Chapter II

The two doctors circled each other. Rose watched curiously from a few feet away.

"Two time traveling Doctors," said Rose to herself. "It's a bit unreal."

"So Doctor Brown. You built this time machine yourself I take it," continued the Doctor.

Brown didn't reply.

"I'm not sure who supplied you with the information to construct such a machine, but my race invented this technology. And as the last living Time Lord, that gives me the authority to decommission this project. So if you'll kindly step aside, 'Doctor,' so I can deactivate this flux dispersal unit and destroy this bloody abomination," the Doctor concluded, pounding on the hood of the car.

Brown eyed the Doctor carefully. "Nobody gave me instructions, 'Doctor.' I built this machine on my own."

"Oh, come now!" the Doctor laughed derisively. "A flux dispersal unit is beyond your imagination, no offense, Doctor Brown. It would take hundreds of years to develop it. To work out the equations. To construct a working model. That's the one thing Gallifreyans have. Time. Impossible for a human with a life span of less than 100 years to create unless the information was spoon-fed to you. Not even Albert Einstein could do it, because if he could have, he would have. And don't think he didn't try. And you may be a smart man, Doctor Brown, but you're no Albert Einstein either. So tell me how you got the information to construct this flux dispersal unit and build an honest-to-goodness time machine."

Brown glared at the Doctor. The Doctor eyed him back expectantly. Rose watched them both. She could feel the tension between them.

"I dreamed it," Doc finally spoke.

"Dreamed it?"

"I was hanging a clock in my bathroom. I slipped and hit my head and when I woke up, I had a vision of the Flux Capacitor."

"Flux Capacitor," repeated the Doctor with a snide grin. "Good name. Very logical. But visions just don't appear out of nowhere, especially visions that complicated. Equations just don't pop into someone's brain, Doctor Brown." He moved closer to him and whispered into his ear. "They have to be put there."

"What are you trying to insinuate?" asked Brown.

The Doctor began pacing, his hands clasped behind his back. "Someone wanted you to know how to build a time machine. Someone wanted you to construct it. To open the vortex. Tonight. At 10:04 PM the vortex to the heart of the space-time continuum can be opened. You can't use the time machine then. It will tear open a hole into the core of the time and space. It's too dangerous."

"I don't have any other choice," said Brown after a moment.

"Why? Why then?"

"You're a time traveler?"

"I am. Not only that, but an alien. I'm not here to try to cause trouble. I'm here to prevent it."

Brown massaged his temples, concerned. "Lightning will strike that clock tower at 10:04 tonight. My friend, he's trapped here. This isn't his time. I have to get him back to the future. And the time machine doesn't have any fuel. That bolt of lightning is the only power source we have that's capable of activating the time machine."

"Lightning?" The Doctor looked up to the sky. "There won't be a storm tonight. Not a rain cloud about."

"That's what the weatherman said," spoke Brown. "But you can't change the future."

"The future?"

Brown shuffled through the pockets of his coat. He found a sealed envelope, but replaced it without much thought. Then he pulled out a folded piece of blue paper and handed it to the Doctor.

The Doctor examined the note, then showed it to Rose. "What do you see?"

Rose looked over his shoulder at the paper. "Nothing. It's blank."

Brown's face twisted with shock.

"It's psychic paper," said the Doctor, handing the note back to Doc. "Someone's manipulating you, Doctor Brown. You're a pawn in someone's scheme."

"Who?" asked Rose.

"Whoever sent the vision of the 'Flux Capacitor' to Doctor Brown," said the Doctor. "And whoever it is wants that vortex to open tonight. Someone wants access to the very nucleus of the space-time continuum. Listen," he said, turning to Brown. "Whatever happens, you can't send that time machine through time tonight. We have a time machine. If you want your friend to get back to his time, we can take him there ourselves. But this machine must be destroyed."

Brown looked bewildered. "But we only have one chance. One chance to get him back."

"Yes. One chance. One chance to open that vortex and fracture the space-time continuum. It can't happen, mate. This time machine must be destroyed."

Brown worked his brain to process all the information he had gathered. He turned and placed his hands on the hood of the covered vehicle. "This will be my life's work. Thirty years of my future. My one great invention. The one thing I invent that actually works."

"You didn't invent it. Someone invented it for you. Don't let them exploit you any further. Doctor Brown, end this."

Thunder boomed above. Brown looked up. "The storm."

The Doctor lifted the face of his hand to the sky. "That's impossible. Someone is manipulating the weather. Creating a storm. This isn't natural at all."

"Who could do that?" asked Rose.

"I don't know," said the Doctor. "But we haven't much time. Doctor Brown?"

Brown looked to the Doctor, and then to Rose, and back to the Doctor, mulling his decision. "You can get my friend back to his own time?"

"Undoubtedly," replied the Doctor firmly.

"Then if what you say is true, I have no choice."

"Good man," said the Doctor, patting Doc on the back. He took out his sonic screwdriver. "I'm going to deactivate the flux dispersal unit."

Brown nodded soberly and the Doctor stepped towards the DeLorean time machine.

The car engine revved and the Doctor took a step back. The three looked to each other, confused. The headlights under the canvas flicked on and the engine revved again.

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Doc.

"The car started on its own," said Rose. "But that's impossible."

Suddenly the car accelerated backwards, the canvas surrounding it flipping off and wrapping itself around Brown's body. He threw it away from himself as the car peeled away down the street backwards. Brown stepped up to the Doctor.

"What is going on here?" he demanded.

"Something's controlling it," said the Doctor slowly. "Something that can control the weather, distribute psychic paper through time, send visions into people's heads, start and drive cars. Something that can manipulate time and space ..." He paused. "Something that's part of time and space! Something within the time-space continuum! Something that wants out."

"You mean it's trapped?" asked Rose.

"Why else go to all this trouble?" answered the Doctor. "All the power it has, but it can only manipulate what exists. It can't create something out of nothing, like a flux dispersal unit capable of ripping open a vortex at 10:04 PM. It had to send the message for someone else to create. It can't control human action, just manipulate it. If it was here and wanted to open up the vortex, it could build a time machine itself. But to go to all this trouble, it would mean it has no choice."

"What is it?" said Brown with annoyance. The Doctor had no answer.

"Doctor, it's nearly 10:00," said Rose, pointing to the clock tower.

A Packard came screeching to a stop at the edge of the street and a young teenager came out, wearing a jean jacket and red vest. He hurried toward the group. "Doc!"

"This your friend?" the Doctor asked Brown, motioning to the youth.

Brown nodded. The teenager looked at the Doctor and Rose questioningly. "Who the hell are you?"

"No time to explain," replied the Doctor. "We need to stop that time machine and destroy it."

"Destroy it?" said the teenager, incredulous. "Doc?"

"I think he's right, Marty," spoke Doc.

"But what about ... How will I get back?"

The bells on the clock tower chimed. The Doctor took Rose's hand. "Come on! We've got less than four minutes!"

"Doc, what the hell is going on?" Marty cried.

"No time for that now, just go!" Doc hurried Marty forward.

They ran up the street until they caught up with the car as it screeched to a halt.

"All right, freeze! This is the time police!" said the Doctor, aiming his sonic screwdriver at the car.

"Time police?" asked Rose. "We're not the time police."

"Well, it doesn't know that."

Marty and Doc came up behind them. "Jesus! Who's driving the DeLorean?"

"No one," answered Doc.

The car suddenly spun around so that its headlights splashed upon the group. The Doctor took a step forward and the car's engine revved warningly.

"Doctor!" exclaimed Rose.

"If I can get inside I can deactivate the Flux Capacitor," said the Doctor. He edged forward slowly. "Easy. Easy."

The car inched towards him. The Doctor paused, then burst forward towards the driver's side of the car. He reached for the handle but couldn't get the door opened as the car's wheels squealed and the DeLorean peeled out, just clipping him.

"Doctor!" Rose cried as the Doctor toppled to the ground. She went to him and kneeled down and put her arms around him. "You all right?"

"Still alive," said the Doctor, standing with her assistance. "No harm done." He looked ahead as the DeLorean accelerated down the street, his mind racing to figure out what to do. "We have to stop it. How does the time machine work exactly?" he asked, turning to Brown.

"The Flux Capacitor won't activate unless the speedometer reads eighty-eight miles per hour," answered the scientist. "Don't worry. The pole isn't hooked up, so the lightning can't be channeled into the Flux Capacitor."

Lightning flashed above. The Doctor shook his head with concern. "This is no natural storm. If you think that whatever's made it can't send a bolt of lightning directly into the flux dispersal unit, then you're mad. We've got to stop it, and we've got less than one minute. Come on!"

They hurried down the street.

"We'll never catch it!" cried Rose.

"This street's a dead end," returned Brown.

"And the storm is centralized overhead," added the Doctor. "It can't go far or it will be out of range of the lightning!"

They hurried down the street and found the car sitting there, near the end of the road, underneath the cable that was suspended, its tires spinning but the car braked to not go anywhere, smoke pouring out as the tires roared against he asphalt.

"Now's our chance!" called the Doctor. "It can't leave this area or it won't be able to get the lightning blast!"

The Doctor ran towards the car while Rose, Brown and Marty stood before it. The Doctor tried to open the car's door but found it locked. He went to the front of the car and opened the hood. "Where's the bloody engine?"

"It's in the back," said Brown. "I found that rather odd myself."

With a huff, the Doctor hurried to the back of the car and motioned his sonic screwdriver towards it. "How much time have we got, Rose?"

"It's 10:03," said Rose, looking up at the clock tower. Lightning flashed above.

"Come on, come on," the Doctor mumbled, trying to short out the car's engine. "Come on, cut the engine!"

The clock struck 10:04. A lightning bolt cracked from the sky and the four dove away just as the streak of light struck the dispersal unit mounted on the roof of the car. There was a great explosion of light and a whoosh of air. The Doctor, sprawled on the ground, moved his arm from his face and looked to where the car had been standing. All that remained were four lines of fire where the tires had been, and a tiny dot of light. His eyes went wide.

"Oh no," the Doctor mumbled as he rose to his feet.

Rose, Marty and Brown quickly hurried to his side.

"What's going on?" asked Brown.

"What is that?" asked Rose.

"It's a breach. A breach in space and time," said the Doctor. "It was opened for a brief moment, and now it's being held open. By something from within."

The light grew larger, as if a hole were being ripped open in the atmosphere.

"Great Scott," Doc mumbled, the light dazzling his eyes.

It shone against their skins, blindingly bright, making their figures glow. The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the vortex that had opened. "Who's there? Identify yourself!"

"Just a ghost of the past, Doctor," said a voice from within. "And you thought I had gone to hell. Not quite. But now I'm back. Back from the dead."

A figure emerged from the vortex. He wore all dark clothes, and was average size. He had thick dark hair and a distinctive goatee.

"It can't be," said the Doctor with a gasp. "You're dead."

"Not dead, Doctor. Trapped. Trapped in time and space. Trapped beyond the walls of reality. Silently observing. But now I've returned. Returned to conquer the world."

The man approached the Doctor and looked him dead in the eye.

"My good Doctor. The Master is back."