Chapter 4
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart was standing in the middle of his small home on the outskirts of the boy's school when Sarah burst in. "Brigadier!" she called, snapping him from the dazed position in which he was left standing.
He spun around and looked at Sarah, wondering what on Earth was going on around here. "Miss Smith?" He said.
"Brigadier, there's no time to explain. I have to know, have you seen the Doctor lately?"
"Of course I have," he said, "He was just here. The strangest thing. Once minute he appeared in front of me, babbled something about being one of his best friends and then poof, he was gone again."
"Oh no!" she cried as she sunk defeated onto the couch.
"Miss Smith, do you know what is going on around here?"
"I'm not entirely sure but I have to tell the Doctor what K-9 scanned when he was to see me before it's too late."
"Too late for what?"
"Before he really does die! He's traveling from companion to companion saying his last goodbyes because he thinks that he died! But if K-9 is right, he's not yet but if someone doesn't help him soon, he will be!"
"Miss Smith, I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about, but I think what you're saying is that we have to find more of the Doctor's companions, am I right?"
"Yes, but I don't know who else we can look for."
"Well there was Miss Jovanka."
"Of course!" Sarah called, "How could I forget? And the boy, Turlough!" she said.
"But last I saw either of them they were still with the Doctor, how are we to find them?"
"Brigadier, I have no idea, but I'm sure that you can cast a pretty wide net with your UNIT contacts."
"I'm sure I can," he said as he immediately jumped into action as he pulled his coat from the closet by the door. "Come one Miss Smith, we have a lot of research to do. I only hope that we can accomplish it before it's too late."
XXX
"Yes sir," Benton… now a Brigadier himself, replied on the other end. "We found a Miss Tegan Jorvanka in an abandoned building during a possible alien bomb problem not more than a month ago."
"Do you know her current location Benton?" the Brigadier asked.
"Yes, she had mentioned having known the Doctor so we took down her contact information and have been keeping tabs on her like we have all of his known associates."
"Good job Benton. We need to find her ASAP."
"Yes sir, I will go check the files and call you back as soon as I have an address."
"Good man."
XXX
Meanwhile, the Doctor was still continuing on with his goodbyes.
"Nyssa, I am so sorry about your father. It really is my fault that you lost him," The Doctor was saying to his young Traken friend.
"Doctor, it's not your fault. The only one to blame is the Master. He took first my father and then all of my people from me. None of it was your fault. In fact you did all you could to help them."
"But it wasn't enough and I am sorry. It was me that the Master was after; it has always been me. Through the layers of megalomania he has always hated me the most."
"Doctor, why are you here? Where's Tegan and Turlough?" Nyssa asked, trying to figure out why her friend had suddenly turned up and was acting so strangely.
"Safe, at least I hope so. As for why I'm here, I guess it's to let you know how much I relied on you; to tell you how invaluable you had become to me and how much I missed you when you chose to stay at Terminus. But I am also so very proud of how you found a place to belong after the loss of Traken and have made a difference in so many people's lives."
"Doctor, you're not making much sense."
"Thank you, Nyssa," he said as he once again began to fade away.
"Doctor!" was the last thing he heard from her.
XXX
"So she's moved back to Australia?" Sarah asked as the Brigadier got off of the phone with Benton again.
"Seems so. We are going to have to hurry if we are going to reach her in time if it's not already too late."
"Wouldn't it be better if we just called her, in case we don't reach her in time to explain things in person?"
"It would, if she had a number at which to reach her. It seems she has gone into the bush and is working with the aborigines now. There is no other way to reach her."
"Damn!" Sarah swore as they got into the Brig's jeep and tore off to the airport. They were going to be cutting this rather close.