CHAPTER NINE

DISAPPEARANCES

The Lubyanka
Moscow, Soviet Union
August 1987

"Curiouser and curiouser," the Doctor muttered as he moved from panel to panel, checking the readings on the control console.

"Something tells me this is more than a matter transmission experiment gone wrong," Turlough observed darkly.

The Doctor straightened, thrusting his hands into his pockets. "Top marks again," he said mildly. "There are some very strange energy readings emanating from locations other than where that prototype transmat is."

Turlough scowled. "You think they've got more than one?"

"No. That's the odd thing. The energy readings aren't strong enough to be from the transmat."

"What?"

"Yes. We'll need to get the scanners set up. See if we can trace the source."

Turlough nodded. These seemed logical, and unlike most of the things the Doctor got himself involved in, it also seemed rather tame. As far as Turlough was concerned, the building they were working in was far more dangerous than tracking down the source of some lingering energy readings.

Later he realized that he should have known better. Nothing connected with the Doctor was ever as straightforward as it seemed. It was always dangerous. Always.

The Doctor spent several hours fiddling with several bits and pieces of technology before he was satisfied he had exactly what he needed. He had his companion assist in the calibrations, and then synchronized the scanners with the TARDIS console.

"Do we really need to go to all this trouble?" Turlough wanted to know.

"Always best to be thorough in the face of temporal leakage." The Time Lord looked up. "You wouldn't want to walk though a stray time eddy and age a few decades, now would you?"

Turlough's bright blue eyes widened considerably. "No, I would not!" he stated flatly. "That's not a possibility, is it?"

The Doctor gave his companion a sly grin. "Not really."

"Doctor, that's not in the least bit funny!"

The Doctor held out one of the scanners, pocketing the second. "Just keep your eyes open."

Turlough took the scanner and frowned down at it. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Nothing yet. We're going to take some readings from that prototype," the Doctor informed. He moved to the console and entered some information into the computer before turning to the exterior doors. "There. Now the TARDIS will monitor what's going on out there and record it. With luck, we'll be able to pick up a pattern."

Turlough nodded, glancing down at the little device in his hand before following the Doctor out the door.

ARGO Flight Deck
Hangar Bay 287
Moscow, Russia
November 2620

For the third time in a twenty-four hour period, Jason found himself contacting Gallifrey. As before, he was put in contact with Gilgavik. This time, however, he received the news he had been hoping for; his message had been delivered to the Doctor.

"Did you tell him I'm going to try to lock the time corridor at this end?" Jason wanted to know.

"Yes, your highness," Gilgavik replied. "I told him everything you asked me to."

Jason had his doubts on this one but did not remark on it. "Do you think you'll be in contact with him again?"

Gilgavik's eyes flickered, his only visible reaction. "I couldn't say at this time."

Jason sighed heavily.

"Is there another message?"

"Not so much a message as information," Jason replied. "I pulled two people out of the time corridor."

"Yes, you did mention that…"

"One of them is rather important, given where he entered the time corridor and the touchy political climate in 1987. The ramifications of his disappearance could affect the timeline."

Gilgavik's eyes widened. "How great would these ramifications be?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't had the chance to question him fully. He's still recovering from the trauma and some mishandling at this end." Jason pause before asking, "Is there any way I can contact the Doctor directly?"

Gilgavik frowned. "You are six hundred years in the future from his respective time zone, your highness."

"Gilgavik, I used to travel with the Doctor," the Prince informed coldly. "I know how a TARDIS operates. That time corridor should act as a real time interface."

"It will also interfere with your communications array, unless you have a temporal damper set up," the Time Lord said. "Do you?"

Jason heaved an exasperated sigh. "No." He knew perfectly well that if the Doctor called him, there would be no problems. But try telling that to the smug bastard on the screen. "Fine. Just tell the Doctor that Iron Klaus is alive and well and will be returning with me."

"Iron Klaus?"

"A code name. The Doctor will understand."

Gilgavik gave him a dubious look. "I'll make sure to pass this along, your highness."

"Thank you." Jason then cut the link. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. All he wanted to do was sleep for a few hours.

Sully had been listening the whole time and shook his head. "You need some sleep, if you don't mind my saying so."

"No, I don't mind your saying so. I just wish I could."

Sully gave him a disapproving look. "You've been awake more than twenty-four straight hours. There's no reason why you can't get some sleep while your guests are asleep in the sickbay."

Jason gave his pilot a steady look. "Are you volunteering to play babysitter while I take a nap?"

Sully grinned. "I don't think I'll get into too much trouble watching a couple of sleeping humans."

"It's not when they're asleep that you'll have the trouble."

Sully's smile widened. "That's when I'll come wake you."

Jason gave him a sideways glance. "Fine."

The Lubyanka
Moscow, Soviet Union
August 1987

The Doctor and his companion spent several hours taking readings in various locations. Turlough soon discovered what he felt was the real reason the Time Lord wanted to do this. Whenever they encountered someone, the Doctor would ask a general question or two. Then, within a few minutes, he was happily chatting away and gleaning a wealth of information.

One of the things they learned was that the lead scientist in the matter transmission experiments, Alexei Borodin, had gone missing. Considering all that Turlough had learned about the KGB and the Soviet Union during his time on Earth, this fact was not exactly shocking. However, as they continued to gather information, it seemed that Borodin had fled on his own.

Something else they learned, although the Doctor was uncertain how much faith to put into it, was that there had been several reports of spectral sightings. Ghosts in the Lubyanka? Turlough had joked that it was probably all the people who had disappeared within the walls of KGB Headquarters attempting to get out. Since the reports had come from what one man called, "the peasant class," the Doctor was torn between dismissing the stories and investigating further.

"Doctor," Turlough moaned, "you can't believe these people actually saw ghosts."

"They may have seen what they consider to be ghosts," the Time Lord replied. "I've seen similar phenomenon in the presence of a time fissure. Timelines overlap briefly, and someone in tune with it will see into the…well, the crack in time. To them, they'll be seeing a ghost, but it's just a glimpse into time."

Turlough considered this. "Alright, that seems to make sense. It would explain why people can describe the period clothing a supposed ghost is wearing."

"And why said supposed ghost is unaware of being observed. The observer is normally telepathic," the Doctor said as he led the way back to the TARDIS to correlate that day's data.

"If that's so, then there are an awful lot of telepathic peasants in this building."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Turlough, the Soviet Union led the world in paranormal research in the Twentieth century."

"Great. Any speculations on our paranormal research?" Turlough asked as they entered the console room.

"Too soon to tell."

Turlough looked over at the console and sighed. "The communication panel is blinking again," he said as he continued on to the inner door. "I hope you don't mind if I don't stick around. I'm going to get something to eat." With that, he vanished into the impossibly large interior of the TARDIS.

The Doctor nodded absently. He looked at the blinking light and frowned. "And they wonder why I don't answer all the time," he moaned as he acknowledged the transmission. The instant Gilgavik appeared on the screen, he snapped impatiently, "I have nothing to report! I've only just started."

Gilgavik's eyebrows went up. "Thank you, Doctor, but that isn't why I called."

"Oh. Sorry. It's been a long day."

"Apparently. I have another message for you from Prince Jason."

The Doctor blinked. Another message from Jason? What the devil was the Alterran doing at the other end of that time corridor? "Yes…?"

"I'm to tell you that Iron Klaus is alive and well, and will be returning with his highness as soon as the time corridor is locked into place."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open. "Say that again."

Gilgavik repeated the message. "From your reaction, I can only assume that this man is as important as Prince Jason believes."

"Actually, I'm shocked by the 'alive and well' part of the message."

"Well, his highness did mention that this…Iron Klaus was recovering in his sickbay. He also indicated that his disappearance from your time zone could have serious ramifications on that timeline."

The Doctor nodded. "If he weren't still 'alive and well' that would indeed be true."

"Then it's fortuitous that Prince Jason retrieved him from the time corridor."

"Yes. Jason does have quite the knack for performing miracles," the Doctor observed knowingly. "If he contacts you again, tell him I'll do what I can to stabilize the prototype at this end. It's rather primitive, but I'm sure the lock will hold when it's established at his end, too."

Gilgavik nodded. "I'll pass that along." So saying the transmission ended.

ARGO Sickbay
Hangar Bay 287
Moscow, Russia
November 2620

The door to the room occupied by the sleeping Earl and Major opened noiselessly and the Prince stood at the threshold a moment. "I can't image you just sitting around watching them sleep for several hours," he said over his shoulder.

Sully gave a low chuckle. "I'm going to work on the new ship's design."

Jason gave a small sigh. His pilot had been nagging him for nearly ten years to get a new shuttle and had taken it upon himself to design the replacement. Every time they encountered the slightest problem, out came the design for the new ARGO. "I doubt you'll be able to figure time travel capabilities into your new design," he chided quietly.

"No. But I can add a temporal damper to the list of options," he replied, adding, "And I'm going to have the sickbay right off the flight deck. Enough of this traipsing back and forth."

Jason shook his head. "You're impossible," he hissed quietly as he entered the room. He hung up Dorian's jacket, now completely clean and spotless. Then he crossed to the Major, his eyes sweeping over the monitors. Still a few more hours, he thought as he took in the readings. He glanced down at the apparently peacefully sleeping figure before turning back to his pilot.

"Looks like you won't have—"

Jason got no further. To his astonishment, the Major suddenly sat up and had one arm locked around his throat, his other hand pressed up against the side of his head.

"Don't move or I'll break your neck," the Major growled in the Prince's ear.

Jason wisely froze and held his hands out to his sides. "I'm unarmed, Major," he said calmly.

The stunned Sully took a step forward. Jason held up a hand and commanded, "Don't!" stopping him in his tracks. "He means it."

"You're smarter than you look," the Major said approvingly.

"Thank you."

"What is this place? How did I get here? Who are you?"

"Well," Jason began slowly, "this is my sickbay. I brought you here to be safe. And I'm your doctor. So I don't suggest you go snapping my neck any time soon."

The Major responded with a low growl. His eyes flashed around the unfamiliar room, falling on the still peacefully sleeping Eroica. "What's that bloody bugger doing here?"

"Recovering, same as you," Jason replied.

"Recovering?"

"Yes."

The watching Sully saw Jason's eyes glow for a second and knew he had just done something to protect himself. He also knew that the Major would be completely unaware of it.

What happened next was a blur. Jason reached up, took hold of the arm at his throat, and pulled it away, spinning around to face the officer at the same time. His other hand flashed up to the Major's neck. The officer's eyes grew wide for a split second before they rolled back into his head, a small sigh escaping him. He went limp, falling back into Jason's waiting arms.

"I am sorry, Major," Jason said mildly as he carefully laid the man back onto the bed. "But you obviously still have more recovering to do."

Sully suddenly realized that he was standing with his mouth hanging open. He got hold of himself and crossed to the Prince's side. "I can't believe you actually did that."

Jason looked up and grinned. "Gets 'em every time."

"He could've killed you!"

"Yes, I am aware of that, Sully."

Sully looked at the Major and shook his head. "I thought you said these two were friends of yours."

"Ah. To be honest, I'm not sure the Major has any friends."

"I'm not surprised."

Jason actually laughed. "He's an intelligence officer from the Twentieth century. A time of spies, counterspies, and all that. Paranoia seems to be part of the job description."

"Oh, terrific," Sully moaned.

"You're the one who volunteered to baby-sit while I took a nap."

"And you didn't think the fact that one of your so-called friends is a paranoid schizophrenic with homicidal tendencies was important enough to tell me?"

Jason laughed again as he turned to the monitors beside the Major's bed. "He likes to say he's a professional. Although professional what, I shudder to think."

"Any other comforting thoughts?" Sully looked at the sterile field surrounding the Major's bed and jerked a thumb in its direction. "Can you set that thing to keep him in instead of keeping others out?"

Jason chuckled but did not reply. He made a few entries into the computer before finally turning back to his pilot. "There. Now you're safe from a repeat performance."

Sully's eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"Just my usually magic."

"Ha! I know how your magic works. It's all smoke and mirrors. You tell people all about themselves, but never bother to mention that you can scan their bio-reading just by touching them. Or that you have total recall."

Jason grinned. "A good magician never gives away his secrets."

Sully merely snorted in reply.

"This particular trick will have the computer keep him under until his brain activity normalizes."

"Was it ever normal to begin with?"

"Funny. He probably won't even remember what just happened. He's on automatic pilot, so to speak."

"And what about him?" Sully asked, nodding in the Eroica's direction.

Jason gave the Earl an affectionate look. "Dorian's harmless. He'll steal your back teeth if he takes a fancy to them, and make it sound as if he's doing you a favor."

"Great."

Jason gave Sully a sideways look. "And don't be surprised if he tries to proposition you when he wakes up."

"This just gets better and better."

Jason giggled as he crossed to the sleeping Earl, activating the monitor at his bedside. "He's still harmless."

Eroica stirred and moaned, partially opening his eyes. "What's all the commotion?" he asked groggily.

"Oh, just the Major issuing death threats in his sleep," Jason replied quietly. "Go back to sleep."

Eroica smiled. "How very like him," he sighed happily and curled up in his blanket. He was back to sleep within seconds.

Jason turned to see his pilot watching him with an odd look in his eyes. "Now what?" he asked as he made for the door.

"You have very odd friends."

"I hope you're including yourself in that observation."

"Naturally," Sully grinned. "Now go get some sleep, yourself."

"Nag, nag, nag."