Note: Well, as there were only two requests for me to continue this I'm afraid to announce this the end, or at least is the last chapter for the foreseeable future. Maybe when Who is back on our screens next year there will be a greater influx of interest and I'll continue – I may even find a way to bring in new companion Bill if the mood takes me. Anyway, I think it to start an undeterminable pause on some good ol' Classics. The forgotten Doctor, if you will…
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter Seven – Two Rebellious Classic Doctors.
Knowing his own TARDIS would be safe in the Court Ship, Seven felt no harm in leaving it behind as he coaxed Hex into joining him in his successor's welcome TARDIS ("Trust me Hex, she'll be fine.").
As he moved over the threshold and into the time machine, he raised an eyebrow at the vast size of the interior – the steps up immediately from the door, the console located just off-centre within the room from his judgement, a large area of reflection and reading and the Gallifreyian symbols adjourning the walls. "Oh, well dear me you've redecorated indeed!" he responded to Eight's welcome grandeur, "You know, I do in fact like it this time round."
Eight chuckled in response to Seven's comment, voicing his genuine shock, "I believe that's the first time a previous incarnation has given his seal of approval to a new design!" he laughed, opting not to tell Seven that he was in fact the one who had changed the interior before regenerating into himself... He would of course figure it out in his future – if we all have one that is, a voice from the darkest recesses of his mind whispered, much to his anger and disapproval as he chose to studiously ignore it and put his mind to the task at hand. Pulling the viewing screen towards himself, he noticed that he was receiving a communication.
Indicating for Seven to join him in watching as, together they saw the conversation unfold between a gruff and haggard looking old man, their future Ninth incarnation and the surprise appearance of the Sixth Doctor in his Technicolor Dreamcoat, much to both Doctor's shock.
"Woah!" Hex was still taking in the expansive console room from the threshold as he asked absently, "why can't we have this this instead, Doc? I mean, I don't mind the white console room… but –" but whatever concerned his young companion Seven never discovered as at that moment the young female companion of the Eighth Doctor moved over to him, Hex instantly distracted.
"It occurs to me that we haven't been formally introduced - I'm Charlotte Pollard, but everyone calls me Charley," she said, extending a hand to the much taller man, "and you don't need to stand there; you're very much welcome to explore the rest of the room should you wish" she smiled to him, blushing slightly.
"Hex" he responded almost automatically as he took her hand, smiling the most perfect gentlemanly smile, "well really it's Thomas Schofield, but I picked up the nickname 'Hex' in school and it's just… stuck since." He let his had fall back to his side momentarily as the shake concluded. Finally, he folded his arms and looked over to the two Doctors, "How did you end up with the Doctor anyway, if you don't mind me asking? For me it involved Cybermen at the place where I worked and me being over-curious. That, and I really fancied… well. Here I am now anyway."
"Cybermen? Oh dear! Well, mine is an interesting story to say the least..." Charley responded, moving with Hex now, away from the doors and to the seating area, leaving their Doctors be for now. "Have you ever heard of the Airship R101 that crashed over France in 1930?"
"R101?" Hex responded instantly to Charley's enquiry, "Yeah, I covered that in school, only a few lessons but man oh man, I never dreamed – even now – that the Doctor was involved with that, let alone I'd be talking to a survivor? Time travel: real trippy stuff" he couldn't help but grin at this, looking back over to the Doctors, who it seemed were getting on like a pair of rebellious teenagers.
"Yes, well" Charley hid her shock that such a devastating event could be covered so freely in a class lesson as she explained further, "I had grown bored and weary with my life, so I decided that I was going to run away and have exciting adventures; my first stop was the R101 - I snuck on board and pretended to be a male crew member, but was found out not long after take-off... That's when I met the Doctor," she sighed almost wistfully at that point. "A lot of strange things happened, and in the end, the Doctor took me off the airship before it crashed; he saved my life," she explained, choosing not to divulge the fact that she was supposed to die to someone who was still a virtual stranger.
At that moment the still and silent Eighth Doctor, whom had been watching a selection of his past and future with his prior incarnation spoke up, addressing the one whom had been dubbed 'Un-Doctor' to the group: "I asked for a warrior, and if a warrior is what I got then I do not care to know the finer details if it's all the same to you," he stated bluntly, punching a button and pushing the screen away from them when his predecessor was finished talking.
"Have you travelled with him for very long?" Charley suddenly spoke up at top-speed, keeping herself and Hex distracted from the sudden change of mood from the console area.
"What do you think?" Eight forced calm now as he asked Seven by the console, "do you believe he could be of use? This 'Un-Doctor' and our rather questionable future selves?"
"Well, I always say that two heads are better than one" Seven theorised, "and in this case eight Doctors are better than seven. Of course, ideally we could do with all our known forms, especially at the uniqueness of this situation, but we'll make do. It is fascinating though, don't you think, seeing into our future? Well, maybe not the immediate future, but to know, for instance, that we're granted a new set of regenerations! I wonder what horrors we did to be trusted with that?" It was a joke, but there was a slight tone to his voice which suggested a morbid curiosity of what was to come.
"Fascinating and terrifying perhaps," Eight sighed in response. "What could we possibly have done to warrant the Timelords bending all of their rules, putting aside their general disdain for us and granting us a second chance at it? We've saved the universe itself on countless occasions and never gotten so much as a 'thank you', or even an acknowledgement for our efforts, so it gives me pause to think that why the Timelords would do that... It's very worrying indeed, but something that we shouldn't dwell on with the task at hand, yes?" he concluded.
"Indeed" Seven replied, "Now, if you wouldn't mind?" he indicated the console, moving close to it even before Eight gave him permission – after all, why would he need to give himself permission? – and tapped in a few commands, the screen which had mostly presented the future now coming up with that of President Romana. "This is the Doctor calling Lady Fred – well, two of them anyway – can you send information to this TARDIS regarding our Original's current location? Thank you" Romana nodded, ignoring the reference to an old nickname as the information came through to the Eighth Doctor's console.
It seemed that their twisted former self was doing his best to keep himself hidden from the information Romana had provided; even so, tracking an earlier form of this very TARDIS, however cloaked and changed, was remarkably easy – that and the High Council was keeping a watchful eye on every incarnation, it seemed.
