The Doctor barely had time to put the TARDIS in a stasis pattern before the
child was running back across the floor of the console room to hug the Time
Lord's legs. Tegan, through her shock and tears at being hugged and kissed
by a child that called her his Momma, could see the wide smile on the
child's face.
"There, there," he said, reaching down to pat the child on his head and soothe him.
The child laughed into the material of the Doctor's cricket pants and bounced on his feet to stare up at the Doctor's face. "You're back! Momma said you would come back. Didn't you, Momma?" he asked, turning to stare at Tegan. She remained crouched on the ground in shock.
She tried to give a reassuring smile and nodded. "Of course the Doctor would come back if he said he would."
The Doctor smiled down at the child. "Of course I'm back. What on Earth are you doing here?"
"Uncle Thete brought me here for my birthday present. He said we were going to see something new. Momma wasn't too happy about it, but she let me go. Momma, you didn't have to come after me. Uncle would get me home. But I'm glad you brought Daddy back."
The Doctor's hand stilled in the air over the boy's head and he speared Tegan with a stare. Her brown eyes were wide and she gasped. The boy continued to chatter. "I'm in school now."
Tegan's hands grew cold and she rocked back on her feet and stood slowly. Then with measured steps, she stumbled to the console and held herself on weakening arms. The words Daddy and Uncle and the TARDIS and the physical exertion from the last two days made her weak, pained and tired. The Doctor sensed the change and shock in his friend not to mention his own confusion. He didn't want to alarm the child. "Do you still like cordial?"
The boy's smile widened if that was possible and he nodded.
"Well then.how about you have your Momma take you down to the kitchen and."
With a shake of his head the boy nullified the Doctor's statement. "I know where the kitchen is! You used to take me there and Uncle Thete takes me to his kitchen too.Uncle Thete cooks a wicked meal. Are you coming too?"
"In a minute. I have to play with the controls and I need your Momma to help me. Are you all right? All better?"
The child gave a nod and ran for the door, past his mother whom he pulled down to kiss her on the cheek and out into the corridor. When the door safely shut behind the child and the Doctor had worked the internal communications to tell Turlough and the other guards that he was on his way and to get him, he glanced at Tegan.
She already had held up her hands to ward off his questions or accusations. "I do not have children, Doc. I've never been pregnant."
"He's obviously from your future," the Doctor said quietly. "I want to know why he calls me Daddy."
"Rabbits! That's not important! Why is he here at all?!" She demanded, slamming her hands down on the console. "I'm gathering 'Uncle Thete' is you. Why the hell would you have brought my six year old son to a situation like this? I understand bringing another adult, but a child..alone?"
The Doctor frowned and gave a harsh sigh. "I don't know, Tegan. I certainly wouldn't have. But I intend to find out."
**
Three hours earlier
**
Turlough had often heard Tegan's voice raised in irritation and aggravation. So he could tell he was walking into a 'situation' when he pushed open the door of the TARDIS. He straightened his tie and rolled his eyes before he entered. He had learned the best way to handle his female friend was to be calm and collected in the face of her ire. If nothing else, he felt like he had a leg up on her. The door opened and he entered the darker, more gothic console room of the older Doctor. He saw his Doctor, the fair one, with his hands held up as if to appease his companion. The shorter Doctor stood nearby, his hands fiddling with several knobs.
"I don't care what he says," Tegan said, harshly. She stopped and shook her head. "What you say.oh rabbits! How can anyone have an argument with you when there are two of you around?"
"Yes, well, Tegan," the older Time Lord said happily. "That's often why people don't have arguments on Gallifrey. Several different incarnations and suddenly all the fun is gone in interaction."
The Fifth Doctor rolled his eyes and glanced at his elder self. "If you remember anything of her, you would know not to antagonize her."
Tegan harumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Still, I don't care what he's said, I'm going with you."
"Well, he does have a point, Tegan," the Fifth Doctor answered with a grunt. "They do have firepower."
"And you're taking guards with you that have guns," she replied. "I know guns aren't your style. And since when do you worry about me going with you into dangerous situations. You need someone who is good with children with you. Are you good with children?" she accused.
The Eighth Doctor quirked an eyebrow and spared a glance at his younger self. "Now she has the point. Take it from me, she is good with children. We, on the other hand, need practice."
"You aren't a help, you know," the Fifth Doctor stated, as he jammed his hands into his pockets. He lowered his head and sighed. "All right, Tegan. All right. You can come with me. You can be in charge of the children when we find them."
Turlough pulled at his cuffs to straighten them and then calmly called out: "If you are all quite through with the arguing that you all seem to love to do.we've wasted fifteen minutes. And time is precious."
The Fifth Doctor nodded and started for the door. Tegan followed hard at his heels. When they began to pass through the door, he stopped and turned around. "And you'll man home base?"
The Eighth Doctor frowned and nodded quickly. "Two TARDIS' would be quicker for gathering the children, but."
"It's the same time/space track signature," the Fifth Doctor agreed. "Yes, you do see the problem."
"Yes and since one of us has to stay with the officers as.collateral.I suppose it will be me," the Eighth Doctor growled. "Use the communicator. I'll see if I can get a heat signature set up for the children. And their respiratory patterns; children breathe at a higher rate.yes, yes.." The Eighth Doctor straightened up to run around the console. "Yes, of course. Take the communicator. Patch through a line. Of course, why didn't I see that sooner? Well, what are you waiting for." he asked, turning around, the tails of his green velvet frock coat flying wide.
The Fifth Doctor sighed and lifted an eyebrow, but was pulled out the door by Turlough. "Come on, you can have a personality crisis later, Doctor."
"Come on," Tegan added her voice to her friend's and grabbed at the Doctor's hand. The last thing the Fifth Doctor heard from his elder self was as complex statement: "I know Tegan. You handle her your way; I handle her mine."
The younger man stopped and glanced back at his older self, not quite understanding from where that statement had come.
**
It took only a moment to situate the guards in the stark whiteness of the console room. The Doctor was muttering into the communicator with his older self. "What? Come again?"
"Galactic 23.567 by 453.287. Use the common time, old chap. Come on."
The Fifth Doctor mumbled a few words under his breath and then adjusted the coordinates. "Right. We're off." He flicked the switch and waited, punching the console when it didn't leave immediately. "Travel time three minutes," he informed his friends. Turlough nodded, leaning on the console. The guards, through their shock, gave their assent as well.
**
"Ah, gentlemen, come in," the Eighth Doctor called grandly. The Commander and the Head of Security stumbled in through the door. "And do mind the dimensional instability at the interface. I'm just now making sure my younger self lands on a dime. We have located the children."
The Commander strolled through the console room, his gait only stalling as he saw the grandness of the interior. "This ship.it isn't."
"Human? No. Definitely not. But, come on, you are out here to meet new space races and all that. Though I admit this station is rather Babylon 5ish if you must know. Ah, they should be dematerializing any moment."
"Dematerializing," the Head of Security asked with a disbelieving shake of his head. "Do I want to ask?"
"This is a TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It travels through time and space, traversing a vortex. But that isn't relevant to the situation at hand," the Doctor said, his head twitching up quickly to fix the man with a stare. "I've tweaked the TARDIS' exterior scanners and widened the range to encompass most of the station that is not inhabited. We were correct in that the children had not been taken off of the station."
"But our scanners," the Commander began, but stopped and snatched his hand back as the vibration from the TARDIS thrummed under his hand. He righted off of the console immediately. "Our scanners didn't pick up anything."
"Yes, well.and you are working with twenty second century WSO technology so it is to be expected. No," the Doctor said as he walked around the console with a jaunty step. "No, no. Your scanners wouldn't pick up the temperature signature as they have the children near the power station on the second level on the outside rim. No, I've adjusted the TARDIS scanners to pick up their respiratory patterns and cross-tabulated with a temperature signature.ah. My other self has landed." He frowned and tapped harshly at the console until a low whine was heard from the ship. "And relatively close. I do hope they are a bit quiet about it all."
**
The door opened slowly and the Doctor poked his head out, glancing around. The section of the station that the TARDIS had set down in was darker and cooler than the rest of the station. He could sense that much on his skin. Tegan helped to confirm his suspicions when she muttered. "It's like the bloody Arctic here."
"Hmm, space is cold, Tegan," he gave her helpfully. "Now, be quiet. We've landed near by."
He stepped completely from the time machine and stood in the chill and gloom, glancing about. She followed him, changed for once, in a jumper with running boots. The two guards stepped from the TARDIS and into the gloom with the happiness of men returned to their home environment. Turlough followed, locking the door.
"Do you recognize where we are?" the Doctor asked, quietly, to the nearest guard. "And I would advise the guns to be set on stun. There are children about, you know."
The guard nodded. "We're in the power annex on the outer rim of the station. This section wasn't due to open for another year at least. Not until the Gamma expansion."
"Hmm," the Time Lord replied. "I'm quite sure we landed close to the mark my other self gave us. Turlough?"
The Trion pulled a small device out of his pocket and twisted about, frowning. Tegan thought he held the device like a talisman. "Increasing temperature about .2 parsecs in this direction," he supplied. "But the respiratory patterns.I can't do a similar match."
"No," the Doctor sighed. "Well.temperature spike would definitely lead us in the right direction. Right. That way, you lot," he whispered. "And keep your eyes open."
The Doctor walked calmly ahead of the guards. Turlough joined him at the head, muttering when to change direction. Tegan stayed between the two guards, suspiciously glancing about.
"That's odd," Turlough frowned after a moment. "The temperature gauge suddenly spiked cold."
"Are you sure you know how to use that thing?" Tegan pressed. She glanced over her shoulder back the way they had come.
"It's an arcane piece of equipment. Of course I can use it," Turlough argued. "I'm working it right. But I'm suddenly not picking up the signatures."
"You don't think their.dead.do you?" Tegan asked, her voice trembling.
"No." the Doctor reassured. "They've moved the children into one of the shielded areas. We're running out of time."
He waved them on, striding with less care and more purpose in the way they had been going to suddenly draw up short. Tegan barreled into his back, barely holding back her screech. They were on a catwalk over an incredibly large open space. Below them were the cooling areas for the nuclear reactors and the central core. Twenty or so men and women were below standing in a circle and in the middle of them was a large cross with flame drawn on the floor. "Oh no," she muttered.
"There, there," he said, reaching down to pat the child on his head and soothe him.
The child laughed into the material of the Doctor's cricket pants and bounced on his feet to stare up at the Doctor's face. "You're back! Momma said you would come back. Didn't you, Momma?" he asked, turning to stare at Tegan. She remained crouched on the ground in shock.
She tried to give a reassuring smile and nodded. "Of course the Doctor would come back if he said he would."
The Doctor smiled down at the child. "Of course I'm back. What on Earth are you doing here?"
"Uncle Thete brought me here for my birthday present. He said we were going to see something new. Momma wasn't too happy about it, but she let me go. Momma, you didn't have to come after me. Uncle would get me home. But I'm glad you brought Daddy back."
The Doctor's hand stilled in the air over the boy's head and he speared Tegan with a stare. Her brown eyes were wide and she gasped. The boy continued to chatter. "I'm in school now."
Tegan's hands grew cold and she rocked back on her feet and stood slowly. Then with measured steps, she stumbled to the console and held herself on weakening arms. The words Daddy and Uncle and the TARDIS and the physical exertion from the last two days made her weak, pained and tired. The Doctor sensed the change and shock in his friend not to mention his own confusion. He didn't want to alarm the child. "Do you still like cordial?"
The boy's smile widened if that was possible and he nodded.
"Well then.how about you have your Momma take you down to the kitchen and."
With a shake of his head the boy nullified the Doctor's statement. "I know where the kitchen is! You used to take me there and Uncle Thete takes me to his kitchen too.Uncle Thete cooks a wicked meal. Are you coming too?"
"In a minute. I have to play with the controls and I need your Momma to help me. Are you all right? All better?"
The child gave a nod and ran for the door, past his mother whom he pulled down to kiss her on the cheek and out into the corridor. When the door safely shut behind the child and the Doctor had worked the internal communications to tell Turlough and the other guards that he was on his way and to get him, he glanced at Tegan.
She already had held up her hands to ward off his questions or accusations. "I do not have children, Doc. I've never been pregnant."
"He's obviously from your future," the Doctor said quietly. "I want to know why he calls me Daddy."
"Rabbits! That's not important! Why is he here at all?!" She demanded, slamming her hands down on the console. "I'm gathering 'Uncle Thete' is you. Why the hell would you have brought my six year old son to a situation like this? I understand bringing another adult, but a child..alone?"
The Doctor frowned and gave a harsh sigh. "I don't know, Tegan. I certainly wouldn't have. But I intend to find out."
**
Three hours earlier
**
Turlough had often heard Tegan's voice raised in irritation and aggravation. So he could tell he was walking into a 'situation' when he pushed open the door of the TARDIS. He straightened his tie and rolled his eyes before he entered. He had learned the best way to handle his female friend was to be calm and collected in the face of her ire. If nothing else, he felt like he had a leg up on her. The door opened and he entered the darker, more gothic console room of the older Doctor. He saw his Doctor, the fair one, with his hands held up as if to appease his companion. The shorter Doctor stood nearby, his hands fiddling with several knobs.
"I don't care what he says," Tegan said, harshly. She stopped and shook her head. "What you say.oh rabbits! How can anyone have an argument with you when there are two of you around?"
"Yes, well, Tegan," the older Time Lord said happily. "That's often why people don't have arguments on Gallifrey. Several different incarnations and suddenly all the fun is gone in interaction."
The Fifth Doctor rolled his eyes and glanced at his elder self. "If you remember anything of her, you would know not to antagonize her."
Tegan harumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Still, I don't care what he's said, I'm going with you."
"Well, he does have a point, Tegan," the Fifth Doctor answered with a grunt. "They do have firepower."
"And you're taking guards with you that have guns," she replied. "I know guns aren't your style. And since when do you worry about me going with you into dangerous situations. You need someone who is good with children with you. Are you good with children?" she accused.
The Eighth Doctor quirked an eyebrow and spared a glance at his younger self. "Now she has the point. Take it from me, she is good with children. We, on the other hand, need practice."
"You aren't a help, you know," the Fifth Doctor stated, as he jammed his hands into his pockets. He lowered his head and sighed. "All right, Tegan. All right. You can come with me. You can be in charge of the children when we find them."
Turlough pulled at his cuffs to straighten them and then calmly called out: "If you are all quite through with the arguing that you all seem to love to do.we've wasted fifteen minutes. And time is precious."
The Fifth Doctor nodded and started for the door. Tegan followed hard at his heels. When they began to pass through the door, he stopped and turned around. "And you'll man home base?"
The Eighth Doctor frowned and nodded quickly. "Two TARDIS' would be quicker for gathering the children, but."
"It's the same time/space track signature," the Fifth Doctor agreed. "Yes, you do see the problem."
"Yes and since one of us has to stay with the officers as.collateral.I suppose it will be me," the Eighth Doctor growled. "Use the communicator. I'll see if I can get a heat signature set up for the children. And their respiratory patterns; children breathe at a higher rate.yes, yes.." The Eighth Doctor straightened up to run around the console. "Yes, of course. Take the communicator. Patch through a line. Of course, why didn't I see that sooner? Well, what are you waiting for." he asked, turning around, the tails of his green velvet frock coat flying wide.
The Fifth Doctor sighed and lifted an eyebrow, but was pulled out the door by Turlough. "Come on, you can have a personality crisis later, Doctor."
"Come on," Tegan added her voice to her friend's and grabbed at the Doctor's hand. The last thing the Fifth Doctor heard from his elder self was as complex statement: "I know Tegan. You handle her your way; I handle her mine."
The younger man stopped and glanced back at his older self, not quite understanding from where that statement had come.
**
It took only a moment to situate the guards in the stark whiteness of the console room. The Doctor was muttering into the communicator with his older self. "What? Come again?"
"Galactic 23.567 by 453.287. Use the common time, old chap. Come on."
The Fifth Doctor mumbled a few words under his breath and then adjusted the coordinates. "Right. We're off." He flicked the switch and waited, punching the console when it didn't leave immediately. "Travel time three minutes," he informed his friends. Turlough nodded, leaning on the console. The guards, through their shock, gave their assent as well.
**
"Ah, gentlemen, come in," the Eighth Doctor called grandly. The Commander and the Head of Security stumbled in through the door. "And do mind the dimensional instability at the interface. I'm just now making sure my younger self lands on a dime. We have located the children."
The Commander strolled through the console room, his gait only stalling as he saw the grandness of the interior. "This ship.it isn't."
"Human? No. Definitely not. But, come on, you are out here to meet new space races and all that. Though I admit this station is rather Babylon 5ish if you must know. Ah, they should be dematerializing any moment."
"Dematerializing," the Head of Security asked with a disbelieving shake of his head. "Do I want to ask?"
"This is a TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It travels through time and space, traversing a vortex. But that isn't relevant to the situation at hand," the Doctor said, his head twitching up quickly to fix the man with a stare. "I've tweaked the TARDIS' exterior scanners and widened the range to encompass most of the station that is not inhabited. We were correct in that the children had not been taken off of the station."
"But our scanners," the Commander began, but stopped and snatched his hand back as the vibration from the TARDIS thrummed under his hand. He righted off of the console immediately. "Our scanners didn't pick up anything."
"Yes, well.and you are working with twenty second century WSO technology so it is to be expected. No," the Doctor said as he walked around the console with a jaunty step. "No, no. Your scanners wouldn't pick up the temperature signature as they have the children near the power station on the second level on the outside rim. No, I've adjusted the TARDIS scanners to pick up their respiratory patterns and cross-tabulated with a temperature signature.ah. My other self has landed." He frowned and tapped harshly at the console until a low whine was heard from the ship. "And relatively close. I do hope they are a bit quiet about it all."
**
The door opened slowly and the Doctor poked his head out, glancing around. The section of the station that the TARDIS had set down in was darker and cooler than the rest of the station. He could sense that much on his skin. Tegan helped to confirm his suspicions when she muttered. "It's like the bloody Arctic here."
"Hmm, space is cold, Tegan," he gave her helpfully. "Now, be quiet. We've landed near by."
He stepped completely from the time machine and stood in the chill and gloom, glancing about. She followed him, changed for once, in a jumper with running boots. The two guards stepped from the TARDIS and into the gloom with the happiness of men returned to their home environment. Turlough followed, locking the door.
"Do you recognize where we are?" the Doctor asked, quietly, to the nearest guard. "And I would advise the guns to be set on stun. There are children about, you know."
The guard nodded. "We're in the power annex on the outer rim of the station. This section wasn't due to open for another year at least. Not until the Gamma expansion."
"Hmm," the Time Lord replied. "I'm quite sure we landed close to the mark my other self gave us. Turlough?"
The Trion pulled a small device out of his pocket and twisted about, frowning. Tegan thought he held the device like a talisman. "Increasing temperature about .2 parsecs in this direction," he supplied. "But the respiratory patterns.I can't do a similar match."
"No," the Doctor sighed. "Well.temperature spike would definitely lead us in the right direction. Right. That way, you lot," he whispered. "And keep your eyes open."
The Doctor walked calmly ahead of the guards. Turlough joined him at the head, muttering when to change direction. Tegan stayed between the two guards, suspiciously glancing about.
"That's odd," Turlough frowned after a moment. "The temperature gauge suddenly spiked cold."
"Are you sure you know how to use that thing?" Tegan pressed. She glanced over her shoulder back the way they had come.
"It's an arcane piece of equipment. Of course I can use it," Turlough argued. "I'm working it right. But I'm suddenly not picking up the signatures."
"You don't think their.dead.do you?" Tegan asked, her voice trembling.
"No." the Doctor reassured. "They've moved the children into one of the shielded areas. We're running out of time."
He waved them on, striding with less care and more purpose in the way they had been going to suddenly draw up short. Tegan barreled into his back, barely holding back her screech. They were on a catwalk over an incredibly large open space. Below them were the cooling areas for the nuclear reactors and the central core. Twenty or so men and women were below standing in a circle and in the middle of them was a large cross with flame drawn on the floor. "Oh no," she muttered.