The Key to Time

Chapter 1: There Is A Way

June 3, 2011 was the day it all ended. It was the day the Doctor, Harper and I barely survived the Daleks. We've been on the run ever since. We've been running for twenty years. The Doctor has barely aged if at all, but Harper and I are now thirty eight years old. This was not the life I had envisioned when I was still a teenager those two decades ago. We do find a certain civilization now and then, but they are tiny and have been in the shadow of the Daleks for far too long to be any larger. The universe is dying and we've been searching for this one thing that can reverse all of this. We've found all but one segment. We can't find the sixth and final piece for some reason. We've been searching for that segment for years, but I can tell that something is about to give. I can feel it, but for now, this is the story of the last twenty years. This is the story of us searching for the all powerful Key to Time, and it all starts on that fateful day twenty years ago.

TARDIS

June 3, 2011

"We have to do something," Alex pleaded, "We need to do something."

"Alex is right, Doctor. We have to do something," Harper pleaded with Alex.

"What can we do?" asked the Doctor, "The universe is..." The Doctor stopped and looked at Alex's necklace again and said to himself, "The key in the clock. Why is that so important?"

Alex looked at her necklace and said, "I don't know. I just found it and I liked it. I guess it's something like a key to time or something."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he realized their was something that he could do. It was a long shot at best, but it was better than nothing at all. He muttered, "That's it."

"What it?" asked Alex.

"You a key to time," said the Doctor.

"I know," said Alex.

"That the answer. The Key to Time itself," said the Doctor.

"What's the Key to Time?" asked Alex.

"It's the most powerful artifact of all time. If you think your magic is powerful, you ain't seen nothin' yet. The Key to Time is split up into six segments across all of time and space. They can take any form or be anything or anyone," the Doctor explained.

"So you're saying that this will fix everything and make it right?" asked Harper.

"Yes, it will. It's a long shot, but it's better than no shot at all, isn't it?" asked the Doctor.

"Anything is better than no shot at all," Alex replied.

"You're right," said the Doctor, "We are at least one sixth the way there."

"What are you talking about?" asked Alex.

The Doctor took of his necklace that had a stone at the end on it. He said, "This is called the Moment. Its the super weapon I used to end the Time War. It is the most powerful stone in all Creation."

"What about the Stone of Dreams?" asked Alex, "That's incredibly powerful."

"Sorry this is more powerful," said the Doctor, "More powerful than your Stone of Dream thing, but that's not important. What's important is that a Key to Time detector. I really don't remember to my last one."

"Last one?" asked Harper.

"I've kind of assembled the Key to Time before. It was to help the White Guardian to restore balance to the universe and that was when I first met...when I first met Romana," said the Doctor, "Now, I'm going to restore balance and life to the universe myself. I have to do this. I can't believe I was giving up. What's wrong with me? That's not like me at all is it?"

"No, Doctor, it's not. If there is one who never gives up, it's definitely you," said Harper, "Just ask my feet and legs from that day we were hunting for that shapeshifter. I couldn't feel the lower half of my body."

"I remember that," said the Doctor.

"That's good," said Harper, "Because I will never let you forget it."

The Doctor didn't reply and changed the subject, "Okay, how to find a Key to Time detector. How to find that detector?"

Alex looked around and didn't know where to begin to look for one. Harper didn't even bother doing anything. The Doctor sighed and asked, "Do you guys know where?"

"Not a clue," said Alex.

"Well this plan went south fast," said the Doctor. He sat down on the new stone floor of the TARDIS control room. He moved his lips as he thought about what to do next. He looked up and said, "I could try to do that?"

Alex and Harper looked at the Doctor and Alex asked him, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try and contact my one of my previous lives," the Doctor explained, "I'm going to try and contact my fourth life. That was the last time I assembled the Key to Time. I don't really remember where I put the detector in the first place. I'm going to try and tell Four to put it somewhere that I can find it today, but where, but where, but where?"

"Doctor," said Alex, "I have an idea."

"Where?" asked the Doctor.

"The Hall of Doctors," Alex answered him.

The Doctor looked at her with fire in his eyes, "That's right. That's the only place where it's practically been the same since it was first built."

"What's the Hall of Doctors?" asked Harper.

"Alex, tell her. I'm to go and try to contact my fourth self," the Doctor said.

"Okay," said Alex.

The Doctor walked across the control room and put his hands on his temple and closed his eyes. The Doctor's mind went back. It went back farther and farther. It passed the mind of Thirteen, then Twelve, Eleven, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five and finally it reached Four. "Hello, Four, I need your help."
Alex turned back to Harper when the Doctor seemed to make contact with his fourth life. She told Harper about the TARDIS's Hall of Doctors, "The Hall of Doctors is where the Doctor's previous lives or selves."

"Oh his previous incarnations," said Harper.

"Yes, I guess," said Alex, "Anyway whenever he dies and regenerates, the life that just ended is sent to the Hall of Doctors so that he can be remembered in the future by his future selves and some of the things that that Doctor wore and had with him were added to the display."

"So it's like a museum, but he's the exhibit," Harper replied, "That's just weird."

Back on the other side of the control room, the Doctor had reached a connection with his fourth self and had told him the situation as vaguely as he could not to reveal any details about the future. Four was reluctant as first, but eventually conceded to doing what Fourteenth wanted. The Fourth Doctor said he would put the detector in the Hall of Doctors and disguised it as his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor thanked four and came back to the current day. He opened his eyes and put his hands down. He walked over to Alex and Harper and said, "He did it. We need to get to the Hall of Doctors and get the detector."

Alex and Harper followed the Doctor to the Hall of Doctors, but only he went inside. He was back out in a minute with something that looked like a wand to Alex. It had and orange handle and was clear beyond that with a white center. Alex even stated that to the Doctor, "That looks like a wand, Doctor."

He looked at it and said, "Huh, maybe, but you have to remember this detector is far older. The more likely scenario is that your wands were designed after this detector right here."

Alex just said, "Oh."

The Doctor could tell that it was starting to sink in to Alex, that her family was dead and she was one of only two humans left in all Creation. Harper was silent most of the time anyway and it was sinking in for her as well. The Doctor was hurting with the loss of the friends that he had made, but was an expert at hiding his pain. That was something he was all too good at. He didn't say anything more and walked back to the control room. The two human girls followed him. He put his hands on his new console and his head down.

"Doctor, what is it?" asked Alex.

"Alex, Harper, why don't you go to your rooms and get some rest," the Doctor said, "We can deal with the whole Key to Time thing later, but right now we are safe inside the Time Vortex. We can mourn the passing of loved ones. You will need to get that out. You don't need to keep all that sadness and anger inside of you. You need to no matter how hard it is."
"Doctor," said Alex. Her voice was crushed again.

"Alex, if you need to talk, I'll be here," said the Doctor. He looked at Harper and told her, "You too."

"What?" asked Harper.

"If you need to talk, you can come talk to me," the Doctor explained to her.

"What about you, Doctor?" asked Alex.

The Doctor looked the two of them and said, "I'll deal with. It's not the first time I've lost people. No matter how many die, it never gets easier. The last one is usually just as bad as the first one, but I always go on."

Alex nodded and told the Doctor, "I'm here for you too."
"We both are," said Harper, "You can try to hide it, but we both see it. We both see you hurting over your past sometimes."

"Yeah, I bet," said the Doctor. He was silent after that. The Daleks returning had churned up emotions in the Doctor he hadn't had in a long, long time. Those monsters had come back and had a force to slaughter the universe. That did not sit with the Doctor. He was being eaten away at him. He hated them with everything he was. Every fiber of his being was filled with undying hatred for those overgrown plunger armed salt shakers.

Alex and Harper knew they wouldn't get anything else out of the Doctor and they decided to go and let the truth start to sink in. They went silently to both rooms and the Doctor looked up at the new red crystal control column. He knew how much of a long shot the whole Key to Time business was. There would be dangers and threats that Alex and Harper had never even imagined. The thing that worried the Doctor the most was that if the Daleks had broken the Time Lock, that would mean other things could escape and the last thing he wanted to escape the Time Lock was the Time Lords.