Chapter 6

The Tenth Doctor

"Doctor!" The female voice echoed through the TARDIS door as the Doctor rushed through, pulling it closed behind him. The cry came again, louder, angrier. "Doctor! I order you to return this moment!"

"Sorry Liz!" The Doctor shouted as he darted towards the console, throwing a lever joyfully. "Sorry I can't stick around, been fun though!" He paused, running his tongue inside his cheek, thinking. "Mostly, anyway!" As the sounds of the TARDIS engines filled the room, the Doctor could just about hear the shouts of Queen Elizabeth from outside.

"From this point onwards Doctor, you are a sworn enemy of myself and my kingdom!"

As the roar of the ancient engines grew louder, drowning out any noise from outside, the Doctor looked up at the time rotor, removing a golden ring from his left hand, and throwing it absent mindly among the mess of controls that made up the TARDIS console.

"Well," he said to himself, grinning, "that explains that then."

Rushing around the console, the Doctor felt alive once again, the feeling of the TARDIS grating vibrating under his feet as it flew through the Time Vortex to its next unknown location. This was the way he liked it, not knowing where he was going, not knowing what he was going to do. Probably wouldn't get married again though, not so soon. And not to a Queen anyway. That was the problem with royalty, always a bit pompous, just like the Time Lords. Always so obsessed with the power they held, power that eventually would corrupt. The Doctor knew this all to well. He was lucky, in a way, that his actions on Mars hadn't had a huge effect on the universe. The only thing he could see that had changed as the history of Adelaide Brooke. No longer a hero, a mystery surrounded her suicide. The reputation she once had was shattered. Not even shattered, that reputation now never existed thanks to him.

The tragedy of it all, the Doctor thought to himself, as he had done so many times, was that no one would ever know how much of a hero Adelaide really was. She had taken her own life because she knew she had to. At first the Doctor had assumed it was Time getting back at him, but it had dawned on him now, finally, that it was Adelaide's choice. She knew her time was up and had accepted it. If only he could do the same. That thought had run through his mind so many times recently, but he just wasn't ready. His time wasn't up just yet, he would make sure of it.

Suddenly the TARDIS shook violently, sending the Doctor reeling across the metal grating of the floor away from the console. A loud knock echoed through the room.

"What?" The Doctor exclaimed as he climbed to his feet, noting grazing on his right leg as he did so. He knew he should have fitted the TARDIS out with carpet. Again, a loud knocking sound boomed around him.

"He will knock four times."

The Doctor quickly forced the thought from his mind. As he did so, the Doctor noted that the cloister bell wasn't ringing, odd. The console was also strangely silent, the only sound being that of the third knock emanating from the walls of the ship. Then, all of a sudden he felt a familiar sensation around him.

"Oh."

On the fourth knock, the TARDIS doors creaked open as a flurry of golden particles swept in to the machine, shaping in to yet another humanoid form.

"Very clever." The Doctor mocked, calming himself.

"It's a rare occurrence that someone has an upper hand on you Doctor." The Architect said coldly, as his body fully crafted itself in to existence. "I could not resist but take advantage of it."

"Really?" The Doctor exclaimed, ignoring the remark but instantly taking in the glaring colours of the Architect's coat. It was a patch worked mess of bright shades and patterns, all arranged in the most hideous way possible. "It was never that bad was it?"

"My appearances are only based on the concepts of your past forms, Doctor." The Architect explained. "Unfortunately for me," he gestured to the long coat, "I have no say in the matter."

"Well, what can I say." The Doctor shrugged. "I was young." He paused. "Ish."

The Architect did not respond, instead just stared at the Doctor in silence.

"So," The Time Lord said finally, breaking the silence. "What mess of yours do I have to clear up this time?"

"I think you have done well enough creating messes of your own, don't you?" The Architect scolded. "Poor Adelaide."

The Doctor's face turned in to a snarl.
"Don't. Just don't."

"Do you see how it feels now Doctor?" The being asked. "To try your best, but always to have it thrown back at you."

"It's different." The Doctor started, secretly knowing that wasn't completely true. "I know I don't have that right. But you," he glared, "You just can't see why things can't be the way you want, can you?"

"It's not about what I want, Doctor." The Architect replied. "It's about what mankind needs."

"Really!" The Doctor shouted. "Even if that was the case, why bother going to all this trouble? If you're as powerful as you seem, surely you can just fix everything just like that?" He snapped his fingers. "Yet you go out of your way to make everything so elaborate. It's almost as if you enjoy it."

The Architect merely smiled.

"I wonder who I get that from."

The Doctor turned his back, his long coat flailing behind him as he ran a hand through his brown hair.

"So what is it this time? Distracting me whilst you fill Earth with Daleks?"

"No, Doctor." The being looked the Time Lord straight in the eye. "I'm here for your help."

"My help!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Oh, yeah, right sure. What do you want me to do, get the whole population of Earth on board and take them somewhere nice and fluffy where they can live happily ever after."

"Precisely." The Architect said calmly. "Although I wouldn't have put it quite like that."

The Doctor screwed his face up, puzzled.

"I know you can move the Earth using your TARDIS Doctor." The Architect explained. "Therefore you are going to help me shift the planet through time and space, to somewhere they will be safe from the dangers of their universe."

"Yeah, right." The Doctor mocked. "Let me go and get the tow rope." He turned, faking a walk away before turning back. On second thoughts," he mocked, "nah. I'm not going to help you." He paused. "Thought you'd have known me better than that."

"Likewise, Doctor." The curly haired form smiled slyly. "I thought you would know me much better."

"I think I know you well enough. Save mankind, change their past, blah, blah." He mimed mouths with both hands.

"If that was the case, you would have anticipated that whilst we have been talking, I have been working."

"What?" The Doctor exclaimed, noticing a change in pitch in the engines of the TARDIS. "What are you doing?"

"Already done." The Architect confirmed. "The Earth is contained in the Temporal Field of the TARDIS, we are on our way to a brand new start for mankind."

For a moment the Doctor turned his attention away from the console. He cast his mind back to Tony, poor brave Tony. Back then that young man had given the Doctor some hope that maybe there could be such a thing as a new start. Learning of his fate had felt like having one of his hearts ripped out.

"Don't you have any ideas of your own?" The Time Lord shouted, frantically scurrying around the console, checking buttons and pulling on levers. "Last time I did this, it took six of us, what makes you think you can fly the TARDIS better than all of us?"

"Because I learnt from the best." The Architect mocked, as the central column began to rise and fall at a quicker pace. "This has to happen Doctor. For your own sake too." The mysterious being continued. "Then you can stop."

"Stop!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Stop what? Saving people? Plucking planets from the jaws of destruction?"

"Interfering." The Architect said bluntly. "If Earth is safe from other species and races, in their own little bubble universe, then you don't have to get involved."

"Hah!" The Doctor mocked loudly. "You're talking to me about interfering? When was the last time I acted as a trans-temporal pharmacist or-" He stopped himself, noting the Architect's form. He was in his sixth life, relatively late on, but the Time Lord knew he had experienced things the mysterious being hadn't. "Well, spoilers." He shrugged, watching in frustration as the lever he had just pulled flipped back to its original position.

"Likewise Doctor, I have ever caused the eruption of a volcano or been responsible for a Time Lord taking control of the whole planet."

"That's not fair." The Doctor said quietly.

"Why not?" It was a question, rather than an accusation. "Because it was all unwritten? It never happened so it didn't matter."

"That's not what I said." The Doctor replied, knowing he was on the back foot. "Of course it matters. They all matter." He paused, pointing to his head. "All of them, they are all in here."

"I'm sure Doctor. Remembering all those that have died at your hand, directly or otherwise, is honourable, but you have to wonder what may have happened if you had not interfered."

"More people would have died!" The Doctor shouted back. "It's not like I went and told all those mad races to target the Earth, is it? Oh, hi Daleks, why don't you attack Earth again so I can come and stop you and maybe get some people killed in the process." He blew air through his lips. "As if."

"You can't say you don't enjoy it though." The Architect goaded. "As I said, I must get it from somewhere."

"I enjoy travelling!" The Doctor said loudly. "I enjoy seeing new worlds! Of course I do!"

""No matter what the cost." The tone was cold and full of malice.

"What else do I do?" The Doctor defended himself. "If I don't get involved, many die. If I do, more survive but I lose people." He shook his head. "There's no choice there." He snapped his head towards the Architect. "And don't think I've forgotten people I've seen die because of you."

"It's regrettable. But had to be done."

"No it didn't!" The Doctor screamed, slamming controls and buttons on the console. "What have you achieved! Nothing!" His voice echoed around the console room. "You can't just change history like that!"

"Isn't that what you do?" The Architect was no longer angry, but genuinely interested.

"No!" The Doctor replied, calmer now. He straightened his jacket, regaining some composure. "I just," he shrugged, "poke them in the right direction every now and again. Little changes. But in the end, mankind have to shape their own future." As he frantically worked the console controls, the Doctor knew he was lying. The change in Adelaide's fate had changed the history, the details at least, of the whole human race. He didn't even dare to think of the implications his marriage to Queen Elizabeth would have.

"Perhaps you are right Doctor." The Architect nodded, as the time rotor began to slow down. "I too, have been making small changes, nudging the human race away from their own destiny. Perhaps I need to try a different tact, something bigger."

"No!" The Doctor shouted angrily. "That's not what I said!" He very quickly calmed however. "Mind you, I know what happens." He smiled, smug despite knowing of some of the tragedy that would follow. "I know that I stop you, each and every time."

The doctor stood back from the TARDIS console, pleased with himself.

"See! One more for me!"

"How?" The Architect was shocked. "The Earth is back where it should be?"

"Well." The doctor grinned. "Some of us can talk and work at the same time. Must take a lot of concentration to keep that form intact, talk to me and work the controls of a trans dimensional time ship." He winked. "Don't let it get you down."

"You have outwitted me once again Doctor." There was a deep sigh. "This chance, this life, is wasted."

"Because I out-talked you?" The Doctor said, followed by a small laugh. "I've had some anti-climactic regenerations, but never this bad."

"Unlike you, my physical form cannot be damaged, my lives can effectively last forever."

The Doctor stepped forward, intrigued.

"I can do whatever I want." The Architect boasted. "But without anything to regulate me, what stops me from going too far?" He paused. "You should know that all too well, Doctor."

The Time Lord nodded solemnly, he had worked out by now that he and the Architect more similar than he had first thought.

"So what is it, just fancy a change every now and again? Want to try on some of my outfits?"

"Honour." The Architect replied. "When I fail, I force my body to move on to its next life. It is a rule only I can enforce, but one that must be adhered to. For my own sake as much as anything else. I can't carry on forever."

The Doctor smiled slightly.

"Learning from my mistakes I see." He turned away. "Someone has to."

"You will, Doctor." The Architect said softly, his voice distorted by the golden flow of energy surrounding him. "Your song is ending, and you will learn."

"Don't I know it." The Time Lord sighed, as he felt the Architect's presence drift away, the TARDIS engines returning to their regular pitch. He flicked a switch and an image of Earth appeared on the monitor, hanging in the solar system just as it should be. As he was alone in the TARDIS again, the Doctor felt a strange sense or vigour, as if someone had just recharged his body.

He pumped the bicycle pump attached to the console thoughtfully, working out where to go next. Maybe somewhere knew, he thought. At least the Architect, unlike himself, knew how long he had left.

"Five to go." The Doctor muttered spitefully as the TARDIS hurtled through the time vortex.