Summary: A birthday drabble for a friend that went on a bit longer than I initially expected. The Doctor falls into another crack in the universe.
Q Too
vworp vworp vworp vworp vworp vworp vworp THUNK
"Thunk? Thunk?"
The TARDIS shut down, despite all that the little, curly-haired man tried to do. As he twisted dials and gave it a good thumping to try to sort it out, the door to the living quarters opened and a young girl came stumbling out, yawning.
"What's going on, Professor?" she asked, steadying herself against the nearest bulkhead as the TARDIS started shaking. "Did we hit something?"
"Go back to bed, Ace," said the little man, dashing to another console to try to stabilize his beloved ship. "There's nothing to worry about, just a bit of a glitch in the time stream-"
With a loud bang, the universe went sideways, and it was all Ace could do to hang on and stay vertical. At least, as vertical as she was able to do in a sideways universe. "I don't call this 'nothing to worry about'!"
As suddenly as it began, the shaking stopped, and the universe righted itself. The TARDIS gave a last coughing wheeze before its usual thump signalled its landing on somewhere solid. Or somewhen solid. A place where reality could be realized in all its... well, reality.
"Come on, Professor, tell me what happened? Where are we this time?" Ace rounded on him, a mix of exasperation and excitement in her eyes. "Somewhere strange? We've never went sideways through time before."
"You haven't, maybe," replied the Doctor, "but I have, and that means that we aren't where we're supposed to be."
"You've got that right," said a third voice, and the Doctor and Ace turned around to see a rather tall man in a formal red-and-black jumpsuit. He had a very large presence, despite being a bit on the thin side, and his very essence seemed to sneer.
"All right, who the blazes are you?" Ace demanded.
"My, Doctor, you're getting them younger and younger these days. Such fire, too! Tell me, did you have to pull her out of kindergarten for this trip?" The man's eyes glimmered with delight as he taunted the Doctor, matching the insufferable grin on his face. Oh, the Doctor remembered this one.
"Ace," said the Doctor, sighing. "You remember how I told you about Time Lords in other dimensions?"
Ace blinked. "What, like those little bald guys we ran into with the magic green rings?"
"Just so," confirmed the Doctor, ignoring the tall man's huff. "I've been to this dimension a couple times before, and these are the Time Lords here. Ace McShane, meet Q. He is me."
Q huffed in righteous indignation. "I resent that allegation! I would never go around in a measley old jalopy like this." He stalked closer to the Doctor. "Been a while, though, hasn't it? You've changed your clothes. What is that, question marks on a sweater vest? What kind of statement is thatsupposed to give off? And those cheeks and that nose! Really, Doctor, whatever was wrong with the scarf?" With a snap of his fingers, Q's jumpsuit changed into a raggedy overcoat, a brownish sweater, and a ridiculously long multi-coloured knitted scarf. "Kept the hair, though," he mused, tracing his fingers along the length of the scarf.
The Doctor gave a mighty harumph. "At least it's not the celery stalk or the umbrella! Anyway, what are we doing here? What did you do?"
"Me, herr Doktor?" Q responded, his voice silky. "I didn't do anything. You stumbled here on your own, and I really must ask you to not stay. I don't have time to play with you this time around."
Something in Q's voice sent warning bells ringing in the Doctor's head. "What? Why? What do you have planned?"
Q grinned. "Oh, that marvelous Federation captain is going to stumble by, and I need to throw him in harm's way. He's not progressing nearly as quickly as I need him to." He snapped his fingers again, and the video screen on a nearby bulkhead flared to life, showing an enormous cube-like object, wireframe and glowing green against black, floating through space. Another snap changed the picture to a darkened corridor, presumably inside the cube, where beings of indeterminate species clomped around inside cybernetic suits.
No, not suits.
"What is this?" sputtered the Doctor. "Cybermen? You're going to throw someone to the Cybermen?"
Q waved his hand dismissively. "We call them Borg in this dimension, but the template is the same. So is the threat. If the Federation doesn't understand that soon, they'll be overrun."
The Doctor went still. "So what are you going to do? How many people will be sacrificed to this?"
"That's up to Jean-Luc, I'm afraid," said Q. "I can't interfere. All I can do is show him the threat."
"I'll have no part in this!"
"I wasn't asking you, Time Lord," said Q, his voice suddenly sharp and deadly. "I don't need your help, or your judgement, and quite frankly, you don't belong here. But I'll be glad to fix that problem for you." He raised his arm, preparing to snap his fingers. "Give my regards to Gallifrey, Doctor. And you'd better hurry on that, believe me."
With a snap of his fingers, Q was gone.
The Doctor rushed to the console. "We're back in our own dimension," he reported, quickly setting the computers to scan. "And the rift is gone."
"Gone?" asked Ace, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Sealed behind us, I expect." The Doctor scratched his head. "His regards to Gallifrey. I wonder what he means by that. They'd be no happier to see me these days, I know."
Ace yawned. "I woke up for nothing, then. Good night, Professor."
"Good night, Ace," replied the Doctor, still staring at the readout on his console. Something told him he was missing something, but damned if he could figure it out at this hour.
He set the TARDIS to rest in Cardiff, to recharge itself, and went off to bed himself.
And the world turned on towards morning.