The Unnamed Doctor
I do not own Doctor Who.
Chapter 1: Family and Strangers
It was the day they would be abducted that he would met the most important person in his life. But that day hadn't come just yet. For right now, Julian, along with three fellow students, was sitting in the foyer of the AAI, the Asia-Africa-Institute of the University of Hamburg, drinking tea. It was hot. The sun was beaming implacably through the glass ceiling of the hall, a great, open room that was two stories high. When gazing into the foyer from the entrance, the first thing one noticed was the two rows of planted trees with thin stems. Julian wasn't quite sure what kind of trees they were or if they were even real and alive. Right to the left of the entrance a pretty small café could be found where the students and sometimes the lecturers would meet between lectures. The remaining part of the ground floor was occupied by the AAI Library which was encircling the foyer save for the café. Straight opposite to the entrance was a set of double stairs to the first and second floor where lecture theatres and seminar rooms as well as the offices of lecturers and secretaries were located.
"Why does it have to be so difficult?" Lars was nagging.
Julian looked up. He knew Lars didn't really mean it like that. Besides, he of all people had the least right to complain being the best of the class.
Battsetseg also looked up to Lars but then her eyes wandered to the entrance and she frowned.
"Hey Julian, do you have a secret stalker?"
"I'm sorry?" Julian asked.
"I saw that blond woman yesterday too when we were heading to the language lab."
Julian turned and looked over his shoulder. There she was: a woman wearing a grey-bluish coat, a black shirt with a rainbow on her chest, blue trousers and brown boots. And was that an earring on her left ear? But it wasn't the woman's slightly odd choice of clothing – quite a few students were wearing interesting cloths. No, it was the fact that Julian too had seen her before…and that couldn't be. Because she looked about 30 years old. And the first time he had seen her, he had been five! So she would have to be about 14 to 16 years old back then. But the way he remembered her – and he remembered her so clearly – she looked exactly as she did now. He had seen her two more times, once when he was 12 and then back when he was 17. He had always dismissed it as a déjà-vu or an imagination. But if others could see her…
With a slight smile, the woman turned and went away.
"I saw her too, a few days ago," Thuỷ said, "When we were going to the canteen in the Phil-Tower."
"We've got to go, class begins in three minutes!" Lars suddenly said urgently.
He hurried up and went up the staircase. Just when they turned left into the corridor where the seminar room for East Asian studies such as Sinology was located as well as the secretariat and some of the lecturer's offices, Julian spotted a man coming out of the office of the Professor of Korean Studies, his father's office. A man stepped out wearing a brown tweed jacket and a bowtie. His dress reminded him of an old British professor but the man seemed too young, in his late twenties in fact, that it too seemed like a weird choice of clothing. He spotted Julian and gave him an enthusiastic wave and a bright smile. Unsure, Julian gave a shy smile and went into the seminar room.
It was nice not to have Uni on Fridays. It meant a longer weekend and more time to enjoy oneself. Julian was especially looking forward to this since his family would come together for coffee. First to arrive were grandfather Klaus and his wife, gran Renate, along with Klaus' siblings, great-uncle Rainer and great-aunt Ingrid and Renate's sister great-aunt Ursula. Aunt Nadia also came. But Julian mostly enjoyed meeting his mother's brother Andrej with his wife aunt Olga and their two children Pjotr and Ksenija who were both just a few years younger than Julian.
"Yeah, we're staying in Germany for a little while, you know," uncle Andrej said as they made their way from the house to the garden, "to get to know this country properly. Last time we didn't really plan it in. Oh bože, that was so long ago, you kids were just babies back then."
"I can show Pjotr and Ksenija around Hamburg during the weekend," Julian suggested.
"Your Russian is really good," Ksenija observed.
They sat down at the big wooden table in the garden and Julian's mum served everyone coffee.
"So Georg," Klaus said after a while of small talk, "how was your trip to North Korea?"
"Quite insightful, as always," dad answered. "The government has allowed people to trade things at special markets. I wasn't allowed to make photos of this though. People are interested how things have gone between South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un when they had met."
"They talk about that over there?" Andrej asked perplexed.
"Oh they do. Of course, they don't really have all the info that we have over here. And Kim's accomplishments in this are of course exaggerated. But yes, they talk about this. I mean, it's big news."
Georg took a sip from his cup.
"Oh, and I met the Doctor yesterday."
Julian took a sharp look at his father. The Doctor? But…
"He looks more like you described him now, dad," Georg continued. "Really young, tweed jacket and bowtie."
Julian looked at dad, than at mum.
"But that was a story you told me!"
Not only his parents, his great-grandfather Josef too had told him the story of the Doctor and his companion many times. He told him the story until Julian was 5 when he had died. It was the first time that Julian had witnessed someone die. His great-grandmother Hertha died two years after that. Julian remembered the funeral. Most of the attendants he knew but there was one man who he hadn't known and who never again showed up in his life. An elderly man with grey hair and bushy eyebrows.
"You told me of the Doctor. The skinny man in a long coat with a blue box who comes to save the children from monsters. With his companion… the woman in the red jacket."
"He is real," Klaus said. "And he is a lifesaver."
Everyone now turned to Julian's grandfather.
"Who is this Doctor?" Pjotr asked.
Klaus smiled to himself. Rainer and Ingrid too seemed to remember.
"The Doctor was always there. He protected our family for over a hundred years. It was him who saved us three (he gestured to his siblings) and our parents. Got us out of Dachau."
Klaus was silent for a moment. Even though he himself couldn't remember his very short time at the concentration camp as he had been a baby when it had happened.
Klaus looked at Julian.
"He had two companions with him: a young woman with glasses…and a young man. You remind me of him, you know."
The way his grandfather looked at him made Julian uneasy somehow. As if he was looking at someone he had met long ago.
"But he only saved you."
Julian gulped.
"He didn't save your grandfather."
Ernst Heller. Julian's great-great-grandfather who had been a high-ranking member of the SPD, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the oldest German political party.
Georg shook his head.
"No, Ernst and his wife Annette and their older son Martin were captured in Paris in 1940. They were first moved to Drancy internment camp outside of Paris and then transported to Auschwitz… where they died the same year."
There was an uncomfortable silence. Julian wondered why this Doctor would only save parts of his family if he was so protective of them. But then again, one man couldn't possibly be in all places at once. How was he have gone to go in there in the first place if not as a prisoner?
The next day Julian took Pjotr and Ksenija out for a tour around Hamburg. They visited the university where Julian studied, the Europa Passage, that long shopping centre.
"I saw images of the G20 summit last year," Pjotr said. "How did you experience that? Did anything get destroyed?"
"No, because we don't live downtown," Julian replied.
"I was present though. Not demonstrating, I mean, not with those ultra-left groups. But there were some other peaceful demonstrations too in the first day. And I stayed at a friend's overnight and that's how I witnessed it. Her name is Thuỷ Đàm, a fellow student of mine."
They went into an Asian restaurant to eat lunch.
"Do you really believe that story about that Doctor?" Ksenija asked.
Julian thought about this for a moment.
"I'm not sure… I mean, they wouldn't lie to us, especially with such a big situation of being saved from a concentration camp. But the details are a bit questionable. Did you hear uncle Klaus? The Doctor has protected our family for over a hundred years! How old must this Doctor be now? Unless… unless they talked about two people. It kinda sounded like they talked about two people, didn't it?"
"Maybe that title is inherited somehow," Pjotr wondered.
Julian thought about this.
"But dad said that he now looked like my grandad described him, like, he again looked this way. That doesn't make any sense, does it?"
"Well, it's not like strange things haven't occurred," Ksenija observed.
"That spaceship crashing into Big Ben, the first contact with an alien species and then this Cube Crisis six years ago…"
"Do you believe all that?" Julian asked.
"Don't you?"
Julian chuckled.
They spend the rest of the time making up theories that could explain the phenomenon of the Doctor.
Thuỷ was already waiting for him in the canteen when he had finished the lecture in his subsidiary subject, history. Grabbing a tray, Julian and Thuỷ got in line of a short queue which was quickly lengthened behind them.
"So, how was Media Studies?" Julian asked.
"Oh, it was great," Thuỷ said with a big smile on her face. She set her tray down and observed the few choices of food.
"Thailand!" the guy behind the counter called out.
"Uh, no!" Thuỷ said frowning.
"Huh, could've sworn you came from there," the guy rambled on. "China, isn't it? Your roots?"
Thuỷ sighed in frustration.
"Come on, let's go somewhere else!" she said to Julian. Julian let his tray fall on hers and together they left the canteen.
They marched into the warm sun and headed back for the AAI. Luckily, they had a free period and thus time to choose something a little further out of the campus. There were many restaurants around the university which was spread over the whole city. There was a good Chinese restaurant not far from here. Maybe they could persuade Lars to join them.
"There is a poetry slam in the Audi-Max building this weekend," Thuỷ said.
"I've read the advert. And you're performing."
She nodded brightly. Then she grabbed his arm.
"Look!"
Julian looked to where she was pointing and saw a curious blue box a few meters ahead of them.
"That's the box the blond woman was using. You know, the one who seemed to stalk you."
Julian frowned. Slwoly, as in a trance, he walked towards it but before he could read it, one of the doors to the box opened and a man stepped out.
On seeing him, Julian made a double-take. It was the same man whom he had seen Thursday, the man who has exited his father's office. He was still dressed in that brown tweed jacket and bowtie. His boyish face formed a bright, excited smile.
"Julian!"
Flapping his hands up and down, the man approached Julian gleefully and took his hand shaking it rapidly with both of his own.
"Oh, such a pleasure to finally see you again! Grown up Julian!"
"Uh…"
Julian chuckled at the warm, enthusiastic greeting and finally forced his hand out. The man spoke in English in a posh British accent.
"Oh this is great. And who might you be?" the man asked looking at Thuỷ.
"Thuỷ Đàm," she said.
"Hello Thuỷ, nice to meet you. Nice glasses! Love those glasses! Had ones myself before…wonder where they are now…"
"Um…thanks," she stammered using her flawless American accent, "but…who are you?"
"Oh, just a friend passing though," the man said.
Julian's face lit up.
"You're the Doctor! You have to be!"
The man's smile grew even brighter.
"Yes! I'm the Doctor. Old friend of your family's. Very old friend. Now…"
Getting between them, he put his arms around Julian and Thuỷ as if he was hanging out with old friends.
"…Can you tell me what's wrong with this picture?"
Waving towards the nearby Asia-Africa-Institute, he looked at the two of them questioningly. Thuỷ raised her eyebrows.
"That's the AAI…"
"Yeah…" the Doctor murmured disappointed that they didn't see what he wanted to show them.
"Well, seems someone has been very interested in it. Thought I'd caught someone scanning the building. Now why would they be interested in the faculty of a university?"
He put his arms off their shoulders and staggered off to the blue box which Julian now noticed had the words Police Public Call Box written on it.
"That looks…British," Thuỷ observed as the Doctor got through the door.
"Looks British, isn't British," came his voice muffled through the door. "Come on in!"
Frowning at Thuỷ, Julian slowly opened the door. Why would the Doctor expect them to cram themselves into this little Police box? And how did he get it here?
But as he turned back again, his jaw dropped. They weren't in a blue box anymore. Instead, they were in a large, gigantic room of some sort coloured in gold, bronze and orange. It was weird and bizarre. Very old looking and yet new and futuristic. Just next to the doors there was a hallstand and next to it either a really big round window or some kind of screen. A set of stairs led to a hexagonal console with dozens of nubs and levers, dials and displays. The console was built around a…something that Julian could not identify.
"Welcome to the TARDIS," the Doctor said joyfully as if he was showing Julian and Thuỷ his new toy.
"Uh huh…" Thuỷ made her eyes darting around the room.
"It's…some kind of…spaceship?" Julian suggested.
"Time and Relative Dimension in Space, TARDIS. It can go anywhere in time and space," The Doctor called jumping the last few stairs onto the platform where the console was and typed something into something that looked like an old keyboard. He then looked at a display which hung loosely from the ceiling.
"Aha!" he exclaimed. "Yes, someone locked onto the building. They could only do that with their shields disabled, in about a moment…"
He frantically pushed several knobs and a lever.
"Ha! Got it! It's in low orbit, directly above the clouds."
Julian ran over to see what the Doctor was searching for. The display showed something resembling a gigantic ship of some kind and a beam that came out of it.
The Doctor's face suddenly went serious.
"Oh bugger! They're not just scanning the institute, of course not! I should have noticed it right away, oh, stupid, stupid Doctor!" he muttered to himself slapping his forehead.
"Why, what is it?" Thuỷ asked. "Who are they?"
The Doctor looked at her as if he were to announce that a tornado would blow over the institute.
"Oryutaaya!"
"What?"
"ORYUTAAYA!"
"What are the Oryutaaya?" Julian said clutching the Doctor's arm.
"An alien species from the Garn belt. Specialised in slave trade. They kidnap species they deem inferior and either keep them for themselves or trade them. Oh, this is bad! They've targeted the whole faculty. Good that you're here."
"But the others?" Thuỷ asked incredulously, then shaking her head. "Hang on a minute? Slavery? Kidnapping? Isn't there supposed a law prohibiting that?"
The Doctor looked at her.
"Actually there is, well, kind of prohibiting it…and they didn't get the memo!"
He slammed his hand on the console in frustration as the screen showed them what was happening outside. Julian's jaw dropped again. People were disappearing! Beamed away by some kind of yellow light. Realisation hit him: his dad! His fellow students!
"Well, can't we do something?"
"Of course we're gonna do something! D'you think I let them get away with that? You don't really know me that well, Julian!"
"Actually, I don't know you at all," he reminded the Doctor.
"Uh, right. So!"
His face lit up again and he ran around the console rapidly turning levers and pressing buttons. It almost seemed as if he was dancing around the console. There was a strong tremor inside the TARDIS and the three of them were shaken around. Desperately clinging onto something for support, they watched as the weird thing in the centre moved up and down and the machine made some really strange noise: Vworp Vworp Vworp…
The Doctor continued to dance around the console and pulled another lever. The room shook again and with a loud thud, they seemed to come to a stop.
"Right then! Mission University 1! No, that's stupid! A stupid title, forget that title!" the doctor rambled on as he stormed off towards the doors.
"Are we on their ship?" Thuỷ wondered.
"Exactly!" the Doctor exclaimed brightly as though he had announced that their favourite restaurant was finally open. "On their bridge, to be precise."
Still smiling at them, he opened the door. After they exchanged looks, Julian and Thuỷ followed. Raising his eyebrows and letting his jaw hang, Julian gazed around the bridge. The dispersion of the light gave the room an eerie atmosphere, like some sort of dark laboratory. Several strange looking apparatuses and panels gave off reports or displayed status reports or similar. It took him a while to realise that he could understand the readings perfectly as if they were all in plain English. How could that be?
"Okay…Hello to you all! Ah, you'd be the Captain, nice ridges."
The Doctor was babbling and flapping his hands again. Julian turned around to focus on him.
"Who are you?" The alien captain growled in a deep voice that didn't sound human at all, way too deep.
"I'm the Doctor. I have an offer."
"We will not trade this stock!" the Oryutaaya snarled.
"Great, I do not expect you to," the Doctor called, "because they are protected. This world is protected, in fact. So: a warning. I offer you the chance to return the humans, pack your bags and run away. If not, then I have to stop you."
The captain roared in laughter. Unperturbed and with an unusually serious expression for his young face, the Doctor stepped closer to the captain.
"Trust me. I'll let you go unharmed. But this is where I draw the line," he whispered before holding out his arms. "I'll donate a burger for you!"
"You have no right to deny us these slaves!" the captain growled, "Article 42 of the Shadow Proclamation allows it –"
"Article 42 states that slavery is merely an individual punishment as an alternative to imprisonment. And above that, you're also violating Article 57: No level 5 planet is to be burned, invaded and nor its inhabitants seeded or enslaved. So…"
The Doctor put his hand in his jacket and pulled out a metal rod of some kind with a green light glowing at the top. Stretching his arm out, he pointed it at one of the panels.
"…like I said: one warning."
The captain's eyes narrowed.
"Look at this planet's data," the Doctor said calmly. "My final offer."
One of the captain's subordinates looked to him in what Julian believed to be a frightening gaze and gestured to him to come over. The captain did so and Julian approached the Doctor.
"Do you honestly think that will work?", he whispered.
"Oh yeah," the Doctor whispered back. "Did it before…while trying out a new outfit if I remember correctly."
The captain returned from the panel.
"We will return the humans."
"And you'll give me your word that you'll never come back here." The Doctor hissed. The captain nodded. The Doctor proceeded to observe the operation himself. He then went back towards his box and Julian and Thuỷ followed him open-mouthed.
"Who the hell are you, Doctor?" Thuỷ asked immediately once they were back inside.
"The Doctor," he answered simply.
"But…that's not a name…Is it a name?" she asked confused, "I mean…Doctor…Doctor who?"
The Doctor just smirked at her.
"If you like," he merely replied.
"Now, time to go."
He pulled a lever and the TARDIS shook again before thudding to a halt.
With a relieved and yet still impressed expression, the two humans walked out of the TARDIS. They were now right in front of the main doors. From here you could clearly see everyone being back again. Slowly stepping through the front doors of the AAI, both Julian and Thuỷ still had to wrap their heads around what they had just experienced. And as they turned around, they faintly heard the undistinguishable Vworp Vworp Vworp as the TARDIS virtually disappeared into thin air!
"So, he did it again."
Julian turned to see his father standing there. Cleaning his glasses, he looked at his son with a smile on his face.
"And you've been there with him at his side."
He looked at both of them.
Thuỷ stayed at Julian's that evening as Julian told her everything that his family members had ever told him about the Doctor.
"And you're going to travel with him, that's what your grandfather said."
Julian nodded.
"He also told me of a young girl…with glasses."
Thuỷ raised her eyebrows and looked at him lowering her chin. Then her look darted to the window and she got up. As Julian followed, he could hear it, loud and clear. Then the blue box fully materialised.
"So what do you say?" he said to her. They looked at one another. She grinned.
The Doctor awaited them in the garden. Leaning against the TARDIS with his arms crossed and a cheeky smile, he waved to them.
"Georg told me that I might play a certain role for you," he said as they approached him.
"You don't know?" Julian asked.
"Of course I don't know, what would be the fun of that?"
He snapped his finger and the TARDIS door opened on its own letting its orange light shine on the dark grass. The sun had already set.
"Okay!" the Doctor explained once they were inside. "Anywhere in time and space…where do you want to go?"
Rubbing his hands, he excitingly waited for their answers. They spoke in unison:
"Past!"
"Future!"
Julian and Thuỷ looked at each other.
"How about both?" Julian suggested. "First to the past, then to the future? In turns."
The Doctor smiled brightly.
"How far?"
"To where it began…the earth…life," Julian said. "German history."
"Next hundred years…the next millennia…I wanna know how we evolve," Thuỷ said excitingly, "whether we survive the earth…or whether the earth survives us."
"Ah!" The Doctor nodded. "There and back again."
Running to the console, he began running around it preparing their destination and stopped with his hand on the lever.
"Hello Big Bang!" he declared.
The TARDIS went off shaking and mourning its signature sound. Laughing deliughtly, Julian put one arm around Thuỷ's shoulder and watched as the TARDIS worked its way to the beginning of the universe…
Georg watched the blue box disappearing from a distance. Sitting on a bench at the other end of the garden, he smiled to the Doctor.
"And off you go! It's so weird…having heard all those stories and wondering whether it'll all turn out well…but I already know at the same time. Plus, you're here, so…"
The Doctor grinned.
"See? Promised and delivered, Georg." The Doctor got up and turned brightly to look at Georg.
"Well, I'm his godfather after all…I mean, godmother."
He grinned at her. She bounced off and beamed at him.
"So…would you like to try?"