A Change in Time

by Mjt1990

In an alternative dimension, the 2nd Doctor escapes a forced regeneration and exile on earth that was to be imposed on him by the Time Lords; only to spend the next few centuries running and hiding from the wrath of his own people. This is a short tale of how his tenure would end, and his regeneration into an alternate 3rd Doctor of my own design.

The gentle hum of a thousand whirling galaxies streaming through a vortex in time and space sizzled and fizzed as the TARDIS swam through a hundred realities as sleek and true as a pleasure boat drifting along a peacful river. Passing pleasant meadows filled with blossoming flowers, or sailing along a bustling canal, banked by the pendulous branches of willows as fellow sailors waved their greetings as they pass, commenting happily on a bright spring afternoon...ahhh those were the days. He always missed being in late 19th century England. Each time he had visited as either of his previous incarnations, he'd fallen in love with the place. The romanticism that filled the air, the literature, the culture - everything that the doctor loved most about humanity compressed into one little speck in time. The Doctor longed to go back, to enjoy the hustle and bustle, the smells, to mingle in the streets of Victorian London and to see a civilisation that took a bold peek over the edge of discovery and leaped headfirst into a golden age of science, education and exploration. It was a time he could always relate to. Alas, it would be a long time until he could go back. Earth was too dangerous for him to return to...at any time. The Time Lords would be keeping an eye out, watching over earth like hawks, waiting to swoop down as soon as the TARDIS materialised and drag him back home to face trial. His sentence wouldn't quite be so lenient this time. Or so they would revile in telling me, I'm sure. The Doctor mused, both amused and annoyed at the unyielding arrogance of his kind. Not that I haven't been guilty of 'those' crimes from time to time. He let a wry smile form briefly on his weathered face for a few moments, until he sunk back into broodiness, gazing over the TARDIS console, flicking the occasion switch just for the sake of it. The celestial symphony of a thousand suns going supernova, bursting into a crescendo of blinding light and cataclysmic shock waves, overlapping with the rousing chorus of sun formation, new worlds being born, and whole new galaxies coming in to existence as the old ones faded and died. The universal orchestra played out its wondrous song as it always had done since the dawn of time, humming it's perennial tune as the TARDIS spun majestically through every moment that every was, is and could be. Where to next? He pondered tiredly. And when? The Doctor had tried to keep his destinations as random and sporadically as possible; never staying within in one galaxy or time zone for more than necessary, keeping his trail as short and hazy as he could manage, but even that hadn't been enough to keep the wool over the eyes of the a Time Lords for very long...

He had felt giddy as soon as he stepped foot on Yjiory. Something in the air gave the Doctor reason enough to be cautious on this bustling little planet; teaming with activity and life, it was host to one of the most far reaching and vastest human colonies within the Dorporux system. The TARDIS had intercepted a weak distress signal coming from the planet's surface, pleading for help against oppression and genocide that fraught the planet; yet the exact details on what was actually going on down there were vague and hard to decipher through a strong unknown source of interference that wrecked havoc with the signal. Just the kind of thing to entice the Doctor down to investigate. I never learn he smiled. The TARDIS materialised down a dank little ally next to an Yjiorian market place, which the Doctor was unsurprised to discover was bustling with trade. As he walked between the vast rows of stalls, all laden with exotic fruits, strange items of clothing, and odd trinkets of disputable value, the Doctor became aware that pedlars and shoppers alike were acting far too ordinary than he believed to be natural. On the surface that would seem like a good thing - men, woman and children carrying on with their daily routines as they would on any other day of the year, except...in his experience, a city's market square was as good as place as any to indicate the general well-being of a population, and to him, nothing appeared wrong. And that's what made him believe that something was wrong - and not just with Yjiory. Five thefts, aggressive haggling, very little in the way of policing on show, merchants using almost militant chumminess towards customers browsing their wears...far too much like an average market in your average town to me. If there is oppression, then someone has forgotten to tell the people. The Doctor strolled up casually to the nearest stall and pretended to be browsing over the strange array of fruit and vegetables, looking for some inspiration. He studied a few fluorescent orange marrow-shaped vegetables, sniffed a punnet of odd-looking black strawberries, and then took a bite of a rather ordinary looking banana. It was then he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"It tastes like fish!" The Doctor exclaimed as he spun round. "It tastes just like custard and fish! Who'd want to eat a thing like that?"

"Excuse me?" Said a young Yjiorian woman. "I hope you're going to pay for that." Her suspicious gaze fell over the Doctor as if a duvet stuffed with barbed wire.

"Ahh yes, of course, of course." Beamed the Doctor, whilst frantically checking a dozen hidden pockets for money. "Here you are, don't worry about the change."

"Thank yo...wait, Sir, this is three times as much as I make in a day!" She said trying to force the money back into the old man's hands.

"No, no. I insist. Just one little thing. No need call me Sir, just, the Doctor will do quit adequately. Now tell me, if you would be so kind, have you seen anything oppressive going on lately? People being taking away for no reason? Disappearing over night? Unjustified persecutions? Anything tyrannical whatsoever...hmmm?" If her gaze seemed suspicious before, the Yjiorian looked utterly perplexed at the strange line of questioning being put to her by this odd looking man, with his shaggy black hair with wisps of grey, and a rather odd bow around his neck. Not only did he look out of place to her, but she could also feel something about him; sense some strange aura radiating from his very presence.

"Umm, no...no, not really. Things are as they always have been. Well, maybe a little quieter than normal, but I think it's just the time of the year - summer wasn't that great, and this autumn has been as bad as winter should be. But I've been through worse...we all have. I'm sorry, but you're obviously not from around here, why are you so interested in the social stability of Yjiory? It's pretty clear to see that everything's fine, just look around you. If I may say so, we don't usually expect to hear such talk from tourists." Said the stall keeper inquisitively.

"Ahhh, but I'm not your average tourist...err?" The Doctor asked, holding out his hand.

"Oh, Right...yes. I'm Ryivon. Ryivon Bryone." She replied, nervously taking the old man's hand, which he shook gently.

"Ryivon. A pleasure to meet you. A pleasure indeed. Now pray forgive me, but I have just a few more questions to ask, then I shall leave you be." Has anyone strange or shifty looking been through here recently?" Ryivon's eyes widened as she came up with an answer to his question. "And not me." The Doctor added, knowing just what she had in mind. Deflated, but still with a bit of a grin on her face, Ryivon tried to think this time.

"No one that I can think of, no. However, we get all sorts coming and going through here, sometimes it's so busy a bomb could go off and you'd most likely miss it.

Suddenly the Doctor heard a voracious explosion go off in the distance, and a wild electrical crackle shot up into the air, culminating in a mushroom cloud of pulsating blue light that began to ripple out towards the market. As the charge passed through his body, the Doctor felt a deep, booming wave engulf him in what felt like being dropped in a vat of treacle, yet he was standing right where he was when the explosion happened. The Doctor soon realised that the high-pitched screams and terror-filled wails that rang out around him in the market place had suddenly begun to sound like panic-stricken whales trying to sing the blues through a mouthful of peanut butter. The doctor had already begun to reach for the inside of his jacket pocket to grab his sonic screwdriver as the wave hit, but now he found that his hand moved incredibly slowly, and lifting them any further felt as hard as if they were dragging an anvil along with them. He slowly waved his other hand in front of his face for a moment, mystified by the ripples they made in the air around it as it moved. A Time Suppressing Pulse Charge? Time Lords! An agonising blaze of white illumination slowly filled the sky; the razor-sharp rays of light appeared to grow like gleaming icicles of glistening crystal as they flowed into the suppressed time field.

"We know you are down there, Doctor." Came a booming a voice that shook the very foundations of the planet. "No harm will come to the innocents of Yjiory...however, you must give yourself up now and offer no resistance, or you will force our hand." The Doctor fumed at his own naivety. A trap, I should have known! Well, I kind of guessed...but still. Worse still, he wanted to vent his anger at his fellow Time Lords. What business have they using such weaponry on a neutral planet, they had no part in my presence here. Such behaviour is intolerable of Time Lords, it is far below the standard set of a race as civilised as us, and it shall not stand! Countless thoughts ebbed into his mind. To stay and fight or run and hide? To hand himself in or try and flee? No one decision was an easy one to choose, scarpering off was generally out of character, but he got the feeling that his staying here for any longer would only cause more harm. He knew what he must do, but he had to act fast - which inside a suppressed-time field, was going to be a difficult. He strained with every fibre of his being into reaching for his sonic screwdriver, putting all that he had into the effort of fighting against the slowed time. Each tiny millimetre his hand drew closer to his pocket seemed to drag on for an eternity; the exertion of just performing a simple task as moving his hand drained his energy drastically. Exhaustion racked his body as he pushed himself harder and harder against the flow of time, hoping against all hope that he could reach his screwdriver before the Time Lords found him. In what had felt like days of constant bearing the weight of intolerable pressure, the Doctor finally reached his screwdriver, and without wasting another splinter of time, activated the TARDIS's homing beacon. The world around the Doctor erupted in a tempestuous whirlwind of flashing blue lightening. Sand, litter, hats, awnings and indeed the stalls themselves were blown over by the sudden gust that revolved around the man who seemed to be perfectly safe within the eye of the storm. A wheezing, almost panic striking whine screeched out from within the hazy blue gale as the TARDIS began to materialise around the Doctor. Once fully within the relative safety of the TARDIS, the Doctor was freed from the physical constraints of suppressed time, thus he collapsed to the floor like a puppet that has had its strings mercilessly cut. So tired...all this running away takes it out of you. The Doctor wished he could just lay on the floor of the TARDIS in a sorry heap until all his troubles drifted away; yet he knew he must rally himself - he was far from safe, and worst of all his escape could still cause unnecessary suffering for the people of Yijory unless he gave the Time Lords the chase. Raising himself slowly and steady, the Doctor staggered doggedly towards the console. If it's me they want, they can come and play a little game of cat and mouse first...I just wish I wasn't always the mouse. The Doctor calibrated the TARDIS's planetary sensors, inputted a few wild coordinates, prepared the sauna and gym for emergency jettisoning and started the old girl up. After a light cough and splutter from the time rotor, and an encouraging kick from the Doctor, the TARDIS came to life with a steadfast hum. A few sparks and a couple haggard shakes as the old girl limbered up then entered the time vortex with all the speed they could muster. As weary as he was, the Doctor flung himself madly around the console, checking scanners and reading sensors to determine just how many pursuers, if any, he had to give the slip. Four? No, seve...ah eight TARDISes coming up from behind. My, my...they really are determined this time.

"Cor, my head. Wh...where am I?" Huffed a voice racked with pain and confusion from behind.

"Do you mind keeping quiet, can't you see I'm trying to concentrate!" The Doctor snapped back without thinking. He jumped around the other side, swung a few levers and flipped a switch that caused a minor explosion somewhere out back. "Well there goes the observatory. Never really used it anyway, was always a bit redundant in here. Hold the phone! What are you doing inside the TARDIS?" He exclaimed, bemused.

"I was hoping you could explain that to me!" Ryivon shouted back, sounding more angry than scared. "Last I remember I was talking to you, suddenly there was this big explosion and a whirling flash of blue light and a strong gust of wind that knocked me over...I must of banged my head on the way down. Now I'm here, wherever here is? What the hell is a TARDIS?" Ryivion attempted to put her hands on her hips attempting to get across just how mad she was, but a sudden jolt almost sent her flying again.

"Well you can have the short answer or the really short answer." Offered the Doctor. A few more sparks and a pulsing red light began to flash around the room.

"Well I'll take the short answer then." She decided, obviously not very impressed by the choices she was given.

"Very well. You are currently flying in a type 40 TARDIS - which, before you ask, stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It is an organically grown time machine from my home world Gallifrey. I am a Time Lord, and those charming people chasing us out there are also Time Lords." The Doctor swung round a monitor to Ryivon to show her an image of the time vortex. "They've been chasing me for the last few hundred years over a couple of slight disagreements. They set a trap for me in Yijory and let off a Time Suppressing Pulse Charge once I landed in an attempted to catch me. Thankfully, I was able to activate the homing beacon on the TARDIS to materialise around me so I could escape, which must be how you got inside as well. And now here we are...being chased through the time vortex." There was a brief spell of silence, save from the odd bang and feeble splutter from the TARDIS, as Ryivion stared blankly as the information she'd just received sank in.

"So...that's it, is it?" She asked with an air of comprehension.

"Yes, that's about the size of it at least.

"So, you're a criminal then?" She asked nervously.

"Only depending on your definition of the word, I assure you."

The TARDIS was suddenly pounded with a stream of savage fire from the perusing Time Lords, sending a wave of electrical sparks, flames and jets of steam shooting off in all directions around the control room.

"They're firing at us! How ruddy dare they!" Thundered the Doctor, whilst he flapped like a whirling dervish around the console. His eyes beamed with concentration as he tried every known trick in the book to keep the old girl going.

"Well fire back then!" Suggested Ryivion, as she once again struggled to stay on her feet.

"No." Snapped the Doctor. "We couldn't even if we wanted to - the TARDIS doesn't have weapons, and I'd doubt the old girl would fire them if she did. They have newer, faster and more powerful models than this old thing." He said, gently caressing the console. "We are outnumbered, out powered and out gunned; but there's one thing we're not." He said with a dogged look.

"What's that then?" Asked Ryivon.

"Out classed." Smiled the doctor as he fixed his bow tie.

Another large explosion rocked the TARDIS violently, bringing them both back down to the reality that faced them.

"The TARDIS's shields won't hold out much longer, not against such an onslaught as this." Pondered the Doctor. "They won't risk destroying me or the TARDIS; we're both too valuable to them alive."

"Can't we just hide, Doctor? There must be somewhere?"

"I'm afraid it's not that easy as just running and hiding, Ryivion, the Time Lords can easily follow me anywhere I go...unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless...unless we let them take the lead? Yes! That could work!" The Doctor bounded over to the other side of the control panel and began twisting away on a wide array of knobs and switches.

"What do you mean, Doctor?" Ryivion asked baffled.

"What I mean is if I can somehow get behind the other TARDISes I should be able to lose them within the vortex for just enough time to get away and land somewhere. It's almost brilliant really."

"Why only almost?"

"Well, it might not work." Confessed the Doctor with as much optimism as he could muster.

"You fill me with such confidence in your capabilities, Doctor. Now pray, how do you plan to get behind our pursuers?"

"By breaking." The Doctor replied with an unnerving air of nonchalance.

"By...breaking?"

"Yes...really hard." The Doctor gave her an encouraging look. If I bring the TARDIS to a dead stop within the time vortex, the Time Lords are following us so quickly that hopefully they won't notice and will just whizz on past. There is one snag though - the sudden stop with cause the TARDIS to stall, leaving us to free fall through space for a while, but the TARDIS should lock on to the nearest planet after a brief period of time and materialise there."

"Well that all sounds like it should run without a hitch." Ryivion muttered sarcastically. Ignoring her, the Doctor went on.

"Now either three things will happen. Number one. The plan will work brilliantly, everything will be all hunky dory and we will all be safe and home back in time for tea. Number two. The plan fails miserably and they catch us; you get taken home and I get put away for the rest of my lifes."

"And three? Hang on...life's?"

"And, well...three is theTARDIS can't handle the immense pressure I'm about to ask her to deal with, so she implodes in on herself. I was hoping to avoid bringing that part up."

"Is it too late for me just to go home?" Asked Ryivion hopefully.

"Strangely, I've been asking myself the same question for years. Now hold on to something!" With that, the Doctor pulled back a giant red lever in the centre of the console, causing the TARDIS to lurch forward with the strain of such almighty force, flinging the Doctor over and crashing his head on a monitor.

"Doctooooooooooooooooor! Screamed Ryivion as the TARDIS began to free fall through the bleak void of space at a speed far greater than anything had a right to be moving. Screens and monitors began to short-circuit, panels and pieces of strange scientific instruments that she'd never seen the likes of before began exploding in bright blue flames all around her. Sparks flared in dramatic arcs, jumping around the room in wild green streaks, all while the TARDIS shot like a cataclysmic meteorite caught in a spin of nauseating somersaults through the bleak depths of the cosmos. All the lights in the control room began to fade against the backdrop of bright orange sparks flailing from failing pieces of equipment. Light fading dimmer and dimmer towards darkness, life signs dwindling as the TARDIS descended deeper into assured oblivion. The Doctor was out cold on the floor. Alive or dead, Ryivion could not tell, nor did she care, for both their lives seemed certain to end this day either way. Then she felt it. A pulse. At first Ryivion wasn't sure if she was feeling the last few beats of her own heart before it finally succumbed to the overwhelming terror of her current ordeal, yet each pulse she felt grew stronger rather than weaker, gradually growing to pound against her very mind and soul as each beat began to pass right through her body. She should of been scared, terrified even, yet she felt that whatever was passing within her wasn't intending to harm, but comfort her. Suddenly the pulse gained a gentlehumming noise, and the centre of the console sprang to life in an explosion of dazzling lights; whirling in a storm of planets, stars and whole galaxies swirling like a dust cloud around the TARDIS. An entire universe, from beginning to end, danced in the air around her. Ryivion stood fixated on the splendour of the twinkling dust of the universe floating before her very eyes, gazing in awe at the majesty of the universe she could pass through her fingertips. The TARDIS began to convulse from the sheer energy it was expending, it's humming growing louder and louder as it fought to contain the whole of everything within itself; culminating in a burst of blinding white light that flared throughout all time and space as the glistening cloud of the universe engulfed the body of the Doctor. For a moment, the cosmic glow seemed to caress the Doctor's body soothingly, cradling him gently into his eternal sleep, yet as it entered him through his nose and mouth, the Doctor's eyes flickered open, and he suddenly gasped for all the breath his lungs could make room for. Slowly he got to his feet, his whole body radiating with a luminous glow as Ryivion looked on in terrified bafflement.

"D...D...Doctor, what's going on, are you ok?" Ryivion asked nervously as she cautiously made her way over to him.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Well, I will be sooOOOuuuuaaahhh!" He lurched forward as he screamed in agony, holding his head in his hands as if something within was trying to burst free. "Well, I suppose I had to go eventually." He smiled ruefully. Suddenly a blazing stream of light beamed out from the Doctors arms, legs and face, engulfing him as a sun-gone supernova consumes the celestial bodies near it. The Doctor shrieked as if his flesh melted from his bones, crying out in pure unadulterated pain, then fell silent as the light that shrouded him vanished. Ryivon gawked open-mouthed at the person who stood before her.

"Doctor? Who are you? Wait, what in the name...what? Where's the Doctor?" Everything was starting to become too confusing for Ryivion to deal with. A nauseous babbling racked her brain, flipping it sideways into a whirling spell of dizzying puzzlement. The person whom now filled the Doctors clothes stared back at her vacantly, his face glistening with slight bemusement at his own identity.

"I amthe Doctor." He said reassuringly, hoping to convince himself as much as Ryivion.

"Is this some kind of trick? You don't look anything like him! I'm armed you know, and I'm not afraid to use it to defend myself if you don't tell me what's going on. Where is the Doctor?"

"You're not armed, Ryivion, I had the TARDIS scan you for that after you appeared. Standard procedure, nothing personal, but the old girl gets a bit antsy when people start firing weapons onboard. Honestly, you humans are all the same." Ryivion looked down at her feet, abashed.

"What's that supposed to mean? Anyway, that's not important; you still haven't explained what you've done with the Doctor."

"Nothing. Behind this face, I am the same man - or woman, I haven't actually checked yet." To which he immediately began groping around his own body. "Ahh, male...again. Oh well." He smiled broadly, hiding a sense of disappointment. "Could be worse, at least those old aches and pains have gone. And look at this!" The Doctor excitedly began brushing his hands against his chin. "A beard! A real beard! All my old pals used to have one of these - Darwin, Socrates, Lincoln, two-thirds of ZZ-Top. I always thought they gave a distinctly dignifying look, I never really had the aptitude for it though."

"What on Old Earth are you talking about? Are you trying to tell me that you are the Doctor?"

"Bingo! Got there in the end. A bit slower than I would have expected, but you've had a nasty shock, so I'll let you off." encouraged the Doctor with a caring smile glistening on his face as he straitened his bow tie

"But how is that possible?"

"Old Time Lord trick - regeneration. If we die, our bodies can essentially rejuvenate themselves, bringing us back from the brink of death kicking and screaming. New face, new hair, new skin - totality new model with all the latest mods and cons. It's something we try to avoid doing, however. On the whole, death is an experience which is quite often painful."

"Well that regeneration-thing didn't look like much of a walk in the park either." Said Ryivion sarcastically.

"Hmm? What? Yes, no...it wasn't. My own fault really, I had not planned to die so close to the TARDIS using up so much power. She would normally have had enough residual energy to guide me through the process, but the old girl had to lick her own wounds before attending to me, or so it would seem." He said, patting the console gently.

"Ok, so if you really are the doctor, are we safe from the other Time Lords?"

"For now, yes. However, it won't be long before they track us. My change may help delay them for a while, but it won't conceal me for too long. Despite their sheer idiocy, the Time Lords aren't fools."

"Well can you at least take me home, Doctor?" Ryivion asked in a tone that suggested being on the brink of exhaustion.

"Sadly no, no I cannot. It's too dangerous to go anywhere near Yijory at this relative time. The Time Lords will be keeping an extensive eye on that place for a while now. One whiff of me or the TARDIS within a two galaxy radius of Yijory will set their alarm bells off sooner than you can say Raxacoricofallapatorius."

"Raxa-whatsa-gallop-ictorious? But I can stay here! I've only been onboard and hour and I've almost died twice!" She huffed in a wave of despair. "It's a madhouse and I can't deal with it." The Doctor gave Ryivion a sideways glance.

"But you've enjoyed though, haven't you?" He posed with a knowing smile behind his newly acquired beard.

"Enjoyed it? I've basically been kidnapped from my home planet, I've been in a little blue box that has the insides the size of a cave system, I've been chased by armed ships while inside aforementioned box - while it exploded and caught fire, may I just add. Oh yes, and I've seen a whole mini-universe floating around my very eyes get sucked up into the body of a dead man and bring him back to life! Enjoyed it? It's been absolutely astonishing! But that's why I need to get out of here, call it woman's intuition, but something tells me that my life expectancy would drop by half if I hung around here for too long."

"Well it's not always like that around here."

"No?"

"No, of course not...you'll at least have a day off a week to relax." Ryivion just fixed at him with an exasperated glair.

"Ok, look...I can't promise you anything, life on board the TARDIS can often be a perilous one - nobody will try to debate that, but going back home now would be twice as deadly. If the Times Lords come to believe that the people of Yijory are harbouring a convicted felon, who knows what they'll do." The Doctor met Ryivion's eyes. "We need to run and run quickly. When it's possible I will return you home, I promise, but until then, you have to stay here." Ryivion gazed distraught at the Doctor for a while as the scale of her situation sank in. A lone tear ran down her cheek, yet as she wiped it away, she gave the Doctor her consent.

"Excellent!" He beamed. "Well then, make yourself at home! It has been a while since I've had guests, being on the run and all keeps me busy, so please excuse the mess. There's a bedroom down the hall on the right that you can have, go and get yourself some shut eye."

"What about you, what are you going to do?"

"Oh not much, just give the TARDIS a bit of TLC to get her going again. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Off you go. Go rest your head." Hesitantly Ryivion lumbered off to find a bed and some much-needed rest, all the while the Doctor waved her off with a daft grin on his face, until she had left the room, then his face fell into a crushing wrath of furious anger as he turned his attention towards the TARDIS console.

"Begin recording message.

Change becomes us all...eventually. Whether we like to accept it or not. Sometimes it is a natural progression; a gradual altering of what defines us, what makes us laugh, what makes us cry, smile and despair. We like to believe we grow wiser as time passes us by, as if everything we will do shall always be better than what we have already done. Truth is, we don't really learn who we are as we get older, only at the end of our journey do we discover what makes us who we are. And as we face the many trials and adversities that life forces us to confront, each experience moulds us in to the person we are when our lives ironically come to an end. I've always found that one of life's great travesties - most sentience species spend forty, fifty, maybe hundreds of years trying to find out who they really are, what they really want to do with their time alive; seeking the answers of what life should be, only to die once they think you've got it all figured out. For me though, I have spent centuries discovering who I am, and I have lived and died and faced my journeys end once before. Stood before you - my own people - in chains and faced persecution for the crimes of standing up for what I believe in, for fighting against the darkness that wallows in the shadows of the universe, fighting for the greater good. Theft. There was some charge of theft as well, but I can look past that if you can. You tried to change me. You wanted to change who I was, to wipe away my past and to cast me aside to a life you thought humiliating. You never knew who I really was. So I escaped, along with the old girl too, of course. I spent the next three-hundred years on the run from the High Council of the Time Lords, running from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy like some cosmic hobo in an effort to be my own man. Same as it always was, I suppose. Eventually my body grew weary of the chase, and after that close call on Yjiory, my second life ended at the controls of my TARDIS. 957 years old isn't bad innings for a second life, if I do say so myself. So here I am now - or then, depending when this is found - A Gallifreyan outlaw with no home, nowhere to hide, and time only on my side when the TARDIS behaves herself. Oddly, the funniest thing about all this is that despite my gargantuan effort of running away from the changes that you, my accusers tried to impose on me, in a strange self-fulfilling prophecy, I am a different man than the one I was when I last stood shackled before the motley court of short-sighted fools back on Gallifrey. All except for that one part of me. That one tiny, yet significant part of me that still makes me who I am. My heart. I may have two of them, but each one of them is far more open to the splendours of the universe than any other Time Lord who stands ideal on the High Council as around them, worlds - past, present and future - plead for our help during times of the vile sickness that is war. So come on then, come and get me...no need to look too hard, for I shall be where I am needed most. Because I am the Doctor!"

Open message to the High Council of Gallifrey. Sent on all open intergalactic frequencies.