Post by Fitz Kreiner on Jun 12, 2008 21:57:29 GMT
“Will you-?” The Doctor said, looking up at his future self on the scanner.
“Later.” He said. “Sending this message back to you is taking a lot of energy, I don’t kno-” The sound died in a hiss of static.
The Doctor glanced back up to the picture. The image was slowly being taken over by static, until it had gone completely. In frustration, the Doctor slammed the edge of the console with his fist. “My only link to me.” He sighed before stopping and looking up. “Of course!”
Turning back to the console, a look of triumph on his face, the Doctor almost danced round the console as he twisted dials and threw switches. “If it started from here, then it will branch out from me, now. Of course! How could I have been so slow?” The Doctor paused, looking from Sarah to Dodo, still unconscious. “Talking to yourself again, Doctor? This time only the one of you. So it would seem, Doctor. Terrible habit. First sign of madness they say.”
The Doctor was stopped in his self rambling by a groan coming from Dodo. “Doctor?”
“Yes, its ok, I’m here.” He said softly, dashing over.
Opening her eyes, Dodo looked up at the stranger looking down at her, smiling. “Wh- who are you?”
“It’s me, it’s the Doctor.”
“You’re not the Doctor. Steven! Steven where are you?” Dodo cried out, trying to back away from the stranger crouched before her.
“Dodo, Dodo, Dodo. Calm down.” The Doctor said. “I know I don’t look like I did, but I can promise you it’s me. Remember, the Refusians? Toymaker? Wyatt Earp and Johnny Ringo in the old West? I was a lot older and grumpier, white hair.”
Dodo stared at the strange man. He was dressed in a similar old fashioned style to the Doctor, but he was much younger, and looked totally different. “You can’t be the Doctor, you look nothing like him. What have you done with him? And Steven?”
“Dodo, I am the Doctor. I’ve just regenerated a few times since we last met.” The Doctor paused. “I know it’s not easy to understand, but something has happened that has pulled you through time to me here, and sent another of my friends back to your version of me.”
“Why should I trust you?” Dodo said, pushing herself to a sitting position on the sofa.
“Why did you trust me on the Ark on the way to Refusis II?” The Doctor replied, getting to his feet. “I can’t make you trust me, but I am the only way to get you back to my first self.”
Cautiously getting to her feet Dodo followed the Doctor to the console “So if you’re the Doctor, how come you don’t look like him?”
“It’s called regeneration.” The Doctor smiled down at Dodo. “Basically, it just renews my body when I’m on the verge of death, gives me a new lease of life.”
“And who’s she then?”
The Doctor looked back to Dodo. She was pointing towards the prone body of Sarah lying across the other sofa in the console room. “Sarah Jane Smith. She also travelled with me, after you.”
“Oh.” Dodo turned round and looked at the Doctor, who was busy again at the console. Gingerly she reached out to touch the wooden surface of the console, readying to draw her hand back, almost anticipating the Doctor turning round and snapping. Surprisingly, the Doctor continued with what he was doing, seemingly ignoring her. “What are you doing?” She asked after what seemed like many silent minutes.
“Trying to trace the spatial rift that caused this mess. It hit me now, and branched out from here, somehow bringing both you and Sarah back here to me.” The Doctor turned to face Dodo, a grin on his face. “But of course, as you were with me,” Pausing, the Doctor ran round the console and grabbed Dodo by the shoulders. “Tell me, what had just happened, before you woke up here? Where had we just come from?”
Taken slightly aback by the Doctors actions, Dodo stammered before stepping backwards from his grip. “You don’t act like the Doctor.” She said.
“Dodo, please, this is very important. What had just happened?”
“Well, uhm,” She stammered, running a hand through her short cropped hair. “The Wild West. I was just putting mine and Stevens clothes back in the wardrobe when there was this bright flash. Then I woke up and you were looking over me.”
“A-ha!” The Doctor cried, making Dodo jump, before rushing back to the console. “Tombstone, Arizona, the twenty sixth of October eighteen eighty one! Dodo, you are brilliant, thank you.”
Dumbstruck, Dodo watched the bizarre young man, claiming to be the Doctor as he dashed about the console, humming to himself, flicking switches and twisting dials.
*
The Doctor was stood still, his hands deep into his pockets, as he stared at the scanner screen thinking. Emerging from deeper inside the TARDIS, Harry loudly dumped some blankets on the floor.
“It’s a good job we’ve never needed these in an emergency,” He said, straightening up. “They were jolly far away from the control room.” Looking across, he saw the Doctor hadn’t moved an inch since he had left. Sighing to himself, he picked up one of the blankets and unfolded it, covering Jess with it.
“I’m terribly sorry, Harry, I was just thinking.” The Doctor said, rounding the console to stand over Harry and Jess. “There must be a way of tracing the energy that took Sarah and deposited her here.” The Doctor nodded down to Jess. “Perhaps if we knew where she came from, that might be able to give me more of an idea.” Pausing, the Doctor slapped the side of his face with his hand. “Ah! Of course, it’s so simple. If she was travelling with me, it would simply be a matter of checking the readings from the moment she appeared and tracing them back to their source. It should be a two way transfer, if it took Sarah.”
A groan from the floor grabbed Harry and the Doctors attention. Crouching back down beside Jess, Harry gently stroked her hair. “It’s OK old thing.” He said as her eyes slowly fluttered open and focussed on him.
“Harry?” The barely audible question was definitely one of surprise.
Astonished, Harry looked up at the Doctor, who was looking down at them both. “She seems to know you, Harry.” He said as he crouched down beside her, opposite Harry.
“Doctor?”
The mention of his name made the Doctor look back up at Harry, eyes wide.
“She recognises you, too.” Harry replied.
“Well it’s possible.” The Doctor said, “After all, I’ve not had this body long.”
“Easy, easy old thing.” Harry said suddenly, helping Jess as she struggled up to a sitting position.
“Well, you seem to hold us at a disadvantage.” The Doctor smiled at Jess as she focussed on him. “You know us, but we don’t know you.”
“My name’s Jess.” Breathing deeply, Jess tried to clear her head and start thinking. She’d somehow recognised Harry. It was definitely his voice and looking at him, she could see the resemblance to the man she knew about twenty five years into this man’s future.
“That’s because we’ve not met yet.” Jess said before pausing. “But we just have. Well, for you. I think.”
The Doctor smiled as he stood back up. “Temporal mechanics.” He said, turning back to the console. “You were travelling with me?”
“Yes. But you look a lot different.” Jess said as Harry helped her to her feet, a look of concern on his face. “Younger.”
“What about me?” Harry asked.
“You shouldn’t know too much about your own future, Harry.” The Doctor said, looking round from the console.
“But what about-?” Harry started before being cut off by a fast response from the Doctor.
“It’s different for Time Lords, especially in situations like this.”
“Don’t worry.” Jess smiled, attempting to stand on her own now. “We’ve just met you on Earth. “I’m not allowed to talk to you about what happens, but you’re looking well.”
“Well, that’s good, at least.” Harry beamed.
Jess smiled at him. He had seemed very old fashioned when she had first met him, yet here, twenty five years before they would meet for the first time, from her point of view, he seemed to have a very different charm.
“Do you know what’s happening?”
Having said the same thing at exactly the same time Jess and Harry looked at one another and laughed.
“It’s not exactly a laughing matter.”
The tone of the Doctors voice caused Harry and Jess’s faces to fall into worry. Together they walked over to where the Doctor was standing at the console. The Doctor was looking at an image he had pulled up to the scanner screen. It showed a faded line travelling from a strong white spot to a pulsing wave. Two more faded lines were emanating from the wave and going off the screen.
“What is it?” Harry asked.
“That wave is the cause of the trouble and those lines are the energy traces that deposited you here, Jess.” The Doctor paused and looked at her, his face deadly serious.
“Then can’t we track it and get me back?”
“That’s the problem,” The Doctor replied, pausing dramatically. “The lines are fading because the energy residue is fading. If was can’t get back to the source before the lines fade, we could lose them forever.”
“Later.” He said. “Sending this message back to you is taking a lot of energy, I don’t kno-” The sound died in a hiss of static.
The Doctor glanced back up to the picture. The image was slowly being taken over by static, until it had gone completely. In frustration, the Doctor slammed the edge of the console with his fist. “My only link to me.” He sighed before stopping and looking up. “Of course!”
Turning back to the console, a look of triumph on his face, the Doctor almost danced round the console as he twisted dials and threw switches. “If it started from here, then it will branch out from me, now. Of course! How could I have been so slow?” The Doctor paused, looking from Sarah to Dodo, still unconscious. “Talking to yourself again, Doctor? This time only the one of you. So it would seem, Doctor. Terrible habit. First sign of madness they say.”
The Doctor was stopped in his self rambling by a groan coming from Dodo. “Doctor?”
“Yes, its ok, I’m here.” He said softly, dashing over.
Opening her eyes, Dodo looked up at the stranger looking down at her, smiling. “Wh- who are you?”
“It’s me, it’s the Doctor.”
“You’re not the Doctor. Steven! Steven where are you?” Dodo cried out, trying to back away from the stranger crouched before her.
“Dodo, Dodo, Dodo. Calm down.” The Doctor said. “I know I don’t look like I did, but I can promise you it’s me. Remember, the Refusians? Toymaker? Wyatt Earp and Johnny Ringo in the old West? I was a lot older and grumpier, white hair.”
Dodo stared at the strange man. He was dressed in a similar old fashioned style to the Doctor, but he was much younger, and looked totally different. “You can’t be the Doctor, you look nothing like him. What have you done with him? And Steven?”
“Dodo, I am the Doctor. I’ve just regenerated a few times since we last met.” The Doctor paused. “I know it’s not easy to understand, but something has happened that has pulled you through time to me here, and sent another of my friends back to your version of me.”
“Why should I trust you?” Dodo said, pushing herself to a sitting position on the sofa.
“Why did you trust me on the Ark on the way to Refusis II?” The Doctor replied, getting to his feet. “I can’t make you trust me, but I am the only way to get you back to my first self.”
Cautiously getting to her feet Dodo followed the Doctor to the console “So if you’re the Doctor, how come you don’t look like him?”
“It’s called regeneration.” The Doctor smiled down at Dodo. “Basically, it just renews my body when I’m on the verge of death, gives me a new lease of life.”
“And who’s she then?”
The Doctor looked back to Dodo. She was pointing towards the prone body of Sarah lying across the other sofa in the console room. “Sarah Jane Smith. She also travelled with me, after you.”
“Oh.” Dodo turned round and looked at the Doctor, who was busy again at the console. Gingerly she reached out to touch the wooden surface of the console, readying to draw her hand back, almost anticipating the Doctor turning round and snapping. Surprisingly, the Doctor continued with what he was doing, seemingly ignoring her. “What are you doing?” She asked after what seemed like many silent minutes.
“Trying to trace the spatial rift that caused this mess. It hit me now, and branched out from here, somehow bringing both you and Sarah back here to me.” The Doctor turned to face Dodo, a grin on his face. “But of course, as you were with me,” Pausing, the Doctor ran round the console and grabbed Dodo by the shoulders. “Tell me, what had just happened, before you woke up here? Where had we just come from?”
Taken slightly aback by the Doctors actions, Dodo stammered before stepping backwards from his grip. “You don’t act like the Doctor.” She said.
“Dodo, please, this is very important. What had just happened?”
“Well, uhm,” She stammered, running a hand through her short cropped hair. “The Wild West. I was just putting mine and Stevens clothes back in the wardrobe when there was this bright flash. Then I woke up and you were looking over me.”
“A-ha!” The Doctor cried, making Dodo jump, before rushing back to the console. “Tombstone, Arizona, the twenty sixth of October eighteen eighty one! Dodo, you are brilliant, thank you.”
Dumbstruck, Dodo watched the bizarre young man, claiming to be the Doctor as he dashed about the console, humming to himself, flicking switches and twisting dials.
*
The Doctor was stood still, his hands deep into his pockets, as he stared at the scanner screen thinking. Emerging from deeper inside the TARDIS, Harry loudly dumped some blankets on the floor.
“It’s a good job we’ve never needed these in an emergency,” He said, straightening up. “They were jolly far away from the control room.” Looking across, he saw the Doctor hadn’t moved an inch since he had left. Sighing to himself, he picked up one of the blankets and unfolded it, covering Jess with it.
“I’m terribly sorry, Harry, I was just thinking.” The Doctor said, rounding the console to stand over Harry and Jess. “There must be a way of tracing the energy that took Sarah and deposited her here.” The Doctor nodded down to Jess. “Perhaps if we knew where she came from, that might be able to give me more of an idea.” Pausing, the Doctor slapped the side of his face with his hand. “Ah! Of course, it’s so simple. If she was travelling with me, it would simply be a matter of checking the readings from the moment she appeared and tracing them back to their source. It should be a two way transfer, if it took Sarah.”
A groan from the floor grabbed Harry and the Doctors attention. Crouching back down beside Jess, Harry gently stroked her hair. “It’s OK old thing.” He said as her eyes slowly fluttered open and focussed on him.
“Harry?” The barely audible question was definitely one of surprise.
Astonished, Harry looked up at the Doctor, who was looking down at them both. “She seems to know you, Harry.” He said as he crouched down beside her, opposite Harry.
“Doctor?”
The mention of his name made the Doctor look back up at Harry, eyes wide.
“She recognises you, too.” Harry replied.
“Well it’s possible.” The Doctor said, “After all, I’ve not had this body long.”
“Easy, easy old thing.” Harry said suddenly, helping Jess as she struggled up to a sitting position.
“Well, you seem to hold us at a disadvantage.” The Doctor smiled at Jess as she focussed on him. “You know us, but we don’t know you.”
“My name’s Jess.” Breathing deeply, Jess tried to clear her head and start thinking. She’d somehow recognised Harry. It was definitely his voice and looking at him, she could see the resemblance to the man she knew about twenty five years into this man’s future.
“That’s because we’ve not met yet.” Jess said before pausing. “But we just have. Well, for you. I think.”
The Doctor smiled as he stood back up. “Temporal mechanics.” He said, turning back to the console. “You were travelling with me?”
“Yes. But you look a lot different.” Jess said as Harry helped her to her feet, a look of concern on his face. “Younger.”
“What about me?” Harry asked.
“You shouldn’t know too much about your own future, Harry.” The Doctor said, looking round from the console.
“But what about-?” Harry started before being cut off by a fast response from the Doctor.
“It’s different for Time Lords, especially in situations like this.”
“Don’t worry.” Jess smiled, attempting to stand on her own now. “We’ve just met you on Earth. “I’m not allowed to talk to you about what happens, but you’re looking well.”
“Well, that’s good, at least.” Harry beamed.
Jess smiled at him. He had seemed very old fashioned when she had first met him, yet here, twenty five years before they would meet for the first time, from her point of view, he seemed to have a very different charm.
“Do you know what’s happening?”
Having said the same thing at exactly the same time Jess and Harry looked at one another and laughed.
“It’s not exactly a laughing matter.”
The tone of the Doctors voice caused Harry and Jess’s faces to fall into worry. Together they walked over to where the Doctor was standing at the console. The Doctor was looking at an image he had pulled up to the scanner screen. It showed a faded line travelling from a strong white spot to a pulsing wave. Two more faded lines were emanating from the wave and going off the screen.
“What is it?” Harry asked.
“That wave is the cause of the trouble and those lines are the energy traces that deposited you here, Jess.” The Doctor paused and looked at her, his face deadly serious.
“Then can’t we track it and get me back?”
“That’s the problem,” The Doctor replied, pausing dramatically. “The lines are fading because the energy residue is fading. If was can’t get back to the source before the lines fade, we could lose them forever.”