Here's the next chapter of Alliances, I hope you enjoy!


Chapter Two: The Rift

The blue police box stood in the centre of the Promenade, attracting many people's attention. When Sisko, Odo and Dax arrived there, Kira was having an argument with Quark.

"What is this box doing in the Promenade?!" Kira said firmly.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Quark said. "It just appeared out of thin air!"

Kira was about to respond when Sisko approached her. "Major Kira."

"Yes, sir?"

"Quark didn't put the box there."

"What do you mean? Who would decide to beam some box into the Promenade?"

"It wasn't beamed into the Promenade. It… we don't know, exactly. The object came through the wormhole, we tried to beam it aboard and… it did it itself."

"It beamed itself aboard?"

Meanwhile Dax had been scanning the box with her tricorder. "Commander," she said, "I'm reading two life forms inside the box. One is an unidentified humanoid species; the other seems to be… integrated into the object."

Sisko walked over to the doors and attempted to open it. Locked. So he tried something else – knocking. Almost immediately the door swung open and the head of a young man popped out.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully and stepped out of the box. He looked in his late twenties and had dark hair. He was wearing ancient Earth clothes that consisted of a shirt and a maroon bow tie with a tweed jacket over the top. He wore black lace-up boots and his trousers were suspended by burgundy braces.

"Sorry, did I disturb you?" he asked as he peered at the DS9 crew, who stared back at him in disbelief.

"We noticed your… box come through the wormhole," Sisko said, ignoring the newcomer's question. "You came through during strange bursts of energy. Do you have anything to do with it?" Just as he finished speaking, another flash occurred from inside the wormhole, shaking the station violently.

"I think we have a problem," the man said worriedly, and he rushed back inside the box.

"Oh, no you don't," Odo said, opening the door to pull the man back out. But to his surprise, it wasn't as claustrophobic inside as he'd thought. Standing before him was a massive room, exceeding the dimensions of the exterior. Some stairs led up to a raised glass platform, and in the centre was a large console with a transparent column that extended up to the ceiling. The box was bigger on the inside.

Sisko had followed them in and was amazed at the sight. "How is this possible?" he asked.

"Dimensional transcendentalism," the man explained, "the Time Lords had coined it since the beginning of time."

"Time Lords?" Odo asked.

"My race. I'm a Time Lord. The last of my kind." The stranger had a look of sorrow on his face for a few seconds, and then he whizzed around the console like he'd completely forgotten, flicking switches and pressing buttons. "The TARDIS and I came through a cross-dimensional spacial rift located within the wormhole," he explained. "Basically holes between dimensions that occur every five Earth years. Imagine peeling the skin of a banana. Actually, don't, cos it's not like peeling skin. Or like a banana."

"TARDIS?" Sisko asked, confused.

The stranger sighed, obviously frustrated. "It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space," he explained, "it's my time machine."

"So it can go anywhere in time and space?" Odo asked.

The man was still frantically pushing buttons and flicking switches. "Of course it can," he said, "how is it that you humans want to know what's going on, but when you're actually told you want to know about something else instead?"

"O'Brien to Sisko," came the voice of the chief engineer through Sisko's combadge.

Sisko slapped the badge. "Go ahead."

"The energy bursts are going out of control! If we don't stop it, the wormhole will implode!"

"Don't worry, I've got it under control!" the man shouted out to Sisko's badge. He had his arms spread out over the console, desperately holding down buttons while sparks flew. "Hey, can someone come over here and hold down these switches?"

Sisko and Odo walked over to the console. "What are you doing?" Sisko asked before holding down a switch.

"I'm sealing the rift. You see, most of these rifts usually seal themselves after a few minutes, but a select few are too big to naturally close, so…" The man paused as another burst shook the TARDIS and caused more sparks to fly. "…so when the Time Lords were around, they would seal them before they were too strong. But now I'm the only one left, I have to take responsibilities. I arrived too late for this one, though, so I lost my orbit and went through the rift. Luckily…" Another burst shook the TARDIS very badly - this time the burst was so strong the wormhole nearly imploded. "Luckily, all I need to do now is…" He flicked a switch. "Ta-da! Problem solved!"

"O'Brien to Sisko."

Sisko tapped his badge again. "Go ahead."

"The energy bursts have stopped! In fact, there aren't any traces of the energy at all!"

Sisko looked at the man. "You did it."

"Yes, I did."

"I never really asked… who are you?"

The man simply replied "I'm the Doctor."


Station Log

Stardate 47069.7

The mysterious life form who calls himself "The Doctor" has somehow managed to close the rift located inside the wormhole. Unfortunately for him, he is now sealed off from his own universe.

Sisko was seated in his office fiddling with his baseball when his doorbell rang. "Come in," he said; it was the Doctor who entered.

"Ah, Doctor. Please, sit down." The Doctor took a seat opposite Sisko and rested his feet on the desk, crossing them over. "I'd rather you didn't put your feet on my desk," Sisko said.

"Oh, sorry," the Doctor said, taking his feet off the desk.

"I hope our accommodation is satisfactory…"

"Oh, it's absolutely fine. Windows have a great view, and the replicators are in top condition. You know, I should have a replicator installed into the TARDIS. Good for replicating some more bow ties, just 'cos bow ties are cool. I should try out new colours, should I try out new colours? Just not pink. Especially hot pink. Bow ties and hot pink definitely don't mix. Hot pink removes the coolness from bow ties. Imagine me with a hot pink bow tie! Pfft. Where was I? Oh yes, the replicators…"

"I'll… have an installation arranged."

"Thanks."

Sisko changed the subject to what was intended. "Now… you never fully explained the rift…"

"Surely I explained it enough…"

"Not nearly. The energy emitting from both the rift and your machine was unknown to our scanners. What is it?"

"Artron energy – it's energy that has a connection between life force and time travel. The TARDIS uses it as an energy source. The cross-dimensional special rift also is a source of artron energy, as it's basically a rupture in the Space-Time Vortex, which in turn is also an artron energy source."

"I understand. Now, after sealing the rift, is there any way back to your own universe?"

"Not unless there is another rift into this universe, which is highly unlikely, since there are trillions upon trillions of other universes. Of course, there are other ways besides the rifts, but they could ultimately bring the destruction of reality, so it's not entirely recommended. So I'm stuck here."

"I'm sorry for your inconvenience. Feel free to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you, Commander. Your help is appreciated." With that, the Doctor stood up and left the room.

Sisko leant back in his chair. As much as he'd earned the Doctor's trust after the rift incident, he was still a bit weary of this newcomer. He knew he had to keep an eye on him.


It is called a doorbell, isn't it?

The next chapter will be up in at least a week.