Prologue

In Which Time is Wibbly-Wobbly

The Doctor ran her hand over a rosy panel. "You've outdone yourself this time. You're brilliant!"

She ran around the circular consoles, taking mental notes of where all the new buttons and levers and thingamabobs were. Her grin spread as she took it all in. "Right then. Let's get a feel for the new layout. Where to go..."

Her hand paused above a panel as she noticed a blinking light. "We're getting a distress signal? We'll go there then, but where and when is there?"

It only took her a few moments to pull up and read the details, eyebrows slowly rising. "It's from Gallifrey. There's someone trapped in the Matrix."

She didn't like the sound of that. Who was calling her? What were their intentions? Could they be trusted to tell the truth? Only one way to find out, she supposed. If some innocent was in trouble, she couldn't leave them anyway. She would just have to be wary.

Buzzing around the controls, she outlined a course to her home planet. "I don't want anyone to know I'm there yet. Do you think you could help me get around the materialization indicators to land us as close as possible?"

But the TARDIS rode like a bucking bull. The Doctor hung on to the console with all her strength. She slipped off the console, dropping against a rounded wall. Struggling upright, she staggered her way back to a pilot's station and shoved some levers into their desired spot. "We can't just turn our back on this! Are you going to help me or not?"

It was with groans and puffs of steam that the TARDIS allowed herself to be navigated through the Vortex. The cloister bell was more a scream when she finally landed.

The Doctor patted her ship. "I'll make this up to you later. Right now, I've got to investigate."

When she stepped out, she found that the TARDIS had been helpful with the landing spot, despite all her protest: she was inside the Matrix itself. She could feel the raw energy of the supercomputer, all the timelines, all the possibilities, all the minds housed inside it. It tingled like an electric bath.

Ahead, she saw a wispy form, shaped vaguely like a Time Lord. Was that...?

Before she could finish her thought, the form touched a red panel on the Matrix. The Doctor got a definite ID on her attacker in the split-second before the Matrix fired on her with a strong white ring. It burned.


An earlier Doctor was new again. He had a fresh look – a bright colorful coat and curly blond hair. And he saw his companion, Peri, through new eyes.

As she entered his beautiful white console room with its roundels and columns, she presented herself to him with a "Ta-da!"

His amused smirk slowly slid from his face and he drawled, "Yuck!"

Of course, his mind wasn't stable. Not yet. Not so soon after his regeneration. His thoughts drifted as he sauntered around the controls. He wanted a vacation. Or a story. Or a story vacation.

No, he wanted to go to Orion's belt, but he couldn't quite remember the coordinates.

Neither he nor Peri could see the humanoid intruder as it touched the back of the Doctor's head – the Doctor had his back turned, and the rotor blocked Peri's view. Not that there was much of anything to see anyway. It was like a white afterimage on the last moment of its existence. Only a trained eye could have spotted it.

Stories. Stories. Persian stories. Peri!

His thoughts turned dark. All myths had an element of truth. The Persian myth was likely based on an alien, which made his companion an alien spy. He had to confront her.

He played it casual at first, telling her more about the trip he'd intended. He couldn't keep his suspicion off his face for long though. "Peri?"

"Yes?"

Yes, Peri. She was a peri. He watched her face for tells. "How do you come by a name like that?"

Well, she was a good actress, he'd give her that. He couldn't spot any tells, but he knew. He knew. She had to be an alien spy, and so he took her by the neck. She struggled. He steered her against the console and down to the floor.

Only seeing himself in the mirror snapped him out of it. His blue eyes held a manic gleam, almost like one who was possessed.

What had he done? He couldn't even bear to look. Immediately, he released Peri and staggered toward the console for support, covering his eyes with one hand. Peri. Peri. Peri. Peri was no evil alien spy. She was his friend. An innocent young woman.

He knew it then – there was something dangerous about him. There was some darkness that threatened to destroy him and everyone he loved.

Later, he would pass it off as a side-effect of regeneration. To be fair, some of it was – the wandering thoughts – the forgotten coordinates – but attempting to strangle his friend? That wasn't the Doctor at all. But no one could have told him otherwise: his mental assailant had no witnesses.


Centuries into the Doctor's personal future – or centuries into the Doctor's personal past – Donna Noble set her phone on her nightstand and slipped off the queen mattress. As she often did, she took a seat by the bedroom window and stared out at the night sky as though it held life's answers. It felt as though someone she loved was gone forever. Why? The feeling was worse lately with Shaun off in America for university through the end of the spring term, putting what was left of the lottery money to good use.

She'd have gone with him, but she was worried about her mother, who'd been clingy ever since Gramps' death three years before. Donna visited often, but no matter how her mother insisted, she needed some space. Funny, how she used to predict that Donna would never leave the house.

If Donna felt this bad tomorrow, perhaps she'd take her mother up on that offer for a few nights.

Donna's wistful eyes lifted to the heavens, where the clouds covered anything there might have been for her to see. What was there anyway? Choirs of babies maybe? All waiting to have a proper family? Or maybe a boy dreaming of flying around in a magic blue box.

She paid no mind to the headache that came with that thought. She couldn't do much for it, really, not when she'd developed an allergy to aspirin over the years. So she ignored her head in favor of ongoing problems that were more recent.

Like the one she emailed Shaun about tonight on her phone. She didn't know if he'd be disappointed, but she certainly was: this past month, she'd experienced hot flashes. Menopause. She'd bet on it. Any hopes she had of having children just fell out the window. If her heart was torn in two, she knew what the pieces were: one was her dreams, and one was what she could still hope for – separated from each other. There was a hole there to begin with, one she sometimes imagined was her longing for a child. What else could it be? Sure, there were years of her life that she couldn't remember, but she certainly hadn't lost anyone – well, there was her dad, but he had his own hole.

She shook, tears bursting from her eyes. What had she lost? Her past? Her future? Both, for sure. Oh, how she wished for a child!

It was as she was sinking into her hands that something hot washed through her, but it wasn't her normal heat flash. No, this new thing was accompanied by her gut's burglar alarm.

There couldn't be a burglar. The door was locked, and her house was empty.

Hairs stood on the back of her neck anyway. Muscles tensed involuntarily like coiled springs. Donna looked over her shoulder.

There was a big black flying thing rushing her.

She could barely scream as she was scorched from head to belly. The critter poofed into smoke less than a second before impact...

Donna would later find herself lying cold on the cream-and-blue rug.


Yet another Doctor ran across Mars' surface. He had to get back to his TARDIS before the base blew and took him with it.

Small explosions went off behind him, but they weren't the base's final destruction. Still, one knocked him to the dirt, where he could still hear the crew's final moments over the com system. Adelaide…. Everyone….

He was just as oblivious as his younger self when a ghostly hand touched his back. Immediately, he was filled with rage. How could he just lie here and let those people die? Once upon a time, there were people who enforced the laws of time, but they were dead. He was the winner. The laws of time were his, and they would obey him!


Next time:

Donna argues with her doctors.

Review incentive:

The fifth reviewer gets to choose a favorite dark moment for Doctors 6, 7, 8, or 12 to be briefly revisited.

Disclaimer:

Doctor Who is property of the BBC.