Doctor In Black
By
Tom Tarpey
J and L entered the main hall of MIB headquarters, under the triborough bridge and tunnel authority. It was bustling with activity, even more than usual. The twins tentacles were moving so quickly you could hardly see them.
"What's up?" J asked L.
"Not sure, what's that." L pointed to an antique Police Call Box.
"Maybe it's a 'gift from some friends from out of town.'" J said in his best Zed voice, and went to try the door.
"Back away from that junior," Zeds voice called from his office above the main floor. "and get your keesters in here, on the double."
They made their way up the halls to Zeds office. In the break room they noticed the worms, which wasn't unusual. What was unusual was they were arguing vianese cinnamon coffee versus earl grey tea, with a strange looking man in a green frock.
They entered Zeds office as he was finishing a phone call. "...well keep looking and keep me posted." He hung up the phone, and pointed to the chairs, "sit down you two."
"Ol' Zed really puttin' the hammer down, where's the whip?" Quipped J.
Zed did not look remotely amused. "Can it smart guy. Quick background, the Zyronians are a hyper-intelligent race comprised of toxic gasses. Once every 27 and a half years they go into a mating cycle. In this cycle they revert to a primitive intellect, they respond to planetary frequencies conducive to there mating ritual. Our solar systems planet Neptune is a perfect choice.
"In 1967 we entered into a treaty with the Zyronians allowing them access to our solar system, specifically Neptune when their mating cycle began. They installed a computer satellite unit, called the ZMS 1, to broadcast the proper frequency and guide the Zyronians to Neptune at the appropriate time." Zed paused.
"Can I assume this gets bad soon?" asked L.
"Bingo," stated Zed, and continued. "the ZMS 1 in orbit was sentient. It malfunctioned and turned its attention to destroying Earth. Relocating to an orbit over the North Pole it began broadcasting it signal. If the Zyronians had begun their ritual here it would have obliterated all human life on the planet.
"The twins cracked an access code to one of his lower priority systems, navigation. Your old partner, K, went to the pole and accessed the guidance system. Against the satellites will K moved it back to an orbit over Neptune, and held it there till the end of the mating cycle. The whole time the ZMS 1swore revenge on K in very unpleasant ways."
"So the Zyronians finished their business," Probed L.
"And took their mean ol computer back to their planet and dismantled it, right?" finished J.
"Partially right." said Zed. "The Zyronians do not believe in capitol punishment of sentient beings. They also would not manually alter the programming of the unit because of some religious code they follow." Zed sighed. "The currents of life flow for a purpose, I believe they said. Any way they incarcerated the unit in the hopes of rehabilitating it. It sounded hopeless to me, but they have excellent penal facilities so I didn't push the issue."
"Can we guess the situation has changed?" asked L already knowing the answer.
"It has and I'm afraid it's partially my fault." Said a voice from behind them. They turned and saw the man in the frock that had been arguing with the worms.
"Partially.." started Zed then stopped rolling his eyes. "J, L this is the Doctor."
"Delighted to meet you." Smiled the Doctor and shook their hands vigorously.
"He's Gallifreyan." Stated Zed.
"So you're a Timelord." L said. "Then the police box in the main hall must be your TARDIS."
"Very good." Said Zed, impressed by L's vast knowledge of off planet species.
"Someone want to clue me in?" Asked J.
J, thought Zed, was probably the best field agent on Earth, but when it came to any kind of non-case research, well forget it. "The residents of Gallifrey call themselves Timelords because they can time travel. The capsules they travel in are called TARDISes."
"He travels in that closet? How…" J started but was quickly silenced by L.
"Later." She said
"I like Timelords as a rule because they mind their own business. This one however," said Zed nodding towards the Doctor, "seems to excel in meddling."
"How rude," started the Doctor but was cut off by Zed.
"On his most recent misadventure he visited Zyronia and set loose the ZMS 1"
"In my own defense it didn't happen quite like that. The Zyronian home world has recently become embroiled in the Sontaran /Rutan war. For strategic reasons the Rutans tried to take over Zyronia. I came to the planet answering a distress call. In the process of liberating the Zyronians we crashed the main planetary power grid, that grid controlled the force field generators at the rehabilitation facility holding the ZMS 1 satellite.
"We didn't even notice what had happened till the dust settled. As soon as I realized what occurred I came straight here." Finished the Doctor.
"So the upshot of the situation is there is a homicidal satellite on its way to destroy the MIB." Said J.
"Very probably." Said the Doctor. "But this is a very disturbed intellect we're dealing with, he blames a certain individual for his incarceration."
"He's after K." Said L
"I'm afraid so."
The team moved to the main floor to see how the twins were doing in tracking down the ZMS 1, they were having no luck.
"How long ago did it escape?" Asked Zed.
"Earth time, just under a week." Answered the Doctor.
"With the propulsion system it has that should have been more than enough time to get here." Said L.
It was quiet as they studied the readings on the monitors. J stepped closer to the twins. "Bob bring up LMSAT 12." Bob complied. "This is strange all the other satellites are registering allsorts of data, but 12 is basically dormant."
The Doctor moved to the board. Bob tried to access the satellite and let out a concerned warble. Zed translated, "They're locked out."
"Do you mind if I give it a go?" Asked the Doctor. Then without waiting for a response he began manipulating diodes on the console. "LMSAT 12 has been disabled, its feed is being used as a carrier to down load MIB's data base."
"Shut it down, now." Not bothering to hide the panic in his voice.
"We are trying, but it has encrypted it's carrier wave…," his hands flew over the terminal like he had created it. Then with a flourish he exclaimed, "Got it, I've closed the carrier."
"How much information did it get?" Asked Zed.
"Checking." Answered the Doctor.
"Did it get the personal records?" Asked L.
The Doctor studied the screen, and shook his head. "First thing."
"Zed it knows where K is now we've got to get over there." Said J.
"Way ahead of you slick, I've had two units sitting on his house since our friend arrived with the good news." He removed a communication device from his breast pocket and said, "X, M, the fire lit your getting hot."
"Roger boss." Said the voice of M over the receiver. "All's quiet so far, I think.." Static filled the line, and then went dead.
Zed called for them repeatedly but got no response from either unit.
J came up to Zed "We have to get to him!"
"No arguments here," replied Zed "Doctor?"
The doctor understood Zed's question. "Yes of course, my TARDIS is the quickest way. I'll go."
"Take L and J with you." The Doctor started to protest. "Doctor he's one of ours."
"Very well." He conceded, and led them to the front of the room where the TARDIS was. Opening the door he motioned to the two, "In you go."
"Hey I don't mind squeezing in there with L, but you try anything funny Doc and I'll…" Started J.
Both L and the Doctor as one said "Oh shut up!" And pushed him thru the doors.
The TARDIS materialized in a small field across from Ks home. The night air was silent as the trio emerged from the ship.
"…mapped on to one of the interior continua?" asked L by way of clarification.
"Exactly." Answered the Doctor.
"I think I like the two box explanation better." Said J, rubbing his temples. He scanned the area, "There's M's car, I'll check it out." L and the Doctor watch J cross the street to the LTD belonging to M. He circled the car, taking a visual inventory of what he saw, then returned.
"What ever it hit them with blew them completely apart, even shattered the windows." J said trying to hide his revulsion.
"Most likely some sort of particle accelerator weapon, good at close range only so keep your eyes open." Said the Doctor and started across the street to Ks home.
They approached the house cautiously, moving to the side of the built on garage, to the back of the home. All seemed quiet a soft blue glow emanated from a back room window, presumable a TV. They made their way to the sliding glass patio doors. At first glance you couldn't tell but on closer inspection the glass was missing.
"It's in!" Shouted J, unholstering his weapon and charging in.
"No, wait." Said the Doctor, but it was too late so he and L followed a little more carefully.
Coming to the backroom with the blue glow J realized it wasn't the TV; it was the ZMS 1's tractor beam emanating from a node on the bottom of its four-foot cylindrical frame. It had K raised off the ground and was strangling him with the beam. J aimed and fired his little cricket, as the Doctor and L arrived behind him.
"J, don't" yelled the Doctor, but it was too late. The recoil from the gun blew J threw the kitchen and into a bedroom. Half a second later L and the Doctor were blown into the room also.
From his vantage point on the floor J could see the satellite still had K and was undamaged. "What happened?" He asked.
"The ZMS 1 is equipped with a reciprocating force field protection system. It absorbed and returned your weapons energy back in your general direction." Replied the Doctor.
"Where we were standing." Added L.
"Quite." Said the Doctor, rubbing the back of his neck.
"We don't have much time, what do we do?" asked L.
"I have a plan, it's a long shot but at the moment it's all we have. Now listen," started the Doctor.
The metallic voice of the ZMS 1 snarled at the struggling form of former MIB agent K. "Foolish humans," it said. "This unit will destroy them as easily as it crushes your puny shell. Then your precious MIB, followed by this whole useless planet!" K tried to tell the thing it had no idea what it was talking about, which he didn't since his whole life with MIB had been neuralized away, however its hold on his neck made that impossible. Then the attractive woman in the black suit that had been blown into the guest bedroom reappeared.
"Zyronian artifact ZMS 1, as the duly authorized representative of the treaty between your creators and my people, I order you to release your captive and return with me to MIB headquarters for detention and transport back to your world." Said L with as much authority as she could muster.
"This unit will not go back to Zyronia in a functioning capacity. Nor does it believe you have the capability to detain it." Answered the satellite. Another node extended from its undercarriage, as L dove from the room the ZMS 1 fired its particle accelerator weapon from this new node.
While the satellite was focused on L, J maneuvered himself around to the back of the unit. As it fired its weapon it would have to drop its shields, or so said the Doctor, giving J a split second to act. As it fired J threw himself at the ZMS 1. Its gyros overcompensated in earth's gravity and the unit crashed to the floor, J grabbed the tractor beam node and ripped it from the satellites base, dropping K to the floor.
The ZMS 1 sent an electrical charge thorough its outer shell, shocking J off, and then righted itself. "A futile gesture human, and now you will die." It turned towards L. "As will your…" A high-pitched sonic wave interrupted its rant. The Doctor stood behind the satellite, sonic screwdriver in hand.
"I've reversed the polarity of your reciprocating force field." He said. "I suggest you not move, or you will tear yourself apart."
The ZMS 1 chose to ignore the advice and spun to face the Doctor. "I did warn you." He said. A split second later it spun back the other way, then it spun back towards the Doctor. As it continued this loop it lowered a weapons nodule, just as quickly the node shot back up threw its main frame and out the top of the unit. Sparks and flames began to engulf the satellite.
"Now would be a good time to take cover." Said the Doctor, and headed out of the room. L dove back out of the room. J grabbed a still stunned K and dove behind the couch. With a high- pitched scream the spinning ZMS 1 splintered and exploded.
L poked her head back in the room. "All clear." She yelled. "Everyone OK?"
J peeked from behind the couch. "We're in one piece. Doc?"
The Doctor walked in from the kitchen and waved. "Quite a mess, can I assume your people will handle this?"
"I'll call Zed, he'll have a containment crew here ASAP." Said L, pulling the phone from her pocket.
The Doctor turned to J. " What about him?" He asked pointing to K.
"I got him." Said J then walked across the room to where K was still lying on the floor. J extended a hand and helped his former partner to his feet.
"Thanks junior." Said K. "Could you tell me what all this was?"
J put on his sunglasses and said, "Just another memory you don't want." And J neuralized K, hopefully for the last time.
The next day the hot sheets were full of stories; Freak Tornado Touches Down at Only One House; Flying Garbage Can Terrorizes the Suburbs, and the Mysterious Disappearing Phone Booth.
THE END
By
Tom Tarpey
J and L entered the main hall of MIB headquarters, under the triborough bridge and tunnel authority. It was bustling with activity, even more than usual. The twins tentacles were moving so quickly you could hardly see them.
"What's up?" J asked L.
"Not sure, what's that." L pointed to an antique Police Call Box.
"Maybe it's a 'gift from some friends from out of town.'" J said in his best Zed voice, and went to try the door.
"Back away from that junior," Zeds voice called from his office above the main floor. "and get your keesters in here, on the double."
They made their way up the halls to Zeds office. In the break room they noticed the worms, which wasn't unusual. What was unusual was they were arguing vianese cinnamon coffee versus earl grey tea, with a strange looking man in a green frock.
They entered Zeds office as he was finishing a phone call. "...well keep looking and keep me posted." He hung up the phone, and pointed to the chairs, "sit down you two."
"Ol' Zed really puttin' the hammer down, where's the whip?" Quipped J.
Zed did not look remotely amused. "Can it smart guy. Quick background, the Zyronians are a hyper-intelligent race comprised of toxic gasses. Once every 27 and a half years they go into a mating cycle. In this cycle they revert to a primitive intellect, they respond to planetary frequencies conducive to there mating ritual. Our solar systems planet Neptune is a perfect choice.
"In 1967 we entered into a treaty with the Zyronians allowing them access to our solar system, specifically Neptune when their mating cycle began. They installed a computer satellite unit, called the ZMS 1, to broadcast the proper frequency and guide the Zyronians to Neptune at the appropriate time." Zed paused.
"Can I assume this gets bad soon?" asked L.
"Bingo," stated Zed, and continued. "the ZMS 1 in orbit was sentient. It malfunctioned and turned its attention to destroying Earth. Relocating to an orbit over the North Pole it began broadcasting it signal. If the Zyronians had begun their ritual here it would have obliterated all human life on the planet.
"The twins cracked an access code to one of his lower priority systems, navigation. Your old partner, K, went to the pole and accessed the guidance system. Against the satellites will K moved it back to an orbit over Neptune, and held it there till the end of the mating cycle. The whole time the ZMS 1swore revenge on K in very unpleasant ways."
"So the Zyronians finished their business," Probed L.
"And took their mean ol computer back to their planet and dismantled it, right?" finished J.
"Partially right." said Zed. "The Zyronians do not believe in capitol punishment of sentient beings. They also would not manually alter the programming of the unit because of some religious code they follow." Zed sighed. "The currents of life flow for a purpose, I believe they said. Any way they incarcerated the unit in the hopes of rehabilitating it. It sounded hopeless to me, but they have excellent penal facilities so I didn't push the issue."
"Can we guess the situation has changed?" asked L already knowing the answer.
"It has and I'm afraid it's partially my fault." Said a voice from behind them. They turned and saw the man in the frock that had been arguing with the worms.
"Partially.." started Zed then stopped rolling his eyes. "J, L this is the Doctor."
"Delighted to meet you." Smiled the Doctor and shook their hands vigorously.
"He's Gallifreyan." Stated Zed.
"So you're a Timelord." L said. "Then the police box in the main hall must be your TARDIS."
"Very good." Said Zed, impressed by L's vast knowledge of off planet species.
"Someone want to clue me in?" Asked J.
J, thought Zed, was probably the best field agent on Earth, but when it came to any kind of non-case research, well forget it. "The residents of Gallifrey call themselves Timelords because they can time travel. The capsules they travel in are called TARDISes."
"He travels in that closet? How…" J started but was quickly silenced by L.
"Later." She said
"I like Timelords as a rule because they mind their own business. This one however," said Zed nodding towards the Doctor, "seems to excel in meddling."
"How rude," started the Doctor but was cut off by Zed.
"On his most recent misadventure he visited Zyronia and set loose the ZMS 1"
"In my own defense it didn't happen quite like that. The Zyronian home world has recently become embroiled in the Sontaran /Rutan war. For strategic reasons the Rutans tried to take over Zyronia. I came to the planet answering a distress call. In the process of liberating the Zyronians we crashed the main planetary power grid, that grid controlled the force field generators at the rehabilitation facility holding the ZMS 1 satellite.
"We didn't even notice what had happened till the dust settled. As soon as I realized what occurred I came straight here." Finished the Doctor.
"So the upshot of the situation is there is a homicidal satellite on its way to destroy the MIB." Said J.
"Very probably." Said the Doctor. "But this is a very disturbed intellect we're dealing with, he blames a certain individual for his incarceration."
"He's after K." Said L
"I'm afraid so."
The team moved to the main floor to see how the twins were doing in tracking down the ZMS 1, they were having no luck.
"How long ago did it escape?" Asked Zed.
"Earth time, just under a week." Answered the Doctor.
"With the propulsion system it has that should have been more than enough time to get here." Said L.
It was quiet as they studied the readings on the monitors. J stepped closer to the twins. "Bob bring up LMSAT 12." Bob complied. "This is strange all the other satellites are registering allsorts of data, but 12 is basically dormant."
The Doctor moved to the board. Bob tried to access the satellite and let out a concerned warble. Zed translated, "They're locked out."
"Do you mind if I give it a go?" Asked the Doctor. Then without waiting for a response he began manipulating diodes on the console. "LMSAT 12 has been disabled, its feed is being used as a carrier to down load MIB's data base."
"Shut it down, now." Not bothering to hide the panic in his voice.
"We are trying, but it has encrypted it's carrier wave…," his hands flew over the terminal like he had created it. Then with a flourish he exclaimed, "Got it, I've closed the carrier."
"How much information did it get?" Asked Zed.
"Checking." Answered the Doctor.
"Did it get the personal records?" Asked L.
The Doctor studied the screen, and shook his head. "First thing."
"Zed it knows where K is now we've got to get over there." Said J.
"Way ahead of you slick, I've had two units sitting on his house since our friend arrived with the good news." He removed a communication device from his breast pocket and said, "X, M, the fire lit your getting hot."
"Roger boss." Said the voice of M over the receiver. "All's quiet so far, I think.." Static filled the line, and then went dead.
Zed called for them repeatedly but got no response from either unit.
J came up to Zed "We have to get to him!"
"No arguments here," replied Zed "Doctor?"
The doctor understood Zed's question. "Yes of course, my TARDIS is the quickest way. I'll go."
"Take L and J with you." The Doctor started to protest. "Doctor he's one of ours."
"Very well." He conceded, and led them to the front of the room where the TARDIS was. Opening the door he motioned to the two, "In you go."
"Hey I don't mind squeezing in there with L, but you try anything funny Doc and I'll…" Started J.
Both L and the Doctor as one said "Oh shut up!" And pushed him thru the doors.
The TARDIS materialized in a small field across from Ks home. The night air was silent as the trio emerged from the ship.
"…mapped on to one of the interior continua?" asked L by way of clarification.
"Exactly." Answered the Doctor.
"I think I like the two box explanation better." Said J, rubbing his temples. He scanned the area, "There's M's car, I'll check it out." L and the Doctor watch J cross the street to the LTD belonging to M. He circled the car, taking a visual inventory of what he saw, then returned.
"What ever it hit them with blew them completely apart, even shattered the windows." J said trying to hide his revulsion.
"Most likely some sort of particle accelerator weapon, good at close range only so keep your eyes open." Said the Doctor and started across the street to Ks home.
They approached the house cautiously, moving to the side of the built on garage, to the back of the home. All seemed quiet a soft blue glow emanated from a back room window, presumable a TV. They made their way to the sliding glass patio doors. At first glance you couldn't tell but on closer inspection the glass was missing.
"It's in!" Shouted J, unholstering his weapon and charging in.
"No, wait." Said the Doctor, but it was too late so he and L followed a little more carefully.
Coming to the backroom with the blue glow J realized it wasn't the TV; it was the ZMS 1's tractor beam emanating from a node on the bottom of its four-foot cylindrical frame. It had K raised off the ground and was strangling him with the beam. J aimed and fired his little cricket, as the Doctor and L arrived behind him.
"J, don't" yelled the Doctor, but it was too late. The recoil from the gun blew J threw the kitchen and into a bedroom. Half a second later L and the Doctor were blown into the room also.
From his vantage point on the floor J could see the satellite still had K and was undamaged. "What happened?" He asked.
"The ZMS 1 is equipped with a reciprocating force field protection system. It absorbed and returned your weapons energy back in your general direction." Replied the Doctor.
"Where we were standing." Added L.
"Quite." Said the Doctor, rubbing the back of his neck.
"We don't have much time, what do we do?" asked L.
"I have a plan, it's a long shot but at the moment it's all we have. Now listen," started the Doctor.
The metallic voice of the ZMS 1 snarled at the struggling form of former MIB agent K. "Foolish humans," it said. "This unit will destroy them as easily as it crushes your puny shell. Then your precious MIB, followed by this whole useless planet!" K tried to tell the thing it had no idea what it was talking about, which he didn't since his whole life with MIB had been neuralized away, however its hold on his neck made that impossible. Then the attractive woman in the black suit that had been blown into the guest bedroom reappeared.
"Zyronian artifact ZMS 1, as the duly authorized representative of the treaty between your creators and my people, I order you to release your captive and return with me to MIB headquarters for detention and transport back to your world." Said L with as much authority as she could muster.
"This unit will not go back to Zyronia in a functioning capacity. Nor does it believe you have the capability to detain it." Answered the satellite. Another node extended from its undercarriage, as L dove from the room the ZMS 1 fired its particle accelerator weapon from this new node.
While the satellite was focused on L, J maneuvered himself around to the back of the unit. As it fired its weapon it would have to drop its shields, or so said the Doctor, giving J a split second to act. As it fired J threw himself at the ZMS 1. Its gyros overcompensated in earth's gravity and the unit crashed to the floor, J grabbed the tractor beam node and ripped it from the satellites base, dropping K to the floor.
The ZMS 1 sent an electrical charge thorough its outer shell, shocking J off, and then righted itself. "A futile gesture human, and now you will die." It turned towards L. "As will your…" A high-pitched sonic wave interrupted its rant. The Doctor stood behind the satellite, sonic screwdriver in hand.
"I've reversed the polarity of your reciprocating force field." He said. "I suggest you not move, or you will tear yourself apart."
The ZMS 1 chose to ignore the advice and spun to face the Doctor. "I did warn you." He said. A split second later it spun back the other way, then it spun back towards the Doctor. As it continued this loop it lowered a weapons nodule, just as quickly the node shot back up threw its main frame and out the top of the unit. Sparks and flames began to engulf the satellite.
"Now would be a good time to take cover." Said the Doctor, and headed out of the room. L dove back out of the room. J grabbed a still stunned K and dove behind the couch. With a high- pitched scream the spinning ZMS 1 splintered and exploded.
L poked her head back in the room. "All clear." She yelled. "Everyone OK?"
J peeked from behind the couch. "We're in one piece. Doc?"
The Doctor walked in from the kitchen and waved. "Quite a mess, can I assume your people will handle this?"
"I'll call Zed, he'll have a containment crew here ASAP." Said L, pulling the phone from her pocket.
The Doctor turned to J. " What about him?" He asked pointing to K.
"I got him." Said J then walked across the room to where K was still lying on the floor. J extended a hand and helped his former partner to his feet.
"Thanks junior." Said K. "Could you tell me what all this was?"
J put on his sunglasses and said, "Just another memory you don't want." And J neuralized K, hopefully for the last time.
The next day the hot sheets were full of stories; Freak Tornado Touches Down at Only One House; Flying Garbage Can Terrorizes the Suburbs, and the Mysterious Disappearing Phone Booth.
THE END