"Excuse me..."

"Pardon me..."

"Ummm...hey Bub...you awake?"

Jack started to get frustrated. Why was he bothering anyway? If this looney WANTED to get mugged who was Jack to interfere?

He was Jack, and that was enough. He couldn't sit by and watch it go down without butting in and ruining a thugs-or-two's day (and maybe a kneecap or two as well).

Granted he did not know quite what was going on here, but he knew he did not like it. This guy seemed to be oblivious to everything but the three people about fifty yards away in the shade of the foot-bridge. Jack couldn't tell too much about them except that they did not look friendly...or particularly healthy. They had a very strange build. They were all very bulky and muscular with very dark skin, but what really made Jack look twice was the fact they all had very ape-like facial characteristics.

Jack had seen his share of ugly characters in his 'Repair' career but nothing quite like this (unless he wanted to count the Rakoshi...and he didn't!). They had characteristics not quite...human, but they were also uniform to all three. "Masks...have to be masks, can't believe it I let it catch me off guard." he thought to himself.

The three goons noticed the guy and started rushing toward him.

"OK" though Jack, "show time!"

Just as he started to tense himself for action, he felt an arm across his chest. Not restricting or challenging, just enough to let Jack know staying there was the best thing to do right now. Jack instinctively tightened his grip on his Kel Tec 9mm that he had ready for action.

Looking up the arm to the owner caused Jack's grip on his gun to loosen for a reason he didn't quite understand. The guy he had just been trying to rouse was of decent height, just a bit taller than Jack himself, medium to thin build and had a shock of unkempt, curly white hair. The part that got Jack though were the clothes. He wasn't sure, but he thought he remembered the jacket as being called a smoking jacket or something (Jack had never bothered with fashion) and the frilly shirt looked like it was plucked out of that Seinfeld episode he saw a couple years ago. This guy must have come from one of those 'Artsy' groups that he always saw coming out of the Community Centers.

Before he could dwell on the clothes too much he looked at the strangers face. He looked to be in his sixties at least, even though Jack could tell he was deceptively strong for his looks. The eyes though, something there that he couldn't quite put his finger on. They peered right through to his soul and calmed him with the feeling that this stranger knew what was best and things would be okay.

"Give them time, they are really a stupid lot." The stranger uttered in what sounded like an English accent (Could have been Scottish for all Jack knew, he could never keep accents from across the pond straight).

No sooner did Jack turn back to the three ugly goons rushing towards them than they 'froze' in place. Jack didn't know what he was seeing, but they all seemed frozen where they stood. They were close enough Jack could see their eyes moving, so they weren't dead. Reason enough to keep his grip on the Kel Tec.

"Oh put that away" snapped the stranger " You don't need that now, they are quite harmless now." The white haired man started to look through their pockets and pat them down like he was looking for something.

"Shouldn't you take those gun-thingys away from them?" Asked Jack wondering what those 'thingys' were. They reminded him of a Buck Rogers ray gun he had back at his place with the rest of his nick-nack collection and that was enough for him to want the three to not have them in hand.

"Quite harmless as well, don't worry. I rigged the neural net to discharge their weapons as well."

Jack had seen some strange things, probably more than anyone else he knew, but that didn't make him any less confused right now. "OK, that is fine, but who are they, what were they doing, what did you do to them and for that matter, who are you?"

The older gentleman turned in Jack's direction almost startled. "Oh my that is right, I keep forgetting these things. These are Ogrons, muscle for hire. Not very bright, but strong and loyal to their current employer. I trapped them in a neural net that will keep them in place until I send them back home."

"Fair enough...I guess, but why are they here and after you?"

"Honestly, it is I that was after THEM. They have something of mine and they meant to run off with it leaving me stranded again."

Jack was getting a headache here. For every one question answered it brought up three more!

"AHA! There you are!" The stranger waved what looked like a key in Jack's general direction and turned back to where they were standing originally."This is what I needed, it is a key to my...lab. John Smith, pleased to meet you."

"John Smith? Right, and I am King Tut!"

That caused the stranger to look back at Jack again. "Oh no no no, Tutankhamen was much thinner and shorter than you."

Is this guy serious thought Jack, he can't expect me to swallow that line. "Now wait a minute there..."

"Yes yes, I know what you meant, I am sorry. Losing this key made me abnormally testy. You are correct, John Smith is an alias. You can call me Doctor if you like." He offered his hand in greeting.

"Jack, What are you going to do with them now?"

"With who?"

"The three that rushed you, who do you think I..." Jack glanced back and they were gone, not a trace of them left.

"I already took care of our friends, they are back on their home planet with headaches, no key and probably a very upset boss." Chuckled the 'Doctor'.

"Waitwaitwait...just a sec...home planet?!" Jack was beginning to wonder if he should be escorting this character to the nearest rubber room. "I can accept they looked uglier than my last shuffle attempt and you 'froze' them in place, but home planet? I have seen my share of strange things (more than most have a right to see) but even I find that hard to swallow."

"Oh dear, I guess I have confused you a bit. Tell you what, let me grab my cape I left in that phone-booth quickly and we can grab a coffee while I try to explain it all to you."

"Wow! I must really be slipping, how could I miss a big blue box right in the middle of the park like that, do they even use those any more? I think I remember seeing something like it in a British movie or something" thought Jack.

"OK, coffee it is. I can't wait to hear this one!" said Jack.

"Hang on a tick." The Doctor disappeared into the box.

A rumbling alerted Jack to something being amiss, but before he could investigate further he noticed the blue box 'fading'..."what the hell?"

Out of the air that was rapidly filling in the space the box had been in came the Doctor's voice "Sorry, need to pop over to Sigma V for a bit to return a gem I needed to lure the Ogrons here, be back before you know it for that coffee and chat!"

Jack decided it was past time for something harder than coffee and started off towards Julio's wondering if he will actually see that strange white-haired 'Doctor' again.