AUTHOR'S NOTE
Here's this week's chapter. We're back with the Doctor and Peter in Kandahar. Reviews are always appreciated!
Chapter 21
Earth, 2012, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
"So, are we done here? Did you fix the problem?" Peter asked as the Doctor entered the TARDIS.
The boy was standing near the monitor that showed the nanocam footage. The Doctor switched off the nanocam so they could both avoid the surreal experience of seeing themselves from the Doctor's point of view. Then he strode to the console and began setting coordinates.
"Did you watch everything?"
"It got boring while you were waiting for Hassim so I read another chapter of Treasure Island. It was weird to see Mr. Pink. Is Hassim okay?"
"Well, let's fast forward a little and see. I wish we had the chronoscanner. It would be much easier to just look ahead."
It took two trips into the very near future to discover Hassim's fate. Ten minutes after the fighting ceased Danny and two other servicemen exited the building along with a woman holding an infant and Hassim.
"Oh good, so they're rescued, then."
"No. That's not what was supposed to happen. We need to have another go."
Just after he finished his sentence the Doctor remembered that Peter had no idea that Hassim was destined to die. Here we go. This will be a tough conversation, he thought.
"How can you tell?"
The Doctor paused before responding.
"Because Hassim is alive."
Peter blanched. It took him a while to find words again.
"You're telling me that we're here to make sure he gets killed?"
"I'm afraid so."
"And you're okay with this? Doctor, he's just a kid! It's wrong!"
"Peter, remember when Hanar went over the timeline audit results with us? There are critical events that must happen a certain way, or the timeline gets corrupted. This is one of those events. It's a fixed point. If we don't fix it, then we can't restore the true timeline. I know this is difficult, but it's what we've got to do."
"There's got to be another way."
"I'm sorry Peter, but there isn't. And, no, I'm not okay with it, but I know that if we don't do it, millions will die, including your parents and your sister. These are the decisions a time traveler needs to make, and they're never easy."
Peter broke eye contact and circled the console slowly, clearly deep in thought. The Doctor finished adjusting the coordinates but did not pull the dematerialization lever.
"Why does he have to die? What's different because he dies?"
"Mister Pink decides to leave the military early."
"That's all? But why does that matter?"
"So many things hinge just on one tiny action or decision. If we were on Sagacity or had a chronoscanner I could show you how the two different timelines play out, but we don't have that luxury. I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to accept it and move on."
It took a while for the Doctor to plan his next attempt. Peter slipped away for a while, probably to eat, the Doctor surmised, or maybe just to avoid him. When he returned to the console room, he looked like he'd arrived at a decision.
"Are you ready to have another go? He asked. The Doctor nodded and gestured to the monitor. Peter studied the settings.
"You're not going all the way back to where you started. What's the plan?"
"Instead of meeting Hassim this time I'm going to try to stop Beckman from interfering. He's one of the Allied soldiers that came with PE – I mean Mister Pink. I think I set the timing to right before the Taliban force arrives at the building.
"Beckman must have gone into the building from the back and intercepted Hassim before he got to the lobby and told him his mother needed him. I'm going to stop him before he goes into the building and detain him until the fighting is over."
"So that means Hassim will die?"
"Yes."
Peter didn't respond.
Attempt Number 2
This time, the Doctor did not approach the building directly. Instead, he retraced the route he took when leaving the building on his first attempt to approach it from the back.
He heard the arrival of the Taliban force just as he arrived at the building's fire exit and quickly hid behind a cinderblock enclosure that was convenient to the fire exit and the hotel's receiving area. From there, he would have the advantage over anyone who exited the building from the fire exit or approached from the front of the building.
If his hypothesis was right, Beckman would split off from the rest of the Allied contingent and circle back to the exit door while the rest of the team confronted the Taliban force from the front of the building. He would likely be armed. The Doctor had his sonic, but it wouldn't be much use in this scenario. Surprise was his best weapon.
After ten minutes of waiting, he heard the arrival of the Allied convoy. He took a few deep breaths and flexed his muscles, preparing to act.
Beckman walked slowly around the corner from the front of the building, rifle at the ready. He checked his surroundings before lowering his rifle and approaching the door. If he'd been a real solider, the Doctor mused, he would have checked behind the cinderblock enclosure and the Doctor would have lost the element of surprise.
Just before Beckman opened the fire door the Doctor shot out of cover and slammed him against the building.
Beckman lost the rifle in the struggle. The Doctor kicked it away and then pinned Beckman to the ground.
"You!" Beckman said.
"Yes, it's me, Jameson Starck. Or should I say Alistair Beckman."
Just then there was a loud explosion at the front of the building followed by yelling and gunfire. The sound of battle seemed to galvanize Beckman, who likely realized that his window for intervening in this event was closing. The Doctor tightened his grip, but Beckman easily flipped him over and held him with a knee across his chest while he retrieved the rifle.
This was not the best plan, the Doctor thought.
The last thing the Doctor saw was the butt of the rifle approaching his head at high speed.
The Rescue
The next thing the Doctor became aware of was being shaken awake by a very frightened Peter, who had been watching his altercation with Beckman via nanocam.
When he saw things go awry, he'd left the TARDIS and followed the Doctor's route to stay clear of the fighting. When the Doctor was coherent enough to understand what had happened and the current situation, he allowed Peter to help him up and make their way slowly back to the TARDIS.
How embarrassing.
It took a while and quite a bit of help from Peter to locate the TARDIS's clinic, where the Doctor went about the task of cleaning up an impressive flesh wound at the temple. A quick scan confirmed he had a concussion, which he'd already ascertained from the intense headache, brain fog, dizziness, and a sharp increase in his chronic nausea.
While Peter stayed mostly silent through the clinic visit, the Doctor could see from his body language that he had added a significant number of questions to the running list, probably about the technology in use and perhaps the physical differences between time lords and humans.
Next, they jumped ahead to see whether Beckman had managed to get to Hassim and once again saw the boy and his mother and sister escorted out of the building by the Allied unit.
The Doctor decided it was time to do at least a casual inventory of the TARDIS. Surely there was something here to help him restrain Beckman so that he couldn't rescue Hassim. But he was still much too compromised to do this search on his own. Instead, he sat in the jump seat and directed Peter to enter commands at the console.
Finally, the monitor displayed a list of physical assets on the monitor. After having the boy perform several tedious search functions, he finally identified the item they were looking for.
By the time they located it in a storage cupboard the Doctor was feeling much less headachy and ready to have another go. Peter argued that he should be allowed to accompany the Doctor, but it was bad enough that Peter risked his life to rescue the Doctor on the previous attempt. It was non-negotiable.
Attempt Number 3
This time, the Doctor took the same path from the TARDIS to the back of the hotel and chose the same hiding place, arriving at the same time as his previous attempt. The chief difference was the Judoon target locking device he'd brought with him. After practicing with it a few times in the TARDIS, the Doctor added its function to the list of desired upgrades for his sonic screwdriver.
The Doctor settled down to wait, watching the front of the building for the impending arrival of Alistair Beckman.
To his unfortunate surprise he was taken from behind and forced roughly to the ground.
Doctor idiot!
"Who are you, and why are you following me? Tell me quick or I will blow your brains out."
The Doctor felt the prod of the end of rifle into the back of his still tender head. He relaxed into the ground, offering no resistance.
"I am a traveler. We need to talk. Please, let me up and I will explain."
"Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Just then there was a loud explosion at the front of the building followed by yelling and gunfire. The Doctor knew he was out of time. Using all his strength he managed to get his arm out from under him. He aimed and fired the Judoon device into Beckman's chest.
Beckman froze completely, a comically shocked expression on his face. The Doctor managed to wriggle out from under him and then carefully rolled the paralyzed mutant human onto his back. The gunfire at the front of the building grew heavy and then abated.
"I think you can hear me, but I know you can't talk. So, hear this. You've got to stop what you're doing. You're causing massive damage to the timeline. The whole universe is in jeopardy. I don't know how far you've gone, or how many events you've altered, but you're not going to alter any more. I'm the one that's here to clean up your mess."
The Doctor did a quick search and found Beckman's time travel device. It was a wristband very similar to a vortex manipulator, so he took it.
Once back in the TARDIS, he released the Judoon forcefield so Beckman could enjoy the rest of his life 500 years before he was born.