Doctor Who and Bogg

by Atomdancerrr

The Doctor saves Paul Revere and history with a little help from 2 other Time Travelers

THE DOCTOR AND BOGG

by Elizabeth Hensley and Tina Vogt

Chapter 1. A Switch in Time Isn't Fine.

Home is a beautiful place to be and that is true whether you are a hamster all snug in your seed filled tunnels, the Most High floating comfortably in the entire Universe or an eccentric Time Lord snoozing happy as the proverbial hamster in his own TARDIS old girl.

He slept, hat pulled down over his curly hair and bright blue eyes, his body resting happily in his rocking chair and his feet propped up contentedly on K9 mark II. Besides being a mobile computer with defensive capabilities K9 also made an excellent foot rest. His antenna tail wagged happily. The TARDIS made reassuring humming and clicking sounds and down in the bio-lab the plants grew, and grew, and grew.

Suddenly the TARDIS shook. The Doctor was flung awake instantly. "What was that?"

K9 sensed the Universe around them, "Ion storm, Master." His little antenna tail wagged. "Harmless to the TARDIS."

"But not to my dreams! I was having the most lovely dream. I dreamed Leela was aboard again."

"Blame factor negative Master." K9's head drooped.

The Doctor got down on his knees and patted his robot. "There, there, now K9. Nobody is blaming you."

K9 perked up again.

The TARDIS gave a sudden lurch.

"K9!"

"We are going through an asteroid cluster now Master. The ion storm is making....."

"Well no need to put up with that!" the Doctor snorted. "TARDIS doesn't need any more paint knocked off." He pushed the dematerialization switch.

They materialized in the middle of a dark blue flood.

"Thunderstorm, Master." K9 answered the Doctor before he could ask. "The ion storm is affecting the local planetary weather pattern."

"I know, I know." The Doctor switched on the view screen.

Outside was a whirling blue madness of water. It was so windy the raindrops seemed at times to be falling up again Then lightning crashed and lit up the whole terrain, wild as daylight and white as forever. A horse suddenly reared at the thunderbolt and the blue monster the thunder bolt revealed. A man was thrown.

The Doctor went rushing out into the wild wetness.

K9 stuck his nose out of the door, then rolled backwards into the TARDIS again. This wild, wet storm was no place for any being made out of metal.

The Doctor came squishing back in again, carrying a huge man with surprising ease. Both were soaking wet and K9 avoided the puddles they were leaving on the TARDIS floor with evident dislike.

The Doctor's passenger was obviously unconscious. The Doctor fished a pencil torch out of his ever supplying pockets, gently lifted an eyelid and peered at the man's pupils.

Slowly the man opened his own eyelids. He moaned, "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

"Easy there!" The Doctor soothed, "You took a nasty bump on the head. I don't think you're concussed too badly though. Never the less...."

"THE BRITISH ARE HERE!" The man's eyelids flew open wide.

The Doctor grinned a toothy grin. "I've been accused of that before, but actually I'm not English. I just speak that way. I have to speak some way!"The man was obviously an American colonist. The fellow suddenly sat up and stared about him wildly. K9 trundled in closer for a better look and to protect the Doctor if it became necessary.

The man howled and backed away from him, "A hell hound!" he exclaimed, "Odds Bodkins!"

"I am K9." said the little robot huffily.

The Doctor laughed and put his hand on the fellow's shoulder comfortingly. "Easy there! You've had a nasty bump Don't add shock to it. I shall get you some warm clothes and some food."

The man gingerly stood up, staring scared at K9 and the rest of the TARDIS."Where is this place? Heaven? Hell?"

"Neither." The Doctor laughed. "It's my home, such as it is. Hey don't go out there, you're soaking wet!"

"My horse!" The young American exclaimed. "I must catch my horse. The British are coming. I've got to warn...."

He suddenly fainted again.

The Doctor tsk tsk. "Poor man, I guess we were a bit too much for him."

"Why is haste such a part of his behavior pattern?" K9 wanted to know.

"Ah he's an American, K9. Americans are always in such a hurry. Let's get him to the infirmary, shall we?"

The Doctor picked the American up as easily as he might have picked up a newspaper and headed for the TARDIS's inner depths. K9 trundled behind him close at his heels.

A few minutes later the American was feeling better, sedated by both the Doctor's gentle hypnosis and a whole pint of saurian brandy. "Thank you for your kindness, gentle sir!" he told the Doctor, "But I really must be on my way." Somehow the TARDIS did not seem so strange as it had at first. "I have colonists to warn."

"It's a wild night out." the Doctor pointed out hopefully, "Won't you stay awhile?"

"My horse..." the Human continued.

"Ah yes, the horse." The Doctor could understand that. He after all was a compassionate being, unable to condone the suffering of any living being. "At least let me give you some warmer clothes."

The American's clothes looked very threadbare and inadequate for the weather outside, quite besides the fact they were soaking wet.

"You must be an Angel."

The Doctor grinned, "Actually I'm a Pyrodonian renegade."

"What is that?"

"It's not quite as good as an Angel but nowhere near as evil as a Devil. The Universe is a big place. Angels and Devils don't take up one tenth of it. The rest of the real estate belongs to lesser beings, such as myself."

"I don't understand you, sir, and would love to stay to learn more of these things, but I really must be on my way."

"Oh such a hurry-wart you are. All right. But put on some dry clothes first."

The Doctor rushed around in one of the TARDIS's many wardrobe rooms and came up with what he hoped was a suitable outfit. At least it would fit, and he doubted very much the cold skinny fellow would mind advertising, "Honest Alphie's used computers" on his jacket.

"I don't understand these clothes, sir, but I am grateful!"

"Here, bundle up your old ones. Sure you won't stay?

"Very much, kind sir."

"All right." Sadly the Doctor led his young orphan of the storm down the halls, to the control room and out the door.

Catching the horse wasn't easy, but finally this too was accomplished. With a slap on her rump the Doctor sent the American galloping off. Then he went squishing back into his TARDIS.

"Splendid fellow but such a hurry-wart! I had hopes he would stay awhile. Blast! But I miss Leela!"

The Doctor walked over to his control column and started punching in coordinates. He had a distracted air about him that worried K9.

"Master where are we going?"

"Back to UNIT H.Q. I need to see some old friends and besides I'm almost out of jelly babies."

K9's tail wagged. Ever desiring to be helpful he suggested, "Master you could programme the food synthesizers to...."

"Shut up K9."

The little robot's head and tail drooped.

.......................

It was Spring and UNIT shimmered in the sunshine like an English country version of Shangri La. Or so it seemed to the ever romantic Doctor.

He materialized in his lab and went charging out the door, K9 at his heels.

"You stay here K9. I don't think the Brigadier would quite know what to make of you."

"Doctor, you're back," the voice was delightfully familiar, "and you're soaking wet!"

The Doctor looked up from gazing at K9, "Well speak of the devil!" But then the Doctor's mouth fell open two inches "Brigadier you shaved off your mustache."

The Brigadier gave the Doctor a hard stare, "My what? I never had a mustache."

The Doctor shook his head, "Brigadier, you didn't just have a mustache, you had a cookie duster, and it could dust more cookies every time I saw it."

The Brigadier stared at him, "My good man, I've had no such thing! Never have had, never considered having. Are you quite SURE you are feeling all right? We could have Doctor Harriot look you over."

The Doctor blinked, "Doctor. Harriot? What happened to Harry?"

"Who?"

"Doctor Harry Sullivan, M.D. Certainly you couldn't have forgotten good old Harry!"

How can I forget somebody whom I have never met?" The Brigadier stared at his old friend, concern showing on his face.

"The one you were always ordering to be my keeper!"

"Doctor you are acting as if you need a keeper!"

The Doctor put his hands to his curly haired head, closed his eyes and shook his head violently as if to shake away invisible cobwebs. "Alistair, you may be right!"

The Doctor, of course, realized what had happened and the thought left him cold with quiet terror. He had done something in the past that had changed the present, but what? Except for giving the hurried young American a warm set of clothes and helping him catch his horse, he had done nothing. The horse may even have reared and thrown the poor chap without the TARDIS's interference. The lightning and thunder crash alone would have been startlement enough for most any horse....

So what had happened to poor old Harry?

Say, what direction had that horse been headed in?

"Doctor you are looking very pale! Maybe we'd BETTER let Dr. Harriot look you over."

"Oh no!" The Doctor said quickly. I don't want to go through that again! (pretending he had already met the fellow). "I'll be all right. I just need some sunlight. You'd look pale too if you spent most of your time under artificial light."

"And they talk about the British being pale." The Brigadier snorted. "I thought that police box of yours completely imitated natural conditions. One could get a sun tan in her. You're hiding something."

"Blast it, Brigadier!" Why do you suddenly have to be so smart? Why can't you be like most military intelligences, a contradiction in terms?"

The Brigadier gave the Time Lord a firm unyielding look, "I have never lacked for intelligence."

"I know! I Know! But believe me, Alistair, I will be all right! I just took a funny turn there for a bit. I really could do with some sunlight. Where I just came from it was raining (no lie that!) The Doctor took a step forward. He was squishing. "See I'm only this side short of dripping," he sneezed, "and I'm cold."

"Well don't just stand there man, get some warm clothes on!"

The Doctor laughed, "I think I've heard that one before somewhere, some time."

Sarah suddenly pranced into the lab followed by an older man with red hair and a wide grin. They were carrying an armload of small British flags and Sarah had a picnic basket. "Brigadier, are you coming? Oh look, James, the Doctor's back Long time no see!"

"Sarah!" The Doctor gave her a big hug, picnic basket, flags and all.

"Hey be careful how you handle my wife!" James said it laughingly with only a tinge of actual truth to his words.

"Your wife!"

Sarah giggled, "Doctor you are really out of it! You were there at the wedding, remember? You gave me away. And why are you soaking wet?"

The Brigadier laughed nervously, "He's joking, I think, unless colds affect Gallifreyans worse than we think.

The Doctor sneezed right on cue.

Sarah gave him a sympathetic look, "Well go get some dry clothes on. Go on. You look like a drowned kitten."

Laughing nervously the Doctor popped back into his TARDIS to change. But his mind was racing. Now that he thought about it he did have memories, very faint but quickly growing stronger of a nice little church military wedding where the Brigadier and himself, both, jointly gave away bride, Sarah, to this handsome fellow, Harriot, a nice chap. He'd been very good for Sarah. It was time she settled down. Wandering all about Creation with him might have been fun for a while but Sarah deserved a permanent home and a husband. No wait! What about Harry? WHAT ABOUT HARRY!

As the image of James Harriot became stronger, the images of Harry were fading. Didn't the Brigadier once have a mustache? Didn't he?

"I'm becoming part of this time stream! The Doctor moaned. "I must fight it, fight it for Harry's sake. Poor fellow. What did I do to undo you?"

The Doctor hung his wet clothes on he hat rack, then thought a moment more and took them, hat rack and all, down to the bio-lab desert area. There in the warm pseudo sun and low humidity they would dry very quickly. Then he went to his favorite wardrobe room and put on the first thing he could find that would fit his present body, A Japanese kimono, wooden clogs and a peaked hat. The problem of his clothes nicely settled, he popped out of the TARDIS again. For some strange reason the Humans, Sarah especially, seemed to think his choice of clothing funny.

He gave her a bug eyed stare. "Shall I change?"

"Oh no." Sarah was giggling so hard she could barely speak, "It's just the perfect thing to go Cornwallacing in."

The Doctor gave her a bug eyed stare, "To go WHAT in?"

The Brigadier's eyes suddenly quit twinkling with laughter and he gave the Doctor a very worried look, "That does it! Harriot look him over."

James blinked, then smiled ruefully. "And if something IS wrong with him, how do I tell the difference?" He took a stethoscope out of his pocket and listened to the Doctor's big chest, first one side and then the other, shaking his head as he did so at the slow but steady double thump. Next he took the Doctor's pulse. It almost seemed nonexisting, yet he had just listened to not one, but two hearts! He shook his head, "Doctor I have often wondered what life would have been like if I'd been a vet like my father. Working on you gives me some kind of an idea!"

"Oh that's interesting, Harriot. So why DID you decide to work on two-foots instead?"

A friend of my father's had a heart attack at our farm one day. At that time our little village had no M.D. We couldn't save him. That got me to inking.....my parents could some day the in the same fix and there I'd be qualified to rescue lambs and horses, but not my own family.

A faint memory made the back of the Doctor's brain itch uncomfortably. What was it that other fellow had said about his family being country doctors from way back? What other fellow? No! he had to hang onto memories of that other time stream, but they were fading fast!

The Brigadier could tell the Doctor was upset about something. But what? Well no matter, even a Time Lord would be able to stay harmless on a picnic, or could he?

Cornwallacing, it turned out to be, meant going for a picnic and listening to a very long boring speech, then watching fireworks.

"Fascinating!" said the Doctor, almost delighted as he munched on a fried chicken leg. This is like the 4th of July, only on the wrong side of the puddle."

"The 4th of July?" Harriot was still keeping a close watch on his patient though he still wasn't sure just what it was he was supposed to be watching for, "It's the 18th of April, of course."

The Doctor gave him a bug eyed stare, "Really?"

"Yes really. James was laughing. That's always the date that we celebrate the successful defeat of the Colonial uprising.

"Fascinating!"

"It's very old news."

"Oh yes, to you I suppose it is."

Try as he might it was a hard day to enjoy. He was glad when the Brigadier offered to take him back to UNIT again before heading home himself.

As they went the Brigadier was still worried about the Doctor, "You're awfully quiet tonight."

"Sorry ,Alistair, actually I'm just not in the mood for levity. I may have accidentally caused the nonexistence of a dear friend."

"Nonexistence you say? Do you mean you killed him?"

"No, I've kept him and a whole genetic chain of his ancestors from ever being born. Somehow I've switched time streams.

"Ridiculous!"

"Oh naturally you wouldn't know it. You're part of it. But I can, tell, as of YET. Right now I have dual memories, but the first set are slowly fading. I'm not quite sure where I messed up but I must go back and remedy the situation before I even forget there is a problem."

"Doctor, I don't think I shall ever understand you."

The Doctor gave his friend a wry grin. "True, but acceptance and trust are enough. Understanding isn't always necessary."

"What a strange idea!"

"Understanding isn't always possible. Can a humanoid comprehend a whale?"

"If what they say about those big fellows is true, I don't think we can."

"No, but you can rejoice at their existence, so it shall always be with the various sentient beings that the galaxies are made up of."

"Profound thinking, Doctor."

"I don't feel very profound right now Brigadier, I feel hungry! And I'm out of jelly babies!"

The Brigadier smiled, "After all the chicken you put away? Hmmmm. Wrong time stream or not we can still take care of that. See, there's the candy store.

"It's good that it's open. At least you are still the same old Brigadier I knew, almost. How come you don't have a mustache?"

The Brigadier felt his upper lip. My goodness man! Why should I? Did Cornwallis have a mustache?"

"No he didn't. Ahhhhhh I see. Different hero identification."

"What?"

Never mind, Brigadier, you are doing just fine, but never the less I have a bit of temporal darning to do."

"Temporal darning?"

"Yes. I seem to have caused a bit of unraveling here and there in the fabric of history."

"Doctor there, are times when you are very strange!"

The Doctor stared at his friend with one of his best bug eyed stares and shifted his floppy hat to the back of his head, "Who? Me?"

.....................

Chapter 2 Bogg In The Storm

Restocked with jelly babies, the Doctor set the TARDIS whining and groaning back to the young America. Of course he couldn't land at the exact same time again. The blomavitch limitation factor saw to that. Instead he landed a few minutes after he had left before. He popped out of the TARDIS and stared at the sky. It was still wet as wet could be.

"Waffles! K9, it looks as if the squall's still here. Ah well, I guess we Time Lords are getting a bit snobbish to expect perfect weather all the time. Now what was it that fellow said he was doing before I got him all mixed up? Oh yes, warning that the British were coming. I suppose the most logical thing for me to do would be to warn everybody myself. But what are my chances of their believing me?"

"Chances of success of any kind minuscule Master."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!"

Sarcasm is lost on an automaton, "Thank you, Master."

The Doctor popped back into his TARDIS and a few minutes later popped out wearing his old clothes. There was no reason to soak two suits, and somehow a Japanese kimono did not seem, the right thing to go warning minutemen with. He was also wheeling the most decrepit looking bicycle that could possibly still function. What color it was originally was a good question that wasn't solved by looking at it. By now it was a perfect uniform shade of red rust. "Poor thing!" the Doctor moaned, gently patting it, "You've definitely seen better days. But look on the bright side, if I hadn't come along and rescued you, just when I did, you'd have been buried underneath the NEXT load of public landfill."

K9 was puzzled, "Doctor why do you spend adrenalin feeling compassion for an inanimate object that has no capability for sensory input?"

The Doctor gave his little robot dog a mischievous look, "What's the matter K9, jealous?"

K9's monotone voice actually sounded a bit huffy, "Of a bicycle?"

"Well at least you admit it's a bicycle. The Brigadier saw it one day and asked, (the Doctor imitated the Brigadier's voice perfectly), "What is THAT!?"

K9 had not been programmed to laugh but his antenna tail wagged. If he wasn't amused he was at least programmed to act that way.

"Impression of the Brigadier responding emotionally to decrepit condition of bicycle is charming, Master."

The Doctor was wall to wall smiles. "Why thank you, K9!"

"Now then, let's see if this old thing has a few miles left in her." The Doctor swung his right leg over and took off, squeaking and bumping down the dirt road pedaling with a great deal of effort and wishing with all his hearts that asphalt had been invented. Scarf flying gaily behind him and in danger every moment of getting caught in the spokes, the Doctor muttered to himself, "Let's see now, was that 'one if by land and two if by sea,' or was it 'two if by sea, one if by land' or was it one if by land, two if by sea,' and (grinning ruefully to himself), 'three for the Royal Air Force?' Blast my confounded memory!"

Suddenly Phineous Bogg and Jeffery Jones dropped in on him, literally.

Fortunately it was Jeffery that landed on the Doctor, not the much heavier Voyager, but Jeffery was heavy enough going the speed he was falling to bowl the Doctor right over.

The Time Lord hit the ground with a thump and began to sympathize more and more with poor Mr. Revere. He got to his feet groggily, took a few wobbly steps and then decided to sit this one out.

While sitting he gave his two fellow time travelers one of his best bug eyed stares, "Are you two in the habit of falling down out of the sky everywhere you go?"

The Doctor addressed this question to Phineas but the bigger Voyager seemed to be out cold. He then swung his fiery gaze upwards a bit to take in the young Jeffery.

The younger of the pair was busy dusting himself down and staring with frightened eyes at the Doctor and his bicycle. The bike was old, yes, and an amazing sight to behold just because of that, but it shouldn't have existed at all, not in 1775 and what in heaven's name was this scarfed weirdo anyway?"

"What are you?" Jeffery asked, amazed.

"You are an astute young man! Most people ask, who am I, and then I say 'Yes.' But you ask, 'What.' I'm a Gallifreyon Pyrodonian Time Lord. I am also a good horticulturist, lock pick, thief, fish fryer, robot master, cricket batter, yo yo operator, recorder player, jelly baby consumer, and organic gardener. You ought to try some of my celery sometimes. I'm various other things too but we can't stand about all day discussing what I am now can we? And I'd like very much to know what you are. Since when did the Voyagers start taking them in so young!"

"How did you know what we were!"

The Doctor struggled to his feet again and was pleased to see he wasn't going to black out. "Young man I am a Time Lord. I know just about everything! And what I don't know, I make up!"

Jeffery stared at the bicycle, "You've got to be a time traveler too, that bicycle looks like an antique and it probably is, but it can't have been invented for years. It has coaster brakes.

The Doctor shook his head, "It HAD coaster brakes. Now its just got my feet!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Another 'what' question. You are an astonishing young Earthling! You are an Earthling aren't you. Yes? Yes? I never heard of an alien with a New York accent, cockney yes, but never New York." (The Doctor obviously had never met Commander Kruge)!

Jeffery nodded, "Now sir, please, tell us some things."

"But my young sir, I have been answering every question you put to me!"

Jeffery bit his lower lip. He had to admit the Doctor was indeed answering every question. In fact he was being overwhelmed with information.

The Doctor wobbled around and stared at Phineous, "The poor chap's out cold."

"Bogg!" Jeffery had been so astonished at the sight of the Doctor he had momentarily forgotten his big friend. Now he was at his side in an instant. "Bogg!"

"With devotion like that he won't stay unconscious long. Come, we might as well take him to my TARDIS. Standing around here in this freezing wind can't be good for anybody."

With incredible ease the Doctor picked up the heavy Voyager and started walking back to the TARDIS. "Wheel my bike for me won't you? That's a good lad. The poor thing's seen better days, yes, but haven't we all?"

Jeffery had never seen a blue police box before, not any police box of any color, and for once his store of knowledge was insufficient. He knew nothing of the history of the British police, and had no idea what "a police public call box" was. On the other hand Jeffery had seen many a science fiction movie and watched many a Saturday morning cartoon. Thus he actually felt at home inside the TARDIS's futuristic and impossibly huge gleaming white control room. If Bogg wasn't in trouble he would have rushed back out again, to stare at the OUTSIDE.

But the Doctor was very much headed for the deeper regions of the inside. Jeffery followed him.

The Doctor put the unconscious Voyager in one of his many beds in his infirmary. Now then, we sit and wait until he wakes up. Pull up a chair." The Doctor pulled one up for himself.

Jeffery struggled with the big Victorian chairs that seemed to be the TARDIS's only present style of furniture and sat there staring glumly at his friend. "Can't you do anything more for him?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Besides praying? I could give him a stimulant but it's better to leave these things to Old Mom Nature. Nothing is as good for the body as the body itself."

Jeffery nodded, "You're one of these back to nature freaks, huh?"

The Doctor grinned, "No. Actually I'm between medical degrees right now. If we were around the eighteen hundreds could give him some brandy, but I already tried that once today and it was a complete fiasco. If it were around 2408 I could give him some cordrazine, but I don't have any aboard. I used my batch up just last week treating a sick pelican and I haven't synthesized a new supply yet. The synthesizor hasn't been working very well lately. I never seem to get around to fixing it. All I can get it to turn out are chocolate muffins and sardines. Would you care for a jelly baby?

The Doctor offered Jeffery his bag.

Jeffery drew back and made a face, "You know sir I think you are crazy."

The Doctor smiled, "I've been told that before. But for the most part I'm harmless to myself and others, the legal definition of sanity. But there is no place in the galaxies where I quite fit in, I'm afraid."

Jeffery suddenly felt a lump rising in his throat, "You're lonely aren't you?"

"Now why do you think that?"

"I would be if I didn't have Bogg. Don't you have anyone?"

The Doctor swallowed, "I'm between companions right now. Leela got off at Gallifrey. But I do have K9. Don't I, good dog?"

The little automaton wagged its tail, "Affirmative, Master."

"Who was Leela?"

The Doctor smiled, "She was a savage. I am a savage too, do you know that? We all do what we must to survive. Civilization is but a veneer, and on some of us it's layered a few coats thicker, but it's still only veneer! Still that's what makes the Mona Lisa pretty, isn't it? Without a few layers of veneer the prettiest painting would be only a blank canvas."

Jeffery gazed at the Doctor, "You seem to be painted pretty colorful."

The Doctor smiled, "Even a Time Lord goes through life only 12 times. That's not near enough to afford to waste any one of them on only HALF living. Remember that, if I were earthling I think I'd kiss the earth every morning, life is so precious! There's not enough of it. Space is so empty!"

The Doctor's blue eyes took on a haunted look. He had seen far, far too much of it.

Phineous let out a moan.

The Doctor smiled and mentally shook off his despondent mood. "He seems to be coming around."

Phineous suddenly sat up, "Oooooo my head! It must have been some party. I don't even remember, I." He opened his eyes and stared green eyes to cockeyed blue at the Doctor, "What in blazes are you?"

"Another 'what' question!" The Doctor smiled, "I'm getting inundated by them today. Nobody seems to care about who I am, but just for the record, I am the Doctor. By the way who are you?"

"Phineous Bogg." The Voyager groaned as if he seriously regretted it.

"And I'm Jeffery Jones"

"And that's K9." The Doctor indicated his robot. "Now that we've all met let's knock our three heads together and try to figure out what to do about this inconvenient situation. What happened?"

Phineous opened and shut his eyes rapidly a few times, trying to still the little man inside his head that was busy with the tap hammer. "I'd be glad to tell you if I just knew myself! I thought I was on the way to meet a friend, but I seem to have been waylaid." He reached down and checked his omni. The little screen on it usually showed the date but now it was blank. He shook it and held it up to his ear. By way of explanation he exclaimed, "My watch! It seems to be broken."

The Doctor shook his head, "Don't bother to call it a watch. I know what that thing is. It won't show outside time while we're inside my TARDIS. TARDIS has her own time."

"What?" Phineous looked around. The word "TARDIS" had forced him right out of his grogginess.

"You're a Time Lord, aren't you?"

"Yes as I already explained to Jeffery. Well, don't stare at me like that! There's not a thing I can do about it! I am what I am!"

Phineous shook his head, "No I don't mind. I've never been a bigot. The time/space continuum is big enough for Time Lords AND Voyagers. It's just that I'm shocked. This has never happened before."

"Oh it was bound to! The question is what do we do about it? Which one of us handles this situation?"

"Why do you want to handle it? I thought Time Lords never interfered."

Phineous, of course, had never heard of the Celestial Intervention Society. That top secret agency was known only to the Time Lords.

The Doctor explained it this way, "My dear chap, I am a bit of a renegade."

Suddenly Phineous's eyes narrowed, "And you are speaking with a veddy British accent! And you look like something right out of the Old Curiosity Shop! Did you mess up time on purpose?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders, "What my subconscious does is often beyond me, but as far as I know I sincerely meant to set Paul straight on his horse again. I must have sent him in the wrong direction. The horse was probably more than willing to head back to his barn on such a night as this one. Or else I did something that interfered with his completing his ride successfully. When you so rudely dropped in on me without warning I was in the process of trying to warn the minutemen myself."

Phineous laughed, "You? Dressed like that? Do you think they'd believe you?"

The Doctor shrugged, "As I said, I am what I am. If they fail to believe an honest man maybe they don't deserve to be warned."

"Now you are making a judgment! We cannot judge! History must be set right again! It must!"

"Quite right my dear fellow. I AM Pro British. But this is no improvement. But I realize that England may not even survive if we don't see to it that she learns how to lose gracefully. All mothers must survive the empty nest syndrome if they are to keep their sanity in their old age."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

The Doctor smiled, "England is a Mama Bird. She's got to learn to let her fledglings fly. She'll spawn many a new country and many a new thing if she doesn't hang on so tightly that she squashes them. The colonies were England's, and she deserved not to lose them fair and square but if she doesn't learn how to let go while she is still a country young and vibrant enough to take the shock, she'll go down fighting into dark ages the way the Roman Empire did. Rome's fault was it couldn't lose gracefully. The British are wiser."

The Doctor grinned. He was proud of his adopted country. "They actually won the war in a way...but in time, not in territory."

The Doctor gave Phineous a blue eyed gaze, "Even Earth can learn from England. They're going to have colonies out in space as you well know. Earthlings practically take over the entire Universe. If they don't learn from someone, England to be exact, how to let go of colonies gracefully then there will be all sorts of horrible fusses all over the cosmos instead of just here now. Billions will die who did not die before. I don't want that!"

But Phineous was not so sure. He swung his legs over the edge of the med-table. "How do we know we can trust you?"

The Doctor spread his arms, "What choice do you have?"

Phineous glared at him. The Doctor was right. The Time Lord had them over the proverbial barrel, bung hole and all.

The Doctor smiled soothingly, his hypnotic blue eyes, clownish exterior and gentle telepathic soul were working their usual magic on the Voyagers. The Doctor offered Jeffery his usual crumpled bag.

This time Jeffery didn't refuse. It was, after all, quite a long time since he had any candy. He took a jelly baby and then another. Once this strange communion was completed he wouldn't have hurt the Doctor for the world. "Bogg, we can trust him. Look at him. Could anyone dressed like that be dangerous?"

Bogg was not so susceptible to hypnosis, subconscious, mixed with love and jelly babies or otherwise, "I don't know, kid. Not all aliens from outer space dress in Reynolds Wrap, you know."

"From outer space!" Jeffery turned towards the Doctor with new admiration in his face, "Oh wow! Am I ever pleased to meet you, sir!" He stuck out his hand and the Doctor took Jeffery's young hands in his own bear-like paws and shook them warmly. Then sensing Jeffery's loneliness he gave the child a big bear hug.

Hugged and loved and given jelly babies, the Doctor could have been a Klingon and Jeffry would no longer have cared.

But Bogg continued to glare at the Doctor suspiciously. "You Time Lords have a great history of being ruthless! Look at some of your exports to the rest of the Universe. Omega, Mobius, the Master, and that confounded scoundral Drax Shall I go on?"

The Doctor's gentle hearts just couldn't accept even with what he had seen with his own eyes, that his old childhood friend, the Master, was anywhere near as bad as he seemed, and yet, there was no arguing about his deeds.

He nodded and winced and sat down on the edge of the bed table since it seemed to be Phineoas's turn to pace. "We Time Lords don't seem to ever do things in moderation, do we? Either we are Hitlers, or we are harmless kooks like myself."

"Oh you look like a harmless kook!" Phineous nodded, "You look like one therefore I doubt that you are one! All that wool you wear; there's a wolf under there isn't there? You are a Time Lord and therefore ruthless and cunning."

"Quite true," the Doctor admitted, "but I CHOOSE to act as if I feel, and after a while, is there a difference between the act and the reality? As for being a wolf, a wolf is a noble creature, Phineoas. Wolves are courageous, loyal to one mate, respectful of one another's territory, respectful of older wolves, kind and helpful to one another. They do not make wars. They are intelligent and cooperative and they only take that which they need in order to survive. They are by far among the best parents in the animal kingdom I'm proud if you want to call me a wolf, but be sure you ARE calling me a wolf."

Phineous nodded, "All right! I don't seem to have a choice. You are here! But I still think that your people are right about the Noninterference Directive. That did start with the Time Lords, didn't it? As I recall, your people finally got the entire Federation to follow that."

The Time Lord nodded, "Most of the time I agree with the Prime Directive, but I myself, sometimes interfere. But it's because I CARE, Phineoas. For that my own people have labeled me a dangerous sociopath."

Phineous calmed down a bit at that, "No you're not. It's not wrong to care."

The Doctor got up to pace again, "Fine! Then help me undo this mess I've caused. As it has been pointed out to me by a certain party (the Doctor flashed his little robot dog a dirty look), my chances of convincing the minutemen to believe me about the Redcoats coming are quite minuscule. So you take over that part. As for me I shall go find out what happened to Mr. Revere, and rescue him, should he need it."

Phineous started heading out the door, "Fine. Let's go."

The Doctor led the Voyagers back to the control room. And besides that, don't you want to borrow my bike?"

Phineous looked at it with dubious feelings, "THAT is a bike?"

"It's faster than walking or running."

"I'll take it."

Jeffery didn't like the idea, "Bogg, it'll be harder to pedal the bike with me on board than if we just walked."

"Kid you are NOT going with me. You stay with the Doctor."

"But Bogg!"

"No! I can travel faster alone, kid. There are times when we ALL must make sacrifices to do our duty. And that's final."

The Doctor let them out, Bogg swung his legs up over the bicycle and took off squeaking down the rutty path.

The Doctor watched him go and put his hand on Jeffery's shoulder. "I'm happy to have your company, Jeffery. Besides we have to go after Revere, and the more who hunt for him, the better our chances of finding him."

Chapter 3. Bogg's Journey.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, the bicycle sang as it wobbled along. The squeaks sounded so out of place in the still night air. Up above a billion stars twinkled, undimmed by human lighting and the road stretched ahead a long black tunnel to be traveled. Squeak squeak squeak squeak!

Somehow, Phineous thought to himself, Paul Revere didn't do it quite this way!

Lights ahead attracted his attention. A fire? No, lantern lights. A Town. A town with an inn perhaps; tired travelers such as himself warming themselves before a great fire and drinking mugs of stout ale. But there was no warmth and no rest for Phineous, only the long road ahead and a message to be brought: "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

At least he could do something to improve his transportation.

Sneaking a horse out of the inn stable was incredibly easy. Maybe some Higher Power was watching him and making it easy. It was logical to assume so, if the Voyagers worked to keep time straight, why not again Something even higher than they that attempted to do the same thing? Nevertheless stealing a horse was a very dangerous thing to do. Phineous wondered just how many Voyagers all down through time had met their final fate being hanged as horse thieves.

But with a good horse between his knees and the adrenalin strength from fear urging him on, Phineous started to make excellent time. On and on he rode, shouting out the warning, knocking on doors, proclaiming his message and then taking off again. "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

Behind him the message was being spread out further still, taken to the farthest village and farms as others joined him in his great ride. The minutemen rallied, and women made bandages and loaded muskets, ready for the great fight for freedom.

Meanwhile the Doctor found locating Paul Revere to be ridiculously easy. The horse had left plenty of hoof prints in the muddy road and he had been the last horse through there. The Doctor and Jeffery simply followed the hoof prints.

Jeffery carried K9. The muddy road was way beyond what the little robot's caterpillar tread could manage.

They followed the prints until they heard laughter, a crackling fire, and saw the fire's light. The Doctor peered through the wet branches of a willow tree, and there beside a stream was a British encampment.

There in the midst of it was Paul Revere. He was being treated with the usual British politeness. Enemy or not, they had made a place for him at their fire. His hands were tied but they had thrown a blanket around his shoulders. "Waffles!" The Doctor exclaimed, "It would have been much easier if they had had him tucked in a tent somewhere out of sight. As it is I'll have to rescue him right in sight of every Redcoat in the camp!"

Jeffery had an idea, "Maybe I could sneak around behind him, and using the darkness behind the fire as a cover...

"No you won't! But I might try that. K9, have you got your blasters charged?"

"Of course, Master."

You and Jeffery may have to rescue me if I am noticed. If so, you know what to do, but be careful! And be sparing with them. No telling what the use of them may do to history. We don't want any tales of supernatural hell hounds aiding the Americans getting started, do we? Can you imagine what a legend such as that could do to some poor American seeking spiritual guidance?"

"Yes, Master."

"And make sure they are ONLY on stun."

"Of course, Master."

"Also, wait a while even if I do get captured. I may be able to talk my way out of it."

"Yes, Master."

"Aye aye Sir." Jeffery saluted.

The Doctor crept on his hands and knees through the darkness being as quiet as he could. He crept with all the silence of an Indian; an Indian four stroke moped!

It didn't take very long for him to be spotted, "Hey, you!"

The Doctor looked up at one of the Red Coats. For some reason he looked a bit angry.

Smiling, the Doctor commented, "I say! Pleasant night for a crawl isn't it? At least it would be if the weather was nice. You chaps by chance bring this weather with you from England?"

"Get on your feet! Now what's going on here? Why were you crawling towards our prisoner?"

Unless you are a time traveler one is not very likely to think about the fact that it isn't just the American accent that changes with time, the British accent also changes, as time goes trickling on. The British general that came to interrogate the Doctor sounded as different to the Time Lord from the British spoken at UNIT as Jeffery's American speech. However, unfortunately, interrogations never seem to change.

The general stuck a sword up to the Doctor's throat and snapped, "Talk!"

"Supercalifragalisticexpialladosis" The Doctor chirped with mock happiness, "Supermicrodistilatingliquichemicosis!"

"Quit that foreign langauge. We know you can speak English. Talk!"

"Oh all right. What would you have me talk about?"

"About what you were doing in this camp!"

The Doctor's eyes were the epitome of looney innocence. "Would you believe hunting for my contact lens?"

"Your what?"

"Like a pair of spectacles. Oh never mind."

"What were you doing?"

"Well, you see, crawling does wonders for one's coordination. And for a clumsy chap like me..."

"You were going to rescue the Prisoner!"

"True, but still, crawling DOES do wonders for the coordination!"

They stared at the Doctor, now a mess of mud spattered scarf and oil stained red coat. What in the world WAS this apparition that had blundered into their camp?"

"You shall be shot at dawn for being a traitor to the King just as will be the knave you were trying to rescue."

"I say that's not a very nice way to start off the morning! It could wreck my whole day!"

"You're a raving lunatic, aren't you? We are probably doing the colonists a favor. How much time and energy do they spend keeping you kept?"

The Doctor grinned and gestured with his hands, "Ah well, it varies."

"Hmmmmmf! Well crazy or not you are still a knavish turncoat!"

The Doctor gave the General a piercing blue eyed Time Lord stare that transcended the physical body he was presently inhabiting and burned deep into the General's soul. "Not really my friend, I'm not really a British anything. You see I am not really a Human being. I am really a Time Lord from the future and I have come to you to remedy a situation I myself caused. If England wins this war then England is doomed, and not just England but the whole free world."

The General stared at the Doctor. A chill went up and down his spine that had nothing to do with the beastly weather. He couldn't help it. The words were sheer madness but they seemed to tug at his very being. "I say! And how does that come about?"

"Because this way England remains an empire and will probably go down in the next century since the U.S. won't be here with their big bombs and their Yankee spirit, and besides, when you Earthlings go out into space they won't know how to lose, and there will be all sorts of revolutionary wars between planets with billions of lives lost instead of the thousands that are being lost in this war. And besides that, billions of cultures beyond the Earth, including my own dear Gallifrey, have learned how to lose with grace and dignity from watching you chaps during the Revolutionary war, and that lesson will be lost if I don't set history straight again."

"And what do you have to do to reset history straight?"

"Rescue Mr. Revere. I sent him off galloping in the wrong direction."

The General and the British soldiers had sat there listening to the Doctor with bemused silence. Now they gave each other confused looks. The General had been pierced to the soul by the Doctor's strangely haunting words but he shook it off in an effort to keep to sane normalcy. He tapped his forehead knowingly. The others taking courage at this, nodded in agreement.

The Doctor knew very well what the knowing looks and forehead tapping meant but played it, as Americans would put it so very well so many years later, cool.

Until Harry Sullivan walked into the firelight.

"Harry!" The Doctor gasped.

The man looked at the Doctor, "How do you know my name?"

The Doctor was thinking, "Of course you can't be my Harry. But this is amazing. The Doctor stood up and peered at his face closely. You have to be the ancestor of my Harry."

The man, of course, was bemused at this: "Sir, how could I be anyone's ancestor? I am not even married."

"Well, remedy that situation!"

The camp started laughing.

Still chuckling, the General said, "Doctor Sullivan, take this dear lunatic over by the fire. I'm putting you in charge of him. I'm going to see about the horses. Then the General turned back to the Doctor. Gently he said, "I can't stand to have you shot, sir, you are far too entertaining. Besides it would be cruel. You are obviously raving mad. We shall have you shipped back to England to one of our best lunatic asylums.

"Oh thank you!" The Doctor said sarcastically.

Harry and the General saluted one another and the General walked off.

Harry took the Doctor's arm and led him over to the fire. Now sit here. So you're a time traveler, are you?" Cheerfully he asked, "And what's the future like?"

The Doctor knew he was being humored but he answered Harry seriously. "All messed up just as is this day and age." He wondered how long it would be before Jeffery and K9 attempted his rescue. "When are you Earthlings going to learn to quit fighting one another and turn all that incredible drive and ambition to finding defenses against your REAL enemies?"

"And what 'real enemies,' pray tell, are you referring to?"

"Oh, diseases such as smallpox, loneliness, too much drinking, etc."

Harry swallowed, "I lost a sister to smallpox."

"Oh yes, in this day and age that was common."

"The Americans think they may have something with this inoculation business they've endorsed."

"And you don't believe it?" The Doctor bit his tongue. What he was saying now could really change history. It would have been better to stay quiet.

"I think there must be a better way than giving people a disease in order to cure it."

"I agree with you, Harry! Still this war...Sometimes war is like an inoculation."

"And how is that?"

"It protects the Human race from even bigger, more vicious wars later."

"What could possibly be more vicious and horrible than this present stinking mess?"

"Ah, Harry, stay innocent!" The Doctor's blue eyes were sad and haunted with terrible memories.

Harry stared at the Doctor. He had never met anyone like him before. "I can hardly wait until this war is over. I want so badly to go home and marry Isabel."

"You MUST do that Harry."

"Why?"

"Because you are the ancestor of a very dear friend of mine. Harry if I am right, you are going to have healers in your family for generations to come."

"Ah! You must be mad but I want to believe your madness is heaven sent, sir. I would love to believe that what you say is true."

"Oh it is, Harry, but you must survive."

He was so much like the Doctor's Harry, the same polite, relaxed military bearing, the same walk, the same gentle eyes.

"Somehow you don't seem so crazy to me, sir. You may be the sanest one here."

The Doctor grinned.

Harry continued, "Or maybe you are an Angel from Heaven sent to our fire to confuse us, but still, I must do what I am ordered to do, and that is to guard you. And now I must tie you up. Forgive me, sir."

"Oh I do, Harry, I understand perfectly. Orders are always orders."

Harry could tell the Doctor was mildly teasing him.

Paul Revere had been sitting there, listening to all of this with open mouthed bemusement. He hadn't dared say anything, not with the General around, but now as Harry did a thorough job of tying up the Doctor, he spoke, "Why did you come here?"

The Doctor gazed at him calmly, "To rescue you."

"Why?"

"Because you have a life to live yet, a family to raise, a young country to help become born."

"I saw the place where you live. It was all shining light! You had a dog with you and it was made of metal. I know you aren't crazy."

Harry stared at Paul and the Doctor. "WHAT is going on here?" he moaned.

The Doctor smiled, "Take courage."

Paul frowned. "It's hard to take courage when one is going to be shot at dawn."

The Doctor grinned, "Oh no, we won't. The cavalry is going to come round the corner soon, I'm certain."

"What does that mean?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Oh nothing. It's a reference to a future kind of entertainment; the grade B western. Harry, for our poor friend here, what do you think Heaven's like?"

"What is Heaven like!"

"Think." said the Doctor gently. His blue eyes gleaming with an incredible blue depth.

"It's a beautiful place," Harry decided. His eyes grew misty, "Wild flowers all over the place, they bloom all the time, no snow, no hunger. Everybody's warm. My sister can run and play again. People love one another and there are never any wars...."

Suddenly a red beam of light zapped through the darkness and Harry fell to the snow.

"K9!, Jeffery! Now you come, just when I almost had him hypnotized!"

"Sorry Master." K9 trundled into the firelight. "I did not know this. Jeffery felt enough time had passed for you to use persuasive measures and that it was time for mild force. He will recover."

"Well, quickly then. Jeffery, my right coat pocket! I have a pocket knife in there somewhere.

Jeffery crawled into the firelight and hurriedly started searching the Doctor's coat pockets. He found two match book covers with the words "Eat at Milliways" on the side, a button hook, an alarm clock, a book stating, "You Too Can Learn To Knit In One Easy Lesson." a box of fancy tea biscuits, a packet of tea, one knitting needle, a cents off coupon on a box of soap flakes, a small sponge, a hammer, a jeweler lobe and a crumpled wad of tissues.

"Sir, you have an awful lot of stuff in your pockets!"

Jeffery's eyes were growing wider by the minute with amusement and amazement, "What is this?"

"That's my sonic screwdriver. Be careful! Don't press anything. It could cut me free too but this is not the time and the place to learn to use it. Keep hunting."

Jeffery kept hunting. He pulled out a programme leaflet for Die Fledermaus, a hammer, a wadded note that said, "Will be back in an hour, love, Newton," a secret decoder ring from a Cracker Jack box, and then finally, the pocket knife.

A few quick slices and the Doctor was free.

The Doctor retrieved his sonic screwdriver from the pile. A quick 'zap zap' and Paul was free.

It was also the work of a few moments to stun the General and the guards that were watching the horses. Paul soon had his fine mount back again. "Why don't we take the rest for you two? We need horses desperately."

"No!" the Doctor said firmly. "That would change history again. Come on." The Doctor gestured towards the woods.

Soon Humans, horse, Time Lord, and robot fled into the comforting darkness.

Chapter Four. July Fourth in April

As they ran Paul stared at his arms as if he expected the bonds that had held him to reappear again as suddenly as they had loosened. He also stared at the Doctor as the gentle Time Lord took his pet from Jeffry's arms. Then he stared at K9. He shivered, "That creature is a hell hound!"

The Doctor gave him a hurt look, "Ah now, that's K9. He's no more a hell hound than I'm an elephant. Balderdash and more balderdash!"

"What is he if he isn't a hell hound?"

"What is a teapot, Paul?"

"I make teapots. A good one is a work of art."

"Then K9 is a work of art, too, Paul."

"And that is all he is?"

"Yes, Paul. He's a manufactured being."

"But only God can create life!"

"Why?"

"Because it says so in the Bible!"

"Where?"

"But it must!"

"Nonsense. Why should it?"

"Because God is the only one that can create life."

Gently the Doctor shook his head. "When humankind or any other life form creates life, all it does is prove that life doesn't have to evolve by chance alone. No Father objects to the education of His children. 'Greater works than these, shall humans do...'

"Humans made this creature?"

"Oh yes Paul! Oh yes."

"But it is a God-like thing to do!"

The Doctor's eyes twinkled, "And so is laughing, smiling, giving a hug, or showing mercy. We all play God every time we move or groan, or chirp. Always say "Yes" to life, Paul, and come, we'd better devote more of our energies to running. The British will soon be after us again."

So they ran on, in silence, through the wet, windy night.

Behind them Harry slowly revived and sat up. His head ached and not just from the effects of the blast. It was harder to ponder the connection between Heaven, time travelers, British turncoats, and strange apparitions that shoot red lightning in the night. War was a hellish thing. Their strange visitor was right. It was more important that he get back alive to England and marry Isabel. Harry vowed he would leave the war as soon as possible and do just that.

They ran for a while, Jeffery easily, the Doctor less easily as he was carrying K9. Paul did not ride his horse but instead led her until they were certain no Britisher was after them. Then they sat down, rain and all, to catch their breath. The Doctor smiled at Jeffery. That was a good rescue, you are indeed a good Voyager.

Paul suddenly exclaimed, "The colonists! I have forgot all about them! I have to warn them

The Doctor shook his head, "No, Paul. A very good friend of mine is doing that for you.

"Huh? Is that true, really!? Well! I am very beholden to him."

The Doctor smiled, "So am I. He is getting me off the hook. I am the one that caused this mess in the first place."

Paul stared at him, "By the coming of your TARDIS?"

The Doctor smiled, "Great, Paul. You learn quickly. Do us a favor, Paul, don't mention to anyone that you didn't complete your ride."

"But that wouldn't be fair to the fellow who did all my work for me!"

The Doctor shook his head. "I happen to know that fellow well. He has good reasons for not wanting it to be known that it was him instead of you. So would you keep it a secret for us?"

"Ah yes...I suppose I can."

The Doctor put his hands on Paul's shoulders, "Good, Paul, Good."

Jeffery then asked, "I wonder where Bogg is right now?"

"Oh he probably is on his way toward some of the farthest colonies. I hope he takes good care of my bicycle."

Jeffery started laughing, "That thing!"

"Oh you demean my bicycle! It has PLENTY of good life left in it!"

Jeffery started giggling.

K9's tail was wagging happily.

The Doctor glared at his automaton, "And what do you think about it, K9?"

"Reassuring, Master. Since you have a continually recurring behavior pattern of hanging on to pieces of machinery for long periods of time, I need not fear ever being abandoned."

The Doctor grinned. "Good point, K9! Come. I think we'd better go before we get captured again, or we freeze. It was starting to snow now, and the wind was chilly as icy fingers.

Jeffery was starting to shiver. Poor child! The Doctor wondered what kind of a life he was having; no TARDIS to protect him and keep him warm, dropping out of the sky instead of gentle landings, no steady source of food....

He was glad he was a Time Lord, not a Voyager.

They parted there in the rainy woods. The Doctor and Jeffery went back to the TARDIS, Paul went to the nearest inn and didn't tell anyone his real name, and meanwhile through the night Bogg rode and rode.

Then finally the job was done.

Bogg 'borrowed' another horse and made the return journey. He found the Doctor's decrepit bike just where he had flung it, got off the horse, slapped him on the rump to send him galloping home again, and remounted the squeaking bicycle.

"At least he could have oiled you!" Bogg protested, "Blast but he rubs off on one: Now I'M talking to an inanimate object!"

Bogg was very happy when he finally spotted the TARDIS sitting firmly right in the path. He got off the bike and tested the door. It wasn't locked. He went in,"Spooky place." Bogg thought to himself. He smiled. "Also dry and WARM!"

He found his kid and the eccentric Time Lord crawling around on the floor scribbling on it with pink chalk.

Jeffery dropped his chalk and ran and gave his friend a great big hug.

The older Voyager picked Jeffery up as easily as if he weighed nothing and swung him to his shoulders.

Still on the floor, the Doctor rolled over on his back and lay there, gazing up at the two with gentle, contented blue eyes. Bogg smiled. He realized that the Doctor was very much at home in his TARDIS, at peace with God, the Universe and himself. The Doctor was a very unusual person, and it had nothing to do with him being a Time Lord or any kind of a superior being. If the Doctor had been born a Human or a hamster he would still have been unusual.

"What are you two up to?" Bogg wanted to know.

The Doctor grinned from ear to ear, "I've worked out a way to connect the directional control stabilizers in your omni in with my TARDIS's. We could work together. Look at the advantages. You wouldn't have to go falling out of the sky. You could have meals on time, tea time on time, warm clothes, your own bedroom, a swimming pool, the rec room and my companionship. And I would be able to tell when and where I was going for a change."

From his position on Bogg's shoulders Jeffery gazed at his friend, "Can we, Bogg? Can we?"

"Oh, it's tempting!" Bogg admitted. He started circling around staring at the pink diagram on the floor, "What's this?"

"Oh, that's Hangman. Jeffery was teaching me how to play."

At this Bogg roared with laughter. "You two are a sight for sore eyes."

Jeffery asked, "Can we really go with him, Bogg?"

Bogg reached up and swung Jeffery back down again.

Jeffery sat down next to K9 and patted

the little robot. K9's antenna wagged.

Bogg thought about it for several seconds. Then he frowned, "I'm afraid we don't always know where we are going either. Jeffery's dog ate my guide book."

"He did NOT eat it!"

"Well he helped lose it!"

"That's not fair, Bogg. He was a good dog. He was just startled at having you appear suddenly outside the apartment. We WERE on the 20th story!"

"Easy, kid. Let's not argue about it now. As for combining our Omni with your TARDIS Doctor, it might work and it might not, but my superiors would not like the idea at all. They can barely accept Jeffery."

"Such stick in the muds! But I can't criticize. I'm afraid I have a planet full of them back on Gallifrey too."

Then the Doctor turned to Jeffery. Gently he said, "Jeffery, you are young yet, more than anything, work towards destroying barriers between peoples. Work towards the day when Human beings, Time Lords and Voyagers can work together and love one another without having governments and stick itty bitty little minded people say, "That's wrong."

Jeffery swallowed, "Yes sir, I will."

Well then, Bogg said, "I suppose we should be going." He bent down to pick up the omni.

The Doctor grabbed his wrist, "Not in here! The temporal piercing could cause an implosion of my TARDIS's outer hull. Outside with you if you must use it, but why don't you stay for at least one trip. I could at least drop you off at your next destination."

Bogg nodded, "I could do with a quick nap if you could lend me one of your bedrooms for awhile."

............

Bogg was asleep, the hat, coat and scarf were rewashed. dry and hanging on the hatrack ready for the next adventure.

Jeffery "Bogg's Kid " Jones was fed, warmly dressed, and TARDIS old girl was rematerializing.

The wheezing and groaning seemed to go on forever. Jeffery began to look concerned. Just when it looked like they would never find their way out of the temporal void, the Doctor gave the TARDIS console a friendly whack and she broke through.

The time rotor quit moving up and down.

"We're through." said the Doctor cheerfully.

Jeffery blinked in surprise, "That was it?"

The Doctor nodded, proud as punch of his old girl.

"Wow, that sure beats falling out of the sky!"

The Doctor grinned wide as a canary-fed cat, put on his hat and scarf and went charging out the door. He was greeted by a whiff of automobile fumes, the sound of happy people, and traffic going by.

There were a lot of people examining a pair of tables set out on a small patch of concrete in front of a very 20th century house.

The Doctor took his hat off and scratched the back of his neck, buggy blue eyes staring. "A bazaar of some kind."

Jeffery started giggling. "We're at a garage sale! Doctor, you are nowhere near the right time or place."

"Really?" The Doctor's blue eyes seemed to go bigger still. "Splendid. Come on let's see what's for sale."

"But what about our next assignment? We haven't got time for all this."

"Never tell a Time Lord there isn't enough time." The Doctor plopped his hat back on his curly mop and skipped over to the tables.

American garage sales were fascinating things, the Doctor decided. It was a pity he couldn't possibly find a use for three Mr. Potato Heads and a baseball bat. The ball thrower however had interesting possibilities....

"What ever are you going to do with that?" Jeffery asked scornfully.

"Convert it to throw cricket balls, of course. I'll be right back." The Doctor went off to pay for it.

Jeffery leaned against the TARDIS, hands in pockets. Grownups could be absolutely exasperating at times.

A female type Boston grownup suddenly started showing a lot of interest in the TARDIS. Jeffery fidgeted uncomfortably. What if she asked where it came from?

"Splendid!" The lady exclaimed, peering at the time machine from the top of her glasses. "Where on Earth did it come from? Police call box. I wonder what that means? Never mind. It needs a bit of repainting but it's splendid old wood! How much are you asking for it?"

Jeffery shook his head but the questioner didn't go away. Instead the Doctor came over, his arms filled with several stuffed animals and a checker board.

"I don't own it." Jeffery tried to explain. "Here is the owner." Jeffery pointed at the Doctor.

"Sir I shall give you ten bucks for it. What a splendid linen closet it will make."

The Doctor drew himself up to his full height, "Linen closet INDEED! My good Madam it is NOT for sale!"

"Then whatever is it doing in the garage sale?"

"Ah..." the Doctor was at a loss for words.

"He just bought it." Jeffery explained quickly. He grabbed the bemused Time Lord by the arm and dragged him into the TARDIS.

The Doctor hit the dematerialization switch.

The TARDIS disappeared.

The lady shrieked, then calmed down. "Good grief! Termites. It MUST have been termites! But imagine them eating it so quickly!"

Next time the TARDIS materialized, they were in the right time and place; a quiet English countryside. Bogg checked the omni. ""2067, kid. Know anything about 2067? Goodbye, Doctor." Phineous turned to wave as he walked away staring at the omni and his young companion.

"Goodbye," Jeffery stated as he trailed after his friend. "Bogg, how could you expect me to know what happens in 2067....?"

"Goodbye," the Doctor called after them. Doctor went back inside his wonderful machine. Suddenly the TARDIS control room seemed much much much too big. "Alone again." The Doctor sighed. He felt his pockets, pulled out his beloved bag, and was delighted to find that Jeffery had helped himself to most of his jelly babies. "I'm out out jelly babies!" he exclaimed happily.

"Sorry, Master."

"No, no, K9. Now I can go back to UNIT. The Doctor started punching in coordinates.

At UNIT The Doctor stuck his nose out of the TARDIS and cautiously gazed around.

The Brigadier greeted the Doctor with his usual dignity. "Back again, aye Doctor?"

"Ah, Brigadier, you have your mustache again!"

The Brigadier put his hand to his upper lip, "My mustache? Why of course I have my mustache. Again? What do you mean again? I've always had a mustache.

"Really?" The Doctor asked, "Wonderful!"

"Ah...thank you." The Brigadier stared at the Doctor

perplexed.

"And happy Fourth of July!"

"Happy Fourth of July? What's so special about the Fourth of July?"

"You have your mustache back. Come on, Brigadier, I feel like having a picnic!"

The Doctor popped back into the TARDIS and popped out again carrying a picnic basket. Bemused, the Brigadier trailed after the Doctor.

Sarah and Harry met them in the hall, "Hullo, Doctor."

Sarah exclaimed, "you're back. Hey wait for me, where are we going?"

The Brigadier gazed calmly at Sarah and Harry. "Apparently we are going to celebrate the Fourth of July!"

It was Harry's turn to be perplexed "But it's the 19th of April!"

The Doctor kept marching towards the car park. "Splendid!" He shouted, "Come on, world! Have a picnic!"

Harry, Sarah and the Brigadier exchanged puzzled shrugs.

"Oh well." Harry said, "I suppose the 19th of April is a perfectly logical day to celebrate the Fourth of July. It makes sense to me. Of course it does. After all this is UNIT!"

And at that the Doctor threw back his head and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Back to Index On to next story