Title: "Cabs, Clicks, and Daleks"
(Names / locations…read morechanged to protect all parties involved)
In the rain-slicked city of Aldbourne," Aldbournetaxis," was known for two things: being absurdly discreet and getting people where they needed to be, no questions asked. Its driver was whispered about in online forums frequented by urban explorers, thrill-seekers, and those who trafficked in secrets. One sunny afternoon, two clients--Jane Harper, a freelance medical professional, and Malik Reyes, an engineer with a vendetta against red tape--sat in the back of Cab #09. The driver, silent man known only as "Nate", never spoke unless absolutely necessary. The car was spotless and smelled faintly of ozone. Their destination was a local yet an internationally known site in the area. It was declared "restricted" after a classified incident. Rumors swirled about alien tech, buried secrets, and energy anomalies.
Local law enforcement--especially the secretive "Blue Division"--kept the site under 24/7 watch. Which only made Jane more determined to get the shot. Nate said nothing as he guided the cab through back alleys, slipping past cameras and checkpoints like a ghost. At precisely 1:08 p.m., they reached a hidden breach in the outer fence, hidden beneath ivy and rust. Jane and Malik slipped through, cameras and Geiger counters at the ready. Nate stayed in the car, engine idling, watching the static twitch on a monitor mounted to the dash. Inside the compound, Jane found her jackpot: a strange, humming monolith etched with symbols no one had ever seen. As she snapped photo after photo, Malik paced nervously.
Then, everything went wrong.
From the shadows, a flicker of blue light burst into a full siren. A patrol drone had spotted them. But instead of cops, something far worse descended with a grinding, metallic roar. "EX-TER-MI-NATE!" Daleks. Rusty, screeching, and still absolutely lethal.
Jane and Malik ran, but the Daleks were faster than expected. One zapped Jane's camera to molten slag, another clipped Malik's ankle with a stun beam. They hit the ground hard. Just as a Dalek prepared to deliver its final "punishment for trespassing on temporal restricted ground," Nate appeared. The cab had moved--silently, impossibly--and was now positioned behind the Daleks.
With a flick of his hand, the cab's headlights flared, blasting out a pulse of blinding light. The Daleks shrieked; sensors scrambled. Nate pulled the two half-conscious passengers into the backseat.
The cab's tires didn't squeal--they whispered, skating across air as the vehicle lifted slightly above the ground, vanishing through what looked like an artificial tear in space. When Jane awoke, they were parked outside a pub, her camera--though melted--resting on her lap, with the memory card intact and perfectly preserved in a tiny vacuum-sealed bag. Malik's ankle had been wrapped in a compress with a note that said, simply:
"Be careful with doors."
Nate had disappeared.
Later, when Jane tried to upload the photos, every image of the monolith turned to static. Every shot of the Daleks blurred out like heat haze. But the final picture--a grainy shot of Cab #09 in midair, with the golden shimmer of a rift behind it--remained.
Jane never did find Nate again, but every now and then, in the odd corners of the internet, a story would surface. Of a taxi that ran on no gas, answered to no dispatcher, and appeared when people needed to go... where no one should. And always, there'd be that same message left behind:
"Fare collected. Memories optional."
The Taxi driver knows who he is, he was a special investigator... his passengers were two Americans...and the Dalek was real.
When you need a cab, you know who to call.
