"So what's weird in your world, Doctor?" Katie asked as they hurried along the hallways.

"First off would be why the TARDIS—"

"She's not a thing," Katie interrupted. "Try again."

The Doctor sighed. "We're really going to do this now?"

"Yes."

"Did TARDIS give any hint of what knocked her from the vortex?"

"Better," Katie said. "When I went through that automatic log she keeps, it seemed as though there was an explosion in the vortex itself, like two parallel time lines were being created in a particularly violent way."

"Is that even possible?" Jennifer asked. "I mean, you make it sound as though the vortex is a set thing, like history."

"History is always the present when you're there," the Doctor said. "And you can always change the present. But the vortex is something else. It takes an awful lot of power to even go through it, and to shake it is massive. What sort of split can you get from that?"

"Something that completely changes the universe, I guess," Katie said. "Something that's probably going to happen really soon, likely close to here."

"Maybe not," the Doctor said. "Time and space don't apply in the vortex. A century means about as much as a minute, and a light-year matches up pretty well with a mile."

"Explains why you have trouble flying," Katie said. Without waiting for the Doctor's comeback, she moved on to the next topic. "So, Weird Event Number Two: I land, mostly successfully, a little ways up North. I walk out of a smoking TARDIS and immediately—immediately after I do so, a guy starts yelling at me from up top a hill. He comes dashing down to where I am and asks me if I'm you. I decided not to be insulted, but then I start asking myself questions when he calls TARDIS by her real name."

"What?"

"Yah. Not 'Blue Box,' or 'Space-ship,' but TARDIS. Later I find out he's the resident know-it-all on the legends about the Doctor and his flying ship, but not a single legend ever calls TARDIS 'TARDIS.' So, he's either traveled with you or he knows a lot more than he's saying. To make it worse, he's a soldier in the Iuhin army, and they've been trying to call you for a while to get help."

"You're the Doctor?"

The Doctor glanced back at Jennifer. "Yes. I said that when we met."

"No but…you're the Doctor. We've got stories about you from all over the place! I didn't think you were real."

"Good. Keep it that way." He turned back to Katie. "Anything else?"

"Yah. Do you remember when we bumped into Ace, way back on Genora?"

The Doctor smiled. "Very well."

Katie smiled back, but her eyes were serious. "Do you remember the way I almost lost my lunch when I saw the mining robots? You know, the Krize ones that were pulling the explosive mineral from the dirt."

At the Doctor's nod, Katie continued. "Well, the soldier I met gives me the same feeling, and I think it's mutual."

They turned one last corner and came to a door. "Okay, from what I read on the layout, this one should take us to the generator." Katie frowned as she examined the door. There was no evidence of a handle. "Except that it seems to be bolted from the inside or only open able with a computer that does not seem to be here. That's inconvenient. It means we have to do it the old fashioned way." She glanced up at the Doctor. "How strong are you feeling?"

"Not particularly."

"Oh, you never feel strong, twig-man."

"Can't you melt it or something?"

"Have you checked a thermometer recently?" Katie asked incredulously. "It's not that warm down here. Besides, it would take way to long."

"Would this do any good?"

Katie and the Doctor looked to where Jennifer was standing. She held up a tool box. "I found it down the hall."

Katie looked up at the Doctor. "With respect Doctor, I'm trading you out."

"I was about to say the same to you."

Using the contents of the box, Katie and the Doctor forced the door, which had been magnetically sealed. As they started down the now revealed stairs, Katie spoke up. "Your turn Doctor. What odd events have been going on in your life?"

"Lathezia knew who I was, for starters."

"What?" Katie asked, surprised.

"Yep. Got me special treatment actually. I was placed on Level Three rather than on Level Five where all the other prisoners start out. And I got my coat back."

"But not the suit jacket."

"Nope."

"You'd think they'd give back that instead," Katie mused. "And why give you back your coat anyway? It's not exactly cold down here."

"I think Lathezia wanted me to have the CeaXhell," the Doctor said. "It was the only thing left in the coat."

"Why would he want you to call anyone?"

"I don't know. We'd have to ask."

The three explorers came to a second door. This one was easier to open, with a simple, unlocked knob. The door opened to reveal a large room, obviously mechanical, obviously running, but there was almost no noise. Directly in front of them was an oddly shaped device that looked like it was actually two machines sitting side by side. They were nearly identical, with small glass windows that let out blue light. The Doctor walked up to both of them, looking simultaneously amazed and impressed.

"Whatever these people are they are brilliant. This is beautiful. Just gorgeous." He pointed through the glass. Katie looked through on one of the machines and saw what seemed to be twin gyroscopes spinning at impossibly fast speeds.

"What are they?"

"One creates a time loop, well, starts the reaction that creates the loop. The other creates a temporal pocket that, in this case, slows time down to a crawl."

"Why would you need both?"

"Creating a loop the size of a planet wouldn't do you any good. The rest of the planet would end up stuck in the same loop and you wouldn't get anything done. You have to contain it somehow."

"Is that where the pocket comes in?" Jennifer asked, also looking through the glass.

"Indeed it is Native," a male voice suddenly said. The Doctor, Katie, and Jennifer looked up to see a man in uniform standing off to one side, holding a gun, though it wasn't pointed at them. "The temporal pocket keeps the time loop locked down here where it serves as maintenance for the prisoners."

"General Lathezia," the Doctor said, standing up straight, hands in his trouser pockets. "Fancy seeing you here."

"You are not surprised to see me Doctor," Lathezia said, the sentence a statement rather than a question.

"No, no I'm not," the Doctor said, tugging on an earlobe. "I am surprised you knew who I was though." Lathezia smiled as if he found something funny.

"Where I am from, we all know who you are. You could say that we are born knowing."

"Then you should know better than to leave me with a way to bring in reinforcements, and then to let me anywhere near any sort of temporal generator. And yet you did. Why?"

"Because I couldn't care less if you get out Doctor," Lathezia said with a shrug. "I really wouldn't care too much about the generator either. In truth, I wanted you to get out. What I don't want is you interfering in the war, because if you do you'll go straight to the Iuhins and they'll end up the victors. Of course, all we have to do is take the radioactive materials from them, but that might cause a disturbance."

Katie raised her hand. "Hate to barge in on the riddle session, but wouldn't taking anything from the moon's core upset this planet's tides?"

Lathezia looked at her with a strange mix of awe, curiosity, envy, and loathing. Mostly loathing. "This must be her. It aggravates me to have you so close yet to be unable to do anything about it."

"Sorry, have we met?"

"No, we haven't. At least not in this life and I'm sure we'll never meet again. Lucky for you it's against my blood to damage you, much as I'd like to. They have such plans for you." Lathezia straightened, changing the topic.

"Your observation about the tides is correct, and scientists have pointed it out, but once again I and others like me don't really care what happens to this planet."

"Then why are you doing this?" Jennifer asked. Lathezia barely glanced at her.

"This planet is only a battleground for something much bigger, Native. A fight that has been going on for millennia, and will continue on, at least until we win. But I will have my freedom much sooner than that. I must thank you Doctor," Lathezia continued, turning to him. "Your TARDIS key has already bought me my own life."

"What do you mean, your own life?" the Doctor asked.

"You're Jahra, aren't you?" Katie said quietly. "The Rahki said they'd stop wiping you clean and sending you out again once you bring the key back."

"Quite right," Lathezia said. "And they said you retained nothing from your days in the Lab. I guess even the Changers can be wrong sometimes."

The Doctor looked between Lathezia and Katie. "What is he talking about?"

"The Rahki use their clones over and over again, Doctor. But the Jahra aren't oblivious to the change. The emotions from their last life may leave, but they know who they were. They know what they're used for and they all want out."

"How do you know this? I thought you didn't have any knowledge of the Rahki."

"I was told by another Jahra. He was planning to take me back, but I managed to convince him otherwise."

"When was this?"

Katie paused for a moment. "American Revolution. There was a second operative there besides Jak by the name of Scraw. We got into a discussion when he was setting up the lamps. I convinced him to leave."

"Knowing your programing, I'd say you killed him," Lathezia said smugly. Katie turned her attention back to him.

"If you're Jahra, but don't really care how this space race turns out, then this is a fight between the Rahki and the Krize, which means the Krize are on the other side of this, meaning that they'll likely have someone coming through that door in a few moments, and I'll bet I know who it is." She swung her head towards the door.

"Care to join the party Julius?"


*Constuctive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*