Post by Fitz Kreiner on Jun 25, 2008 15:27:20 GMT
“This isn’t one of these threats to the universe thing, like that Omega chap, is it?” The Brigadier sighed. “Because that took some explaining away.”
The Doctor laughed. “No, this shouldn’t have to involve you, or any of UNIT. I’ll just need to try and work at getting myselves back together again and each of us back to where we belong. We’ll be out of your hair in no time.” He smiled, clapping the Brigadier on the back before turning to Steven and Tom. “Right, Steven, will you get me the astral map from the TARDIS? And Tom, erm, clear that bench of everything that we don’t need to make a directional temporal beacon.”
Nodding, the two men turned to carry out the tasks the Doctor had just given them as the Doctor turned and started opening and rummaging through cupboards. Slightly bemused, the Brigadier watched on.
“Right, well, I’ll get Benton to lay on some coffee.” He muttered almost feebly, turning on his heel and leaving the lab.
Jess and Harry flung themselves at the console for something to hang on to as the TARDIS seemingly lurched as the central column started to rise and fall and the unmistakeable sound of the TARDIS engines started deep in the bowels of the time ship.
“I say, what the devil’s happening?” Harry cried out as his feet slipped from under him, causing him to bang his chin on the console.
“I don’t know.” Jess managed to reply as a flash of light from the central column caused her to shield her eyes.
“The Monk’s done something inside his TARDIS that’s shot us back out through time.”
Harry and Jess looked up as the velvet coated figure dashed about the console, his hands darting over the controls, almost blurs, the curls on his head bobbing as he looked about as he worked.
“Although, at the moment, I’m just trying to work out whether I’m the only one of the four of us has been displaced and where, if anywhere this TARDIS is going.” The Doctor said before looking up. “Good to see you again Jess. You too Harry.” He beamed. “I see certain things are starting to fall into place here.”
“What things?” Harry asked as the Doctor returned his attention to the console.
“I think he means what recently happened to us, thats in your future.
“Ah, right ho.” Harry said, ducking out of the way as the Doctor dashed passed, his attention still fixed on the consol. “He’s yours I take it then?”
“I’m nobodies.” The Doctor said, looking up abruptly. “Now I wonder if I can track the source of the holo-image back to the Monks’ TARDIS.”
“Monk?” Jess asked.
“Hmm.” The Doctor confirmed.
“Don’t tell me we’re up against a time travelling version of the Spanish Inquisition.”
The Doctor paused and looked up at Jess, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
“Well, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!” Jess chuckled looking at the deadpan faces of Harry and the Doctor. “Y’know, Monty Python? ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition’!” She said in her best Michael Palin voice. “Monk? Weren’t the Inquisition monks and priests and that?”
“Oh, that Ministry of Silly Walks lot?” Harry chuckled. “So what, is he some part of an intergalactic inquisition thingy?”
“I think we’re confusing pop culture with reality again.” The Doctor said. “The Monk is a Time Lord, and out after some revenge which has kind of ensnared four of me.”
“Why a monk?” Jess asked.
“I don’t quite know. When I first met him outside of Gallifrey, it was 1066 and he was trying to destroy a Viking fleet so that Harold won the Battle of Hastings as opposed to William the Conqueror.” The Doctor explained as he set back about the console. “He’d set up base in a monastery and set himself up as a monk. Why he’s keeping up the Monk act, is anyone’s guess. Maybe he has set himself up with some intergalactic religion. There are several that dress in monk’s habits.”
“You know all the best people.” Jess teased, gently elbowing the Doctor in the ribs.
“I’m friends with all the best people.” The Doctor said smiling down at Jess and then to Harry. “I just happen to know some rogue sorts.” The Doctor trailed off and stared up into space. “Now if he’s trying to get revenge for my stealing his directional unit, what would be an appropriate act of revenge? I just need to try and get inside his mind.” He muttered to himself.
“He still talks to himself then?” Harry chuckled quietly to Jess.
“Oh yes.” Jess smiled. “Hang on!” She suddenly cried out. “Doctor, this directional unit, what is it?”
“Hmm? Oh, it’s a component that gives directional control over the TARDIS and when it’s functioning properly can direct you to anywhere and any when.” The Doctor replied. “And before you say anything, it sometimes takes the fun out of travelling if you know when and where you’re going to arrive.” He hastily added defensively.
“Well then, it’s simple.” Jess said. “You took his direction away from him, and so he’s taking direction away from you. Splitting us all up through time like this.”
“Jess, you are brilliant!” The Doctor grinned, gripping Jess’s shoulders before dashing back to the console.
“But if he’s doing this?” Harry asked. “Can we not turn it back on him?”
“Yes, somehow.” The Doctor replied. “I just need to know where and when he is and what energies he’s used to engineer this whole shebang.” The Doctor paused and looked at Jess, a confused look on his face. “Shebang? I’m starting to sound like Tom!”
Jess couldn’t help but start laughing at the look of sheer bemusement on the Doctors face. He looked like a little boy who’d just been told that Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were all one of the same person.
“Anyway,” The Doctor said, clapping then rubbing his hands together. “If I just do this,” With a twist of his wrist, the scanner screen came back to life and the Doctor smiled back at Jess and Harry.
“Sorry, it’s a bit beyond me, I’m afraid. How about you, old thing?” Harry said looking to Jess who merely shrugged. “You’ll have to explain it to us Doctor.”
“I’ve re-traced the temporal traces coming from the nulled region of space, as this version of the TARDIS was the first there, it makes it easier. As there are only two traces coming away from that region, it stands to reason that there are two of me still there, which, if they’re getting along this time, should make things easier.”
“If they’re getting along?” Harry asked.
“Yes, well,” The Doctor said slowly, scratching his head. “My earlier selves, as headstrong as they are, had a tendency to not get along so well. They tended to bicker quite a bit. But still, I’m sure that they can resend the recall signal.”
“Bicker?” Jess asked. “But they’re you. How can you argue with yourself?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised.” The Doctor replied. “Do you really think it’d all be smooth sailing if you were to meet and older or younger version of yourself?”
“Well, erm.” Jess floundered, thinking it over.
“Yes, but surely-?” Harry stammered.
“Human lives are a lot shorter than those of a Time Lord, but even now, are the pair of you the same as you were when you were five? Or ten? Or fifteen? Change is a large part of life. Now try to imagine that on the scale of a Time Lord, someone who can live over ten times longer than the oldest a human can get. A being which can regenerate their entire body and mind.” The Doctor stopped and looked at his two friends.
Jess and Harry stopped, open mouthed and looked at each other. “Well, I suppose-” Harry began before trailing off, not really knowing where he was going.
“Quite.” The Doctor said, sensing the mood that the console room was fast in danger of going. “But don’t worry. I’ve been in worse scrapes before. We all have.”
“Always look on the bright side of life.” Jess sang softly.
“Indeed. And once this is all sorted, we can do so again.”
A soft chuckling laughter seemed to fill the console room suddenly, causing the Doctor, Jess and Harry to spin around looking for the source.
“Doctor, that light for the time track thingy is on again.” Harry said, pointing to the Time Curve Indicator, glowing away softly on the console.
Checking readings the Doctor quickly looked up at the scanner and flicked another switch. “I should have guessed it was you following me earlier.” He said.
“Who’s he talking to?” Harry whispered to Jess.
Just as she was about to answer, and hazy blue image materialised in the centre of the console room. A middle aged man wearing a monks habit, his hands enfolded in the sleeves of his robes.
“Good morning my children.” He said, almost in a mocking tone.
“Thank you. But we don’t need the monks act.” The Doctor said.
“Oh, come come Doctor.” The Monk replied. “So hostile.”
“This from the man who is doing his best to scatter aspects of my life throughout time, and why? Just because I borrowed your directional unit in order to stop a Dalek invasion?”
“Borrowed, Doctor?” The Monk queried. “Borrowing would indicate that you intended to return it. Instead, you reconfigured my Chameleon Circuit so that the Daleks would hunt me down.”
Upon hearing this, Harry and Jess turned to look inquisitively at the Doctor.
“Just to confuse them and allow me the time to escape. I had to warn the solar system. Look, shouldn’t you be having this conversation with my first self as opposed to me? After all, it was that version of me at the time.” The Doctor said.
“A Dalek time machine hunted me, Doctor. Relentlessly. You know more than anyone what they’re like. They believed that I was you. It took years for me to get back to Gallifrey and get a new Directional Unit. That allowed me to finally lose them into the singularity of a black hole. And now, it’s your turn.”
With a flicker, the hologram of the Monk disappeared and the TARDIS lurched, plunging the console room into pitch blackness.
The Doctor laughed. “No, this shouldn’t have to involve you, or any of UNIT. I’ll just need to try and work at getting myselves back together again and each of us back to where we belong. We’ll be out of your hair in no time.” He smiled, clapping the Brigadier on the back before turning to Steven and Tom. “Right, Steven, will you get me the astral map from the TARDIS? And Tom, erm, clear that bench of everything that we don’t need to make a directional temporal beacon.”
Nodding, the two men turned to carry out the tasks the Doctor had just given them as the Doctor turned and started opening and rummaging through cupboards. Slightly bemused, the Brigadier watched on.
“Right, well, I’ll get Benton to lay on some coffee.” He muttered almost feebly, turning on his heel and leaving the lab.
*
Jess and Harry flung themselves at the console for something to hang on to as the TARDIS seemingly lurched as the central column started to rise and fall and the unmistakeable sound of the TARDIS engines started deep in the bowels of the time ship.
“I say, what the devil’s happening?” Harry cried out as his feet slipped from under him, causing him to bang his chin on the console.
“I don’t know.” Jess managed to reply as a flash of light from the central column caused her to shield her eyes.
“The Monk’s done something inside his TARDIS that’s shot us back out through time.”
Harry and Jess looked up as the velvet coated figure dashed about the console, his hands darting over the controls, almost blurs, the curls on his head bobbing as he looked about as he worked.
“Although, at the moment, I’m just trying to work out whether I’m the only one of the four of us has been displaced and where, if anywhere this TARDIS is going.” The Doctor said before looking up. “Good to see you again Jess. You too Harry.” He beamed. “I see certain things are starting to fall into place here.”
“What things?” Harry asked as the Doctor returned his attention to the console.
“I think he means what recently happened to us, thats in your future.
“Ah, right ho.” Harry said, ducking out of the way as the Doctor dashed passed, his attention still fixed on the consol. “He’s yours I take it then?”
“I’m nobodies.” The Doctor said, looking up abruptly. “Now I wonder if I can track the source of the holo-image back to the Monks’ TARDIS.”
“Monk?” Jess asked.
“Hmm.” The Doctor confirmed.
“Don’t tell me we’re up against a time travelling version of the Spanish Inquisition.”
The Doctor paused and looked up at Jess, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
“Well, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!” Jess chuckled looking at the deadpan faces of Harry and the Doctor. “Y’know, Monty Python? ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition’!” She said in her best Michael Palin voice. “Monk? Weren’t the Inquisition monks and priests and that?”
“Oh, that Ministry of Silly Walks lot?” Harry chuckled. “So what, is he some part of an intergalactic inquisition thingy?”
“I think we’re confusing pop culture with reality again.” The Doctor said. “The Monk is a Time Lord, and out after some revenge which has kind of ensnared four of me.”
“Why a monk?” Jess asked.
“I don’t quite know. When I first met him outside of Gallifrey, it was 1066 and he was trying to destroy a Viking fleet so that Harold won the Battle of Hastings as opposed to William the Conqueror.” The Doctor explained as he set back about the console. “He’d set up base in a monastery and set himself up as a monk. Why he’s keeping up the Monk act, is anyone’s guess. Maybe he has set himself up with some intergalactic religion. There are several that dress in monk’s habits.”
“You know all the best people.” Jess teased, gently elbowing the Doctor in the ribs.
“I’m friends with all the best people.” The Doctor said smiling down at Jess and then to Harry. “I just happen to know some rogue sorts.” The Doctor trailed off and stared up into space. “Now if he’s trying to get revenge for my stealing his directional unit, what would be an appropriate act of revenge? I just need to try and get inside his mind.” He muttered to himself.
“He still talks to himself then?” Harry chuckled quietly to Jess.
“Oh yes.” Jess smiled. “Hang on!” She suddenly cried out. “Doctor, this directional unit, what is it?”
“Hmm? Oh, it’s a component that gives directional control over the TARDIS and when it’s functioning properly can direct you to anywhere and any when.” The Doctor replied. “And before you say anything, it sometimes takes the fun out of travelling if you know when and where you’re going to arrive.” He hastily added defensively.
“Well then, it’s simple.” Jess said. “You took his direction away from him, and so he’s taking direction away from you. Splitting us all up through time like this.”
“Jess, you are brilliant!” The Doctor grinned, gripping Jess’s shoulders before dashing back to the console.
“But if he’s doing this?” Harry asked. “Can we not turn it back on him?”
“Yes, somehow.” The Doctor replied. “I just need to know where and when he is and what energies he’s used to engineer this whole shebang.” The Doctor paused and looked at Jess, a confused look on his face. “Shebang? I’m starting to sound like Tom!”
Jess couldn’t help but start laughing at the look of sheer bemusement on the Doctors face. He looked like a little boy who’d just been told that Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were all one of the same person.
“Anyway,” The Doctor said, clapping then rubbing his hands together. “If I just do this,” With a twist of his wrist, the scanner screen came back to life and the Doctor smiled back at Jess and Harry.
“Sorry, it’s a bit beyond me, I’m afraid. How about you, old thing?” Harry said looking to Jess who merely shrugged. “You’ll have to explain it to us Doctor.”
“I’ve re-traced the temporal traces coming from the nulled region of space, as this version of the TARDIS was the first there, it makes it easier. As there are only two traces coming away from that region, it stands to reason that there are two of me still there, which, if they’re getting along this time, should make things easier.”
“If they’re getting along?” Harry asked.
“Yes, well,” The Doctor said slowly, scratching his head. “My earlier selves, as headstrong as they are, had a tendency to not get along so well. They tended to bicker quite a bit. But still, I’m sure that they can resend the recall signal.”
“Bicker?” Jess asked. “But they’re you. How can you argue with yourself?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised.” The Doctor replied. “Do you really think it’d all be smooth sailing if you were to meet and older or younger version of yourself?”
“Well, erm.” Jess floundered, thinking it over.
“Yes, but surely-?” Harry stammered.
“Human lives are a lot shorter than those of a Time Lord, but even now, are the pair of you the same as you were when you were five? Or ten? Or fifteen? Change is a large part of life. Now try to imagine that on the scale of a Time Lord, someone who can live over ten times longer than the oldest a human can get. A being which can regenerate their entire body and mind.” The Doctor stopped and looked at his two friends.
Jess and Harry stopped, open mouthed and looked at each other. “Well, I suppose-” Harry began before trailing off, not really knowing where he was going.
“Quite.” The Doctor said, sensing the mood that the console room was fast in danger of going. “But don’t worry. I’ve been in worse scrapes before. We all have.”
“Always look on the bright side of life.” Jess sang softly.
“Indeed. And once this is all sorted, we can do so again.”
A soft chuckling laughter seemed to fill the console room suddenly, causing the Doctor, Jess and Harry to spin around looking for the source.
“Doctor, that light for the time track thingy is on again.” Harry said, pointing to the Time Curve Indicator, glowing away softly on the console.
Checking readings the Doctor quickly looked up at the scanner and flicked another switch. “I should have guessed it was you following me earlier.” He said.
“Who’s he talking to?” Harry whispered to Jess.
Just as she was about to answer, and hazy blue image materialised in the centre of the console room. A middle aged man wearing a monks habit, his hands enfolded in the sleeves of his robes.
“Good morning my children.” He said, almost in a mocking tone.
“Thank you. But we don’t need the monks act.” The Doctor said.
“Oh, come come Doctor.” The Monk replied. “So hostile.”
“This from the man who is doing his best to scatter aspects of my life throughout time, and why? Just because I borrowed your directional unit in order to stop a Dalek invasion?”
“Borrowed, Doctor?” The Monk queried. “Borrowing would indicate that you intended to return it. Instead, you reconfigured my Chameleon Circuit so that the Daleks would hunt me down.”
Upon hearing this, Harry and Jess turned to look inquisitively at the Doctor.
“Just to confuse them and allow me the time to escape. I had to warn the solar system. Look, shouldn’t you be having this conversation with my first self as opposed to me? After all, it was that version of me at the time.” The Doctor said.
“A Dalek time machine hunted me, Doctor. Relentlessly. You know more than anyone what they’re like. They believed that I was you. It took years for me to get back to Gallifrey and get a new Directional Unit. That allowed me to finally lose them into the singularity of a black hole. And now, it’s your turn.”
With a flicker, the hologram of the Monk disappeared and the TARDIS lurched, plunging the console room into pitch blackness.
