Chapter 1: The Doctor's Son
"And we're off!" exclaimed the Doctor.
"Where are we going?" asked Clara.
"We're going to take a little trip through space," he replied.
"Why not go somewhere, you know, distant and exotic?" she asked.
"Distant and exotic?" the Doctor asked incredulously, "We're going into space, for goodness' sake! You humans are so picky! The TARDIS has been tired lately, and she doesn't like traveling too far, so we're going to travel through your 'Milky Way'."
Just then, the TARDIS made a large crashing sound and started to malfunction.
"What's going on?" asked Clara.
"I'm not quite sure! The TARDIS only does this when she's experiencing a..." he cut off and started to think to himself out loud, "No, this can't be! An emergency temporal shift?! Inside the TARDIS?
That can only be achieved by one thing..." He started to swing around, checking his surroundings. "No, why are you appearing now? After so long?"
As he said this, a figure began to materialize in the middle of the console room. The Doctor approached the figure, pointed his sonic screwdriver at it, and said, "The signal is weak, I need to strengthen it and then focus the materialization." Doing just this, the figure began to appear more solid and eventually fully appeared inside of the TARDIS.
The figure was a young boy, around 14 years old. "Hey Dad!" exclaimed the boy, and gave the Doctor a hug. Bewildered, the Doctor asked, "Who in the whole universe are you? And how did you come from my dead home planet?"
"Gallifrey isn't dead, Dad! In fact, it's population is the highest it's ever been. 10,987,680,080 Timelords, all on the same planet!'
"But, how can this be? They all died in the Time War! How in all of the universe did I think Gallifrey was dead? Wouldn't I have known? Wouldn't I have remembered that Gallifrey was OK?"
"Ah, now that's a bit more complicated. As you should know, Timelords have slight psychic abilities. Since you were banished from Gallifrey, we wiped all of your memories and made you believe that we were all gone. Only recently have we realized that we once again need your services."
Seeming to accept this explanation, the Doctor continued,"And...if I must ask, who is your mother?'
"Well, Rana of course! Don't you remember anything?"
"I kind of had my memories wiped, remember?"
"If you try to remember, I think you might recall that she...'collected' you. If you know what I mean."
Meanwhile, throughout this entire scene, Clara had stood there with a look of amazement at the materialization, and especially the fact that the Doctor had a son! "So, guys, sorry to butt in, but considering the Doctor looks 25 but is actually 907 years old, how old are you?" she asked.
"Oh, of course! I almost forgot you were there! I'm 246 years, 17 months, and 63 days old!" he replied, as if this was completely normal. Not even wanting to try to understand the Gallifreyan calendar, Clara continued.
"How did you materialize into the TARDIS in mid-flight? In the middle of space?" she asked seriously, "I thought nothing could penetrate the safeguards of the TARDIS, Doctor!" The Doctor looked at her with a condescending smile.
"I never mentioned Timelord technology. I didn't expect this! I thought my entire species was dead! All these years just wandering about the universe, thinking I was alone, when I could have gone home and lived a normal life!" replied the Doctor. Hearing this, Clara looked hurt. Would he now abandon her, to go back to his home planet and just forget about Clara forever?
Seeming to read her mind, the Doctor quickly said,"But of course, I would never do that while having all of this adventure out in the universe!" He laughed an obviously fake laugh, then tried to change the subject. "So...your name is...?"
"Oh yes! My name is The Professor!" replied the Professor.
"So, 'Professor', how did you come aboard my ship while it was in mid-flight? Even for Timelords, that's pretty difficult to do, isn't it?"
"We've made a lot of technological advances while you were gone wandering the universe. Not only have we been able to make more..." he looks around with a grimace, "capable TARDISes, but we have fine-tuned many of our teleportation devices!" The Doctor looked hurt at how the Professor had practically dissed his TARDIS!
"My TARDIS is absolutely capable! Sure, every once in awhile she brings me to a completely different place then I want to go, but she always brings me to places that I NEED to go to!" replied the Doctor with a look of defiance.
"Look, Dad, we can discuss this later. Right now, you need to get to Gallifrey to help us with our...dilemma." With those last words, the Professor dematerialized. The Doctor looked surprised, but quickly put on his game face.
"So...are we going to your home planet? Gallifrey? The place you never really liked to talk about?" asked Clara. Without replying, the Doctor flipped a couple of switches, set the coordinates, and within a few seconds they were on their way to Gallifrey.