Chapter 1:
Introductions:
Time Line One:
"its… its bigger on the inside!" Jessica breathlessly exclaimed.
"I love it when they say that" the Doctor responded with a smirk, "would you like a tour?"
"YES!"
"Very well then, come along… Stevenson… hmh that doesn't have quite the same ring to it"
Looking confused Jessica allowed the strange man to guide her in a tour around the giant control room to this wonderful box.
"How does it work?"
"Well it is a quantum spatial fold superimposed unto a non-linear temporally isolated transcendental stellar plane binding chrono…." Seeing the blank stare he stops "its… spacy-wacey timey-wimey".
"Oh… I understand"
"…Do you really?"
Embarrassed Jessica responds "well no not really"
"EXCELLENT! Understanding takes all of the magic out of it! Much more fun travelling around without all of the answers" The Doctor beams, "Right! Where should we go first? The dawn of time? The fall of Rome? The signing of the first inter-planetary treaty? The third cyborg rebellion? Anywhere and any when!"
"can we get coffee" Jessica interrupts
"…coffee... All of space and time open… and you want to get a cup of coffee?!"
"well if you don't mind"
"BRILLIANT! I will take you to Pravallax nine; greatest coffee in the universe. It actually rains coffee… just stand there and coffee will fall from the sky! Its incredible."
Beaming, the Doctor manically runs around the TARDIS flipping switches and pulling levers powering up the TARDIS central controls.
Chapter 2:
Pravallax Nine:
Time Line one:
Vroom-whoosh-vroom-whoosh
Stepping out of the TARDIS, the Doctor beams, "Take a deeeep breath Jessica! Do you smell that aroma? That is airborne coffee… that sweetly-bitter aroma is a result of the coffee rain; after the rain the air is saturated with this caffeinated aerosol, a day of breathing is the equivalent of a strong cup of Espresso."
"It tastes wonderful!"
"Doesn't it though"
"Does anyone live here?"
"hmh… well that depends on when we are"
"well when did you take us?... that is something I never thought I would say"
"haha oh Jessica, one thing you will learn travelling with me is the TARDIS isn't like a car… Where we go and when we get there I can control fairly well…when necessary. Usually I point her in a spatial-temporal direction and let her go"
"her?... wait never mind… so how do we tell when we are?"
"Oh well that is simple we just check the chronometer in the TARDIS"
"Great! Let's go back and do that"
"Where is the fun in that?! Be more adventurous!"
"…fine… how do we determine when we are"
"Well… sentient life originated here roughly 25,000 years before your birth, within 2,500 years they had built a sophisticated society with monolithic structures. So, if we find 'people', especially if they have such culture, we will be able to narrow down time within 20,000 years"
"…that is an awfully big margin"
"not in the grand scheme of things… I've been to the birth of the universe and I watched it die. Hundreds of trillions of years."
"…oh…"
"Nevertheless, your point is taken"
"Yeah—so is there a way to know when we are more accurately?"
"18,000 earth years before your birth"
"Wait how did you know that?"
"The flavor of the air, as time goes on the coffee flavor changes"
"Oh… well that is interesting"
Suddenly a four-armed winged pygmy landed in front of the two travelers. It began hoping around bouncing off of trees and fluttering wings to hover
"Doctor! What is that?"
Smiling, the Doctor replied "Jessica! Allow me to introduce you to the native life form"
"why is it so hyper?" Jessica whispered
"'It'? it's not an it, it's a him! Jessica! It has evolved on a planet that oozes caffeine! The rain, the air, even the plants are all caffeinated—if you were constantly on caffeine you would be hyper as well."
"Is it… er… I mean is he intelligent?"
"That depends on your point of view… from my perspective you are not very intelligent"
"…dude ouch"
"Don't take it personally… from the perspective of the Daemons or Osirins I'm moderately intelligent at best"
"Okay… is he intelligent relative to humans?"
"Absolutely! Of course technologically and culturally they are equivalent to a much early stage in human development. Roughly late Neanderthals early Homo sapiens. Primitive stone-age tools and little verbal language skills. However, their sign language is one of the most advanced in this quadrant of the galaxy, it involves complex and intricate patterns with all four arms, head, legs and wings."
The creaturebegan to frantically wave arms about in a blur of motion
"Doctor what is he saying?"
"hmh? What?... Oh yeah! I forgot non-verbal languages are not translated by TARDIS translation circuit. Sorry about that—usually the TARDIS handles the translation via a telepathic interface. Well he is inviting us to see his…hmh… there really is no direct translation. 'crestikor' is the best verbalization of it. Basically it is a clan village that is a satellite settlement of a larger tribal villiage that is itself a satellite settlement of an inter-tribal coalition."
"…so like how a neighborhood is a community within a city within a state?"
"Eh… kind of... more like how a nation is a 'community' within the United Nations. Each satellite community functions with autonomy governed by the shaman and priestess. The shamans and priestesses from the smaller satellites make up a council of sorts in the higher who in turn elects a representing pair for the highest which is ruled by a Shaman-king and High-Priestess."
"Oh okay. Priestess, what do they worship?"
Beaming the Doctor responds with a wink "Coffee!"
"They worship coffee?!"
"Well more accurately coffee is the essence of the divine. As I've told you this planet breathes the stuff in solid, liquid, and gaseous forms. They believe it gives life to the planet and by extension them."
The travelling pair following their guide arrive at a clearing with primitive huts and a ground-well filled with coffee surrounded by the natives running crazily around it
"Doctor what are they doing?"
For the first time since meeting him, Jessica saw the Doctor look confused and slightly concerned. He mutters to himself "this is all wrong! Something happened"
"Doctor! What is wrong?!"
The Doctor looks over in surprise, seemingly just remembering that he was not alone, he replies: "Jessica, look at what they are doing. They are destroying that well! Wells are viewed as sacred for these people because they are locations where the 'Divine Essence' bubbles up"
"Why are they destroying it if it is a sacred symbol?"
Ignoring the mistaken identification of the well as a mere symbol, the Doctor looks around and narrows his eyes: "I don't know… lets take a look around and see if we can find out."
The pair leave their guide and walk through the streets of the village. Seeing the Doctor another of the locals ran over to them and frantically began signing at them
"Doctor what is he saying?"
Giving her an incredulous look, "well SHE is saying the High-Priestess initiated a coup and killed the Shaman-king."
"What?! If there is a civil war going on shouldn't we leave?"
"Hush Jessica" The Doctor says off-handedly as he begins to quickly sign back at the native woman. "This woman is an old friend of mine from when I was here last time… actually she travelled with me for a while." Looking Jessica in the eyes and suddenly becoming serious The Doctor continues, "If you stay with me for any length of time you will get to know me… and one thing you will learn is I don't abandon my friends, and when there is trouble, I don't walk away. A very long time ago I made a promise, 'Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up. Never give in', I live my life by that promise."
Jessica looks embarrassed, "okay, so what are we going to do?"
Smiling at the use of 'we', The Doctor responds "we are going to go to the central hub of this 'crestikor' and figure out what is going on."
The Doctor, Jessica, and The Doctor's native friend run (in the case of the native half-run half-fly) to the central hub. Arriving they see the bodies of killed natives laying around and living natives going crazy. The Doctor's native friend stops one and they begin frantically signing back and forth. Finally, she turns back to The Doctor and briefly signs.
"What did she say?"
"There is a new god."
"So this is all a religious dispute?"
"Looks that way, yes"
"Do we really have a right to interfere in their religions?"
"You don't understand, this is wrong… this should not be happening. Something, or somebody, is altering the timeline; we need to correct it."
"What can change time?"
Pointing at a statue on top of a pinnacle The Doctor ominously replies, "the new god".
Chapter 3:
Fragments of an Angel:
Time Line Two:
"Doctor!" John yells down into the engines of the TARDIS
A hand raises up holding a little brown bag, "care for a jelly-baby?"
"No thank you… I thought you said this was an important mission?"
"Oh I did and it is"
"Then why are we just sitting here?"
"I am modifying the temporal engines to maintain a quantum isolation chamber where I can hold the angel."
"Okay, anything I can do to help?
"Do you know anything about multi-dimensional engineering?"
"no…"
"Do you know anything about Quantum mechanics?"
"…no…"
"Do you know anything about temporal physics?"
"…no…"
"Do you know anything about geometric multi-gravitational field forces?"
"…no…"
"Then no there is nothing you can do to help."
"well okay then"
About ten minutes later, The Doctor finally gets out of the engine area and beams at John saying it was finally ready to go.
John heard the, now familiar, sound of the TARDIS taking off:
Vroom-whoosh-vroom-whoosh
The TARDIS lands on a frozen moon
"Doctor does anyone live here"
"No… but a weeping angel is stuck here and it's in pain. We are going to take it somewhere else.
"Okay"
The duo finds the frozen angel and begin to drag it back towards the TARDIS
"So where and when are you going to take the angel?"
"I don't know"
"No clue?"
"Maybe the forests of Tetramire… The Vashta Nerada live there so the two can safely coexist."
They finally arrive at the door of the TARDIS and open it, dragging the angel in. They begin to take off when an explosion rocks the ship"
"DOCTOR?!"
"JOHN! Hold on to something! A temporal stabilizer ruptured"
"The angel, Doctor where is the angel?!"
Frantically turning around the Doctor searches for the now unfrozen weeping angel when a pulsation comes from the temporal engine.
"Oh this is not good"
"What happened?!"
"The angel… it entered into the temporal engines after a ruptured stabilizer destabilized the core."
"What does that mean?"
"It means one of two thing, the angel is lost in the time vortex consumed by pure temporal energy…"
"Or?"
"…The angel was fragmented across its timeline"
"… That sounds bad?"
Looking at John like he was an idiot, The Doctor responds "yes, that would be bad. The paradox energy created if two of the fragments come into contact is astronomical. Plus, there is a good chance the angel was fragmented within the TARDIS' time stream."
"Yeah that sounds bad"
"Who are you and why are you in my TARDIS?" a voice from behind the two cries out
Chapter 4:
Paradox begins:
Time Line ONE:
"…A statue? A statue changed time? How?"
"That is no mere statue. That is a weeping angel, one of the silent assassins of old, they are an alien race that exist in a state of quantum flux—viewing them binds them to stone. When they are not viewed, they are incredibly strong and impossibly fast. They feed off of energy, especially displaced temporal energy from altering time."
"Doctor they sound terrible!" Jessica cries out
"Yes… and we have to stop them"
"THEM? How many are their?"
"I don't know. One is too many… however many there is we need to stop them. And we need to correct the timeline"
"Okay then, how do we stop them?"
"Due to their unique physiology, our only hope is to bind it in a state of quantum flux within the TARDIS"
"How do we do that?"
"Difficultly… I need to materialize the TARDIS around the angel preferably when it is not stone, once in the TARDIS, I can isolate its timeline and extract the temporal threads that intersect Pravallax nine from the Web of Time."
"Okay, let's give it a try."
Smiling, the Doctor yells "that's the spirit! GERONIMO!"
The two turn and sprint back to the TARDIS, when they finally arrive they open the door and burst in. The Doctor immediately rushes over to the console and begins playing with dials and furiously typing on the keyboards.
"Okay! I've managed to isolate the spatial-temporal location of the angel—now I just need to calculate quantum phase-variance and in put in the physical parameters…"
"Now you are just showing off!" Jessica interrupts
"…and DONE!" The Doctor exclaims with a flourish. "Here goes nothing"
Vroom-whoosh-vroom-whoosh
Suddenly, the Doctor and Jessica turned to see two strangers. Angered at the intrusion into his TARDIS, the Doctor demands to know "Who are you and why are you in my TARDIS?"
Chapter 5:
Multiple Personalities:
"Your TARDIS?" The Doctor questions indignantly, "I don't know who you think you are but this is my TARDIS"
"Doctor what's going on?" John asked.
"John? Is that you? Oh it is good to see you again!" The strange man interrupts
"Wait, have we met?" John asked looking confused
"Yes we have back when…. Oh… oh dear this is bad." The strange man says looking worried.
"No! You can't be" The Doctor says with wide eyes
"I'm afraid so…" The strange man replies
"Will somebody please tell me what is going on?!" John and the strange girl exclaim simultaneously.
"well you see…" The Doctor and the strange man both start.
"Oh go ahead" The Doctor states
"No after you" The Stranger replies
"I insist" The Doctor says
"Doctor?!" the strange Girl yells
"Yes?" Both men reply
Both the strange girl and John glare at the pair
"Very well, allow me to explain. He is me and I am him." The Doctor states
John and the strange girl look at them with blank stares of confusion
"You see, when time lords die, we go through a process of regeneration… every cell in our body explodes out filled with altron radiation. In the aftermath, we change. Our appearance and our personality quirks are altered but who we are remains." The stranger explains
"I am him from a prior incarnation, and he is a later regeneration of me" The Doctor continues."
John looks at the strange girl in confusion: "do you understand any of this Ms….?"
"Stevenson. Jessica Stevenson, but no I am as lost as you."
"Nice to meet you Ms. Stevenson"
"Jessica will be fine. From what the Doctor said I'm assuming your name is John?"
"Yup!"
"Now that everyone is acquainted, we can start working on what happened and why" The Doctor says
"Well… I may be able to explain that. You see before the temporal merge, John and I had found a frozen weeping angel that we sought to help. A temporal stabilizer ruptured and the Angel ran into the temporal engine." The Doctor sheepishly replied
"You let an angel enter the temporal engine?!" The Doctor demands
"Not intentionally" The Doctor defensively replies
"Oh so you are just an oblivious fool not a malignant idiot" The Doctor angrily responds
"Doctor…" Jessica starts
"WHAT?!" Both yell
The Doctors look at each other… "Okay, we need to differentiate who is who" The Doctor states, "But we are me" The other Doctor jokes. "You're not helping... 4". The Doctor stated. "4?!" The other Doctor responds. "Yes, you are my 4th incarnation so you are 4. I am the 11th so I am 11." The Doctor explains.
"So Doctor…" Jessica begins… Both Doctors turn to her, "I mean my Doctor"
"Yes?" The Eleventh Doctor responds
"You are the eleventh Doctor and… the other you is the fourth?"
"That sounds about right!" The Fourth Doctor says.
"Was it possible that we contributed to this" Jessica asks the Eleventh.
"How would we have?" Eleventh replied
"Well you tried to isolate an angel is quantum flux"
"You tried to contain a weeping angel in a flux quantum state and you have the audacity to call me an idiot?" Fourth demands
"How would you have handled it then?" Eleven snarls
"Quantum-temporal isolation not a flux-Quantum state… that's pure idiocy!" Four yells back."
The two Doctors begin to furiously argue…
"You know John… I would really think I would get along with myself." Jessica whispers.
Laughing, John responds, "Funny… if I met a version of myself from the past or future I don't doubt I would disagree with him."
Grumbling the Doctors separate and take their respective companions.
"Every time my timeline bisects itself I end up arguing with myself" Fourth says to John
"Every time my timeline bisects itself I end up arguing with myself" Eleventh says to Jessica.
Chapter 6:
TARDIS confusion:
Glaring at each other, the Doctors paced back and forth across the room.
"So whose TARDIS is this anyway?" John finally asks.
The Doctors look at each other and simultaneously rush to the console. They begin playing with instruments and adjusting dials scanning for temporal residue.
"hmh… it appears it is both of ours" Fourth states
"YES! We get it, you two are the same person you know what he was asking" Jessica yells in frustration.
"We know what you were asking and that is what we answered. This TARDIS is a compilation of the TARDIS at two points in its time line. Both of our TARDISes combined." Eleventh replies.
"…What does that mean?" Jessica asked puzzled
"It means that two copies of the same TARDIS from different points in its timeline have combined in the exact same spatial-temporal location" Fourth replies.
"Obviously it's a little inconvenient…." John Begins
"A little inconvenient?!" Eleventh demands incredulously
"... but is it bad?" John continues despite the Eleventh Doctors interruption
"By Bad do you mean dangerous?" Fourth Doctor asks
"Naturally"
"Incredibly dangerous… if we don't fix it the best case scenario is forced temporal equilibrium" seeing the confused look of both John and Jessica, Eleventh Doctor continues, "The timelines of the TARDISes coalesce into a single timeline merging my former incarnation and 'venting' excessive temporal and dimensional energy from the second TARDIS."
"So you and… you… become you? Jessica asked
"Well put confusingly and inaccurately, yes. But the real issue is the temporal-dimensional venting—it could fracture the time-vortex, creating mass scale temporal rifts and incursions, and destroy dimensional integrity in a radius of 2 light-years. That means length, width, depth, up, down, left, right, forward, backwards, past, present, future, all of these things will cease to be stable. It would create a region of absolute chaos." Fourth bluntly says
"Dimensional venting could also create an area of null-space in that 2 light-year radius, utterly removing everything… it would be an incursion of the void into our universe." Eleventh elaborates.
"… That sounds pretty bad" John says
"…That sounds positively terrifying!" Jessica corrects.
Looking grim, the Doctors nod, "and that is the best case scenario." Fourth says
"Worst case scenario would be TARDIS explodes" Eleven says
"How bad would that be?" John and Jessica ask simultaneously
"An explosion equivalent to 1,000,000 stars going supernova simultaneously taking place at every point and time in the Universe" Fourth says
Eyes widening in horror, Jessica and John gasp "we can't let that happen!"
Chapter 7:
A Rude Awakening:
"Yes, we have to stop it…" Fourth said resignedly as he looked at Eleven "as much as I hate to call for help maybe we should contact Gallifrey."
"NO!" yells Eleven looking horrified.
"Come now, I know it is a hassle dealing with them, but this is an emergency! The Time Lords are going to want us to contact them for assistance."
The Eleventh Doctor looked incredibly sad… hurt… and almost guilty.
"Is there a reason we cannot contact home?" Four asks
"Doctor… er Eleven… I know from my time traveling with you… er past you… that you aren't a huge fan of Gallifrey or the Time Lords but this seems like a special situation." John says
"I was recently offered position as Lord President of Gallifrey, I am in excellent standing with the High Council… they owe me a favor or two so even if you are not in good standing we should be able to get this fiasco dealt with…" four begins
"WE. CANNOT. CONTACT. GALLIFREY!" Eleven roars
The Fourth Doctor, John, and Jessica all take a reflexive step back stunned at the sudden outburst of rage.
"Why can't we?" Four asks quietly
"Because…" Eleven says hesitantly
"Eleven! Why can we not contact Gallifrey?!" Four demands
"BECAUSE IT'S GONE! GALLIFREY BURNED!" Eleven rages
Stunned in horror, four begins, "but… what about the time lords…"
"Dead… all of them dead." Eleven whispered
"How?!" four pleads, searching for some explanation as he sinks to the floor in despair.
"I KILLED THEM ALL! THE OLDEST CIVILIZATION IN CREATION, MY PEOPLE—AN ALMIGHTY RACE STANDING ABOVE TIME, ABOVE SPACE AND GOVERNING THE WORKING OF TIME. I STOOD ABOVE THEM IN JUDGMENT AND. I. FOUND. THEM. LACKING! I AM ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE ONCE-GREAT TIME LORDS…" Eleven rages, "… I'm all that left… the last of a once mighty civilization shrouded in grandeur" he finishes with tears in his eyes as he too sinks to the floor and begins to weep.
"w-w-what could possibly have happened to justify the genocide of our people?!" Four demands in a mixture of disbelief, rage, and despair
"…what I did… I did without choice." Eleven whispers
"Doctor…" Jessica begins
"No. Not now Jessica. Now I WILL have answers." Four cuts her off, "there is ALWAYS a choice!"
"A choice that was never a choice. Either destroy Gallifrey and slaughter our people, or watch them end The War with The Final Sanction, destroying all of time." The Eleventh Doctor says, without emotion.
"... YOU COULD HAVE JOINED THE OPPOSITON TO BRING. THEM. DOWN!" Four roars
"Then the reality bomb would have destroyed all of creation…" Eleven explains sadly "The Daleks of Skaro and the Time Lords of Gallifrey fought a war with all of creation at stake… and everyone lost… Gallifrey became unsalvageably corrupted."
"But…" Four begins
"It doesn't matter! Gallifrey is gone, the Time Lords are nothing but ashes in the void. WE. ARE. ON. OUR. OWN." Eleven interrupts
John and Jessica watched in horror as the Doctor, both of them, their best friend and greatest hero broke down. This man would had fought gods and demons—who traversed the totality of space and time having watched creations freeze and universes burn… lost all hope…
Chapter 8:
The Plan:
The four time-travelers sit in awkward silence for about five minutes as the two Time-Lords allow emotions to roll through them.
"Well… if we are all that's left… we should get started." Jessica says hesitantly
Sighing, both Doctors take a deep breath as they climb to their feet.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you but you left me no choice." Eleven says
"I know." Four quietly responds
Taking a deep breath, the Eleventh forces a big smile "RIGHT! We have a problem and we have two Doctors… let's think—what we can do to safely separate the TARDISes?"
"Well" Four begins hoarsely, pauses and clears his throat, "Well, we should examine the integration. If the two TARDISes are 'stacked' than we should be able to fire up dimensional stabilizers and push the two apart."
"Hmh… well it's unlikely they are 'stacked' in that manner but it wouldn't hurt to check" Eleven replies as the two Doctors head to the console and begin checking read-outs and fiddling with dials.
"Dang it! No such luck, the two are fully intertwined" Eleven exclaims
"Doctors, what can we do to help" John asks referring to himself and Jessica.
"For now just sit quietly, when we make up a plan you two will probably be needed." Four offhandedly replies.
The two human companions look at each other and roll their eyes.
"We could try a full temporal inversion?" Eleven pensively suggests
"I already thought of that" Four smugly replies, "The altron radiation surge would kill John and Jessica… I'm not prepared to do that."
"Good point… oh this is STUPID!" Eleven exclaims, "let's mind-link… it will make brainstorming twice as easy"
"Mind-link?" Both Jessica and John ask
"Time-lords have natural telepathic ability…" Four explains "...astral projection, telepathic communication, perception filters, etc.; you know, the basics. Given that he and I are the same person we can connect our minds to accelerate thought process."
"So are we going to do it?" Eleven impatiently asks
"Yeah" says Four, "ready?"
"Ready" replies Eleven
Both close their eyes and get a look of intense concentration
"Contact" both say simultaneously
"How long will this take?" John asks Jessica
"Now how in the world am I supposed to know that?" Jessica responds sassily
"Well there is no way 'in the world' but luckily it's a big universe and we are nowhere near 'the world'" John wittily responds
"… You know what I meant!" Jessica says in a huff
"Now how in the world am I supposed to know that, we just met?" John sarcastically mocks her
"… Touché…" Jessica says with a smile
Both laugh
"So how long have you been traveling with the Doctor?" John asks
"Oh… about 5 hours… you?"
"Oh! So you just started… first Journey! What do you think?" John asks ignoring her question
"It is… different, but in a good way. It's like nothing I've ever experienced—it defies description and I love it!" Jessica excitedly answers "what about you?"
"Well I've been traveling with him for about 7 months and each day is a new adventure. It is dangerous but it is incredibly worth it." John says smiling
"What was the coolest adventure you've gone on?" Jessica asks
"Definitely the psychic realm"
"Oh do tell!"
"Well…"
Flashback to Psychic Journey:
John and the Doctor standing in the TARDIS control room
"So Doctor what is on the agenda for today?" John asks
"Well I figured I would activate the randomizer and just go wherever it takes us!" The Doctor replies
"Sounds…." John begins
Suddenly the TARDIS violently shakes throwing both the Doctor and John around the room
"Doctor! What's going on?!" John yells
"I'm not sure!"
The shaking continues and both the Doctor and John are continually thrown around the room until they are rendered unconscious…
"…Doctor…" John groaningly says as he gets up. Shaking his head as he climbs to his feet, John begins to look around. Suddenly something catches the corner of his eye and he looks down and gasps in horror "DOCTOR!" John urgently yells in distress as he looks down at his body
"John! Calm down!" The Doctor says
John looks over and sees the Doctor calmly examining his own body.
"What's going on… are we dead?" John shakenly asks
"No we aren't dead… at least I don't think so." The Doctor assures John, "It appears we have been hit with a psychokinetic pulse strong enough to detach 'us' from our bodies."
"I thought you said the TARDIS was shielded?"
"Well… I did but it is not that straightforward. Whoever or whatever did this either 1) is strong enough to penetrate the shields, 2) is cunning enough to find a way around the shields or 3) is somewhere inside the TARDIS"
"Oh… which is it?"
"Well if I knew that I wouldn't have given three options I would have told you which one."
"Oh… yeah… sorry"
The two look around at the hazy, foggy environment of the inside of the TARDIS, "Doctor, what happened to the TARDIS?" John asked
"Nothing, we are in a fugue state… outside of normal physical universe in a tangential psychic dimensions concurrent with our own." The Doctor explains
"So what are we going to do?" John asks
"Well… that is a good question." The Doctor concedes with a puzzled look. "I suppose we ought to just look around."
The Doctor shrugs and beckoned John to follow him as he begins to explore the TARDIS interior. As the walk down the corridor, a phantasm knight appears with sword drawn and advances on the Doctor.
"Doctor Look out!" John shouts
The Doctor, too busy to reply pulls a sword out of nowhere and begins to dual the knight. The knight drives the Doctor back, until the Doctor ducks under a blow and spins behind the knight decapitating it.
"Doctor are you alright?!" John yells
"Yes, yes, yes I'm fine… he wasn't terribly good with that sword of his." The Doctor smugly replies
"Where did he come from… for the matter where did you get that sword?"
"We are in a psychic realm—I conjured up the sword with mental force… I bent the ambient psychic energy into a useful shape. As for the knight, I would assume whoever brought us here sent him." The Doctor finishes as a roar shakes the TARDIS corridor.
The Doctor and John look at each other with equal parts excitement, worry, and confusion as they timidly advance around the corridor…
"Is that…?" John asks hoarsely
"I'm afraid so" The Doctor answers
The Dragon once again releases a thunderous roar as it spots the pair of misplaced travelers.
"What can we do against a dragon?!" John worriedly asks
Narrowing his eyes, The Doctor replies "Remember, psychic realm? We can't fight it physically (even if we could try it would destroy us!), so let's fight it psychically!"
"oh yeah! Psychic realm… so its not really a threat since it can't hurt us!" John exclaims with a smile as he begins to advance towards the dragon.
The Doctor jumps forward and grabs John just as a burst of flame shot forth from the gaping maw of the dragon. "NO! We are nothing but psychic entities right now… these projections are able to harm us and, if we don't stop them, kill us."
Growing pale John asks "What would you suggest using to fight a dragon?!"
"Well we could try to 'banish' it by dispelling the psychic projection with our mental energy but that is dangerous as it would place us in direct mental combat with whomever or whatever brought us here. It would be safer to try and counter-it with our own projection."
"What kind of projection?"
Smiling, The Doctor responds "what better to fight a dragon than another dragon?"
Having said that, the Doctor gets a look of intense concentration as he conjures up a dragon to contest the spectral dragon blocking their path.
The two dragons wheel around each other shooting bursts of flames before colliding in a titanic clash as they struggle to overthrow their opponents.
"Doctor, the enemy dragon seems to have the upper hand…"
"You're right… maybe you should fix that."
Looking confused until he sees the Doctor's nodding at him with a smile, John resolvedly focuses attempting to add his own projection to the titanic struggle
"You can do it John! Focus!"
With a strained look, John finally conjures up a bow and arrow which he quickly uses to shoot the opposing dragon in the left eye causing it to roar in pain—giving the Doctor's dragon an opening to bite its neck and viciously shake head braking the enemy dragon's neck and casting it down.
"Well done John! Good Shot!"
"Thanks" John says smiling proudly, "why is there a dragon here?"
A strange ethereal smoke begins to fill the hallway making all else seem to grow dim.
"Whoever brought us here must be playing some sort of game… challenging us…."
The Doctor's voice grows faint as John suddenly finds himself alone in the corridor. Instead of a dragon, he looks upon ominous dark clouds across a barren plain.
"D-D-Doctor!" he shakenly calls
BOOM A brilliant flash of lightening illuminates the darkened plain as a colossal roar of thunder shakes the air. As if waiting for that flash, the howling wind picks up and begins driving across the plains buffeting John whilst the horrible lightning and thunder only quicken.
John turns around to run but behind him, the storm is raging just as intensely. "HELP!" he calls out trembling in fear of the storm.
John looks up and sees a massive tornado forming, feeling a warm wetness spreading around his legs, he frantically looks around for cover sobbing "Doctor Help!"
Quietly, as if from far off, he hears "John!"
"Doctor?"
"John! It is psychic! It's not really there you have to stop it!"
"How?!"
"make the clouds clear up."
"I c-c-c-can't" John cries out in a terrified voice
"yes you can! You have to try! If you don't you will die!"
"y-y-you s-s-said if I tried to d-d-dispel it I would h-h-have to overcome this…. Thing… in m-mental c-c-c-combat!"
"Don't dispel it, counter it with a psychic projection of a cloudless sunny sky!"
Closing his eyes and covering his ears, John imagines a beautiful sunny day with all of his mental strength. The tornado dies and the thunder becomes more infrequent.
"YES! Good good… now don't let up concentration! Keep going, listen to my voice, draw yourself to me!" The Doctor encourages
Focusing on the mental image of the clear skies and the calming voice of the Doctor, John begins to see a shadowy image of the Doctor alongside him. With each passing moment the Doctor appears more real and the storm more shadowy until finally he stands by the Doctor in the corridor again.
"Well done John!"
"t-t-thank you" John replies as he takes deep breaths to calm himself, "what happened?"
"It appears that our host trapped us into a psychic pocket inhabited by our own worst fears."
Noticing for the first time the ragged look of the Doctor, John asks "what was in your pocket Doctor?"
"…" The Doctor looks on silently with a pale face
Realizing that, at least for the time being, The Doctor was unwilling to discuss it John continues "so… what do we do now?"
Narrowing his eyes in anger "now we find who or what brought us here."
The pair of friends walk down the TARDIS hallway determined to find their host.
"Their! Doctor, look"
"I see it"
In a dimly lit room a formless entity made from what appeared to be a smoky essence hung in the center.
"What is it?" John asks quietly
"I am the lord of this realm" echoes through the minds of the Doctor and John
"Yeah, I am the Doctor Lord of the TARDIS!"
"You are different"
"I am a Time Lord"
"Time Lord? Hmh… your mind is strong. Devouring your mind will feed me for an eon. Your friend on the other hand is no more than a morsel"
"You made a mistake" The Doctor ominously declares
"what was my mistake?"
"You insulted my friend. You caused him harm. Both 'physical' with the dragon and existentially with your psychic storm… as you can see" he says nodding at his companion
"How is that a mistake?"
"Because I don't like people harming my friends… I think its time we settle this directly"
The Doctor closes his eyes as he contests the entity directly. The two engage in a mental tug-of-war as both attempt to overcome the other. After a prolonged battle—lasting a moment but seemingly a life-time, The Doctor opens his eyes in victory as the entity spasms
"p-p-perhaps I was wrong about you Doctor… one d-d-day we will meet a-a-again…."
The entity moans as it disappears. With the entity gone, the two suddenly found themselves laying on the ground of the TARDIS control room having been returned to their bodies. They shakenly return to their feet and exchange bewildered looks.
"That was the strangest adventure I have been on with you Doctor"
End Flashback:
"That is incredible!" Jessica exclaims breathlessly
"Yeah… If I wasn't there I wouldn't believe it" John ruefully replies with a smile
"GOT IT!" The Doctors exclaim simultaneously
"You figured it out?" Jessica excitedly asks
"Yep!" Four proudly exclaims beaming in pride
"…well? Don't keep us in suspense." John Prods
"We are going to render an isomorphic quantum-dimensional rift in the temporal engine, a multi-phasic temporal tear in the dimensional containment field while deactivating dimensional stabilizers—that should weaken dimensional cohesion enough to gain access to both TARDISes—activate chrono-spatial shielding and manually pilot the TARDISes out of each other through the dimensional rift!" Both Doctors exclaim
Chapter 9:
A complication arises:
"Rightwellthereisnotimelikethepresent" Jessica incoherently babbles
Looking befuddled, John responds "neam ot desoppus taht saw tahw?"
Jessica returns John's wide-eyed expression of beffudlement.
"Uh-oh… that can't be good" The Eleventh Doctor mutters as both he and his younger self begin to scan the area surrounding the group.
"D-o-c-t-o-r-?" John eventually finishes with distress evident in his voice, even drawn out as it was.
As if on a loop, Jessica repeatedly turns head to look at John in horror and cry for help from the Doctor. The exact same motion, expression, and statement repeats itself 5 times.
"It appears the internal temporal stability is beginning to weaken" Eleven yells to Four, "without our Time Lord genes 'grounding' them John and Jessica are entering a state of temporal chaos!"
"We need to find a way to stabilize their chronofields before any lasting damage is done… not to mention fixing the problem will be easier if they are not bouncing around in chaotic time flows." Four muses
"DON'T FORGET TO SYNCHRONIZE THEIR CHRONOFIELDS BEFORE STABILIZING THEM" Eleven yells to Four as both rush to the TARDIS central controls and begin to dismantle wires and equipment before assembling two identical pocket-watch like necklaces and quickly synchronizing the time and putting them on their companions.
"DOCTOR!" Both companions yell, "what is going on?!"
"Long story! Internal temporal stability is weakening—soon even those chrono-stabelizers won't be enough to keep you in normal time" Four quickly explains "The more chaotic the surrounding time waves the faster the chrono-sapphires that power them will deplete" Eleven interrupts, "We have maybe 15 minutes before all of the crystalized vortex energy is completely drained from the chrono-sapphires and the two of you begin to bounce around in individual time pockets—after that it wouldn't be long before even I am stuck in a time pocket" Four grimly finishes.
"Okay so 15 minutes to accomplish mission…" Jessica begins
"…get to it!" John finishes
Chapter 10:
Countdown:
15 minutes till utter temporal chaos:
"Right! So we need to split into three teams: Team 1 stays here and man's the controls while monitoring teams 2 and 3—this will be my job" Eleven rapidly explains, "Team 2 will consist of my younger self who will render a multi-phasic temporal tear in the dimensional containment field. Team 3 will consist of the two of you" Eleven continues now looking and speaking directly to John and Jessica, "you need to render an isomorphic quantum-dimensional rift in the temporal engine."
"Okay but how do we do that?" The ever practical Jessica asks
"Your chrono-sapphires" Four quickly responds, "Throwing them both directly into the heart of the temporal drive should create a momentary isomorphic quantum-dimensional rift."
"…momentary?" John asks concerned
"The timing will have to be perfect" Eleven admits, "Which is why I will be here monitoring the three of you- I will signal you when it is time."
14 minutes till utter temporal chaos:
"Okay but how do we find the engines?" John asks
"Yeah… even at the best of times the TARDIS isn't exactly 'user friendly' in terms of getting around" Jessica points out
Once more the Doctor (both of them) return to the control center fumbling around in it; "just a sec!" Four calls back… "AH HA!" both Doctors triumphantly exclaim turning around with a vaguely remote-control like apparatus. "This will guide you to the temporal engines" Four explains, "But be careful—the internal spatial holds are coming undone… walls and corridors will be changing without warning" Eleven gravely warns them.
13 minutes till utter temporal chaos:
"No more time to waste! Off you go" The Fourth Doctor exclaims as he runs off down his own corridor.
John and Jessica begin to follow the directions of their temporal scan device. The follow corridors and go through doors, leaping over chasms and sliding under obstructions.
10 minutes till utter temporal chaos:
Suddenly Jessica hears a scream of pure agony—horrified she turns around to see the top half of John's body protruding out of a newly created wall..
"John!"
Panting from the agony of having a wall appear where he happened to be, John replies "I guess the Doctors weren't lying about that spatial instability…" he pauses to let out an agonized scream "… but you have to go on—we are running out of time!"
"But the Doctor said we need both chrono-sapphires to do it!"
Looking up at her, John smiles grimly grabbing his chrono-stabilizer and ripping it off of his head throwing it at her feet as he responds, "yeah…. I know"
9 minutes till utter temporal chaos:
Horrified Jessica looks at John as he begins to weirdly convulse from the effects of Chaotic time. Finally… she reaches down and grabs his chrono-stabilizer and runs off to finish the job.
John's Perspective:
I can feel myself aging to death yet frozen in time… a moment lasts several thousands of years as I begin to decay and eons go by in the space of an instant. Frozen in this wall I cannot move as the time-loop repeats itself infinitely—the soul rending moment of the agony as the wall continuously displaces and merges with my own atoms…I can feel myself aging to death yet frozen in time… a moment lasts several thousands of years as I begin to decay and eons go by in the space of an instant. Frozen in this wall I cannot move as the time-loop repeats itself infinitely—the soul rending moment of the agony as the wall continuously displaces and merges with my own atoms…I can feel myself aging to death yet frozen in time… a moment lasts several thousands of years as I begin to decay and eons go by in the space of an instant. Frozen in this wall I cannot move as the time-loop repeats itself infinitely—the soul rending moment of the agony as the wall continuously displaces and merges with my own atoms…
Jessica's Perspective:
8 minutes till utter temporal chaos:
I have to make it in time! I can't let everyone down… the Doctor, the other Doctor, John… they are all counting on me to make it and I will!
Thoughts like these continuously echo through her mind as she continues her hazardous trek through the fluctuating TARDIS…
3 minutes till utter temporal chaos:
GET READY! The Doctor's voice urgently appears in her mind
"You will only get one shot at this!" The voice continues… "Ready…ready… NOW!"
Just as he says "now" Jessica finally reaches the engines and flings the chrono-stablizers in—only to hear a colossal roar as the rift opens. Suddenly, It was like she was in two places at once… standing in front of two overlapping temporal engines. Struggling at first but getting faster every second the two drift apart and she found herself pulled into one laughing and crying at the close call they had all faced.
Epilogue:
"It was a wonderful time" The Doctor says with a smile
"Yes… it really was." Jessica says, "I will never forget you."
"Nor I you…. Don't worry I will be seeing you around oh child of time"
"…Child of time?"
Ruefully smiling the Doctor responds "its something Davros once said, he called my friends and companions 'the Children of Time' and the name kind of stuck… my friends have adopted it as an unofficial title of themselves."
"…like a club?"
"You could say that" an unknown, yet oddly familiar, voice said from behind
Turning around, Jessica sees a young man, no older than mid-20s walking towards the pair. "who are you?"
"Ouch! That hurt." The stranger replies in mock offense "after all we went through together!"
"You look familiar…"
"Yeah… you might say it's a paradox that you recognize me without having met" the stranger said with a wink
"…paradox… wait… John?!"
Smiling John only nods
"ah well… I will leave you two to catch up… don't worry I will be seeing you both around!" The Doctor says as he walks back to the TARDIS, "oh! And John make sure you introduce her to the rest of the 'children'"
"don't worry I will… see you later Doctor" John promises
Vroom-whoosh-vroom-whoosh
The familiar sound echoes around as the TARDIS fades away.
"So how long were you with him?" John asks
"A year and a half"
Seeing Jessica's wistful John flashes a nostalgic smile remembering when his own journey with the Doctor ended, "we should get coffee and swap stories"
Jessica smiles, "I would love that"
"Geronimo?" John playfully asks with a wink
Laughing, Jessica responds "oh shut up!"
The two friends walk toward a coffee shop and sit down sipping hot cups of coffee and chatting about their respective adventures.