The Legend of Gallifrey Part 2: When Time Runs Out
The TARDIS materialized at the end of the universe.
Not the exact end. There was a few extra days, maybe a week if the inhabitants of the STRY-TLR Earth base were lucky. The stars had been dying for years and there were maybe twenty left, including the one that the base orbited. The inhabitants were five of maybe one hundred beings all across the remains of the universe, spread out across the infinite darkness of the universe, which is why they were so surprised when a blue box appeared in the middle of their control room, and the Doctor stepped out playing 'It's The End of the World As We Know It' on his recorder. He was immediately surrounded by all five members of the base, armed with lasers aimed right at him.
"Oh, I do apologize. Have I come in at a bad time?" He asked.
One of the inhabitants, a tall blonde-haired human man in a white bodysuit, stepped forward. "I'd say you have," he said. "The universe is ending."
"Oh, it is, is it? I've always wanted to see the end of the universe outside the confines of the Academy's monitors."
"What is your name? And how did you get here? There aren't any living creatures for several light years."
"There aren't. You don't have to worry about any of that. I'm the Doctor, and I've come here from the Earth year 1969. I'm a time traveller, you see."
"Like we're going to believe that," another of the inhabitants said, a green-skinned girl with black hair, a black-and-white suit minus a tie, and a tail. "You've got to be one of those hallucinations, or construct by the parasite sun creature." She raised her rifle to point at the Doctor's forehead.
"I can assure you that I'm me. Not the original me, of course, and I won't be me me for much longer. I just recently had to enlist the help of my own people, the Time Lords. They captured me and will force me to change my face very soon, but the CIA recruited me for a few more trips. I've already had an interesting adventure with a few of my future selves in the Death Zone. Now I'm here." he said.
Another one of the inhabitants, a human-looking male with glowing eyes, brown hair, silvery skin, a white T-shirt and blue jeans, and a contraption attached to his left pointer finger, stepped forward. "I've heard of the Time Lords before. If you are one of them, then you'd have two hearts." He said.
"Oh, scan me. I can assure you that I am what I say I am," said the Doctor.
Before anyone could do anything, the air shimmered a few feet to the left of the TARDIS, and a transparent figure of a man in a long brown coat, a brown suit, red converse sneakers, a red tie, and spiky brown hair appeared. He was running away from where he'd appeared towards the door leading to the rest of the base, but seconds before he got there another one of the inhabitants, a black-haired female human in another white bodysuit, ran forward with a small device and threw it at the image. When the two touched, the image seemed to bend and got sucked into the device. The woman walked over calmly and retrieved it.
"What was that?" The Doctor asked, slightly nervous and more than a little curious.
"They've been happening for months. It's just a side effect of the universe dying." The male human said.
"No, this is something else. I know the theory, that at the end of the universe holograms of the next universe will appear. But these are obviously not of the supposed next universe. That bloke there? A Time Lord, one of my lot, and definitely NOT from the next universe. Something isn't right here."
The final member of the base stepped forward, causing the Doctor to get a strange feeling in his stomach. He was a relatively short man with dirty blonde hair and a flat face, with dark skin and a red cloak.
"I believe him," said the man. The other four nodded, seemingly deciding to go along with the man.
"I guess introductions are in order, then," said the tall blonde man. "I'm Liam, obviously human, and so is Jessica here," he said, gesturing towards the black-haired woman who had thrown the device that had sucked up the hologram.
The green-skinned girl eyed him suspiciously, but spoke anyway. "I'm Kroola, a Jeridian. And for the record, just because Soorya here" (she gestured to the man in the red cloak) "believes you doesn't mean I do.
The Doctor thought that Soorya was an odd name for a man, but before he could ask about it the final member of the base spoke, the silvery skinned one with the gadget on his finger.
"My name is Magnon. I'm the base scientist, which goes with the species. I'm a Jeridan, not to be confused with Jeridian. Two different species, similar names," he said, in a slightly robotic voice. "And I'm a bio-mechanoid, so there's that too."
The Doctor clapped his hands together. "Oh, that's all very good. You can call me the Doctor. Now, if you don't mind, may I look at that contraption of yours?"
Jessica agreed, escorting him down to the base laboratory alongside Magnon and Soorya. The Doctor had noticed a hint of recognition in Soorya's eyes when he'd said his name. And that feeling he'd gotten when Soorya had stepped towards him, like his timeline was being wrapped around his throat and just generally twisted up more than a Time Lord's guts after drinking Ginger Beer.
He set up the device with the help of Magnon's finger device; apparently called a 'magic digit,' and an image of the man in the brown coat appeared on the monitor. Looking at him, the Doctor had another feeling of his timeline being twisted up again, but it wasn't as strong this time, and certainly not important.
With Magnon and Soorya's assistance, he managed to discover the energy that had created the image. Armed with that knowledge, he assembled the crew again, less than an hour after first arriving.
"It is temporal energy, but it's being manufactured by some device here on the base. Someone here is trying to restart the universe." He announced.
That sent quite a shockwave through the five friends. Several people immediately turned to Soorya, who shrank backwards. Jessica's eyes flickered, and Magnon's magic digit sparked.
"I'm not accusing anyone," the Doctor clarified. "I'll need to stay here for a few days to determine who exactly. And I'll need access to as much of the base as possible."
So it was arranged. The TARDIS was moved to a room just big enough to hold it, and the Doctor began sleeping in there. He spent much of the next few days wandering around. Twice, he encountered resistance. Once, Soorya refused to allow him into his quarters. There was a long debate, which ended when the Doctor decided that he didn't want to spend the universe's last few moments arguing, and again when he tried to enter storage level six. The computer insisted that that area was for people with red level access, and the Doctor finally gave up for the same reason. He observed each of the members closely.
Liam was the leader of the base. That was obvious. He seemed very much like the alpha male, and also seemed to subconsciously look down on everyone else. He didn't have the smarts to restart the universe, but he did have the power to get someone else to do it, like Magnon.
The Doctor had spent some time researching the Jeridan race; they were old enemies of the Daleks, and since the war with them, they had evolved to be somewhat timid. Not Magnon. Magnon walked around the base as if he was the leader, but he still very clearly answered to Liam. He was very intelligent and that magic digit of his seemed compatible with everything on the base. He had access to sufficient technology to restart the universe, but whether or not he was willing to use it was in question.
Jessica seemed jolty and nervous; like she'd had too many cups of coffee. He eyes darted from person to person constantly, like she expected someone to attack her at any second. She was also easily scared. Once the Doctor had knocked loudly on her door, and entered when she didn't answer, then tapped her on the shoulder and asked her a question, she'd turned around maybe a minute later and jumped out of her skin. She was almost certainly not the culprit. She'd be too nervous that something would go wrong.
Kroola was constantly watching the Doctor, giving him no chances to investigate her quarters or any place she went regularly. From her manner, she seemed almost Sontaran-like: warlike, ready for battle at any moment, except for one thing. At one point while Kroola was on night patrol, he'd tried to sneak into her quarters. She'd come around the corner before he could get a full look, but he was pretty sure that he'd seen a giant stuffed pink teddy bear. She was definitely the type who WOULD try to restart the universe, but she obviously didn't have the smarts or the authority to get it done.
Finally, there was Soorya; the most likely candidate on the list. In the several days that the Doctor had been here, he'd learned almost nothing about Soorya. He spent most of his time in his quarters, from which almost constant banging could be heard. Apparently he'd made it a rule that nobody went into his quarters except him except in case of an asteroid strike, which in the last days of the universe was about as likely as sprouting wings and flying to the remains of Earth. Every time the Doctor got near Soorya, he got that feeling again, like something about Soorya's presence this early in his timestream was not right.
He'd gotten very little from the image that Jessica had captured. He'd determined that whatever was causing these images was being supplied with incredible amounts of power, even more than what was present at the Big Bang. These were the types of power that could only be created by a paradox so big that time itself could very well be consumed, which was obviously worrying to the Doctor.
Three more images appeared during the Doctor's stay. One was of him, running around an invisible console. The second was of a man in a red velvet jacket and a white collared shirt with gray hair and sunglasses, who had just sort of stood there for a minute or so, then reached up to catch something. The third was of a blonde poofy-haired lady with a gun, who was spinning and shooting wildly. The lasers were visible, but they passed through anything that got in their way. The Doctor sensed that all three of the people in the images had Time Lord DNA. The third one had less DNA than the others, but it was definitely there.
Finally, the Doctor gathered everyone in the dining hall to deduct. He always thought faster when he talked out loud. Everyone sat down and stared at him, expecting an answer as to who was trying to upset nature. The Doctor began to pace nervously.
"I can say that I traced the signal of the images. It is definitely someone on this base, and I've managed to eliminate two people: Jessica and Kroola."
Those two gave each other a high-five. Soorya shrank backwards.
"What makes them any less possible than anyone else?" Asked Liam, in a hostile tone that seemed a little out of character.
"I've studied their characters. Jessica is a nervous person, and it's likely that she'd be too nervous to try anything that she didn't understand."
Jessica gave him a look that could have meant either 'I'll kill you later' or 'Thank you so much.'
"And Kroola?" demanded Liam.
"As much as I'd like to stress my respect for her, she just isn't smart enough to pull this off," the Doctor told him, nervously glancing at Kroola, who gave him a confused look, as if she wasn't sure whether to punch him or thank him.
"Which leaves Magnon, Liam, and Soorya," the Doctor said. All three turned towards him, anxious to be put out of the running.
"Magnon, you're definitely smart, but with the greatest of respect I don't think you're quite smart enough to master temporal mechanics, not on this level, anyway," the Doctor said. "Which would also put Liam out of the running, as the only way he'd be able to pull it off is through his authority. Which would only leave one possibility." He turned to Soorya.
Soorya shook his head. "I'm sorry Doctor, but I'm not the guy you're looking for."
"You're the only possible answer."
"Doctor, remember when you first arrived, you had a strange feeling about me? I'd imagine it felt like your timeline was being twisted up like a rope?"
The Doctor definitely remembered, but how did Soorya know about it?
"It blocked out another feeling, one that would tip you off as to why I'm not who you want. Look past the twisting feeling."
The Doctor did exactly that, and was overwhelmed with a feeling of familiarity, the exact feeling a Time Lord gets when meeting one of their own kind.
Soorya gave him a 'what-did-I-tell-you' look. The Doctor returned it with a bewildered look.
"I didn't tell you sooner because of when I first encountered you," Soorya said. "You were on your… oh, I'd guess maybe twelfth face by then. You came from the sky, every single one of you, and you saved Gallifrey from being destroyed by the Daleks. I met you again when you first returned to Gallifrey and declared yourself president and threw Rassilon the Resurrected out without even a word. You then demanded the return of your friend and went a little crazy. You shot me, then I was in my tenth form, and escaped with mylife. Back then, I went by General."
"That's why your name sounds like a woman's. Because you were born a female."
Soorya nodded.
Naturally, this was all a bit of a punch to the face for the Doctor, but his brain automatically put that aside and focused on the problem at hand.
"But if it wasn't anyone, then who was it?" he asked.
"EVERYONE."
The Doctor and Soorya turned to see who had said that. All four of the base members were slumped over with yellow sunlight coming from behind their eyes. Magnon's magic digit sparked, and Kroola's tail twisted in circles behind her. The voice had seemingly come from Liam's mouth, but it was Jessica who spoke next.
"I REFUSED TO DIE OUT WITH THE UNIVERSE, SO I DECIDED TO SAVE IT FROM ITSELF. THESE FOUR WERE THE ONLY ONES WITH SUFFICIENT TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL," she said, in a deep voice very much not her own.
"YOU HAVE COME TO STOP MY WORK," Magnon said. "SO IT IS ONLY NATURAL THAT I MUST STOP YOU."
"BURN WITH ME," said Kroola.
"To my TARDIS!" said Soorya. He raced towards the door to the rest of the base, but Magnon opened his eyes and released a blast of heat, sending molten metal straight towards Soorya, but the Doctor pulled him out of the way.
A light in the sky blinked out. Space was empty, except for them. Then the whole base began to shake.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid you're too late, guys!" said the Doctor. "That's the universe ending, right there!"
"NO! I REFUSE TO DIE LIKE SOME LOWER FORM OF LIFE!" everyone screamed. The roof was ripped off by an unknown force and everyone was sucked out into space. The sun that Kroola had referred to as 'sun god' when the Doctor first arrived was shrinking quickly, sucking everyone towards it. The Doctor and Soorya gasped for air, then they blacked out.
The Doctor woke up on the floor of his TARDIS with a major headache. He checked his pocket. Yep, his recorder was still there.
He sat up slowly and used the console to stand up, then he took a step backwards when he saw a woman leaning against the opposite wall.
She had long, straight, black hair down to her waist, and she wore a red tank top with a blue, unbuttoned collared shirt over it, and she wore ripped, faded blue jeans with red converse sneakers, and a Vortex Manipulator on her left wrist. Her face stuck out just the right amount, with a rounded chin and a thin nose, and to top it all off she had fierce green eyes.
She pushed off from the wall and walked over to the Doctor, handing him something that looked like a 21st century iPad. Then she spoke in a high pitched yet firm voice.
"It will open for the eighth," she said. Likely referring to the Doctor's eighth face. Not as mysterious as she probably wanted it to be.
"Wh- where's Soorya?" The Doctor asked.
"I grabbed you and him seconds before the universe collapsed, and brought you both back to your TARDISes," she said. She seemed proud of it, yet obviously didn't expect anything in return. "I'll see you again."
She held her hand up to her Vortex Manipulator.
"Wait!" said the Doctor. "What's your name?"
She paused for a moment. "It's too early for you to know that, sorry. Just call me M," she said. Then she brought her hand down on the Manipulator, and she vanished.
The Doctor stood there for a moment, then stuffed the iPad into a box and ran around the console. There was just one more mystery to solve here, apart from who M was: what had been powering the machinery, which the Doctor guessed was why he hadn't been allowed to enter storage level six. He had to find the signal before it was lost.
Something pinged on the monitor, and a line extended from it and went off the screen, then the view soon followed. It travelled for about a minute before connecting to a huge blip on the screen: a tangle in time, a paradox of cosmic proportions.
The Doctor pulled a lever, and the TARDIS spun off into the paradox, where it might very well never return from. There was one more thing to do before the Time Lords forced his change. He had to save the universe.