Afraid of being blasted by the robot dog, I backed away toward the staircase of the damaged house.
"K-9!" Luke cried. "Freeze!"
The little robot didn't seem to respond, but then again, it was pretty rigid to begin with.
"I am frozen, young master," it said. "Did you wish me to also spray myself with coolant, or is this merely a figure of speech?"
"I meant relax, K-9. This...guy...knows mother somehow..."
The metal dog's ears rotated back and forth a moment. "Master, there is a high probability that this individual is the same which created the temporal rift that destroyed the universe that I had been holding together, resulting in the loss of five billion lives. Exercise caution, young master."
"Thanks, K-9, but he's no threat." The boy gave me a sour look. "He's just an idiot with a time machine."
I sighed and nodded. Eating humble pie was the only way I was going to get on their good side and fix time.
"The scenario of an imbecile with a time machine is not unfamiliar to me." The robot rolled closer to me. "Am I correct in assuming that you have the possession of the Type 40 TARDIS with the broken chamelion circuit?"
I shrugged. "I think so. You're talking about the one that looks like a phone booth, right?"
The robot rolled up to my foot, wagging its metal stick tail. "I am programmed to protect and advise law abiding time lords in the operation of the Type 40 TARDIS."
"I'm not as law abiding as all that."
"Neither was The Doctor."
"Thank you," I stammered. "I needed someone to help me."
K-9 rotated his ears. "What you require, intrepid time lord, is an intelligent agent to protect you from your own lack of intelligence."
"I...guess I needed that too," I mumbled. "Whatever. I don't care. Just help me fix time, okay?"
"Affirmative."
"Right," said Luke. "Let me come too."
"Sure. It can't hurt."
I suddenly heard a loud, familiar sounding grinding noise.
Luke turned his head in the direction of the disturbance. "What's that?"
K-9's little red satellite dishes wiggled. "That is the sound of a Type 40 TARDIS taking off."
I could only say one thing in response.
"Shit."