The TARDIS materialised at the Lunar University Library, which was unusually empty. The grubby TARDIS door creaked open and River Song stepped out, closely followed by the Doctor, who stood in the doorway, his brow furrowed with worry.
"I mean it, River, travel with me," the Doctor stated pleadingly.
"I'm sorry, my love, but I can't. But please, please Doctor, don't travel alone." She replied.
The Doctor gave a wry smile and brushed the door frame. "The old girl needs a new look. That'll distract me for a little while. Until next time, Professor Song."
He stepped back into the TARDIS, closing the door behind him slowly. He paused for a moment, the attempted to bound towards the central console, up the glass stairs with an attempt at his old enthusiasm. He threw his tweed jacket onto the sofa and spun the monitor to start redesigning the console room. He set the TARDIS to travel to Victorian London in 1892 and it began to dematerialize. Vastra, Jenny and Strax would understand, he thought.
He half-heartedly began to scroll through the basic options on the monitor. Suddenly, the TARDIS console room phased around him, with his steam-punk console combined with the coral columns from the previous desktop. The Doctor looked at the monitor baffled.
"What are you up to, old girl?" He asked his machine. The option he saw before his eyes did not correspond with the one on the screen before him.
He was suddenly aware of another man in the console room. Glancing upwards through the glass column centre of his console, the Doctor saw a man with dark and close cropped hair lower his hands from a cross shape. He turned and looked stunned at his surroundings.
"What are you doing in my TARDIS?" The man asked. The Doctor noticed his accent sounded like he was from the north of England.
"What am I doing in your TARDIS? What are you doing in mine?" The Doctor indignantly replied. He glanced at his monitor. "Two TARDISes attempting to land at the same point!" He pulled two levers and the dark haired man disappeared from his TARDIS.
The Doctor then busied himself around his console, pressing buttons and brought the TARDIS into land. He grabbed his jacket and hurried down to the doors and flung them open, stepping out not into Victorian London, but medieval era London. Directly in front of him was the Tower of London, and to his surprise, were three police boxes in a circle.
The Doctor approached the first TARDIS, the police box exterior looking almost as worn out as his. He knocked and apprehensively, and the reply was "Just a minute!" in the same northern accent that he had heard in his TARDIS just a few moments before. Eventually the door of the TARDIS swung open, and in the doorway stood his Ninth incarnation, wearing a black leather jacket, a red jumper and black jeans, different to what he had been wearing when he appeared in his later selves' console room.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor." The Ninth Doctor stated. "What do you think of the clothes?"
"No bowtie?" The Eleventh Doctor asked rhetorically. "Bowties are cool. Exhibit A." He straightened his own. "Still, black jacket, black jeans, very grunge."
"Coming from the Nutty Professor, that means a lot. Who are you anyway? And why are there three other TARDISes here? Where are we?"
The Eleventh Doctor signalled to his own darker blue TARDIS and then pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his tweed jacket. The Ninth Doctor looked taken aback. "As for the other TARDISes, I'm as in the dark as you are. And as for where and when we are," he said, checking his watch. "London, England. 1483."
Both heard another TARDIS door open, and the Eleventh Doctor turned to see a gentleman with long black curly hair and Edwardian style clothes. The Ninth Doctor showed signs of recognition of the man, and the Eighth Doctor walked over to his successors.
"Good afternoon. I am, as I think you are both aware, the Doctor. Number Eight, last time I checked. You two must be my replacements." There was a slight Scouse twang to his voice. "I wonder what brought all of us here."
"I think I can explain that one, young man," announced another voice with a slight Scottish lilt. The Ninth Doctor stepped out of his TARDIS to take a look at the speaker, closing the door behind him. The speaker was a shorter man than the other three Doctors and was placing a panama hat on his head, then straightened his brown jacket.
The Seventh Doctor continued, "My shields were down as I was in the process of making some improvements, leaving my TARDIS vulnerable to a homing beacon, which in this case was from another Type 40 TARDIS. I presume that your shields were also down?" This Doctor softly rolled his rs.
"I was in the process of redeveloping my TARDIS desktop," The Eighth Doctor replied, "to gain power to do so, I took down the shields." The Eleventh Doctor nodded in agreement.
"I'd set the TARDIS shields to protect the interior as I was regenerating," the Ninth Doctor stated.
"You see, my theory was right." The Seventh Doctor stated. "I don't remember being any of you, but I'm sure you all remember being me." His three successors nodded. There was a gentle cough from behind the circle of the Time Lords outside the Ninth Doctor's TARDIS, they turned to see a group of guards, lightly armed.
"Excuse me, gentlemen. Your presence is commanded by Prince Richard, protector of the Realm. We are ordered to take you to the Tower of London," stated the Captain.