The Ginger Doctor
The Doctor was alone again. After losing Donna, and helping a false Doctor save 19th Century London, he was feeling pretty miserable. He was so miserable that he even thought about fixing the Chameleon Circuit so his TARDIS wouldnʼt be a box anymore.
The Doctor was wandering around the TARDIS console, flicking a switch here, pulling a lever there, anything to keep himself busy. But one thing had gone wrong. The shields were down. In his moping state, The Doctor had forgotten to put them up- the second time since the TARDIS crashed into a spaceship that looked like the Titanic. He leaned on the console, his head in his hands, when he heard the switches being flicked. Thatʼs odd, he thought. Switches donʼt flick themselves.
The Doctor looked up and saw a ginger- haired man studying the computer screen. "Who... Who are you?" He said, putting on his glasses and looking curiously at the ginger man.
"Well, you should know, considering youʼre in my TARDIS," the ginger man said. "Hang on, Iʼm a bit busy, a spaceshipʼs engines have failed and itʼs dangerously close to a black hole."
"Ah, oh- ok," The Doctor said, frowning slightly. "Did you say your TARDIS?"
"Yep," the ginger man said. "Sorry itʼs a blue box, the chameleon circuitʼs broken and Iʼve never been bothered to fix it."
Realisation dawned on The Doctorʼs face. "Youʼre a future me," he said in an awed voice "Blimey, Iʼm ginger at last! What are you, the eleventh, twelfth or thirteenth?"
"What did you say?" the future Doctor asked, standing face to face with the Doctor.
"Donʼt you recognise me?" The Doctor asked, grinning widely. "I mean, if youʼre a future regeneration, you must remember my face."
The future Doctor stood there for a moment, frowning, then his face split into a smile as wide as the Doctorʼs. "Youʼre the tenth me!" he said, `putting on a pair of glasses similar to the Tenth Doctorʼs. "Hang on a second," the future Doctor said, frowning suddenly, "If youʼre a past version of myself, then this is a time paradox! You, or I, shouldnʼt be here!" He began running around the console, flicking a switch and twiddling a few random knobs. "There! Now we can talk for a bit." the future Doctor said, flicking one final switch and straightening up.
"Right. About that spaceship..." the Tenth Doctor began, but the future one stopped him, running over to the computer screen and beckoning him over.
"In the short time weʼve got of seeing each other, how about saving a spaceship crew with me?" The future doctor said, patting the Tenth Doctor on the back.
"Letʼs do that lasso thing, like we- I mean, I did with the Earth, remember that?" the Tenth Doctor said, tapping a few controls.
"Perfect! Almost as good as last time," the future Doctor said, as the spaceship was slowly pulled away from the black hole. "Remember that time with the Ood and the Beast?"
The Tenth Doctor grinned happily "You remember that? Blimey, that seems like years ago now. And remember the Oodsphere? That was an adventure and a half. But Donnaʼs gone now. Back home. I had to wipe her mind, remember?"
The future Doctor looked solemn. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I wonder how sheʼs doing?"
"We canʼt visit her. You know we canʼt."
"I know, I know." He looked towards the computer screen. "Our timeʼs nearly up. Looks like this is goodbye."
"Well, it was great seeing you," the Tenth Doctor said, shaking the future oneʼs hand. "See you. Bye, then. Bye!" he said, as the future doctor slowly faded, waving enthusiastically.
The Doctor turned around and leant on the TARDIS console. He was alone again. He always seemed to end up alone, The Doctor thought, as he twiddled a few knobs to let his TARDIS drift through space. And he remembered to put the shields up.
