02 June, 2023

He Saw Him and Through His Disguise

 
An old duffer named Chas Baxter lives in a retirement home. One December, another gentleman by the name of Malcolm Harbottle moves in. A couple weeks later at Christmas, Chas is dismayed at not receiving his usual Christmas gift from an anonymous giver who only goes by "S". In addition, he suspects this new fellow, Malcolm, is an alien. And a thief to boot as other residents report missing items.

This Malcolm guy keeps to himself and, oddly, doesn't allow anyone into his room. One night Chas sees an iridescent glow coming from beneath Malcolm's door which only bolsters his suspicions.

One day he steals into Malcolm's room and discovers a suitcase with all of the stolen items. There's also a refulgent globe and inside of it he can see countless worlds spinning around a brilliant star. Putting his ear to it, he hears billions of voices. Chas takes it for his own.

Harbottle eventually confronts Chas over the globe which gets broken during the confrontation. It turns out that Malcolm is indeed an alien, a member of the Kleptorodon race, a fine aptronym if there ever was one. And the globe held the Acteon galaxy, which was freed, and the TARDIS, which was freed too. It materializes in the room. Chas, sadly, dies from the shock, while Malcolm is taken under citizens arrest by our heroes.

The Doctor sees the Kleptorodon's suitcase of stolen goods and vows to have the TARDIS replicate them so that he and Jamie can go back in time and leave them as Christmas gifts for Chas throughout his life.

A neat little tale that is made all the better with the judicious use of flashbacks. They depict the Doctor and Jamie delivering the gifts and fill out Chas' character nicely.

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