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AN: Back to the Tenth Doctor, as he visits a very particular incarnation of himself...
AN 2: To cut off questions in advance- as this is one chapter where advance knowledge is vital to understand what's happening-, for the Eighth Doctor, this takes place shortly after the novel "The Space Age". At this point, the Eighth Doctor- having recently lost the TARDIS when it apparently exploded in a dimensional rift (Although later stories revealed that it would go on to put itself back together)-, along with his companion Fitz Krenier- a sixties slacker/singer who started travelling with the Doctor after his mother was killed; the situation was such that Fitz would have been accused of the other deaths that resulted if he'd remained- are on the run from the Time Lords in their other companion Compassion, who was mutated into the Type 102 TARDIS via a complicated chain of events; Compassion is capable of 'opening up' to admit others to the TARDIS that is located inside her and her chameleon circuit allows her to change her appearance and clothing, but she is still capable of independent thought and motion, to the point where she can pilot herself if she has to (Although it's still easier for her to get around when guided by the Doctor). As part of the Time Lords' efforts to prepare for a Future War that the Doctor's recently learned about that will be waged against a currently-unidentified Enemy- the Doctor has encountered evidence of this war and has twice become involved in some of the War's campaigns, but he's tried to avoid learning specific details so he isn't tempted to change history-, Romana, now in her third incarnation and President of Gallifrey, seeks to use Compassion to create the next generation of TARDISes, the Doctor and Fitz going on the run in order to protect Compassion from becoming a slave until Romana could be made to see that the future had multiple possibilities beyond using an innocent woman as breeding stock. During the events of "The Space Age", the three of them encountered a higher-dimensional being known as the Maker who had created an entire city on a deserted planetoid in the thirtieth century for a group of humans who had tried to help it after it 'crash-landed' on Earth in the 1960s, the story concluding with the Doctor convincing the Maker to send some of the people it had brought to that time back home while others stayed in the future to join the rest of the human race, as they were ill-equipped to cope with the Maker's world (Which was based around a 1960s idea of what the future would be like rather than a reality that human beings could cope with), but sending them back would have erased their memories and the personal growth they'd experienced of their time.
AN 3: For convenience's sake, the Tenth Doctor will just be referred to as 'the Doctor' while the Eighth will be identified as such, and the same applies for all subsequent chapter and encounters; past Doctors will always be identified by their numbers while the Tenth will just be referred to as the Doctor
The Legacy of Gallifrey
With Donna and Martha having departed for their own respective destinations, the Doctor turned his attention to the more difficult calculation of his own destination; a location that was recorded nowhere but in his own rather uncertain memory of that period of his life, a period that was one of the darkest times in his own personal development as he faced the universe without the comfort and companionship of his oldest friend for the first time...
Plus, of course, the fact that he was on the run from his own people- and one of his oldest and dearest friends- to try and delay or stop them becoming the monsters he'd seen in a future that he knew should happen even as he refused to accept the fact that it would wasn't exactly comforting to remember, particularly when the way that mess had ended was brought to mind; as much as he knew there wasn't anything he could have done differently.
Then again, that was probably why their unknown enemy had chosen to attack him at this point; like their decision to attack his seventh self while he was travelling with Klein, they'd specifically chosen a time period where he was already going through various personal difficulties to strike at him (He supposed that he should just be grateful that they'd only gone after his fifth self during the search for the Key to Time, although with the only really viable alternative target being his fifth self's brief reign as the 'Supremo'- every other occasion where he'd had issues like that in that body had been resolved fairly quickly; even his grief over having to kill Ichtar and the other Silurians had been pushed aside once he'd accepted the necessity of it- it made a lot more sense; who wanted to attack someone who controlled that kind of army?).
It was a good thing he'd managed to dig up that old Stattenheim remote control, really; he might have to meet his past self, but he didn't want to give himself too much information about his future, particularly when it concerned the fact that his TARDIS wasn't as destroyed as he thought it was at this point. With this device, all he had to do was establish the link to his past self's current TARDIS, send himself back there, and then activate the Stattenheim remote when he could use the ship again without alerting his past self to its continued existence ahead of schedule (Automatic memory-erasure in the presence of a future self would only go so far when they were both operating outside of the 'authority' of the Time Lords).
"Sorry, old girl," he said, patting the TARDIS apologetically with one hand as he entered the last necessary temporal equations with the other, "but this isn't something I can really afford to take chances with."
As the familiar reassuring hum of the TARDIS momentarily grew louder in acknowledgement of his apology, the door he'd been waiting for opened, leaving the Doctor to pick up the small silver device in question from the console before he hurried over to the door, opening it and beginning his walk down the corridor before he pressed the switch to activate the remote control. As he heard the TARDIS begin to dematerialise on the other side of the door he'd just walked through, he allowed himself a brief smile as he sent his old ship a reassuring mental message, before he continued walking down the corridor, pipes and valves beginning to emerge from the walls around him as the corridor became part of its destination rather than its point of origin, finally arriving at the door at the other end.
Opening the door with a casual smile, he instantly found himself above the dark void that represented Compassion's subconscious blackness, the stone platform in front of him currently occupied by the familiar velvet-clad form of one of his longest-running bodies, the slightly rough-around-the-edges form of Fitz Krenier, with his five o'clock shadow and long leather coat providing a contrast to the Victorian-esque elegance of his eighth body's frock coat and waistcoat.
"What the-?" Fitz said, looking at him incredulously as the door closed behind him and subsequently vanished into nothing.
"Should I- what?" Compassion's voice began to say around them, clearly confused at the sudden intrusion into her interior. "Who the-?"
"I was wondering that myself," the Eighth Doctor said, before he walked over to his other self with a slight smile. "Hello there; shall I assume that I'm addressing the Doctor?"
"You'd be correct in that assessment, Doctor," the Doctor replied, shaking his other self's offered hand with a broader smile before he looked over at the companion who'd stood by him through one of the most difficult periods of his life. "No need to worry, Fitz; whatever problems you're having with the rest of the Time Lords right now, I assure you, I'm on his side."
"After all," the Eighth Doctor added, placing a companionable hand on his shoulder, "if I can't trust me, who can I trust?"
"Uh... you're saying... this guy's... you?" Fitz said at last, uncertainly indicating the Doctor. "Is this that... regeneration, changing-your-body thing you mentioned?"
"Oh yes; this fellow's me... how many bodies from now?" the Eighth Doctor began, before looking quizzically at his future self.
"Just two," the Doctor replied with a nod, before the smile faded from his face. "And as much as I'd like to say that this was a simple social call, we've got urgent business; something's about to attack you-"
"Watch out!" Compassion's voice suddenly yelled, the sentient TARDIS suddenly jolting to the side with such force that all three of her inhabitants were nearly thrown into her console.
"What happened?" the Eighth Doctor asked, quickly regaining his balance as he quickly moved over to the TARDIS controls.
"WarTARDIS!" Compassion's voice yelled. "The Maker's actions must have created more space-time ripples than we'd anticipated; the Time Lords must have come to investigate-"
"Move!" the Doctor yelled, hurrying over to another console as he looked urgently at his other self. "What are you waiting for; find somewhere else to land and lose them!"
"Uh... is there a problem?" Fitz asked, looking uncertainly at the new Doctor.
"You mean, aside from the fact that you're not meant to be found by the Time Lords at this point?" the Doctor said, looking urgently over at Fitz. "I assure you, I have no interest in ceasing to exist just because I accidentally changed my own history-"
"Hang on!" Compassion yelled, shaking violently once again as another blast struck her (The Doctor couldn't recall the Time Lords firing at him this much when they'd actually caught up with him shortly before they materialised on the Edifice; what was prompting the intensity of this attack?). "I think I've found somewhere to materialise!"
Although the sound of materialisation swiftly began to fill the ship, the Doctors barely had enough time to exchange relieved glances before Compassion violently shuddered, followed by the two Doctors and Fitz suddenly experiencing a falling sensation as their feet lost contact with the ground before they fell to the floor of the console room in a heap.
"What the-?" Fitz began, looking anxiously over at his Time Lord friends.
"Just let me check this..." the Eighth Doctor said, as he and his future self hurried over to examine Compassion's consoles before they looked back at each other.
"Oh no..." the Doctors said simultaneously.
"What?" Fitz asked.
"Transduction barriers have been erected around this planet," the Eighth Doctor clarified, looking apprehensively at his friend. "We can't leave; for all intents and purposes, Compassion is currently grounded."
"And," the Doctor added grimly, "as if that wasn't enough, there's definite evidence that there's been a developed civilisation here recently, but there's also no trace of sentient life- or, indeed, any kind of life- within range of Compassion's sensors..."
"And I'm not seeing anything in the area either, if anyone's interested," Compassion's voice added, sounding slightly frustrated as she spoke.
"Oh, right," the Doctor said, looking apologetically up at the ceiling. "I apologise; it's... been a while since I travelled with you; I'm used to just looking for myself-"
"What?" the Eighth Doctor asked, looking sharply up at his future self. "You mean that-"
"I mean that the current situation was resolved without Romana making Compassion a slave; just trust that I wouldn't have parted ways with her if I didn't think she could look after herself, please," the Doctor said, looking pointedly over at his past self before he turned back to addressing the roof. "In any case, now that we're here, our best chance is probably to do what we can about finding the source of the transduction barriers; I don't suppose your sensors can tell us anything about that, Compassion?"
"A few unusual power readings for an abandoned city, but nothing that couldn't just be whoever was here before leaving the lights on after whatever happened happened," Compassion responded.
"Right then," the Eighth Doctor said, nodding at the ceiling before he looked over at his friend and his other self. "Well, it looks like there's nothing else to do but take a look and hope for the best; shall we?"
After receiving the expected nods from the other two men- resignation from Fitz and anticipation from the Doctor; even in this kind of situation, his desire to explore could not be dampened-, the Eighth Doctor activated Compassion's doors and walked out of his friend, the other two men close behind him.
Compassion had materialised on a street corner of a futuristic city surrounded by large buildings, each one easily at least ten stories high, made of a silver-black metal that seemed to almost absorb the sunlight that was shining down on it. There was no sign of windows on any of the buildings, but doors were visible at street level, and there were strange, Chinese-like symbols painted on the walls at varying points, spread out so that there were approximately four or five of them on each building, contradicting the general appearance that city had been built based on a 'function over form' principle. Tall metal poles topped by metal spheres were spaced out along the streets approximately five metres apart from each other, a burst of what seemed to be electricity but was probably some other form of energy occasionally 'jumping' between them. The occasional vehicle was visible along the streets, each one resembling a classic 'hovercar' in design, but otherwise the entire city appeared deserted; a few of the doors on both vehicles and buildings were actually hanging open, as though something had happened that forced people to retreat from this city at a rapid rate without worrying about issues like closing the doors behind them.
"Whoa..." Fitz said, looking around himself with a slight apprehension in his stance; clearly he recognised the similarities between their current location and the city that the Maker had created, even if the symbols on the walls made it clear that whoever was responsible for this place had more imagination than the Maker.
"Oh dear..." the Eighth Doctor said, swallowing slightly as he took in the buildings, his eyes flicking from symbol to symbol as he confirmed his initial assessment. "We're on Quamtaan."
"Is that bad?" Fitz asked.
"Well, up to a point, it could be worse," the Doctor replied, trying to sound encouraging as he looked at his eighth incarnation's companion and the man that he himself considered one of the best friends he'd had in any of his incarnations. "At this time, there's nobody here for us to worry about innocents getting caught in any potential crossfire- the entire population pretty much wiped each other out in a war a couple of centuries ago; they each developed bombs capable of destroying living tissue without harming artificial structures without realising that the other side was following the same line of research, and the subsequent blast virtually wiped each side out-, but there's also a not-insignificant amount of technology available for the Time Lords to use to power the transduction barriers; finding out what we need to shut everything down isn't exactly going to be easy..."
"Well, it would be for one of us," the Eighth Doctor said, smiling slightly at his future self. "With two of us working on it, however-"
The Eighth Doctor's thoughts on their next course of action were cut short when he and the Doctor suddenly looked sharply around themselves, their hands rising to touch their temples as they looked apprehensively at their other self.
"Do you...?" the Eighth Doctor asked.
"Oh yes," the Doctor said, nodding grimly as he looked back at his past self (He hadn't felt this for ages, but that didn't mean he'd forgotten it; something like this created the kind of temporal impression you didn't easily forget). "They're coming..."
"What's coming?" Fitz asked, looking in frustrated confusion at his friends. "What are you-?"
Fitz's queries were cut off as four large vehicles appeared out of thin air around them, their presence creating a vague impression of foreboding to the Doctors' telepathic senses that they quickly recognised.
"WarTARDISes..." the Eighth Doctor said, looking apprehensively at his friends before his gaze settled on his future self. "I take it you don't remember this happening to us?"
"Not even a little bit," the Doctor replied, his expression grim as he looked over at his younger self. "Which means, of course, that you cannot allow yourself to be captured; there's enough trouble going on here as it is without me having to worry about this happening right now-"
He quickly silenced himself as one of the vehicles opened and a figure dressed in the familiar uniforms of the Gallifreyian chancellory guard walked out of it, his weapon aimed at the four people in front of him, followed by a woman with a wide face and close-cropped black hair in elegant gold robes.
"Oh no..." the Doctor said, his eyes widening at the sight of the dark-haired woman in front of them. "Romana?"
"Doctor?" Romana said, looking at him in surprise, before her eyes narrowed with a slight smile. "Well well... this is an unexpected bonus..."
The Doctor barely allowed himself the chance to think about his actions before he charged forward, punching Romana in the face with a blow that belied his usual reluctance to engage in combat.
"Run!" he said, turning to look urgently at his past self. "Take Compassion and get out of here!"
"But I can't leave-!" the Eighth Doctor began.
"I said RUN!" the Doctor roared, before he turned around to aim his sonic screwdriver at the other surrounding WarTARDISes, a quick flick of the switch locking the doors from outside- it wouldn't delay the other Time Lords long, but it would buy them the few minutes they needed right now- before he turned around to tackle Romana's guard, parrying the other man's attempt to punch him even as his own blow was deflected (He really wished he was in his third body right now; that man might have had a few issues as far as his occasional attitude towards others went, but he could be a real 'jack-of-all-trades' when the situation required action).
The following few minutes were more of a blur of physical activity as he struggled with the guard in front of him, trying to gain any kind of advantage in this conflict he'd impulsively initiated- he wasn't even really trying to do anything; he just had to keep the guard busy-, but he still wasn't surprised when he found himself forced to his knees with his hands bound behind his back a few moments later.
He might have beaten the Sycorax leader shortly after his regeneration, but he'd been able to mentally prepare himself for that particular fight; he didn't have that advantage here.
"So, Doctor," Romana said, the cool professionalism of her third face invoking memories of the blunt attitude of her first self rather than the more open, caring manner of her second one as she stared at him, "you came back to aid your other self in his foolish escape, I take it?"
"Romana," the Doctor said- it might not do any good, but he had to at least try and talk to her-, "you don't want to do this; this isn't you-"
"Gallifrey's survival in the War is all that matters, Doctor," Romana said, her eyes narrowed as she looked at him thoughtfully. "And given what you might have to tell us about the War..."
As he looked back at the woman who had once meant so much more to him than another companion, the sounds of doors opening around him as the Time Lords overrode his attempt to lock the TARDISes, the Doctor's hearts felt cold in his chest.
He was stuck on an abandoned planet, facing people who he knew were going to die when he could do nothing to change history or alert them to their fate, almost certainly about to be tortured by one of his oldest friends, and his only hope for escape was a past version of himself.
Despite his grim thoughts, the Doctor smiled.
Tricky situation, he mused, but definitely not an impossible one...
AN 4: Just to clarify, the Romana portrayed here is her third incarnation, featured in the novels "The Shadows of Avalon" and "The Ancestor Cell", and apparently physically based on Louise Brooks; she regenerated into a new form because she felt that her previous incarnation was ill-suited to lead the Time Lords in the Future War, and became obsessed with capturing Compassion despite the Doctor's appeals for to recognise the importance of Compassion's individual rights in the current situation.