Metamorphosis
"I am only listening to the TARDIS."
"Listening to the TARDIS? You mean it talks to you?"
"In a manner of speaking. Our data-stream rhythms are compatible, so I can access its memory banks and experience something of its travels. They are most enlightening. We have much in common, you know. We both are shapeshifters... and both serve the same master."
- Kamelion and Turlough, from the Past Doctor Adventures novel Imperial Moon by Christopher Bulis.
...
"You're absolutely sure this is your decision?" asked the Doctor. When there was no reply, he looked up and glanced across the TARDIS console. "Peri?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes."
"Very well," he replied briskly, manipulating the console controls. "Never let it be said that I couldn't fulfil a straightforward request."
"It's for the best," she said slowly. Perhaps more to convince herself than him.
Her time spent travelling with the Doctor had been filled with such wonders, the likes of which Peri would never have imagined. It had been the ultimate extended vacation, and despite the dangers, had been an experience that she was glad to have had. There may have been a time when the thought of returning home was far from her mind, but as of late the wonders were few and far between, and the dangers seemed to follow the Doctor like a darkened rain cloud. After the recent encounter with the Daleks and their creator Davros within Tranquil Repose on the planet Necros, Peri discovered that the death and violence that accompanied the wonders seemingly hand-in-hand were starting to get to her. That travelling across time and space was surprisingly starting to lose its allure.
She glanced around the TARDIS control room. This large room in such a small box. "There's only so much space you can call home," she said quietly, "Sometimes it gets so big it makes me claustrophobic."
Peri realised that the time rotor at the center of the console had stopped. The Doctor activated the scanner and she glanced up at the screen.
It showed a brightly lit room, illuminated primarily by the large window that dominated the facing wall. On each side of the window was a considerably cheap, rather overladen bookshelf, and next to each bookshelf was a wooden desk. Two single, neatly made beds could also be seen, one against each side of the room.
Peri smiled faintly. "Good thing Janine wasn't in. Would creep her out seeing a big blue box appear out of nowhere."
The Doctor nodded, watching her as she turned to the luggage that was on the control room floor at her feet. He raised a finger and said, "Wait." He walked around the console and picked up the two suitcases.
"You don't need to do that," Peri told him.
"Peri, Peri, Peri," he replied, "I can't have you leaving with such a bad impression of me. Contrary to what you might think, I did not shed all my gallantry with my last regeneration." He paused and grunted. "What on Earth have you got in these?"
Peri manipulated the door control as the Doctor made his way to the TARDIS exit. "Just a few things," she said.
He grunted again, stepping out through the outer doors and into Peri's dorm room. It was exactly as she had left it, she realized as she followed him.
He placed the luggage on the floor and glanced around the room. "You'll find the time period to be not all that long after you had left. Any excess time could be explained away with vacation abroad, I'm sure."
"Thank you, Doctor."
He shrugged. "Least I could do. No reason why your integration back into your Earthly life need be uncomfortable in any way."
She smiled at him. "No. I mean thanks for everything."
"Ah."
"I have enjoyed it, y'know," she told him, "Despite everything, it has been... fun."
She winced inwardly. It had not been how she wanted to say it.
The Doctor nodded wordlessly.
"C'm'ere," she said after a moment, pulling him towards her in a hug.
A moment passed, perhaps longer than intended, and the Doctor made a show of acting uncomfortable in her embrace.
"Would you mind?" he wheezed, as if he was choking.
"Oh, sorry." She released him and took a step back. She straightened the collar of his ghastly multi-colored jacket.
"No harm done," he said slowly, glancing around the room again. A moment of awkward silence, then he added, "Remember me to Professor Foster, won't you?" He took a step towards the TARDIS. "Keep having fun, Peri. And do try to stay out of trouble."
She chuckled. "Look who's talking."
The Doctor stopped at the TARDIS door. "Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Doctor."
Peri watched as he stepped inside, and the TARDIS door closed. Her eyes remained fixed on the blue box as the familiar grinding wheez was heard, the lamp at its top lit up, and the TARDIS gradually faded out of time.
She glanced around the room, at the books on her dorm desk, then at the bedraggled stuffed bear next to the pillow on her bed.
"There's no place like home."
...
A voice could be heard, singing, as the Doctor entered the King's chamber.
"We sing in praise of total war against the Saracen we abhor. To free the tomb of Christ our Lord, we'll put the known world to the sword." The song stopped, as the metallic android glanced up at the Doctor, lowering the lute it had been playing. "Welcome, my demon," it said in the voice of the king.
"Your Majesty seems in need of a doctor," the Doctor said slowly.
The Master stood next to the android. "Allow me to introduce Kamelion."
"Your work?"
The Master shook his head. "Alas, modesty forbids such a claim. Kamelion is a tool of an earlier invader of Xeriphas, and instrumental in my escape from that benighted planet."
The Doctor nodded. "This is your King John?"
"Look again."
The android Kamelion changed before their eyes, its features becoming what seemed to be flesh and cloth. It was now in the form of King John.
"Impressive," commented the Doctor.
"A weapon used by the invaders of Xeriphas," explained the Master, "A decoy, capable of infinite form or personality."
"Interesting," was the Doctor's reply, despite being appalled at the thought of such a remarkable android being used as a weapon.
The android king grinned. "Well said, my demon. We are a complex mass of artificial neurons."
"And controlled by?" asked the Doctor.
"Nothing more than simple concentration and psychokinetics," said the rival Time Lord, "Look again."
The Master glanced at the android, and after a short moment, the form of King John altered to become that of the Doctor.
"Can anyone play?" asked the Doctor, staring at his double.
The Master nodded. "Please."
The Doctor concentrated, and soon the form of Kamelion was that of the Master.
"Quite masterly," said the Master/Kamelion.
"You flatter me," said the Master, "However, I prefer bad King John."
...
"You would do well, my dear Doctor, to ponder that you played directly into my hand," gloated the Master.
"And into ours," added Kamelion.
"He has a mind of his own?" asked the Doctor.
The Master nodded. "Indeed. But highly susceptible."
"Dominated by our demons," replied Kamelion.
The Master continued. "You well know that the King and his dead brothers are believed to be the devil's work. Your interference here with your dreary TARDIS has only confirmed this. You are, dare I say so, discredited demons, and as such you make a unique contribution to altering the course of history. Hoist on your own petard."
"And where will you take your toy next?" asked the Doctor.
"Does it matter?" replied the Master, "You'll not be there to greet me."
"I may not need to. You forget, Kamelion does have a mind of his own."
"He obeys only my will," insisted the Master.
"Yes," replied the Doctor, "But for how much longer?"
"For as long as I command it. Kamelion will not turn on me."
"No?" The Doctor turned to Kamelion and concentrated on changing the android's appearance. However, nothing happened. The attempt had failed.
The Master laughed. "You're getting old, Doctor. Your will is weak. It's time you regenerated."
"You won't win," the Doctor told him, "Not ultimately."
The Master smiled. "You're mistaken. With Kamelion's unique ability at my command, it's only a matter of time before I undermine the key civilisations of the universe. Chaos will reign, and I shall be its emperor."
The Doctor wasn't very convinced. "Earth is a primitive planet. You won't succeed so easily elsewhere."
"Where I cannot win by stealth, I shall destroy. That way I cannot fail to win."
"You'll never succeed," said the Doctor.
The Master shrugged. "Unfortunately, you will not be alive to find out. Which reminds me." He held out a hand. "My compressor."
He was asking for his weapon of choice, the Tissue Compression Eliminator, which the Doctor had managed to relieve him of some time earlier.
"It's an instrument I prefer not to carry about me," confessed the Doctor, "It's safely in my TARDIS."
...
"I don't believe it," said Tegan, "Can you see it too?"
Turlough nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid so."
What had caught their attention was the fact that there were two Doctors standing before them, looking exactly alike in every way.
"Let me present Kamelion," said one of the Doctors, as the other Doctor changed his form and became a gleaming metal android.
"What is it?" asked Tegan in amazement.
"Who is it, if you please," replied Kamelion.
"Well, Tegan, it's a long story which appears to begin on Xeriphas."
"And who knows when it will end," added the android.
"Oh," replied the Doctor, "It will end with the Master."
Tegan glanced at him. "You're not going to leave the Master here to carry out his plan?"
"Well, he's without Kamelion now," the Doctor told her, "And he won't be on Earth for much longer. I took the opportunity of leaving his compressor activated. Won't do his dimension circuits much good. He could end up anywhere except where he wants to go."
"Rather like the TARDIS, really," muttered Tegan.
...
Kamelion stood in one of the many corridors aboard the TARDIS, connected to an output socket within an open roundel in the wall.
At some point Tegan had rounded the corner and spotted him. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Furthering my education," replied Kamelion in an exact imitation of the Doctor's voice, "Learning about the TARDIS."
As was her nature, Tegan was rather suspicious. "Does the Doctor know you're tapping the computer?"
"Of course," replied the android, "I won't do it any harm. You forget, I'm benign."
"So the Doctor says," she told him, "But you still give me the willies. Especially when you use that voice. Can't you find another?"
"Would you prefer this?" asked Kamelion in Turlough's voice.
Tegan grunted. "That's even worse."
...
Peri examined the design with interest. A moment passed and she frowned, realizing the glittering silver reminded her of Kamelion. The shapeshifting android had been the Doctor's companion when she joined him. However, he had come under the influence of the Master, the Doctor's arch enemy, who turned him against them. He had tried to take over the TARDIS, and then chased her across the rocky landscape of the planet Sarn, first looking like her stepfather, then appearing as the Master. Sometimes he was even a hybrid of each and his true android form. Eventually, stricken with remorse at what he saw as disloyalty to those who had become his friends, and knowing that he could no longer be trusted, Kamelion had begged the Doctor to put a merciful end to his tortured existence. It was a sad experience that she preferred not to remember.
...
The Doctor picked up the TCE.
"Kamelion. No good," said the android, his voice fritzing with static as his form switched from that of the Master to Howard Foster, "Sorry."
"I'm sorry too, Kamelion,' replied the Doctor.
The appearance of Howard Foster now had silver skin. "Destroy me. Please."
The Doctor stared at him for a moment, then turned to Peri. "Get back."
Kamelion/Foster blurred, his features rippling before settling on that of his android self.
The Doctor lifted the Tissue Compression Eliminator in his hand and reluctantly fired. The beam enveloped Kamelion and tore at the metallic android, twisting his body as it compressed it down to the size of a tiny silver doll.
...
Kamelion had been created by a race called the Gelsandorans. His mind was unique in that it was built with a telepathic component. Similar to psychic paper, his appearance could be shaped into any form based on the thoughts of others. Although he was sentient and had a mind of his own, this telepathic capability made him extremely weak-willed and susceptible to manipulation by any strong personality. He was not originally meant to be a tool of war, but this unfortunate aspect in his design made him easily manipulated when he was used during the invasion of Xeriphas. And of course in his eventual encounter with the Master.
When the Doctor managed to free Kamelion from the Master's control, he invited the android to join him and his companions aboard the TARDIS. Kamelion preferred to remain within the interdimensional interior of the timeship, out of fear of being taken over and used against these people that he came to consider as friends. The TARDIS, too, was telepathic, and the metamorphic android was most at peace when connected to the time machine, sharing thoughts and ideas.
As a result of this connection, even after Kamelion was destroyed on the planet Sarn, and unbeknownst to the Doctor and the others, something of the android had survived within the TARDIS' telepathic systems...
...
"Goodbye, Doctor."
Peri watched as the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS, the door closing shut behind him. Her eyes remained fixed on the blue box as the familiar grinding wheez was heard, the lamp at its top lit up, and the TARDIS gradually faded out of time.
She glanced around her dorm room, at the books atop her desk, then at the bedraggled stuffed bear next to the pillow on her bed.
"There's no place like home."
Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor ran a finger along the edge of the control console. "Everything spick and span and back to normal," he said with a sigh.
The door leading further into the TARDIS interior closed behind her as Peri glanced up at the scanner where she watched her doppelganger begin unpacking the suitcases within her dorm room. "I hope so."
"You always leave a part of yourself behind, don't you?" The Doctor had meant the line as a quip, but it did not quite sound appropriate, even to him.
Peri switched off the scanner and the screen went blank.
"I'm..." she began slowly, then paused before continuing, "I'm ready to go now."
"A little too close to home?" asked the Doctor.
"Something like that," she replied.
The Doctor nodded, and busied himself at the TARDIS controls.
"Doctor," she said after a moment of silence, "We did the right thing, didn't we? Leaving her behind like that. Alone."
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair as he thought of what to say to alleviate his friend's state of mind.
"The TARDIS created a child from the spark that remained of Kamelion. And like any teenager, all that Kamelion Junior needed was a sense of identity. Something that made her who she was. And she got that from you. As she grew and developed, her telepathic matrix wove itself based on your mind, your thoughts and memories. So you have nothing to worry about with leaving her behind on Earth. She's essentially you. It would be like leaving you behind on Earth."
"But isn't it-," she stopped and corrected herself, "Isn't she dangerous? I mean, Kamelion's mind wasn't very stable. He was so easily manipulated. She may look and act like me, but she's still an android."
"Her mind is more stable," the Doctor assured her, "And is currently locked into your persona. She will not be as easily manipulated as Kamelion had been, the TARDIS made sure of that. She will live your life on Earth. Your roommate, your friends, your family, they will all add to her identity, reinforcing her mental stability. Any of her android abilities have been rendered dormant. She would no more pose any threat to those around her than you would."
Peri nodded slowly. "Well, hopefully she'll be okay."
After a brief moment, the Doctor asked, "And how about you?"
She glanced at him. "Hm? Oh, I'm still good for a few more adventures yet."
"Are you sure?"
She stared at him, wondering where he was going with this. "Yes, of course. Why would you ask that?"
"Junior was rather adamant about returning home," he told her, "She was tired of traveling, of the violence. That had to come from somewhere. And everything she is had come from you."
She was silent for a moment, then stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon."
She kissed him gently on the cheek, then turned and headed through the door leading further into the TARDIS.
"I'm glad to hear it," the Doctor said quietly.
...
The current Doctor froze the image on the clipboard screen. It had been a long time since he had given any thought to Junior. However, as he was reminded of her now, a sudden worrisome thought ocurred to him.
He stood and dropped the clipboard on the sedan seat in the control room, hurrying through the doorway leading further into the TARDIS. A moment later he rushed into the room where he had secured the mysterious Vicki android.
"Are you Junior?" he blurted.
...
...
In memory of Gerald Flood (1927 - 1989).
Gerald Flood was the voice of Kamelion in the classic Doctor Who stories The King's Demons and Planet of Fire.