Earth, March 3, 2006, 9:32
"Wait, wait, wait.. you are not going to go waltzing off with some unknown time traveler and leave us on this desolate rock!" Ruath exclaimed. "I mean, you've made some monumentally stupid decisions in the past-"
"-crashing your skimmer into the Panopticon, introducing cats into the Gallifreyan ecosystem, skipping Transdimensional Locus Attraction Dynamics and attending Theory and Practice of Yo-Yos and Juggling for Beginners instead, failing Practical Theology, Temporal Theory, and Discontinuity Physics, being best friends with Koschei, hijacking TARDISes, becoming obsessed with this stupid planet-"
"-thank you, Drax. As I was saying, this is a pretty stupid decision even by your standards, and that's saying something."
"-oh, and electrifying Borusa's perigosto stick-"
"I did that with Ruath!"
"Oh please, don't bring me into this-"
Rose watched their argument practically in tears. These three young people full of life and joy would be destroyed, their planet turned to lifeless rocks and dust. And she was the only one who knew.
"Rose, are you okay?" It was Theta. His bright eyes were wide with concern.
She sniffed. "Yeah. I mean, it's all right if you don't want to fix my ship, it's okay..."
"I am going to fix your ship, Rose Tyler," Theta declared. His long hair chose this moment to flop into his eyes, rather ruining the gravitas of the statement. "Ruath and Drax can go and... shop, or something. Something 'domestic'."
Rose gave a little sob.
"What's wrong?" he asked her in genuine distress.
"You just... remind me of someone, that's all," she said, swallowing. "Someone I used to travel with. But now I'm stuck here..."
"Well don't worry," he said, "I'm going to fix your ship and then you'll go and find him, okay?" He peered anxiously at her from under his mop of hair.
"Yeah," she said.
"Why him?" Drax asked. "He's the one who failed Temporal Theory! He's the one who crash-landed here!"
"Oi, I meant to land here!" he replied. "Come on Rose, let's leave those barbarians behind."
"Okay," she said, and started walking back to her TARDIS. Theta waved good-bye to his friends, calling, "See you later!" over his shoulder. She felt glad it was him she was taking to the TARDIS. Of the three young Gallifreyans (was that the name of his planet? Gallifrey? Such a beautiful, musical name) she knew she liked him most, probably because he did remind her of the Doctor, with his obvious love of Earth and scorn of authority.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked her as they walked down the block. He was peering in shop windows and at people on the street like they were the most amazing things in the universe.
"Sure."
"Can you get boysenberry ripple ice cream on this planet?"
She stared at him in surprise. "Uh, yeah, I guess."
He punched the air. "Excellent! By Rassilon, I love this planet!"
"Me too," she said softly. Definitely like the Doctor.
When they came to the TARDIS Theta stared at the exterior. "I thought you said they didn't have police boxes anymore."
Rose swallowed nervously. The cat would be out of the bag soon enough. "Uh, yeah, I did..."
To her intense relief he did not enquire further, but waited patiently as she unlocked the time ship. As they stepped inside the TARDIS hummed in pleasure. "She likes you," Rose told her new friend, her throat constricting.
He glanced about. "I like the decorating!" he told her, grinning. The grin was eerily familiar, and she didn't smile back. He turned to the console. The grin faded, became a frown, became a still lack of expression.
"This is a TARDIS," he said neutrally. "It's been redecorated, but it's still a TARDIS. Type 40, if I'm not mistaken."
Rose looked at her shoes.
"Did you steal it?"
"No," she said forcefully.
"Then how did you come to be in possession of it? That is a clear violation of Time Lord Rule IB3."
"Well he was never one for rules, my traveling companion," she said, feeling as though she would break into tears any minute now. "You might call him a renegade from Time Lord society."
He went still. "A renegade," he said quietly.
"Please don't take the TARDIS away from me," she begged. "It's all I've got to remember him by."
"Why, what happened?" he asked.
She shook her head. "I don't think I should tell you," she said. "I think he's ahead of you, Gallifrey Time. Was ahead of you, I mean."
He reached out and stroked one of the coral pillars in a gesture so reminiscent of the Doctor Rose almost broke down sobbing. "They treating you right, girl?" he asked softly. The ship hummed gently in response.
"Well," he said, stepping away, "she's perfectly happy to stay here, for some reason. She really likes you, as well. Now, what was it you wanted me to fix?"
She gaped at him. "That's it?"
He grinned back. "Yep, that's it. Seriously. I mean, I'll probably be a renegade too, when I grow up. I'm well on my way to being disowned as it is."'
That was probably when the idea came into her head, but it was so insane she kept quiet.
"So, what did you want me to fix? She seems to to be fully functional. If a bit temperamental and sporadic. And I mean that in a good way," he reassured the walls.
Rose sighed. "I don't know how to fly this thing. If you could just, like, program it to go back to its last destination..." Hope rose in her, almost choking her. She could rescue her Doctor.
"Well, that's easy enough- even for someone who failed in Temporal Mechanics," Theta told her. He twisted dials and pushed the wheel. "Hmm, maybe not," he said, frowning.
"Why? What's wrong?" Rose asked.
"The owner of this ship has locked her into stasis mode. Coming here was a one-way trip." He examined the view screen. "You've got a recorded message here, did you know?" He reached out to switch it on.
"No no no no no, don't look at that," Rose said very fast, pushing him away from the console. Especially not if you're who I think you might possibly be, she added mentally.
"Uh, okay," he said, disentangling himself from her. "But this will take some effort to override. I'm not sure if I can do it."
"Just try, okay?" she said. "Please?"
"All right," he said, leaning over the console, "I'll try."
Earth, March 3, 2006, 9:33
A few streets away, Ruath was having problems.
"What, you don't even accept a Universal Credit Card? This place really is the dumps, isn't it?"
Drax was still sitting in the TARDIS (their TARDIS, not the one currently occupied by our heroine and her unusual new friend) and getting angrier and angrier. He was also quite tired, hungry, and thirsty, and this was making him quite irritable. Which is why, in a few minutes, he is going to do something so colossally stupid it will even outshine Theta Sigma's Great Anti-Gravity Graduation Scheme. And that's saying something.
Earth, March 3, 2006, 9:34
There will now be a bit of time-placing, or placing the scene in relation to other events we are already aware of. Because of the aforementioned singular nature of time travel, this may be quite confusing. For example, at the moment, TARDIS time, Rose's Doctor is stripping wires at the Gamestation and having an argument with the Emperor Dalek (never a good move). Earth time, another Doctor was, a few blocks away, showing Sarah Jane the wonders of 2006, including iPods and plasma TVs. Gallifrey time, Time Lord Academy students Koschei, Magnus, and Ushas are frantically searching for two wayward members of the Deca before they get in rather serious trouble for hijacking a TARDIS; and out in the vastness of space in linear time the great flagship of the Sycorax Armada was steadily approaching our favorite planet.
While all this is going on, Rose Tyler is lounging on the 'Captain's Chair' and watching Theta Sigma try to override a lock protocol on a time ship that, for the moment, appears to be hers. She is studying his movements, his manner of speech, his profile, and deciding that maybe... just maybe...
"Ah!" he cried, jumping in triumph. "Got it!"
"You unlocked the TARDIS?" Rose cried.
"No," he said, smile fading, "just figured out which subroutine he's using to lock it. I told you this would take a while."
"That's okay," she said. And it was. She welcomed more time to watch the young alien, more time to think over her theory. Could it possibly be?... No, it couldn't. Surely not. But perhaps...
"Say, has your renegade got a telepathic link with his TARDIS?" Theta asked. His black hair had come out of its ponytail and was falling haphazardly around his face, emphasizing his pale skin and large eyes.
"Y-yes, I think so," Rose managed.
"So it's his original TARDIS, then, " Theta mused. "And he's a real Time Lord."
"What- of course he's a real Time Lord! He's got two hearts, for Pete's sake!"
Theta shook his head. "Rose, you're confused. Only a certain special percent of Gallifreyans become Time Lords. You have to study for a couple of centuries at the Academy and all. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably never be a full Time Lord with my own TARDIS." He sighed. "This makes it so much harder. Because of the telepathic bond the ship is naturally inclined to obey his instructions and very reluctant to let me override them." He frowned. "Although it's a lot easier than it has any right ot be. This ship must really like me."
"Oh, she does," Rose murmured.
The Gamestation, March 3, 300,000, 9:35
"Come on, Doc," Jack muttered as he readied for another round of shooting against the Daleks. "Don't let me down."
Gallifrey, Official Time, 9:36
"Those idiots," Ushas muttered.
Koschei shook his head. "I'm not surprised. It's exactly the kind of thing Thete would do. I just wonder why he didn't ask me to come along."
Earth, March 3, 2006, 9:37
"Rassilon's Key!" Theta yelped. "Drax, you idiot!"
"What is it?" Rose asked, startled.
"Come on, we have to go!" the young wannabe Time Lord replied, jumping up.
"Wait," Rose said, taking a deep breath. She had to know. "Theta, when we first talked, you were interrupted by Ruath. What were you going to say? What do you like people to call you?"
Puzzlement showed on his face. "Oh, well, in your language it'd probably translate to 'the Doctor'."
Please R&R!