The Time Warriors and Beyond

Book Excerpt: Zombie Blues 2: Perception Zombie

By and copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

More Zombies, more trouble. Welcome to book 2 of Zombie Blues who give us their view on the world and life from behind undead eyes. This time round meet Diabetic Zombie, Racist Zombie, the Ice Queen and why is there a zombie with no teeth?

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Perceptions Zombie

What do you see when you look at me?

You, to me, are lit up like a stray dog set on fire by mindless thugs in the drunken hours of a late night in a graveyard. Your flames fill my world enticing me forward like a sailor to the siren song. I am helplessly drawn to you like an addict to heroin. I see you as the menu chargrilled by the hatred of Mother Nature.

What do you see when you look at me?

Am I the nightmare you see when you worry about monsters under the bed?

A monster, slobbering and decaying before your very eyes as its deadly jaws snap at you like a great white shark? I am the ultimate abomination from your deepest nightmares.

I can see it myself when this body passes by something reflective like a shop window. From in here I see what I am now on the outside but that’s not the real me. You’re seeing a distorted vision of me built from prejudice. Is it my fault you can’t hear me screaming at you to kill us all? I see the person I used to be. I’m a hapless victim of an unfortunate incident. I should be pitied then put out of my misery.

Can you not see me at all? Is there any semblance of who I was peeking out from behind this rotting flesh that you can see? Do these demon eyes cloak my soul entirely when you stare into my eyes from beyond the reinforced glass that separates us?

It seems that things haven’t changed much despite the bloody apocalypse.

Here’s a thing you haven’t been told yet but I’ll tell you now.

Haven’t you noticed that while our flesh decays (an unfortunate side effect of the heartless tendrils of Mother Nature I’m afraid) that our teeth do not?

Apart from Lily, my denture less friend you met earlier, when was the last time you saw a zombie without a good set of gnashers? I can see that rolling over in your heads like watching clothes in a spin cycle in a washing machine. It hadn’t occurred to any of you before now? Even with all those movies and that television show, The Shambling Undead?

When I look at you I didn’t expect to see that; indolence and lamb mentality. It must be a side effect of that social media my other friend spoke about. Nobody thinks outside the box any more it seems.

It’s simple really. Mother Nature only picked the humans with a full set or nearly full set of teeth. Using her…oh I don’t know…her nature magic (feel free to insert your own adjective there) she made sure her weapons would be the most effective means of completing her plans are secure.

All teeth and gums are reinforced like steel. They will never fall out until all humans are dead. Even if you cut our heads off the jaws are still animated. Add to that our eyes are always intact; how else can we hunt you lot down without eyes and teeth? Perk of the job you might say.

Book Excerpt: Zombie Blues 2: In His Dad’s Eyes Zombie

By and copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Cover by Conaire McMullan

Available on Amazon now!

There was a collective cheer which was suddenly interrupted by the roar of an engine. It was like the roar of Godzilla about to deliver us from evil. Ken and Chang grabbed each side of the doors ready to fling them open the second Anna screeched to a halt.

The second she did James would be bundled into the van along with Mrs Kenner. Ken, Chang, myself and Marjorie would defend Stephen and Ken. Being the biggest of us they would fire our crates of weapons into the van.

Then we would get the hell out of here.

I was shaking, sweating like a glassblower’s arse. Tyres screeched, a horn blew urgently. The doors flung open to a chorus of gnashing and snarling, the song of the dead. We ran outside and began smashing heads.

From up above the crowds didn’t seem that bad but now here face to face it was like Black Friday. They seemed to be everywhere. Chang danced like a ballerina as he weaved and sliced at everyone that came near him. Thick smelly blood began to seep into the ground. I couldn’t think of these things as people. They were filthy spawn to be wiped out so that we could live.

Anna jumped out to help us. James was safely put inside. Mrs Kenner refused to go just yet, ramming some of the zombies with her makeshift chariot like Ben Hur on a budget. All the men couldn’t help but wince when a zombie got it in the nuts. I swore there was a look of surprise on their faces as the knife went in and then a ghost of shock rippled their features.

I was stopped in my tracks for a second as I saw tears run down her determined face. In that instant I knew every thrust was for her beloved Albert.

‘Mrs Kenner, get into the van!’ I yelled.

‘James is safe, that’s all that matters. Save all the children you can!’

With that she began to back off in her scooter yelling at the undead using language that was quite unbecoming of a lady.

We began shouting at her to stop but she didn’t listen. A group of zombies turned in her direction.

Stephen and Ken made to go after her but I yelled at them to keep putting the stuff in the van. A pile of bodies had fallen around us but the dead just kept coming. Their threat lay in numbers; our salvation lay in increasing ours.

‘I am Eleanor Kenner. I am the mother of four beautiful children and the wife of Albert Kenner. He was a rocket in bed and a rocket in life. He was my joy, my soul, my rock. You lot screwed that up so this is payback.’ She trundled back and back as more were drawn to her.

‘Mrs K!; yelled Stephen. ‘Betablocker time!’

I looked at him in confusion and he had the most insane grin on his face. Mrs Kenner gave him the thumbs up.

From the basket on front of her scoot she lifted out a plastic flask and a lighter. She straightened up and nodded to us.

A yellow flame flared from the lighter as she lit a wick attached to the flask.

I heard Stephen yell duck.

I heard Ken shout the van as loaded. We stood watching as the wick fizzed with fire and Mrs Kenner smiled to herself.

She erupted in a storm of fire as the flask exploded. The mushroom took out everything within five feet of her.

‘You can make bombs?’ I gasped seeing new levels in Stephen.

‘Mrs Kenner’s idea. She was special forces in her day,’ he grinned.

‘Never judge a book by its cover, as my Mam used to say,’ I grinned. There was no time to cry. We had to leave. Maybe find those we loved if they were still alive. We had to find the hope in this darkness and restart the world again.

We piled into the van, zombies clawing after us. Their dead flesh made a bizarre sucking squelching sound on the doors as Anna hit the accelerator.

I looked round at them all. All bloodied and tired smelling of smoke and sweat but all alive and together.

‘Look,’ Marjorie said indicating back towards the street.

From the back darkened window we watched the charred remains of Mrs Kenner’s scooter burn. Its twisted frame alive in writhing flames dancing in celebration of our escape. What lay ahead now we didn’t know but we would face it together. We would find others and fight the darkness.

It wasn’t a choice; it was what was meant to be.

Mrs Kenner’s sacrifice would never be forgotten and one day every child would speak her story.

Book Excerpt: The Time Warriors: Fire and Ice

By and all copyright Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

A new collection of short stories featuring the Time Warriors. Think you know everything that happened in series one? Not quite. Join Varran, Jacke, Tyran and Michael as they find face new dangers which will test them to their limits. Six stories including Fire and Ice which was released as a surprise extra in Tempest. In Irish Eyes, we learn more of Varran’s past, in the Gift a distraught Robert meets a woman that can talk to the dead, Jacke is trapped alone in ancient Ireland during an invasion in Trinity while Rachel faces an occupied Earth which has never heard of the Time Warriors. In Twisted Michael and Jacke find the world has changed dramatically and it’s all their fault.

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There were dozens of humans working underground he knew and as many slaving away on the surface mining camps. Yuri only hoped they would seize the chance when the reactors fell and escape.

“Question is, how do I take it out?” he said softly to himself.

“Well, if this was the Death Star, it would be a simple matter of turning off the magnetic shields and letting the reactor fall. Then toss in a well timed bomb on a countdown would set this place alight.”

Yuri whirled round, sword igniting in a second inches from the face of a young woman of about twenty three. Her eyes flicked up and down, eyes widening at the tight fitting battle suit. Obviously, she is impressed, noted Yuri.

She was pretty, western with short chestnut brown hair in a bob, hazel eyes staring at him, lean body tensed. Dressed in black combats, trainers and tight scarlet jumper, Yuri found her attractive, the impression of a fiery minx filling his mind.

She ignored the tip of the fire sword, instead locking onto his black eyes, almost challenging him to make a move.

“Does take me to your leader mean anything to you, manga boy?” she quipped, her voice tinged with a slight nervous quake.

The sword lowered slightly but before either could say another word, a barrage of orange laser bolts smashed into the wall beside them, blackening the stone where they struck and sending hot shards spitting at them.

With a defiant cry, Yuri swung his sword, deflecting more bolts into the magnetic fields where they faded in a splurge of oil on water.

Rachel ducked behind him, realizing this samurai was her best bet for survival with his super sword. She looked about for a weapon but there was nothing to hand.

Instead all she could do was duck up over his shoulder. Two levels above them were what looked to her like raptors but more humanoid like, powerfully built like gorillas.

Across the left hand sides of their faces were metallic clamps like elegantly crafted jewels, some replacing the eye. They wore red leather jerkins, their four toed feet bare as thick tails swung behind them.

They were firing their stocky laser rifles and she could see metallic implants dotted along their bodies but there was no missing their savage teeth bared eagerly as they fired at them, punctuated by long red tongues covered in hard nodules that whipped like hungry cobras.

“Can you run?” Yuri yelled to her.

“Faster than you can chafe in that outfit mate!” she replied, ducking again. Nodding at her, Yuri stared at her determinedly with those black eyes.

“Just follow, no matter what!” What the hell does that mean, she wondered? She didn’t have to wonder much longer as he jumped upon the railing as the bolts flew about them.

She gave him a disbelieving look. “Are you serious?” she gawped as he held out his hand. She could see the chasm beneath them.

“Would you rather stay here?” he laughed. Terrified she joined him.

“The name’s Rachel just in case we die!” she cried as a new barrage shot by them, their trajectory wavered by the fields.

“I’m Yuri, possible saviour of the world!” he beamed, slipping his arm round her waist and plunging them over the edge.

Book Excerpt: The Time Warriors: The Survivor

By and copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Join the Time Warriors in this second exciting volume as the race against their enemies intensifies. The Family are revealed in the most unexpected place, Michael faces an impossible choice trapped in the 24th century, an old enemy returns, Tyran is lost on a planet of robots with a hidden agenda while a dark secret from Jacke’s past may be the only hope for an alien race. And in the distant past a new enemy emerges as the fight is on with Jack the Ripper. Remember, everything happens for a reason.

The luxury space cruiser, the Adelphi, was part of an exclusive fleet that operated to similar guides to ocean liners and toured collapsing stars, the black hole of Hades, the Solack Empire where six worlds were literally bolted together in a feat of mind blowing engineering and the breeding asteroid fields of the Klafe, giant alien creatures that lived in space like whales and bred in an electrical field that they fed on.

It had seemed perfect, beam aboard having hacked into the main frame computer to register Michael as a logged in passenger and take it easy for a while.

It also gave Varran a chance to gain a bit of information about the future. Of course there were rules. No mention of whom he really was or when he came from. No direct involvement in local affairs and no attempts to find any reference to Xereban in human society. Varran didn’t mind any of them visiting the future but he didn’t want to know anything about what might happen to them.

Perhaps they would one day become open, fully fledged members of Earth society, or maybe not. Maybe something happened and Varran had taken the decision for them to leave Earth in the Juggernaught or maybe not.

The future, he had lectured Michael, was a house of cards. If you knew one of those cards told you how and when you would die, you had to leave it in place and walk away. If you fell to temptation and gained that knowledge, you would be tempted to change that outcome and cause the house to fall. But to Michael, there was a fear Varran was hiding behind his reasoning. Could he be afraid of finding he was still alive and the rest of them long gone?

Everything happens for a reason. It was Varran’s reason for going on and a deeply rooted belief for Xerebans. So far, it had stood him well.

So, Michael had done exactly that and yet he still ended up alone in a ship that had carried over three thousand passengers.

He stepped out of the shower and grabbed the mint green towel hanging on the rail. As he dried himself off, he remembered a time when he had been afraid to stand naked in public, either at school after gym or at the local leisure centre. It was when puberty had been this scary thing which was only happening to him and everyone else was hung like horses and built like tanks.

He had no reason to feel like that. He realised how trivial it was now. He was quite proud of his hairy chest and knew there was a lean mean sex machine underneath this fluctuating exterior.

He hoped.

He could laugh to himself now but his fear had once given the bullies yet another weapon making him withdraw even more.

Still, they were all dead now, hundreds of years ago and he was a man now who had no inhibitions, not the orphan boy with no back up and terrified of going to school. He recalled the mornings he pretended to be sick just to avoid going there. The dark dread of being there when his gran didn’t believe him and the constant looking over his shoulder when he was there.

He had grown restless after his O levels, a feeling that he didn’t belong at school and there was something else he should be doing. It was like you had lost something but didn’t know quite what it was you had to find to fill the void.

Of course, he never in a million years thought fighting alien threats and time travel was what he was missing from his life but what the hell. He had been given a unique opportunity and he had grabbed it with both hands. It made him feel complete almost; that all the bullying and isolation had been worth it. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, a little voice whispered at the back of his mind.

If there had been one thing he’d learned in his life, it was that it could change in an instant. The fact that he’d discovered he was descended from survivors from a dead planet actually hadn’t been that mind blowing. It was like being told your great grandfather had been from Estonia. It was interesting but didn’t feel like it had any real impact on his life. Bills still had to be paid, he still had to go to work, debt collectors came to the door and his love life was pretty crap.

Chatting up girls had never been his strong point, all thanks to the bullies destroying his self-confidence, almost making him believe his own worthlessness. Worse still, he had fallen for the wrong girl the first time round, spending all his time as her friend and desperately hoping she would love him as much as he loved her. And it was true what they said. Bullying affects you for the rest of your life and in his case, Michael faced most of it on his own, withdrawing into a world of movies, books and a concrete coat of shyness

Forgotten Villains: The Banshee from Darby O’Gill

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

When you mention the word villain immediately images of Darth Vader, Blofeld or the Daleks come to mind. But there are many equally memorable villains that have scared us or made us nervous at some time in one-off moments.

The banshee from the classic Darby and the Little People isn’t a villain in the true sense but she is a threat to Darby (Albert Sharpe) and his daughter Katie (Janet Munro).

As kids, the banshee terrified us. When the electricity went off in a power cut during the winter, we would sit by candlelight as sometimes it took hours to come back, In that time our aunt and mother would tell us stories of spooky and ghostly things that had happened to them over the years. There were stories of dead relatives returning, phantom horse carriages that only showed up during lightning storms and poltergeists.

But the biggest spectral terror lay in the stories of the banshee. Her mournful cry would echo out across the land heralding the death of some unfortunate. My aunt claimed to have seen one perched on an upper floor window ledge, wailing and combing her hair, patiently waiting for the soul to pass. All banshees had long golden hair and a scream to chill your very soul. Families were gather round the bed of their dying loved one clutching rosary beads and praying to God futilely to make the unearthly screaming stop. The banshee is a creature of purpose. Her job is to be near as the dying breath their last. She doesn’t collect souls or possess anyone; all she can do is mourn the upcoming passing. It was said she would target the families with a prefix on their surname like O’Brien or McDonald. Even the Irish spelling of a surname tags you for a visit; Quinn in Orish is spelt O’Coinn or McCuinn so I’m on her list when my time comes.

Imagine a dark winter’s night. The remote countryside is tarred with a blackness that swallows your very ability to see your hand in front of your face. Your home is lit by lamps and curtains are pulled tight. Your nearest neighbour is half a mile away and the cattle and sheep are like statues in blanketed fields. Only owls and bats dot the skies. There is a chill in the air as the wind itself holds its breath. A waxen moon hides behind ink clouds. Suddenly a sorrowful wail echoes out across the dark. The fearful occupants of the house stare in nervous terror at the closed curtains, their hands clasped together in prayer. They know death is on its way as the wails reverberate in their very chests. If they found a comb outside when the day broke, it must be left where it lay because it could belong to the banshee. Darby choose to hide the face and long hair aspects of the banshee but the effect is the same. Not seeing this ghostly face as it hovers down towards you triggers your imagination as to what lies beneath the hood. Many witnesses claim they saw her perched on something near the house wailing and combing that long hair in anticipation of the last beat of a heart.

The banshee is the Bigfoot of Irish and Scottish lore and Darby O’Gill is the only movie that successfully uses Irish myth to scare the life out of the audience. I vividly recall watching it in the Frontier cinema and this huge wailing golden figure bearing down on Darby and the injured Katie ready to take her away in the death coach. Despite the beautiful golden form, the hood hid the face of the banshee as it swoops down from the sky. To us little people she was a giant and we screamed and buried ourselves in our seats. It was as if the banshee was bearing down to grab us. It was a moment of pure cinematic magic that happened nearly fifty years ago but I see it as plainly now as it happened then. It’s part of the reason I fell on love with the cinema and movies.

The banshee is eternal and can never be defeated. She is the guardian of the dead passing into the light. When you hear that scream you know life is about to end and change at the same time. She will not kill or hunt you down. She mourns alongside the family and in a way she brings comfort. She announces the passing of the person and that their suffering will soon be over. The fact the banshee comes from another realm is hope that the dearly departed will also go to heaven. The banshee’s wailing presence is as if she is announcing a new soul going to the light. She is a contradictory being; associated with horror yet their purpose leads to the successful transfer to heaven.

Never again has another person successfully touched an audience with a banshee as Darby did. And in this head and all the heads in that cinema that day, the banshee will forever be alive and well.

Book Excerpt: The Time Warriors Twisted

By and all copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Jacke took her hand unit out of her shoulder bag and locked into the Juggernaught’s teleport system. She keyed in her code and with a last glance around to ensure no one was watching she pressed home and they vanished in the surreal blue light of the teleport beam.

The world exploded in a bright light that exploded all around them, their ears bursting under the sudden scream of pressure. They cried in agony as they fell from the Stepping Stone onto the floor of the Juggernaught. They lay there squirming as the pain echoed through every nerve in their bodies. Their ears hurt and their eyes stung as the pain began to subside. Michael rolled over arching his back uselessly. Jacke lay on her front panting, palms flat on the floor. It took several minutes before she was able to call out to him. Relief flooded her as he answered weakly.

“What the hell happened?” he gasped.

Blinking against the light, Jacke managed to sit up and look around her.

“Varran?” she called out then stopped dead.

“Where is he?” Michael asked.

He caught the tentative pause in her voice before she simply answered. “I don’t think he’s been here for a while.” He lifted his head wincing at the ache in his neck.

The sight that greeted them stopped them both dead.

The Juggernaught was a wreck, walls shattered like concrete, the entire command centre shredded like paper. They looked up, horrified as they saw the ceiling was a web of huge cracks. Lights were hanging in a macabre skeletal pattern among girders that had been snapped like bread sticks. Outside was not the familiar twinkle and burn of stars but a sky ribbed with grey and white slabs of ominous looking clouds. Jacke could only stare in shock.

“It’s been stripped bare. Where are all the computers? All our super-duper gadgets?”

“It must have crashed,” Michael gasped. “But that doesn’t make sense or we wouldn’t have been able to teleport at all.” He turned on his heel, running his hands over the walls of the teleport chamber. “All the circuits are burned out or missing. What the hell is going on?”

“Come on,” Jacke said, eyes darting all over the ruins.

Dumbfounded they got to their feet and walked forward carefully round what was left of it. Nothing was working, every monitor and power conduit was dark, lifeless. They were either jagged holes or burnt out, useful to no one. Jacke squatted down at the main hologrid console and with a grunt reached under its shattered bulk.

“What are you looking for?” Michael asked as her fingers clawed for the

release switch of a compartment. It flipped open, letting her reach inside.

“For this.” She stood up and showed him a mini tool kit. “There’s enough of the console left for the hand unit to work with so if there’s any power left in this at all, I might be able to reroute a couple of systems and see what we can find.”

“Whoever scavenged it must have thought it was a dead duck,” he assumed. She handed Michael her bag and unclipped the case, extracting scalpel like instruments. As she worked Michael put his plastic bag with an array of cartoon characters memorabilia inside it. If anything was going to happen, he wasn’t going to fight with a bag in his hand.

“This couldn’t be the Juggernaught. It looks like it has been here for a while,” he commented, looking at the dust on his hands. Wait a minute, he thought to himself. Taking his hand unit out of his pocket, he activated it telling it to switch to comms.

“Tyran can you hear me?” he said, pausing for an answer. “Tyran please answer, we’re in trouble here.” No response came and his face fell as he looked at Jacke. He ran a hand through his brown hair. “I don’t like this,” he commented. Suddenly he jumped with a yell scaring Jacke in the process as something scuttled near him and saw a hairy shape run for cover.

“Rats!” he shuddered. “I hate rats!”

“Not too fond of them myself,” Jacke said as she linked her hand unit into a portal and poked a circuit board. Leaving her to her work, Michael clambered over wreckage, noticing the potted plants that Jacke and Tyran had added to the command centre, upturned and decayed, their leaves brittle as fallen autumn leaves. He reached the far wall, a shaft of sunlight highlighting millions of dust particles that scattered in his wake. He steadied himself on a rusting girder and pulled himself up to look through a tear in the wall.

“Jacke, we’re in London! The Juggernaught crashed in London!” he cried. She looked up at him. “In Hyde Park by the look of it.” He stared outside seeing the city he knew so well. There was traffic and aeroplanes and life seemed to be going on as normal.

“But the Juggernaught is decayed, old. Could we have time travelled or is this an illusion?”

“It might be a parallel dimension,” Michael suggested.

She stared round her. “The Juggernaught is self repairing,” she remembered. “So why hasn’t she?” They exchanged disturbed looks.

Suddenly the circuits sparked, the console lighting up weakly as if it was all too much of a strain. She fiddled with some controls and managed to bring up a portion of the security video.

“Is that it working?” Michael jumped down from his viewpoint and joined her. She looked troubled as she shook her head in frustration.

“I don’t know how long it’ll last so keep your eyes peeled,” she warned. The holoscreen warbled into life above them at an angle, its image breaking up violently. They saw Varran being his usual self, tinkering and pottering at the Juggernaught’s systems, always striving to update and improve them. Jacke ran the scalpel like tool along another circuit.

“And now we have sound,” she said softly. As they watched Varran looked up, his expression one of alarm. He ran round the command table, hands dancing along controls, and by the look on his face he was afraid, very afraid. Jacke’s stomach was filled with butterflies.

The air was roaring with alarms, the computer voice repeating something she couldn’t make out. The Xereban looked confused, staring at the console with puzzled eyes. Suddenly the Juggernaught rolled, banking on one side as if struck by some goliath, the room shuddering. It seemed to spin as it fell off its axis. A massive wave of shocking white lightning ripped across everything leaving fire in its wakes as a million circuits burned like dry grass. An explosion threw him across the room as the flames danced all around him like defiant imps. The hologram fizzled out. They stared at the spot where it had been in stunned silence.

“An accident or an attack?” said Michael finally. Jacke sighed as the power failed completely.

“That’s it,” she said quietly. “The Juggernaught’s dead.” They stood, lost and alone.

Available on Amazon now

Picard Season 3 – The Problem with the Borg

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

There is no denying how great Picard season 3 was. It delivered the send off for the Next Generation crew better than we could imagine. There wasn’t a heart that didn’t leap for joy when the Enterprise D came back from the ashes to save the Earth or the resurrection of Data. The Worf and Riker humour was spot on and the terrifying tension of not knowing who was a Changeling. By the way, if ever a story needed Odo, this was it and the sad passing of René Auberjonois was felt every time a reference to the Dominion War and Worf’s time on DS9 came up.

But I digress. It seemed the writers and producers had learned their lessons from the terrible first two seasons but had the sense to bring back Seven of Nine as a regular character. Bringing Q, the Borg Queen and Guinan back should have been epic but sadly was limp as brewer’s droop. However one small issue soiled the almost perfect season three and that was the reveal of the big villain; the Borg Queen. It felt like the Daleks appearing yet again in Doctor Who but this time there’s an issue. Picard season two completely ignored Time’s Arrow when Guinan first met Picard along with Mark Twain against time travelling aliens. In turn, Picard season three completely ignored the events of season two in regards to the Borg, leaving a hole in logic as big as a black hole.

The first thing that came to mind when the Borg were revealed to be the big bad was….wait a minute, where the hell’s Agnes? The Collective’s where? So Wolf 359 still happened? Stop, I told my brain, let’s look at this logically.

In season two we meet the Borg who is about to be executed by the Mirror Universe-like version of the Federation that Q had thrown our heroes into. She was the last great enemy; alone with no drones to her name. Escaping to the past to prevent this future from happening, Agnes becomes infected by and merges with the Borg Queen to lead them down a path of salvation rather than assimilation. By the end of the season, Agnes Queen and her hive became provisional members of the Federation and were stationed at a mysterious anomaly that posed a threat to the Federation. The problem is that this version of the Borg did not jump through time but travelled through the years until they reached the correct point in time and summoned Picard. So did that mean that Picard never became Locutus of Borg? Did Wolf 359 never happen? Did all of Janeway’s battles against the Borg in the Alpha never happen? Did Agnes really succeed in changing the nature of the Borg? If so, how is Seven still a survivor of Borg assimilation?

The answer creates more questions than answers which are ignored simply because the rest of the season was so good. It seems that there was in fact two sets of Borg following the events of season two. Agnes and her hive exist separately to the Borg we know and fear. History has remained unchanged. Everything we saw happen still happened. It seems that when future Janeway from the final Voyager episode Endgame, infected the Collective and the transwarp network was completely destroyed, the Borg did not recover. The Borg Queen was all that was left of the entire Borg Collective, wounded, alone and crippled, waiting and planning like a spider at the centre of an isolated web on the ether. But as an aside, it is always a pleasure to bring back Alice Krige as her majesty. An absolute gem of a lady to meet and a welcome addition to any show.

Of course, this in itself conjures up several questions. Where was Agnes when the Borg kidnapped Picard and tried to assimilate Earth? Where was she when Voyager was alone in the Delta Quadrant? The point can be made that the timelines had to be protected given the horrible future witnessed in season two? Like Guinan in Time’s Arrow, Agnes knew the future and had to stay back from events in order for her own future to evolve correctly. Her Borg had to be there to become members of the Federation and stop the deadly anomaly. What happened to all the other Borg cubes that had broken free from the Collective, as seen in Descent and Unimatrix Zero. They have been forgotten yet would make cracking episodes to explore this aspect of the Trek universe even though it has been done through the characters of Seven and Picard and to an extent Hugh. However how does this PTSD apply to a species like a Vulcan or Klingon who believe it is a great dishonour? Could they adapt that to making it a new moment of glory in the life of a Klingon? There as a Borg civil war for Christ’s sake so were those rebels hunted down and killed or reassimilated or are they still out there? It’s all well and good using the Borg but for such a powerful enemy, each subsequent return could be a dilution of what made them so attractive in the first place. Picard season three teeters on implausibility with the Borg reveal and the exploration of the truth behind Picard’s brain anomaly which has been passed to his son Jack. However on the flip side, it does explain Picard hearing the Borg and knowing where to fire on the Borg sphere in First Contact. Additionally, where is the Agnes hive when the Earth was about to be destroyed? Their intervention would go a long way to becoming members of the Federation. I know thy needed the cast to be the heroes but not to mention Agnes is strange and reflects the swiss cheese writing of the first two seasons.

While this seems to be the end of the Borg as we know them, the possibility still remains to bring the Borg in with all these unanswered questions from previous episodes. But everyone is still rightly so basking in the Next Generation’s swansong to even really think about this. But who knows? The Enterprise F has a Borg captain and as we know, any ship named Enterprise really does go where no-one has gone before.

Former 80s Companion Returns to Doctor Who

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Former companion Melanie Bush played by Bonnie Langford will return to fght alongside the new Doctor Ncuti Gatwa and Ruby Sunday in 2024.

Bonnie was companion to both the 6th aand 7th Doctors Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy respectively back in the 80s. Her entrance was unique as she had no real debut sstory. Mel was plaucked from time during the Trial of a Time Lord as witness for the defence. She made her debut in Terror of the Vervoids, was there when the Doctor regenerated and left in Dragonfire to pave the way for Ace (Sophie Aldred). In her time she fought the Vervoids, Tetraps, the Rani, the Master, a dragon, kiler robots, killer pensioners, gangs and the Bannermen. She left the Doctor to go roaming the galay with rogue Sabolom Glitz played by the late Tony Selby. She returned in the Big Finish audio plays where Mel became a more mature character compared to her exercise fitness persona we first met.

Unofficially she first got involved with the Doctor in a Master story involving computers in the future. Mel was an expert with computers and lived in Pease Pottage. She returned in the Jodie Whittaker finale Power of the Doctor along with other old companions in a discussion group arranged by Graham (Bradley Walsh.)

Now she is back in a full blown adventure with the new Doctor and Ruby battling monsters once more. Her return is very welome indeed given how controversially she was treated by fans back then.

Bonnie Langford said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be bringing Melanie Bush back. To be part of the exceptional cast, crew and production team led by the force of nature that is Russell T Davies is a career highlight. I’m so privileged and proud to have been a member of the Doctor Who family since the classic era and to be included in the new generation is phenomenal.”

Showrunner, Russell T Davies said: “Open those TARDIS doors wide, because Bonnie’s back! What an honour, delight and hoot to welcome back the character of Melanie, after too long away. And this isn’t just a cameo, Bonnie is right in the thick of the action, battling monsters and chaos and cliffhangers, right at the Doctor’s side, just like the old days.”

Ahsoka “Begin” Trailer

Book Excerpt: Zombie Blues Killed By A Z Lister Zombie

By and copyright Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zoombie Blues

Cover by Conaire McMullan

Available now on Amazon

By our rules any active member on an away mission aka convention must always get a signature and photo from any actor etc that has been associated with the show. Failure to do so is a mark on our record. Inwardly I was desperately trying to send telepathic messages to the others to see what money we had left to maybe salvage the situation. This first contact was definitely not turning out like it should be.

Words began tumbling out of my mouth.

‘I didn’t realise you have one pink eye like a bunny rabbit. How weird.’

No sooner had I said it than I wished I could suck them back in. He didn’t look happy. Rising to his feet I suddenly got a real good look at him. His balding hair and sharp angular face did make him a good option for alien makeup. I still didn’t know him though.

His face almost seemed to morph as his skin became mottled, his eyes suddenly burning with rage. I glanced at Vicky’s boobs and was reminded of an episode of Outer Limits and the aliens with the big heads. With a scream Vicky and her alien boobs took off. Turning back I saw that the Z Lister that really never stood out in the background even as an alien and now was sat beside the god Jason hoping some of his fans would rub off on him, was coming over the table at me.

Time froze like going into the Speed Force as a hundred thoughts flashed through my mind. Was this part of his act to get promotion? Was it a hidden camera show? Was he really pissed off we didn’t get his autograph? Did he hate bunny rabbits?

Jay stood staring at the approaching beast, his mouth uttering something unintelligible. Prick Jay suddenly grabbed me and threw me at theZ Lister. I squealed like a firework as he bit me hard. Even Vicky didn’t do that that night in the hottub. The screech I uttered was so loud I thought it was coming from somewhere else. I knew two things right then: Jay is a cowardly prick and has an ass like Jabba the Hutt and the Z Lister was a zombie. Technically there a third: I squeal like the Alien Queen getting her egg tube ripped off. I knew that already though because I went Rambo like Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse. I really should have shaved my balls before pulling that zip up.

First of all, zombies have no place at a sci fi convention and second of all, they have no business biting the people that did belong there. As I hit the floor I saw Jay stand screaming in terror as security launched themselves at the marauding Z Lister.

He was gnashing and clawing at the guards catching them with his teeth and claws. My mind was trying to warn them to get away from him but no words came. I was burning up wishing I had a dermal regenerator. If the Doctor was here, things would be fine. I’d be healed in no time and Z Lister would face justice for his crimes. Hope would be restored to the future. But all I could hear was the scream of the planet; the scream of Mother Nature herself wailing for her wounded world. I begged her not to do this to me and told her a zombie apocalypse should never have begun at a sci fi classic convention because it’s just so wrong. That’s as disgusting as being a Star Wars fan and liking Yesterday’s Enterprise.

Sacrilege.