Dr. Who and the Return of Peace by Robert Teague
Copyright 2000 by Robert Teague This story was written purely for the enjoyment of science fiction and fantasy fans, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story may be reproduced, provided no changes are made except by me.
Author's note: I originally wrote this during the heyday of Dr. Who fandom in America in the mid-eighties. The opportunity has been taken to blow the dust off, make some minor revisions, and find a new audience. Besides Dr. Who, the -other- universe involved is that of Ralph Bakshi's movie WIZARDS, which was released in 1976. It remains my all-time favorite movie.
Avatar the Wizard was feeling down. "I've been here for months, and I ain't no closer to a solution now than I was at home," he thought.
Avatar was about four feet tall, with a bushy red beard and a bright red nose. He wore a green robe and a lighter green vest, and a floppy pointed cap with a yellow star on the front. The cap hid his eyes. He also wore white gloves, and was barefoot. He was smoking a cigar.
He was standing in a partially restored room that had been a laboratory in the ruins of the city Scortch One.
He looked around, and went over to a pile of junk to see if something there might hold an answer. Rummaging around, he picked up a small black box and flipped a switch on it. Nothing appeared to happen, so he tossed it away, and began inspection of something more interesting.
The Doctor was frowning. When the summons had come from Gallifrey, he had hastily dropped of Sarah Jane near her home in South Croyden, then headed home himself. He didn't know why he was being summoned, but had a distinct feeling he wasn't going to like it.
He stepped to the TARDIS control console to check the instruments again, when a certain light began flashing for attention.
He stopped the TARDIS' headlong rush through the Vortex, and examined the directional vectors. Sure enough, it was coming from Earth.
"I wonder what the Brigadier wants me for now?" he said aloud to an otherwise empty room. The Doctor paused, considering. The summons from Gallifrey was urgent, but then...a distress signal...the Brig had never involved him unnecessarily. He had to be needed, but...so soon?
The Doctor made a decision. Gallifrey would wait. A distress signal was, after all, a distress signal.
He looked at the coordinates again. Earth, right enough, but the time location...that couldn't be right. Must be a fault in the system. Had to be. Odd, though, the signal WAS strangely weak.
He set the controls to take him to the time and place of the signal. In the silence of space, the TARDIS vanished back into the Vortex.
It was near dusk, and Avatar was examining a bank of switches on a control console against one wall of the lab. He was close to his goal, of that he was certain. He flipped a switch at random, which produced a faint, erratic hum, then stopped. Nothing else happened.
Suddenly from outside there came a chirping sound, growing louder. Avatar ran out to see what was happening. He arrived in time to see a blue...box?...slowly appear, accompanied by the sound of machinery wheezing and groaning.
The wizard wondered, "Have I activated somethin'?"
The box made a final KA-THOOM! and was fully materialized.
Avatar began recalling protection spells, in case whatever it was turned out to be hostile. Some final trick of his brother's to catch the unwary? At the moment, Avatar couldn't say.
A door opened on the side of the box, and a tall Human stepped out. He was wearing a battered hat, a brown coat, and an extremely long scarf. Even wearing his wizard's cap, Avatar barely came up to the man's chest.
"Hello," said the man, "I'm the Doctor. And you are...?"
"I'm Avatar the Great," was the reply.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Really? Can't say I've heard of you. Where's the Brigadier?"
"I dunno. What is it?" asked Avatar suspiciously. He recalled reading the word 'doctor' in ancient books. It meant a person who studied the long-outlawed sciences.
"Not a 'what', a 'who'. Chap about this tall, with a moustache, and wearing a military uniform," said the Doctor.
Military! That settled it. This guy had to be in league with Blackwolf! But still...the Doctor had fully emerged from his box, carefully closed the door behind him, and was looking about at the rubble and debris with an air of childlike wonder.
"Whattaya want, anyway?" asked the wizard, creating a cigar out of thin air, grabbing it and puffing on it. The Doctor hadn't noticed the cigar's creation.
"I'm answering a distress signal."
"Distress signal?"
"Yes. I received one from these coordinates, so I've answered."
"Far as I know, pal, no one's sent a signal."
"But I can't be mistaken! cried the Doctor. He reached in a pocket, and pulled out an instrument.
Avatar stepped back hastily and began a spell, then saw that the man wasn't pointing the whateveritwas at him.
The man spun around several times, and stopped with the gadget pointed at the lab. "The signal's coming from there, and that doesn't look like UNIT HQ to me," he said.
"It ain't," replied the wizard, "It's the ruins of Blackwolf's lab." He watched the human closely, to see his reaction to the mention of Avatar's brother. The man seemed to have barely heard him.
"Ah," he replied, "May I see what's producing the signal?"
"Sure, go ahead," said the wizard.
The Doctor walked in, following his instrument, with Avatar trailing along behind. Inside, the gadget guided him to the recall device, which was piled up with other junk on the floor.
"Here it is," he said, picking it up, "It's been damaged."
"That's the pile of junk I was lookin' through earlier today. Don't really recall that thing, though," said Avatar.
The Doctor switched it off, and put away the locator. Then with a quick flick of the wrist, had the back off and was looking inside.
"Ah, I see. The syonic scale emitter has been knocked out of sync. That's why the signal was so weak."
Pocketing the recall device, the Doctor turned to Avatar. "Well, if there's no emergency, I must be on my way. I've an appointment to keep, and I'm already quite late!" He breezed past the shorter man, back towards the TARDIS. He was disappointed. No adventure this time!
Back in the lab, Avatar stopped and thought. This 'Doctor' wasn't in league with Blackwolf, wasn't a mutant, and was highly intelligent. He knew what he was doing with technology, anyway. He hurried after the Doctor, who was just opening the door to his box.
"Hey, Doc," he called, "As long as yer here, maybe you can help me with a little problem."
The Doctor turned back to him, interested. "How can I help?"
"C'mon back in, and lemme explain," said Avatar.
As they returned to the lab, Avatar noticed it was getting late in the afternoon, so he started building a fire. The Doctor helped gather firewood. Soon there was a cheery blaze, rather out of place in the gloomy ruins.
Avatar fixed himself some supper, and offered some to the Doctor, who refused. After supper, Avatar went to feed and water his pair of two-legged steeds, housed in a makeshift corrall. Returning to the lab, he found the Doctor examining some loose machine parts.
"Definately Earth," Avatar heard him mumble.
"So, lemme tell ya my problem," Avatar said.
The Doctor put down the junk. "Please do," he said.
"Before I tell ya, lemme ask ya sompin'," said Avatar, settling down on the other side of the fire.
"Go ahead and ask," said the Doctor, smiling slightly.
"Where you from, anyways?" asked Avatar.
"Another time and place," answered the Doctor, cautiously.
"Okay, maybe I should start with some history, to put ya in the picture," the ancient wizard said, creating another cigar.
This time the Doctor saw it, and his eyes widened. "Mentally-controlled transmutation of matter," he thought.
"Ten million years ago," said Avatar, "There was a great war. It destroyed the civilizations that existed then, and covered the earth with radioactive clouds that stayed for a long time. During that time, Men mostly vanished, and many of those left had mutant offspring. the Fairies, Elves, and Dwarves rose again, and founded kingdoms in the good lands, leaving the mutants in the bad lands.
After about a million years, a country that had regained technology developed those same bombs, and used them. This only added to the bad areas, and made mutants a bigger part of the population. After that, science and technology were outlawed.
About nine thousand years ago, my brother Blackwolf and I were born. Blackwolf was evil, and power-hungry. He moved to the land of Scortch, and founded the city-state of Scortch One. That's what these ruins used ta be.
He dug through the ruins of ancient cities, and revived technology for his armies. Then he sent them out to conquer the world. They nearly succeeded, too."
"What happened?" asked the Doctor, frowning.
"He sent an assassin to kill the President of Montagar, an' th' killer did it in my study!
I captured the assassin, Peace, an' persuaded him ta switch sides. He led a party of me, Weehawk the Elf, an' the President's daughter Eleanor ta Scortch. Along the way, Peace was 'killed', run through with a sword, and Eleanor captured.
Eventually, I confronted my brother, and killed him. That act led to the destruction of this castle.
I married Eleanor, and we've founded a new kingdom. Weehawk has become King of Montagar."
"Did you have a Wizard's Duel, with magic?" asked the Doctor, a hint of scorn in his voice.
"No, I gotta confess, I cheated. A magical attack was what Blackwolf was expectin'. I pulled a gun and shot him. That was ten years ago, now," said Avatar, a sad expression showing for a moment. Then he brightened. "Anyhow, that brings me back to my problem. When Peace was run through, his uniform deflated as the spirit inside was released.
I vowed at the time to find a way to restore him. So here I am, pokin' around in th' ruins of my brother's castle, hopin' to find out how he was created in the first place.
I've spoken to the spirit of Peace, an' he's willin' to come back, since I've promised him life wit'out fear or pain." He sighed. "Thing is, I ain't a technologist. I ain't got the slightest idea how Blackwolf's machines worked. Think you can help me?"
The Doctor considered. "I'm willing to try. Tell you what. Let's retire for the night, and see how it goes in the morning."
"Awright, sounds good," replied Avatar.
The Doctor stood and stretched. "Good night, then," he said, and headed for the TARDIS.
Avatar watched the retreating figure, full of hope.
DW DW DW
The Doctor closed the doors to the TARDIS behind him. As he watched them swing shut he thought, "Well, that's certainly not Earth's history as I know it! This bears investigating."
As he walked by the Console on the way to the workshop, he checked the coordinates again. The spatial coordinates were correct, but the time period, callibrated to Earth's calendar, still read 10,114,010 AD.
Going to the workshop, he pulled the recall device from a coat pocket, and set it up on a test stand.
"Hmmm..." he thought, studying the readouts, "The power source is nearly half-charged, but the syonic scale emitter is so far out of kilter it's a wonder I received the signal at all. That reminds me..."
He went over to a technical reference library, and deliberated a moment before pulling out Vol. 232456 No. 1332 of Popular Syonics. He flipped through the pages, and found what he sought.
"Ah ha! Just as I thought! 'With all that has been learned about the Syonic Scale, there are still those who maintain that a sufficiently powerful signal can be detected between universes. I think it hardly likely, though.' Well, shows what YOU know, Bejiib 4339c, old chap!"
He put down the magazine. "I remember him. Met him at that conference on Qatar VI. Unpleasant fellow."
Now that he thought about it, it was obvious he was in a parallel universe. 'Besides, I thought that odd sensation while in Vortex was distinctly famiilar. I felt it before in my last regeneration when I was attempting to repair the TARDIS console during the Inferno Project, and wound up on a different Earth.'
"Well, no time to worry about it now," he said aloud, "That chap Avatar has a problem, and I can help. So I will."
He shut down the test equipment, turned out the lights,and went to bed.
DW DW DW
The next morning found the Doctor and Avatar up bright and early, working on clearing the debris and junk. A makeshift table held the red uniform called Necron-99, or Peace. It was deflated, the face dark. Patches had been sewn over the holes made by Eleanore's sword. It was ready for the spirit to return.
Using his magic, Avatar shifted all the junk the Doctor had declared useless for their purposes out of the way. It took half a day, but the room was finally cleared.
The Doctor was examining the broken consoles, trying to make sense of the peculiar combination of ancient technology, hastily and poorly constructed recent equipment, and magic.
"I think I've found what we need. To confirm it, I need to examine the uniform," announced the Doctor.
"Sure, you know where it is," replied Avatar.
Shortly the Doctor had opened the tranceiver pack atop the head of the uniform. Poking around gently, he said, "Yes, this confirms it. There are several small capacitors that have completely discharged, and need to be recharged. To do that, we need to fix the broadcast power transmitter."
"Whatever ya say, Doc," said Avatar, slightly confused.
The Doctor went over to a console and tapped it with a grimy finger. "This has to be put in working order," he said. He removed an access plate. "But I'm afraid it's hopeless."
"Well, if that's all that's holdin' us up, step aside!" said Avatar. He made several warmup gestures, then pointed at the ruined console.
"JACKIRBY FIXIT!" he shouted. Sparks flew from his fingers to the console. There was a blinding flash, and the console stood there as good as new.
The Doctor clapped politely. "Well done!" he cried, "That should save us considerable time!" He went to the console and began flipping switches. There was a barely audible hum, and a few lights flickered and went dark again.
"Hmmm...the power source must be badly damaged, or the leads are. We'd better find out what's powering this." he said.
The odd pair went out in search of the answer.
Two hours later they met back at the lab.
"Well, I've located the generator room," said the Doctor, wiping his hands on his scarf, "Or rather, what's left of it.
When your brother's castle came tumbling down, it put several hundred tons of rock on the generators. They're there, just so much scrap metal. So they wouldn't be giving a trickle of power." A thought struck him, "Could you do anything with them?"
"Not in that kinda condition," said the wizard, shaking his head.
"There must be storage batteries, then," said the Doctor thoughtfully.
Looking around, he finally found the batteries in a badly-dented cabinet. They were corroded, leaking acid. He looked at Avatar, who shook his head.
"No hope there, then," he said, "Well, there's only one thing to do. I must hook up this console with the TARDIS's power supply."
"Is that safe?" asked Avatar, worriedly.
"Oh, probably," replied the Doctor cheerfully, "But there's always an element of risk."
In the cabinet behind the batteries they found a roll of electrical cable, which the Doctor hooked up inside the TARDIS. Then they had to fix the antenna. As the afternoon wore on, the experiment was finally made ready.
The Doctor flipped switches and adjusted controls, as a low hum rose in the room. Suddenly the uniform expanded and filled out, and the yellow eyes appeared. Peace sat up.
"Ya did it, Doc!" cried the old wizard.
The Doctor cut the power as Avatar helped Peace stand up.
The uniform that was occupied again was bright red, with pockets on the chest, tabs on the shoulders, and a knife by the left hip. The face was black, with only the yellow eyes showing.
the assassin looked at them, but said nothing. Instead, he turned his attention to checking his carbine rifle which Avatar had brought.
"You'd at least expect a 'thank you'," muttered the Doctor.
"That's not his way, Doc. Yer forgettin' he's a robot," said Avatar, "Welcome back, Peace!"
Peace nodded, but made no further acknowledgement.
The Doctor was on the roof, disconnecting the antenna leads. He had just knelt down to gather the end of the cable when a bullet bounced off the antenna mast. He threw himself flat and wiggled down the side of the roof away from the hostile with the gun. He peered over the edge and caught a glimpse of a figure hiding behind some rocks, taking aim again.
He was about to call out to Avatar when Peace appeared in the door, took careful aim with his rifle, and fired a single shot. The concealed figure crumpled into view.
There were no more shots, so the Doctor climbed down to join his friends. Together they went to investigate who had been taking potshots at the Doctor.
"MY GOD!" exclaimed Avatar, "It's another assassin!"
The figure lying on the rocks was obivously of a kind with Peace, though the details varied. There was an antenna on the assassin's head.
The Doctor looked at Peace. "Were there many of your kind made?"
The red-suited figure nodded.
"How many?" the Doctor pressed.
"Many," was the reply, in a curiously flat voice.
"That means there will be assassins running around loose on this world, and I'm responsible! I've got to do something!" said the Doctor, looking worried.
A sticken look appeared on Avatar's face. "It's worse than ya think, Doc," he said, "Those assassins will be acting on previously-programmed orders...which means once activated, they will seek to carry them out! When the leaders of the Free States start bein' killed again, it will end in another world war!"
"Peace!" cried the Doctor, "Do you know what those orders are?"
Peace shook his head.
The Doctor whirled back and headed for the lab on his long legs, his scarf trailing behind him.
"We've got once chance to stop them, and that only while they are close by! Come on!" he said.
"What can we do?" asked Avatar, running to keep up. Peace followed.
"This kind of assassin is activated by broadcast power, but once 'on', supplies it's own power. We've got to set up the broadcast station again, reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, and suck the power out of them again!"
"I didn't follow that at all, Doc," said Avatar, "Just tell me what to do."
"Well, to start with..." said the Doctor. A bullet hit the rocks near them. "DUCK!"
The trio hid behind some rocks and tried to locate the sniper. Peace, whose senses were more attuned to such things, found him first. There was a shot, and the figure collapsed without a sound.
"Good shooting, old thing!" said the Doctor, "We must hurry!" He led the way to the lab, and began scrambling up to the disconnected antenna.
"What can I do, Doc?" puffed Avatar.
"Keep a lookout for others who may object to our presence," replied the Doctor.
There were no more attempts at them, but Avatar and Peace could see the occasional shadow flitting behind the rocks, trying for a good angle. An occasional potshot from Peace (which caused the Doctor to flinch each time, kept the assassins at bay.
Finally the Doctor climbed down from his precarious perch. He had taken a chance to look around, and saw dark shapes leaving slowly for the horizon; assassins on their way. This caused him to move faster.
"Whatta gonna do, Doc?" asked Avatar.
"I'm going to try to reverse the broadcast power, then transmit again. Hopefully this will drain the killers of power. If it doesn't, it will at least cause severe headaches and confusion in them."
"But what about Peace? Won't he be affected too?"
"Yes...into the TARDIS! That should shield him! Off you go!"
"But what about you?"
"I've got to make the adjustments. I'll be there in a flash," said the Doctor, turning to the console.
DW DW DW
Five minutes later found the Doctor half inside the console, wrestling with reluctant wiring. A few muttered-under-the-breath oaths in Galleifreyan didn't seem to help. He finally finished the rewiring, and extracated himself. He flipped switches and callibrated dials on the console.
"That should do it," he muttered, "Now to the TARDIS to reconnect the power." He looked at the cable that led from the room. "Hope it's up to the strain."
He hurried out toward the TARDIS. At the entrance to the lab, with the TARDIS all of ten feet away, the Doctor was stopped short by a hail of bullets. He ducked back hastily, as shards of rock flew around him.
"Avatar," he called.
The TARDIS doors opened a bit, and a familiar red beard stuck out. It was pulled back quickly as bullets were sent in that direction.
"What is it, Doc?" Avatar called back.
"Send Peace out and stop that sniper!" was the answer.
The beard pulled back inside entirely and the door closed. It stayed closed so long, the Doctor was beginning to think they'd forgotten him. Then just as he was about to make a mad dash for the TARDIS, the door opened. Peace ran out, tumbled, and came up firing. There was an 'urk' from the rocks, then nothing. Peace stood up and looked at the Doctor.
"Okay?" asked Peace.
"Quite, thanks! Let's get back inside."
Peace followed the Doctor into the TARDIS.
"What took so long?" asked the Doctor of Avatar as soon as he saw him.
"I hadda figure out how to use yer viewer, to get a good idea where the sniper was," Avatar replied, chewing his cigar.
"I thought you weren't a technologist," said the Doctor.
"I ain't, but I know how ta read," said Avatar, pointing at the TARDIS Control Manual on its stand. It was open to the section on Viewer Operations.
"I see! Good show!"
The Doctor climbed under the TARDIS Main Console to reconnect the power leads.
"That should do it!" he said, getting up.
He turned the viewer to face the lab, then turned a dial as far over as it would go. the lights dimmed for a second.
Suddenly on the screen there was a flash, and black smoke rose from the building.
"That's it, the transmitter's burned out. I hope it was enough," said the Doctor.
"Yeah, me too," said Avatar thoughtfully.
Nothing happened when the TARDIS doors opened, and the Doctor's hat was sent out to test the bullets.
The trio emerged into the afternoon sun.
"I've at least partially succeeded," said the Doctor, "Perhaps we should send Peace to find an assassin for us."
"Naw, that's where I come in," said Avatar. He went through the motions of magic, and said, "Plaxus! Raxus! Trexus!"
A loud PING!, and the body of an assassin lay before them, its transciever obviously ruined.
"Yer right, Doc, that's it," said Avatar, smiling.
"Now with that over, I really need to go," said the Doctor.
"Sure ya won't change yer mind, Doc? There's a lotta rebuildin' in other countries ta do. Besides, I'd like ta introduce you to my wife, Eleanore," said the wizard.
"No, thank you. As I mentioned before, I have an urgent appointment to keep. Goodbye, Avatar, I'm sure you'll make things better for everyone," said the Doctor.
He looked at the ex-assassin and said, "Goodbye, Peace! Keep well!"
Peace nodded at the Doctor.
The doors to the TARDIS closed, and with a groaning of machinery, it vanished. As the chirping faded away, Avatar looked at Peace.
"Well, c'mon, let's get packed and get outta here. This place is depressin', and I miss my wife!
Peace nodded, but as usual, said nothing.
The End