls to reopen them. Instructing Elias to look whilst she researches into the creatures’ databanks, she discovers that they are named Silvertax, with their wolf-like pets being named Kanbi. It was the Silvertax who created the machinery that opened the wormholes and they use the wormholes to enter new planets to invade and take over completely, kidnapping natives for slave labour and food. However, the Doctor is still confused on how they could have such a simplistic vocal language yet their writing is detailed, before realising they must have other ways of communication as well, such as scent, which the TARDIS simply cannot translate.

Elias then finds the control to reopen the wormholes just as the Doctor finds a portable wormhole control device and a number of Silvertax come through, so they escape to the other side only to get spilt up when the Doctor gets into an elevator which Elias hadn’t realised were working again. The Doctor hides in a bedroom and two Silvertax follow, narrowly avoiding her as she sneaks out. Elias makes his way back to the databank room as the Doctor, now with the ability to open and close the wormholes, uses her radio to tell Fleur to relock the main doors. She then uses the sonic to activate the fire alarm at a higher frequency than humans are able to hear, causing all Silvertax and Kanbi to retreat back in pain through the wormholes. She then uses the control device to scramble the coordinates, ensuring they cannot return and closes the wormholes, smashing it with her foot after she is done.

Returning to the databank room, the Doctor informs Kyllan that the situation is over and the tower can return to normal operations. Fleur then restores all power and the three make their way back to the TARDIS.

## Cast

* The Doctor - Georgina Campbell
* Elias Danielsen - Lucas Till
* Fleur - Florence Pugh
* Kyllan - TBC
* Charlotte - TBC
* Shane - TBC
* Architect - TBC

## Crew

* Writer - Natalie Robyn
* Director - Jamie Childs

## Continuity

* The TARDIS trio have recently visited Barcelona and met George Orwell. (TV: *1936*)
* Elias wants to see how London turned out following the revolution that he and the Doctor kickstarted. (TV: *Revolution's Vice*)
* He is also frustated at how little Fleur opens up about her past. (TV: *True Colours*, *Pursuit*)
* The Doctor brings up Peladon and Barcelona as examples of recent visits gone wrong. Fleur also mentions Venus and San Diego as further examples. (TV: *The Peladon Division*, *1936*, *The Devil's Starlight*, *Birdwatch*)
* The TARDIS trio are, once again, at a formal party. (TV: *The Devil's Starlight*)
* The Doctor has met cat people before - although, not the Silvertax in particular. (TV: *Survival*, *New Earth*)
* Fleur mentions that she got her computer skills from her old home. (TV: *True Colours*)

## Story Notes

* Originally episode five, *Feline Trouble at the Tower* was later swapped with *The Peladon Division* to become episode nine.

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