Chapter 1

The roar of the TARDIS engines filled the control room as the Doctor moved hurriedly over the panels. The blinding white of the room was offset by the colorful scarf and deep brown coat in which he wore. He had a look of complete concentration on his face. He was off to see the topaz mountains of a planet long forgotten to anyone but a Time Lord. The people of the planet had since vanished, though no one could say why. The sheer amount of crystalline formations on the planet alone made him believe that they were probably wiped out for mining purposes, but in all the knowledge at his fingertips, it was never recorded that anyone went there. It was strange, but sounded like a true mystery to be sure.

It had been a short time since he left Sarah Jane. The situation on Gallifrey didn't allow him the ability to travel with a human companion. He could go back for her, he more than had the ability. No, it was time to look forward. He was sure that when the need arose that he would go back to Earth, he'd run into her again. She was always on top of situations. Now was the time to explore and not have to worry about someone running off into danger when he couldn't be there to get them out. It was strictly on his former companion's consciences to stay out of trouble or not. The topaz mountains awaited him, and he looked forward to seeing them.

The engine roared until the TARDIS decided to rematerialize. The process was quick and the journey came to an abrupt halt. He looked at the controls, "This isn't right. I'm nowhere near Korbetam IV."

The Doctor scanned over the terrain of the planet, trying to get a fix on where he was. The TARDIS recognized it as a barren rock planet. The only intrinsic value of it was the unending source of gravel that it could provide to the galaxy. "A rock quarry, how unexpected. I suppose there will be no tea provided at wherever I'm going." With little left to say, he opened the doors and ventured out into the rocks.

His hat flopped in the breeze as he made his way around the uneven ground. The fog rolled over, which made it difficult to see at best. He studied the ground to make sure that no landmines were present. The last time that he was in this similar situation, he was on Skaro, the homeworld of the Daleks. Harry Sullivan saved him from a landmine, but there was no Harry here. Just him and whatever else was out there. In the fog he could see a shadow. The flutter of cloth and the basic shape of the shadow revealed that much like the last time, there was a Time Lord to meet face to face. There was an unease about meeting other Time Lords to begin with, but this meeting was particularly troubling. It was an overall feeling of loathing that he couldn't shake. He wanted to tell the meddling Gallifreyan to leave him alone and then leave, but curiosity got the better of him. He had to know what was so important that the topaz mountains had to wait.

"Ah, Doctor. I see you have finally arrived."

"Yes, it seems that I have. Do you mind telling me why I've arrived here and why it seems the Time Lords will not allow me to continue my affairs unabated? More importantly, who are you?"

"I am the Keeper of the Matrix, Doctor. I have vital information that the Time Lords do not wish shared with you, but I feel it pertinent that you know."

"The Keeper of the Matrix wouldn't be allowed just to take a little trip to warn me. They'd know you were missing, and come looking for you. Your return would be scrutinized by everyone. Who are you really?"

"I am what I say, Doctor. I know of the changes that you made to the Dalek timeline. I also know that it leads to much greater dangers, and that my dear Doctor will threaten all that we know."

"Is that so, tell me more." His eyes gleaned with anticipation to know what this fellow Time Lord had to say. He still didn't trust the figure, but the Doctor knew that whatever he wanted he had to give him some of the true details.

"The Daleks have taken your action as an act of war. A war that will threaten all of Gallifrey and the universe itself. This war will be great and the devastation massive. However, one figure will come and change the tide of this war, but at a great cost. He must be persuaded or stopped before he can use the penultimate device and cause the biggest chain of events of destruction that the universe will ever have witnessed."

"And you believe that I have the power to convince this one to stop?"

"Not alone, Doctor. Never alone. In order that you might stem the tide of the very thing the Time Lords wished to avoid in the first place, you must break the laws of time and cross your own timeline. It's the only way that this threat will be persuaded from taking this course of action."

"Cross my own timeline? Are you mad? You bring this news, knowing the Time Lords will bring the full power at their disposal upon us and then ask me to break the first rule of time in the process?"

"Will you do it, Doctor?"

"Yes, but in my own way. I shall investigate your claims further, but if I find that I am being lied to, I will take you to Gallifrey myself. What are the coordinates I need to go to?"

"I have fed them into your TARDIS, you will be ready to take off at your will."

"My will, eh? Somehow I very much doubt it." The Doctor turned to leave, he stopped and said loudly, "Whatever your true purpose is, I will discover it. If you know anything about me, you know that."

"Yes, I know. More than you understand Doctor." With that the Doctor started to walk the trail back to the TARDIS.

He went over in his head if he'd ever seen that face before. He know he hadn't. He was sure of it. Still, there was a familiarity with it that he couldn't shake no matter what he tried. He wanted to know the full extent of this beings true purpose and knew the only way to do that was to investigate. Whatever he found, he hoped it wasn't nearly as bad as the 'Keeper' claimed it to be. He hoped that it was just some Cyberman invasion that had gone a bit far. He could always beat the Cybermen one more time. Maybe the Daleks had devised an anti-time weapon of some sort. It could be anything. He felt it ironic that he was a renegade Time Lord asked to track a renegade Time Lord. The 'Keeper' was far too sure that the Doctor wouldn't just join him in whatever he was attempting. However, he had defeated many renegades before. So it wasn't all too strange that he would be asked this time. It was all very curious, and seemed that the president of Gallifrey would choose to handle this matter internally rather than to have him deal with the situation. Of course, he also knew that when these situations arose it would be easier to shift blame on him should things go badly and that in itself was very Gallifreyan.

He entered the TARDIS and looked over the controls. It was set to year 2004, by our recollection of time. Without much hesitation he flipped a switch and the engines once again roared to life. The TARDIS was in movement and heading towards Earth. "It seems as if I'm forever tied to that little rock in space."

It wasn't long on the journey when he notice that he was fast coming on an object in the vortex. He thought to himself that it could be a Vortisaur, but as he scanned further he saw a blue box just ahead of him. "That's not right. Am I seeing an echo?" He checked over the panels with a looks of confusion and disgust on his face. It confirmed that the object he saw wasn't an echo of his own TARDIS, but later version of the same machine. His eyes widened as he looked up at the monitor. "So, the plot thickens..."

In the span of a second a chime started to sound. It was the sound of an incoming transmission from the other TARDIS. Intrigued by what this other version had to say the Doctor immediately pressed the button and in moments he saw the face of a version of himself he had never met. The other Doctor's face was calm and collected, but not smiling. The four incarnation wasn't either, but his face couldn't hide the intrigue. The eighth finally broke the silence, "I didn't expect to meet me here. Especially not me from so long ago."

"I think you'll find that I'm just as surprised as you, Doctor. The question is, why am I meeting me in the future here? I'm assuming you are who I'm looking for."

"Sent to find me, eh? I suppose it was inevitable that they would try. Doctor, take my advice and go back to wherever you are in your timeline. It's far better that you stay away from me as you can."

"I was told by the Keeper that you were dangerous. That you planned to change the course of the universe, is that true?"

"If you have to ask, then do you want the answer? Of course you do, we always do. That's who we are."

"So in the future I've become a megalomaniac."

The future version laughed a little, "Jumping to conclusions again, Doctor. We did that all the time, and I must say it's as frustrating as the others made it out to be. I'm not a megalomaniac, Doctor. I'm trying to end a war. That's more than enough information for you. You shouldn't be here, you should be off on adventures with…, I notice you don't have someone in the background. Traveling alone, then? Sarah Jane just left, eh? Pity, she was a great traveling companion. So curious that one."

"Yes, she is. Keep on topic."

"Cheeky, coming from you."

"I can't let you do this. If you do, you're no better than the Daleks."

The eighth's face turned somber very quickly. His eyes showed an inner rage at the comment and a sigh came slowly from him. "No better than the Daleks… If you would have refused to go to Skaro, this wouldn't have been necessary. You let the Time Lords bully you into doing their dirty work and their worst dreams came true. The Time Lords are dying in droves, the Daleks are gaining strength with every defeat. You are here keeping me from doing what I came here to do. Go back to your time. Find another companion and leave me to my work. Tell whoever sent you here that this attempt to persuade me has failed, and the last person that would ever convince me to change my mind is myself." The view screen showed the outside again and the TARDIS in front started to disappear. The Doctor hurriedly tried to calculate where it was going, but the only thing he could tell was that he was going to Earth.

Fourth paced around the controls. He was lost deep in thought. The 'Keeper' wasn't to be trusted. He wasn't sure that he should be trusted either. His future incarnation seemed so sure of himself. Davros was sure of himself. So was every Cyberleader, Silurian, and a host of other alien menaces that he'd come across. Perhaps he was possessed by the Master, that might explain something. He feared that over time he had finally become that in which he faced. He didn't want to conceive of the possibility. He was the Doctor, and no matter how bloody minded he'd been in any of his regenerations, he still did the right thing. That's what he does. He didn't want to consider that this one lost his way. Perhaps this one needed to get the perspective of his other versions as the 'Keeper' had said.

That was another matter though, he needed to investigate this 'Keeper'. Even that he couldn't do alone. He loathed the very idea of involving other versions of himself. His resistance to the idea was overriding. He absolutely refused to believe that they were even a necessity. He could do this, and why not? He was the Doctor. Any one Doctor could do the job. Still, the opponent was the Doctor. His face turned to a look of defeat. He stared blankly into space, "Why can't things ever go easily?" He pondered that for a moment. He turned a bit more thoughtful, "If they did, the universe wouldn't need me."