The Tardis was materialising in a deserted parking-place. Mist was all around. The machinery had gone mad a few minutes ago and this was a kind of emergency-landing. They were somehow lost in time. They had been on their way to the Stooh-moon in year 4786, but this wasn't it. Wrong time, wrong place.
Some fiddling with the screwdriver and at least the clock was set correctly, this was the year of 2034, maybe on planet earth. Or somewhere else in the universe.
" What in the whole existence happened?" the companion said.
" I don't know, yet, but something pulled us here. Let's go out and have a look." the Doctor said.
" Is that wise?"
"Is wiseness necessary?"
" Wisdom. Is wisdom necessary? Yes, Doctor, it is. Safety first, remember?"
"No, no. Adventure first, then fish'n chips and then safety. " He hesitated for a while. "No, safety is number four. I always forget number three..." He stepped out in the mist. "Nothing on the meters and no visual either. Hm..."
A sudden wind swept some of the fog away. The parking-place was located between a closed- down galleria and a wood beyond a meadow. A woman appeared from out of nowhere, running. She held one hand to her side, blood was pouring between her fingers. Her breath was hasty and she stumbled and fell. She rolled down at the meadow, reached out. The Doctor stepped forward, trying to reach her.
" Elvedin, help me. Bring me in." she said and light seemed to swallow her. She disappeared.
" What on..." the Doctor said. " Where did she go?"
" Where did she come from? She was wounded, stabbed or shot. We ought to be careful , Doctor."
" No, no. Where did she go?" He searched the area where the woman last had been visible with the screwdriver, but nothing. " I have seen her before. I'm certain. But where, when?"
" Never mind, Doctor. She vanished. Can you fix the Tardis? I wouldn't like to be stuck here, you know."
He searched the place once again, but nothing. The sun was rising, traffic sounded on a distance. A low, hollow sound was heard and a giant spacecraft came visible were it hanged above the galleria roof. A crackling noise and it went away, reaching supersonic-speed.
" A ceredonian ship. On planet earth? This is not good. Not good at all. Back to the Tardis. Come on. This we must investigate."
It took the Doctor several hours to make the Tardis re-functioning. Checking the monitors he suddenly looked up, excited but slightly incredulous.
" This is not planet earth. Or, it is, but it is not the planet earth we usually think of when we think of planet earth. This is a different place. We, my dear friend, are out in the multiverse. This is a thrill!"
"What do you mean, not the same?"
" Oh, there are many universes. Most of the time and place we can't reach them. This is another one than the one we are used to. Slightly different as if reflected in a oblique mirror. This is planet earth as it also could be. Or, as it is. Here. Interesting, interesting.
" I don't understand. But never mind. Can we go back?"
" Yes, I think we can. The question is, do we want to go back yet?"
At that moment the controls started to move and the Tardis entered the time-vortex.
" By the existence! I really must have the Tardis fixed! What's going on?"
" We are following the sister-ship, Doctor." a female metallic voice said from the control-board.
" What? Why?"
" We are following..."
" Yes, yes. What sister-ship? Why are we following the ship?" the companion asked.
" It is the sister-ship. It is necessary." the computer-voice said."
" In what way is it necessary?" the Doctor asked.
" In a necessary way."
" It doesn't make sense. I'm the Doctor. I'm supposed to be in charge here. The Tardis is supposed to fly under no other command than that of a time-lord.
The parking-place was the same, but the galleria was in good condition. People were walking in and out. Cars were parked or driving around. A nice esplanade ran along the brink of the meadow. The Doctor checked the monitors, he pointed at them with the screwdriver. They didn't alter.
" We are back. Planet earth, the universe we know best, the year of 2034."
" And now what? Are we looking for a ceredonian space-ship?" the companion asked.
" I wonder if that is the ship we are following. That woman, where did she go? Not into the ceredonian ship, that's for sure. The beam came from the opposite direction and it wasn't strong. It couldn't have transferred her more than 50 feet, as a maximum."
" Let's go out and take a look, shall we?"
" Oh yes. Let's rock'n roll."
" It is a galleria. They ought to have fast-food somewhere. Care for some fish'n chips and a coffee, Doctor?"
" You bet. "
A tiny square inside the galleria. A fountain. Doctor with companion eating fish'n chips, looking at people walking by. A ordinary day at the mall, ordinary people. Nothing strange, nothing striking.
" There. It's her." companion saw her first. The middle-aged woman with two carrier bags, one with fabric, probably clothes, and one with some other items, a bit heavier. She had just passed by and stopped, looking in a shop window. She raised her eyes, looked at the vague reflection of the square in the glass, then turned and looked straight at the Doctor and smiled in recognition. Then she started to walk down the galleria towards the entrance. Two armed figures stepped out from behind a pillar. They where not human. Not entirely.
" No, no, no. Oh, no. Not if I have anything to say about it." Doctor left his meal on the table and ran forward. One of the space-soldiers turned and raised his weapon. The Doctor threw himself down another pillar for cover. The woman put a dog-whistle in her mouth and blew. The soldiers dropped their weapons, covered their ears and bent in pain. The Doctor was fast back on his feet again, gathering the weapons, deactivated them with the screwdriver. People around looked confused, scared. Companion stepped forward, hands raised, palms out, loud selling voice:
" And this, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, customers of the galleria, this was a small taste of the new TV-series 'The space-travellers'. Coming this autumn in a TV near you!"
People started to applause, smiling. Some were asking for autographs others where asking for more details. The two space-soldiers were confused and after a while they were beamed away. More applause, loud applause. After half an hour the attention declined.
" Now, my dear, you do have a name, haven't you?" the Doctor asked.
" Oh yes. And so have you, Doctor. You can call me 'the One who travels alone'. "
" I see. I'll call you 'The One'. If you don't mind. Now, tell me One, why is the police-force of the Ceredonian federation interested in you, an old, innocent woman?"
Excuse me Doctor, you are not very polite. But, yes, I am old, too old. But never mind that. The Ceredonian police is interested in a piece of technology that is in my possession."
"And exactly what kind of technology might that be?"
" My dear Doctor, why should I tell you?"
" Because I'm the Doctor."
She laughed, a laugh full with joy.
" You are still the funniest person I have met."
" We have met? Yes, I thought we might have. More than once?"
" Yes. More than once. " she turned to the companion. " I am hungry. Those fish'n chips they have here, good are they?"
" As a matter of fact, yes they are. Not bad at all. Shall we go and get you some?"
" Yes, please. That would be nice."
" So, which is your favourite restaurant, One? " companion asked.
" 'The Warp-drive-Inn', been there?"
The Doctor got a sudden flash back. From his tenth reincarnation. He had had a rough time, a bad month, three afflicting farewells, two other friends had died in different places in time. He was feeling alone, old, week, worn out. Was it worth it? Should he just end it all?
The balcony of 'The Warp-drive-Inn', staring at the stars and the crimson moon.
" It's a lonely life, isn't it?" a smooth, warm voice, a woman, standing in the shadows. He looked far away out in the universe. 'The Warp-drive-Inn' was an escape, you had seldom anything to fear here.
" Yes, a lonely life."
" Too many goodbyes, too many breaking ups, too many departures." He had had to struggle with the pain and the tears. The woman continued: "And yet, so many hellos, welcome, arrivals. You can't have the one without the other. Only those who have felt sorrow can experience happiness to its limits. It is worth it. It is worth the pain and the loneliness."
He had found it hard to breathe. He had turned towards her just in time to see her take a step out in the red moonlight. She was a human or humanoid, the only one there at the moment, except for himself. He had gazed in surprise. She had smiled, warmly and laid her hand on his upper arm. Then she turned and vanished. He had felt surprisingly consoled.
" Yes. I have been at 'The Warp-drive-Inn'. We met there once, didn't we? A long time ago." the Doctor said. The One just smiled and went along with the companion.
" We saw you earlier today. You were wounded, if I'm not mistaken?" the companion said.
" Me? My dear friend, if I was wounded earlier today, how can I walk here, safe and sound?"
" I have seen things more spectacular than a wound healing in a few minutes. I have been travelling with the Doctor for a while now."
" Exactly how long is a While?"
" You are asking? Excuse me, but it seem to me that you, One, is a time- and space-traveller." the companion said.
" So, you are insinuating that travelling in time and space is possible?" she smiled.
Suddenly the light turned grey and reality paled. People were moving slowly as if time had slowed down. Ceredonian polices appeared with raised weapons.
" Sorry, I have to go" One said. " See you around." She moved very rapidly across the square and went out a side-door, a fire escape. The alarm sounded, it was low and out of tone.
" Not again! We shall have that time-device back, I tell you. Track her, find her!" the yell of the ceredonian commander filled the galleria. Then the light turned to normal again, reality speeded up and no ceredonian polices were seen.
" We have to find out who she is and what kind of device she has stolen." Doctor said.
"Could she be a timelord?"
"Timelord? No. I would have smelled it. She is no timelord. And now, let's follow her path to her ship."
They too went out the fire exit, the alarm still shrilled high. You were not supposed to use the fire exits when there was no fire – fire exits for fire only.
" Let's see, the Tardis landed on the same spot in both worlds, as should her ship, I think. Last time we saw her, wounded, she fell down the slope and rolled down onto the meadow and there the spaceship must be, unseen. It ought to be somewhere there, across the esplanade." the Doctor said.
" Do you think she is an alien?"
"Of course she is an alien. Or at least she is from a distant future."
" No, I mean – is she human or is she totally different and in disguise?"
" One can never be sure, but she was still human when she was bleeding badly and no one was around to see her – except for us and she didn't know we were around. Right? I think she is human, some kind of humanoid being. Ought to be."
" You couldn't find her ship last time."
" I know. But now I have a better picture of her. Let's see." the Doctor held up the screwdriver, pointed it from side to side, slowly. And then – a nice, wooden door, green, appeared. " Yes, here it is. Told you."
But the door wouldn't open, no matter how hard they tried.
" All right, back to the Tardis. The Tardis was already locked on what it called 'the sister-ship'. Let's see what the Tardis can do." They went back.
" Can you bring us on board the sister-ship?" the Doctor asked. The smooth computer-voice answered:
" Not at this moment. The ship is sealed to avoid the ceredonians to reach it."
" What if we went back along the time-line a few hours. You had a lock on her, hadn't you, could we then get on board?"
" That would be possible."
" Let's go!"
" Four hours, that's the time we spent fixing the Tardis including the time we spent in the galleria." the companion said.
" I know. She and her companions will hopefully be occupied treating her wounds. Easier for us that way." the Doctor said.
They opened the door of the Tardis. An ellipse-formed room with a control-board in the centre, some shelves and wall-cupboards along the most of the walls. A few openings with slide-doors,a curved ceiling with a skylight high up above. And no one was there. The spaceship seemed empty. A pulsating light was seen, coming from one of the doorways.
" This way." the Doctor said in a low voice. " And stay close." They went in. It was a corridor, or more of a tunnel in a cave. Stonewalls. And it was freezing cold.
" It is really cold. We should have had winter-clothes. My nose and ears are getting frost-bitten." the companion whispered.
" I recognise this place." the Doctor said, paying no attention to the comment. "I bet the grass is red when we get out of this cave." Companion was shattering her teeth.
" Red grass. You mean as at Gallifrey?"
" Yes."
" But this is a spaceship."
" Yes. And now I might even know who the One is. You better go back to main-control. It's far too cold for you in here."
" But what about you, Doctor? This seems to be a place to die on."
" On the contrary. This is a place of survival. She is hurt. Go back. Trust me. I will be with you soon enough. Now, off you go."
The companion went back, shivering with cold, white frost in her hair. The Doctor went further in the tunnel. The pulsating light turned stronger, the tunnel widened to a cave. A niche, someone was laying there, cowering.
" Of all places, you've chosen this one. Oh dearest. All these years. How can you still be alive? You're a mortal. So so." He bent down, fell on his knees and lifted up a girl, about fifteen, and held her with caution. " I'm here. I'm here now.
She was transforming, slowly. She turned gracefully twenty, thirty, forty, fifty...now and then a wound or disease was seen on the body, pain shortly shadowed her face, but she healed. And finally, she woke up, a middle-aged woman.
" Hello friend. Do you now remember me?" she whispered.
" Yes. Yes I do."
In the control room of the spaceship:
" So, you are from Gallifrey? But you are no timelord. How is that?" the companion asked.
"It's a long story. I think a short lesson in Gallifreian history is necessary: You see, on
Gallifrey there are two human species, the Mortals and the Timelords. The mortals are many, living their short lives in poverty in the wastelands or as slaves in the Locked city. The timelords are about 200 000 individuals, and very few of them are children. They cannot bread as the mortals, probably because of their long lives – there would soon be far too many of them if they could so nature doesn't permit it. Children are rare in the Locked city.
A timelord is born with twelve reincarnations. And when they have used their eleventh they often settle down in the Locked city for the remaining of their lives, often many hundred years. To start the reincarnation-series they have to be exposed to death. Often they are forced out in the Gallifreian night, under the giant cold moon. After suffering death the reincarnation-series starts, for about half of the children. The others die and are considered to be 'not viable'.
At the time for my childhood a movement had started. Intellectuals among the timelords were questioning the situation of the mortals. Starvation and diseases were shortening their already short lives. Some of the timelords went out into the wastelands and tried to educate the mortals, started healthcare-centres and schools. These were called 'the doctors' and they were despised by the more conservative among the timelords.
My mother was a mortal, a slave, working at the house of the Librarian. I was allowed to walk around in the Locked city. I could sit in the library and turn over the leaves in any book. Many of the adults were kind to me, secretly. Being a child I was rare and precious, being a mortal I was disregarded.
When I was about seven years old, I one day, for the first time, went outside the wall, out in the red fields. This was new to me. I walked slowly around with big, wondered eyes. After a short while I reached a shrubbery and I heard someone crying. A boy, somewhat older than I, was sitting there on the ground, crying. Tears fell down into an open book."
"I remember that. I was crying because of the discipline and the impossible homework. I feared the punishment next day. The headteacher had a strong arm. And that skinny girl, a mortal, with a warm smile, offering me help and comfort."
" Yes. And in return you taught me how to read and write, everything you learnt in school you taught me. My very best friend at that time."
" Much fun we had. Many laughs. The tree of us, you, me and the Master..."
" And the years went by. I became more of a rebel, you and the Master were predestined to be time-travellers. I was going to be a slave, as my mother. Until the day I found out the truth about myself."
" What was it that you found out? They never let us know."
" The Librarian, lord Elvedin, former the Observer, was my father. I found an envelope with a handwritten note in a desk-drawer in his private room in the library. He had made my mother pregnant and I was the result. I was half a timelord. Being a slave had never been an option. Being half a timelord – what would the giant moon do with me? I couldn't come out worse than those non-viable timelords that didn't pass the test."
" And that was why you went out that night? "
" Yes. You weren't supposed to follow..."
" I know. My best friend went out in the deadly night. They didn't let me leave the city. So I sneaked out through one of the underground waste-water tunnels. The moon was freezing cold. When I reached the opening of the cave I couldn't feel my body any more. I was numb. I found you in that niche, on your side, pale and cold as ice. I fell down and embraced you, I wanted you to live, with all my heart."
" They found us the next morning, unconscious. When I woke up in a sickbed at the hospital they told me that you had wasted a reincarnation on me."
"Yes, " the Doctor laughed without joy. " So they said ' You have started your reincarnation prematurely. You have wasted your first reincarnation on a mortal, who do you think you are – a doctor?!' " Silence for a while, than the Doctor said: " I would have done it again. It wasn't wasted. But they turned my life into hell after that. I wasn't allowed to see anyone, I couldn't walk freely in the Locked city, they were watching me, every step I took. And one day I had had enough. I stole a Tardis and went away. First stop, planet earth. Nothing I'd planned. It became my base, I was accepted there. I stayed for sixty years with not a few adventures in time and space to get to know my Tardis. I was ageing as a mortal. Living a life as a human. This 'wasting' of a reincarnation gave me the experience of getting old, watch life slowly change and pass. I was an old man, dying, when I reached my second reincarnation."
" What happened to you, One?" the companion asked.
"Lord Elvedin took me back home. He treated me with respect but kept his distance, as always. But I wasn't allowed to leave the house. One day he asked me to come to his work-room above the library. He showed me old maps and film-sequences from some of his travels around the universe. And he said:
" I was a time-traveller once. I have seen many things you wouldn't believe. I know that life must not be as it is here, at Gallifrey. And I know that your friend, him they call the Doctor nowadays, has educated you in maths and physics, alien cultures and all sorts of knowledge relevant to a time-traveller."
I wanted to contradict, educating a mortal was not allowed, but lord Elvedin held up his hand.
" I know he has. I have nothing against it. As a matter of fact – first I found it amusing and somehow sweet, but now I think it was excellent. You see, they are about to imprison you and you might even be sentenced to death. The order was given some days ago and I can't have it delayed much longer, I can't resist to turn you in. Please listen Eileen. When I reached my eleventh reincarnation I settled down in the Locked city, were time doesn't matter, and first I became the headteacher at the time-traveller- school. After fifty years I became the Librarian instead and I took back my given name, Elvedin. You must know about the curse of being a timelord and The Strict Rule. Everything and everyone you ever put your eyes on will fade and die long before you fade and die. It is painful beyond limits. The Strict Rule tells us never ever to get seriously committed in anyone but another timelord. I broke that rule, dear. I fell, hard, in love with your mother, a mortal, a slave in my household. And even worse, I made her pregnant, which was said to be impossible. And from that pain I know it will cost me, I have tried to protect myself. I have tried to keep distance. My curse is to see the two of you, those beings I love beyond sense, to see you grow old, fade away and finally go into the shadows where I cannot follow. Now it seems as the good Doctor has spared me from half of that pain, by sharing his first reincarnation with you. I have studied some blood-samples from you. I have seen the changes in your DNA. Your ageing-process has slowed down and you will have an extremely long life. But you cannot stay here on Gallifrey. Here you will have no future. You will have to leave."
" How shall I leave Gallifrey, lord Elvedin? They won't exactly give me a Tardis, or even give me a ticket to the nearest galaxy." I said. He smiled.
" I think it is time for you to get your legacy." He pushed a grey button at the wall and the wall slid aside revealing another room. And the middle of that room was occupied by an obvious emptiness.
" Elvedin. Show Eileen the door." And a green wooden door, of the kind you can see on the small houses of the wastelands, came visible. " Open up, Elvedin."
" Elvedin, but that is your name."
" Yes. When I became a time-traveller I named my Tardis after my father, who's name too was Elvedin. And now, the Tardis is named after your father. I have made some improvements, some according to the latest technology, some to match the Tardis with your specific DNA-sequences and your personality." Silence for a while.
" I don't know what to say..."
" There are some things you must remember, Eileen. You cannot reincarnate. You cannot afford to take risks. Inside the Tardis there is a jar of glass and in that jar there is a shiny supply of life-force, gathered from some of the 'not viable'. You and the Tardis must be weaved together, the Tardis must be able to read your mind and see your needs. The two of you must form an entity. When you are in need you have to be beamed on board and the Tardis will make you survive as long as there is some life-force left in the jar."
" I understand, lord Elvedin. When do I leave?"
" Within fifteen hours."
" Will you look after mum for me?"
" Yes, dear, I will. And...one more thing. Here is a map, a multidimensional map of time and space. I have marked some spots. You see, child, there are focal points where time and space are in a knot. These points cannot change. And then there are some points with much elasticity. They are not many and they are not large, but these spots would allow the Tardis, or anything, to exist in duplication, in a paradox. There we can meet. If you need advice or feel alone and without friends. If you want to." he said shyly and gave me a roll of some kind of leather. " I would like to get to know you better.."
" Do you think we will meet out there, in the past I mean?"
He looked a bit astray and then he lightened up in a smile, looked me into the eyes.
" Yes. I remember it will happen – in the future of the past. Now a short lesson on how to drive this Tardis. I know you are familiar with it in theory at least."
Well, I left Gallifrey that night and never looked back."
" Did you raise a family?" companion asked. She had looked around while waiting for the Doctor in the cave and had found some photos of children.
" Yes. I too broke The Strict Rule. A boy and a girl. Four hundred years ago I visited the earth for the second time. I settled down for a while in the 20:th century. A perfect home in time and space, I think. I got myself a companion and we – well, we got married. I stayed with them for thirty years. Then they had got lives of their own, the kids, and I left earth, just visited them sporadically. As Elvedin said, it is a curse to have to watch your loved ones fade and enter the shadows while you yourself are bound to stay alive, unchanged. The pain never ends. But, somehow, it was worth it. I have visited my offspring in the future. But one have to be careful though, not interfere. I can't go back in my own time-line. All I can do is watch them on distance. It hurts. I was on their funerals you know. I can do nothing to change history from happening. They have to make their own path. The pain is mine, only mine."
" Oh Eileen. You have never been kind to yourself, have you?" the Doctor asked.
" Oh yes, I have. I have allowed myself a lot. And paid the price. Funny, there is always a price to pay."
" Oh, Eileen." the Doctor said with a sigh. He was walking around, inspecting the machinery and controls of the Elvedin. " Dearest friend, what is it that you have in your possession that the ceredonians are willing to kill to get?"
" It's a speeding-up-and-slowing-down-device. It has been most useful. Time-saving. And it does not belong to the ceredonians."
" This counter here – showing your real-time, does it?" the Doctor asked.
" The green one? Yes. 973 years, 102 days, four hours, 36 minutes and still counting."
" Long life."
The ship jolted for some seconds.
" What was that?" the companion said.
" Just an alteration of the course of events. Reality figured out that there were two Tardises in the neighbourhood. Now, Eileen, what's up?"the Doctor said.
"I considered to do some shopping and get something to eat..." both the Doctor and the companion shouted 'no'. " Why not?"
" The ceredonians are waiting for you in this place too."
" I know. I have been in this time for three years now. They have locked me in. I can only move in room-dimension."
" Oh dearest. You are captured in time!"
" But not in space."
" No wonder they can track you." the companion said. " If you can move in only one direction."
" I have got a 20 hour interval in which I can move. I'll find a way out."
" What about one of the elastic spots?"
" That would be a possibility if they matched my time- interval. Which they don't."
" How much does it differ?" the Doctor asked.
" Too much, I'm afraid. If we lock the Elvedin three years ahead and turn sharply to earth 37 in a short cut and speed up, we still lack two weeks and some hours."
" Two weeks is not much when it comes to time and space..." the Doctor said.
" Is it really possible to take a short cut?" the companion said.
" Yes. It is not static, you know. It moves, widens and narrows. It is very much alive."
" If we could make it widen a bit and put the Elvedin inside the Tardis, you might be able to get out."
" If you just gave them the...thing they want back..."
" I am not sure that I want them to have it. You see, it is not theirs. It is not invented until 17211 in May in the world of Umbrisia at the other side of this universe. It was stolen from the umbrisians by another time-traveller and sold to the ceredonians. They have the technology to control the device but not the minds to control themselves. They use it to put their protection upon worlds who just want to be left alone."
" Maybe you should go to Umbrisia 17211 and give it back." companion said.
" Maybe I should. But I'm stuck here, remember?"
" You said it was a useful item, what have you used it for?"
" I have used it to get away from the ceredonian police-force who has been following me for the last eleven years through the multiverse to get it back."
" Do you always get in that much trouble?" the Doctor asked.
" No I don't. I always try to make as little difference as possible. But sometimes, when you are in a position were you can make a change for the much better, I think you have a duty to do so. But the guideline is 'Do Not Interfere!' " Eileen wrote with her finger in the air.
" Can you park the Elvedin inside the Tardis?"
" Of course I can.." Eileen tapped on a screen on the control-board, lights were twinkling, a vibration through the ship and the Tardis at the side of the room disappeared. "Voilà! We are inside."
" Well done."
They opened the door and stepped out inside the Tardis.
" This is magic. These two ships can hold each other inside each other, and there is room left." the companion said.
"Don't think much about it. Just accept it – I have." Eileen said.
" Now, let's see if my theory is correct." The Doctor pulled some control-sticks, pressed some buttons, turned some handles. The Tardis went into the time-vortex and the Elvedin went along nicely.
" You're a genius, Doctor." Eileen said.
" You're flattering me, Eileen. Now, a thing of importance – I noticed the jar of glass and its shiny content."
" Yes?"
" Not much left, is there?"
" No. Can't do nothing about it. Why worry?"
" Well, we are on our way to Umbrisia, the 180 century, to return a time-changing device. The question is, will the ceredonians know that the device is no longer in your possession and if they know, will they leave you alone or will they call for revenge?"
" One can never tell in advance."
" That device in the wrong hands...the president of Gallifrey would let anyone die to get it..." Doctor said as if he was thinking out loud.
They were sitting, awaiting arrival to Umbrisia. It wouldn't take long.
" Travelling a long time with the Doctor, have you?" Eileen asked the companion.
" Yes, from time to time, for some years now."
" Seen a lot, I believe?"
" Oh, yes. Things I never dreamt of. Adventures. I'm just a human, you know..."
" Are you sure?" Eileen asked silently, companion didn't hear.
" But somehow he puts his trust in me, he makes me grow as a person. When I'm on the road with him I'm skilled, brave, someone to lean on. I am somebody."
" Yes. It's a talent he has. You know you have been seen."
" Yes. And you must have had great experiences yourself, seen great things too, haven't you?"
" Oh yes I have. Amazing things. And for the first three hundred years it is a thrill. Then it is a repeat. Everything is just a variation on an old theme. You see something new and you know you have seen it before." The companion looked bewildered and Eileen looked back at her, sadly. " I'm sorry. I'm just tired. Always tired nowadays. I have a last mission and when it is done...I need a vacation. From life. Almost a thousand years, it's a gigantic stretch of life for someone supposed to die before her 60th."
The companion felt her eyes filled with tears. She looked help-seeking at her hands and then looked up and said:
" I don't know what to say...I am so sorry."
" Don't be. Enjoy life while it lasts. Don't you mind a grumpy old lady. I have had a great time. It has been a fantastic journey. There ain't much I regret, love. And I know that I have made a difference to the better in some cases. And that's a lot for someone who is not even close to be divine." Eileen laughed, her eyes shone.
They arrived in Umbrisia safe and sound. It was a green world. The planet was covered with rich vegetation. The umbrisian people were the herds and servants to all living on the planet. Their technology was developed to the service of life.
" This is planet earth as it could have been. But the humans are as wilful as the time-lords." the Doctor said in an abrupt way. " Ignorance is devastating."
Three half-transparent, tall and humble individuals came forth and greeted them.
"Welcome, time-travellers." they said in chorus. " It is an honour to greet you."
" Thank you, beautiful people of Umbrisia. It is an honour to be welcomed in your world." Eileen said and bowed, palms together.
" Please, follow us to the security head-quarters."
The buildings were like floating islands up in the sky. A flat hovercraft came floating towards them. They went on board and were taken up to a white tulip-formed house. They went into the house, into a great marble hall. Customs officers were standing behind a desk.
" Honoured guests, what might bring you so far from your homelands?"
" A matter of deep importance, I'm afraid. Through many circumstances it has so happened that I, in my possession, have a time-changing device, origin Umbrisia. It was found in the hands of a ceredonian chief Marshall, with the mission to gain control on several populations out in time and space. I feel it is my duty to return the device to its creators and rightful owners." Eileen bowed again.
The Tulip-formed house started to quake, dust filled the air. Four doorsteps in aluminium, a man in a grey and red uniform with a complex symbol on his chest, went down from an invisible ship.
" Well, well," Eileen sighed and muttered. " If you have some kind of time-changer in your hand you can count on seeing a time-traveller in every corner."
" I must demand you to give me that device, mortal. Hand it over." the man said in a nasal way.
" And you must be...lord...?" the Doctor asked.
" Accomplisher, lord Accomplisher. And who might you be, if I may ask?"
" Exactly." the Doctor answered. " Who, Doctor Who."
" And what is it that you are going to accomplish, sir?" Eileen asked, politely.
The umbrisians were trying to put up a forcefield around the time-travellers.
" My order is to bring the time-device to Gallifrey in a certain time." the Accomplisher said.
" I guess you're about to deliver it just before the definite time-lock is set." the Doctor said. "I'm sorry, I can't let you do that. It would jeopardize life as we know it. Life everywhere."
" My order is to take it, by force, if necessary." the Accomplisher said raising a laser-gun, aiming at Eileen.
" I advice you to put that gun down." a voice said behind them. A tanned man with black, curly hair and a mad smile stood there.
" Lord Observer?!" the Accomplisher looked bewildered.
"Observer? But you are...will be.." the Doctor said.
" Do you ever look at your control-boards when travelling the vortex?" the Observer asked the Doctor.
" Ye..no. I leave everything to the Tardis."
" Well, if you had, you would have noticed something about this spot..."the Observer smiled. Eileen looked around, her eyes narrowed.
" Density. This is a loose-packed point. It is most elastic. Almost anything can come through here." she said.
The forcefield was complete around them.
" And that's why the umbrisians created the time-changer, to have a chance to reinforce the vortex." the Observer said, still with a mad smile.
"But how did you come here?" the Doctor asked. The Observer laughed with joy.
"I got a message from Gallifrey, from someone called the Librarian. I was asked to help a friend to be. A woman."
" You are the Observer? You are Elvedin?" Eileen begun to understand. "We'd better solve this situation or we will, sooner or later, be thrown into a paradox. You arrived in the Elvedin, didn't you?"
"Yes. But how can you know the unspoken, secret name of my Tardis?" the Observer asked.
" It's a long story and we haven't got the time to tell it. We have met, in the past of the future, or at least we will meet."
" Stop talking and handle me that device, nice and slow." the Accomplisher said and started to squeeze the trigger of the laser-gun. The Observer and the Doctor both aimed at the gun, one with a antigravitation-gadget and the other with a sonic screwdriver. All three pulled their triggers simultaneously Bang! The result was interesting.
The laser-gun swung up in the air and then floated down again, nicely. The forcefield broke, the blast-wave threw everything and everyone down as it travelled. In the eye of the blast Eileen raised the time-changer and a pale shade slowed down time inside the former forcefield.
" Lord Observer. You have been most helpful. But, please, trust me. You have to leave. Now"
But..."
"No but. There are two Elvedin Tardises here at the moment. When the sonic-antigravitation blast reaches the second Elvedin the paradox will make a rift in reality."
The Observer looked at her for a while and then turned and started to run saying:
" Elvedin, emergency, open the door." A green wooden door was seen, twenty meters away. It swung open, Observer jumped in, door closed and the Elvedin disappeared with that Tardis-sound.
" And now, Eileen. We have to do something about the loose-packed vortex. Let's speed up time to normal. " the Doctor said. He put the point of the screwdriver at the time-changer. A low- frequency sound filled the air, the surroundings where trembling at first and then turned still. The time-changer started to glow and then it vanished in molecules.
" You broke it! You are a timelord and you broke the time-changer! What about Gallifrey and the president?!" the Accomplisher was upset.
" A piece of advice to you, Accomplisher. Do not accomplish anything the president orders you to. Not without some kind of research on his true purposes."
The Accomplisher went up his stairs without a word and he too went off. The companion looked around. The tulip-house was in a mess, umbrisians, unconscious, were laying around at the floor.
" What do we do now?" she asked. " We can't just leave them."
" But I think we can." the Doctor said.
They went back to the Tardis,
"The Warp-Drive-Inn, anyone?" the Doctor asked.
" I'm sorry, but I think I'd better go back home." the companion said. " I have tickets for 'Live at the Apollo', tomorrow nights show."
" We can go back to tomorrow whenever you like to" the Doctor said.
" Yes I know. But still...Oh allright then, Warp-Drive-Inn it is."
They parked the Tardis outside in the space-port and went into the lounge, into a riot of some kind. All kind of creatures were fighting and shouting, everyone was fighting everyone else, no guns but knives, bows, spears...
" What in the existence is going on?" the Doctor said, then an arrow came through the air and hit him in the shoulder. He sank on his knees and then he fainted.
" Back, get back! Back to the Tardis. Help me lift him up." the companion shouted
" Elvedin, get a fix on the Doctor and bring him in." Eileen said. A light shone on the Doctor and he vanished. " Now, run!" The two women went out to the port and into the Tardis.
" Where is the Doctor?" companion looked around the room.
" He is in the Elvedin." Eileen said. " Elvedin, change places, Tardis inside and everybody in the control-centre."
" You are bleeding." The companion said. Eileen had a cut in her hand.
" It's nothing. It's just a scratch. Elvedin, take the Doctor to the cave, scan his vital signs."
They were standing in the cold cave. The Doctor laid on his back, pale with a blue shade around his lips.
" He has been poisoned and life-processes has almost stopped. And so has his ability to reincarnate." the metallic computer voice had no empathy, no excuses, no comfort.
" You mean he is dying?"
" No, he is in a vegetative state, he is not dead, but he cannot live. It's a kind of coma."
" Can you recreate his DNA and restart his life?" Eileen asked.
" Yes, Eileen, but it is not to recommend . The amount of life-force is low."
" His or mine?"
" Yours. It's the only life-force available."
" Do it. I want you to cure the Doctor, Elvedin. At any cost. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes Eileen."
A bright light seemed to walk around the body of the Doctor. Then he started to change, from the young boy, just before his first reincarnation and then through all his reincarnations up until today. All wounds were seen and healed.
During this, the companion happened to look at Eileen. She was pale, sweat was pouring from her forehead and down on her face.
" Eileen, what's wrong?"
" Nothing is wrong. My last mission was accomplished, the time-changer reached Umbrisia, and then the vortex was permanently reinforced there. The last dangerously weak spots in this universe – as far as we know. And now, as a gift from faith, I am able to give life back to my very best friend and say 'thank you for the loan'."
" But..."
" Yes. I'm dying, the cut in my hand was made by a poisoned edge, but it is all right. Take care of him for a while, will you?."
Eileen was now breathing shortly and intermittently. She was reeling out in the control-room. She took a roll of some kind of leather from a shelf and handed it over to the companion who had followed her.
" I have marked some possibilities. There are not many left now. But there are some points where vortex is more elastic. If he needs me."
She fell down on her knees and then slowly reached the floor, her breath was rattling, she groaned.
" Eileen. No, Eileen! Where are you going? Don't leave me!." the Doctor ran into the room.
" Friend, I will always be there for you. In the crossing between dream and awake." she whispered..
" Eileen...!"
" Do you see the light? We are not going into the shadows. It's the light...pure energy..."
He made her a pyre. After all she was half a timelord, every part unique and precious. She was his best friend, his last bond to childhood. He had never been aware of missing the past, until he last met her. And now he had no tears to ease the sadness. And when the fire died down the Elvedin was disintegrated in a glimmer of light. It looked somehow as snowflakes falling in moonlight.
" So, they call you 'the Doctor' because you saved the life of a mortal?"
" Yes."
" Do you think you will meet her again? In one of those elastic spots, I mean?"
The Doctor looked a bit astray, then he lightened up and said with warmth:
" Yes. I remember it has happened in the future."