City of Light

Arrival
"Paris, France!" the Doctor said, and opened the doors of the TARDIS. The bright green field of the Champ de Mars lay in front of them, and the shape of the Eiffel Tower was silhouetted against the sky. "The perfect place for dinner and a play," the Doctor added.

"Come to think of it, I've never actually been to France before," Alfie said. "And my French leaves something to be desired."

"Well, luckily for you, the TARDIS translation circuits will do the work for you," the Doctor said, and stepped out into the city. It was a pleasant autumn afternoon, with a soft wind. Seemingly, it was the perfect weather for a day out.

"Are you bringing Handles?" Alfie asked.

"Not today," the Doctor said. "Bringing a Cyberman's head to dinner would seem odd, don't you think?"

The Doctor and Alfie made their way to one of the streets. "I haven't been here for a while myself," the Doctor said. "I'm going to have to get reacquainted with the local cuisine." He waved to a man wearing a cashmere wool coat that was passing by. "Hello! Do you happen to know any good restaurants?"

The man stopped in front of them and gave them a curious look. "Haven't you heard?" he said. "All the shops are closed. The power is still off everywhere."

"The power?" Alfie asked. "What's wrong with it?"

"...We're tourists," the Doctor said quickly. "Can you explain? What's your name?"

"My name is Louis," the man answered. "About two days ago, the entire city lost power. They haven't been able to get it back on since, for some reason. Nobody understands why it turned off in the first place."

"Do you happen to know where the problem started?"

"I believe the lights went out in the Métro first. Then they started turning off everywhere."

"Can you take us there?" the Doctor asked. "I think we may be able to help..."

Descent
The Doctor, Alfie, and Louis walked down into the Métro subway, where it was completely dark. "I have a flashlight, if you need it," Louis said.

"No need for that," the Doctor said, and suddenly a beam of bright light shone out from his sonic screwdriver. "I already have a flashlight setting on this."

The three walked through the Métro for a while, but found nothing. "It's no use," Louis eventually admitted. "We don't even know what we're looking for."

"Doctor, over here!" Alfie said, pointing. There was an open door on the wall, with a faint glowing light inside.

"Well spotted," the Doctor said. "Let's head in."

The door led to a long maintenance tunnel. There was a faint light visible at the very end. As they got closer, Louis said "What on earth is that?"

A glowing ball of light was floating in mid-air at the end of the tunnel. "Who are you?" it asked with a strange, hissing voice.

"I'm the Doctor, and these are two of my friends. We can help you. Tell us where you came from."

"Your little minds could not comprehend the truth," the ball of light hissed.

"Well, I beg to differ. I'm a Time Lord. Trust me; I can help you."

"A...Time Lord?" the ball of light asked.

"Who are you? Can you tell us what happened?" the Doctor asked.

"...I am the Vorlarsus," the creature said. "I crashed on this little planet not far from here."

"Can't you call your people for help?" Alfie asked.

"I was...damaged. I am still too weak. Even after absorbing the power here, I am not strong enough."

"So that's what happened to the city!" Louis said.

"It's a creature made out of pure energy," the Doctor explained. "It must have needed to absorb the city's power in order to send a distress beacon. But apparently it's not enough."

"But you said you are...a Time Lord?" the Vorlarsus asked.

"Yes."

"Then you're exactly what I need."

Suddenly, the Vorlarsus sped past them and disappeared into the Métro. "Where'd it go?" Louis wondered.

"Oh, no no no no no," the Doctor said. "It needs more power, of course!"

"What's wrong?" "The Vorlarsus needs more power to send a distress beacon. Since the entire energy output of Paris wasn't enough, it must need massive amounts of power." The Doctor turned to Alfie. "And what's the largest power source you can think of around here?"

"The TARDIS!" Alfie said, and the three started running up back to the surface.

Negotiation
"There!" the Doctor said as they exited the subway, and pointed up at the sky. The Vorlarsus was flying in the direction of the TARDIS.

"What are we going to do?" Alfie asked.

"We can't let it absorb the TARDIS's power. Otherwise we'll be stuck here without a time machine."

"What about the city, though?"

The Doctor shook his head. "A great big boom. There's no way the Vorlarsus will be able to handle the power from a single TARDIS, it'll bite off more than it can chew. Its plan would never work."

"Why's that?" Louis asked.

"It would need a proper beacon to send the distress signal from. An extremely large structure to transfer all the power to."

"But it has one," Louis said.

"What do you mean it has -" the Doctor began, and then stopped mid-sentence. He turned around, and saw the Eiffel Tower, standing proudly in the middle of Paris.

"Oh," he said. "Well, that's narrowed things down." And he started running again, towards the TARDIS.

Soon, the three arrived next to the TARDIS itself. "That's it?" Louis asked. "An old police box?"

"You get used to it," Alfie said.

"Where is it? I don't see it!" the Doctor said. Suddenly, the Vorlarsus flew down from the sky. "Step away, Time Lord," it said. "I have to use this machine now."

"Listen!" the Doctor said. "We can help you! You know what a TARDIS is, you know what it can do! We can just send you back home without a fuss! And with no need to make a giant lightshow over Paris!"

"Your efforts are useless," hissed the Vorlarsus. "There's nothing you can possibly do to stop me."

"Maybe not us," the Doctor said, "but someone else can." He buzzed his sonic screwdriver into the air. "Time to wake up, Handles!"

Inside the TARDIS, Handles lit up. "Doctor in distress," he muttered to himself, and detected the strange creature coming towards the TARDIS. "Power feeds diverting," he said.

Suddenly, the light glowing from the Vorlarsus started being dragged inside the TARDIS. The creature gave a final hiss of desperation, and a small, metallic sphere dropped to the ground, bouncing up and down on the pavement.

"Result!" the Doctor grinned.

Farewell
"Will it be alright?" Alfie asked the Doctor, who was bringing a cardboard box into the TARDIS.

"It'll be fine," the Doctor said, rattling the box to prove his point. "Handles pulled most of its energy inside the TARDIS. We'll just take him back home and drop him off.

After finally enjoying the dinner that they came here in the first place for, the Doctor and Alfie were ready to leave, with Louis tagging close behind. "You've been a great help to us, Louis," the Doctor said. "Thank you. Maybe we'll see you again sometime."

"I look forward to it," Louis said. "Is that really your way of getting around, though?"

The Doctor smiled. "You'll like this bit." He and Alfie got in the TARDIS, and the blue box dematerialized, kicking up a cloud of leaves in its wake, leaving Louis standing there with a mouth open in amazement.

"And well done to you too," the Doctor said, patting Handles on the head. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

"Where to next?" Alfie asked.

The Doctor simply smiled, and flipped a lever on the console.

The Plot
The Doctor and Alfie land in modern-day Paris, but it soon becomes clear that not all is right. An alien entity called the Vorlarsus crash-landed here a couple days ago, and it was weakened to the point where it could not send for help. It plans to use the TARDIS to recharge itself and send a signal to its kind by using the Eiffel Tower as a beacon. But the Doctor and Alfie manage to stop the Vorlarsus with the help of Handles, and soon send it home.