Author's Note: Others own the Hogan's Heroes and Doctor Who characters. All others are my creations. Please don't use them without my permission.
Who Goes There? - Part 2
By Diane Maher
Colonel Robert Hogan and his crew were down in the tunnel beneath Barracks 2, going through their final preparations for the night's mission when Carter heard a strange sound.
"Sir? Did you hear that?" Carter asked.
Hogan paused and listened. "I didn't hear anything, Carter. What do you think you heard?"
"I thought I heard some kind of a grinding noise, down the emergency tunnel, towards the exit."
"Carter me mate, you've been around the chemicals too long," Newkirk teased.
"If that were the case, he would be losing his sense of smell, not hearing," LeBeau commented sarcastically.
"Not if it was TNT or nitroglycerin and it blew up while he was preparing it," Newkirk replied and both laughed.
"Will you guys cut it out? I really heard something!" protested Carter.
The faint sound of voices echoed through the tunnel to where they stood. Hogan motioned for Carter and Newkirk to hide down one tunnel, Kinch and LeBeau to go down another and he would go down yet a third. Each of them took a weapon from the table and all were ready to fire as they hid in the side tunnels. They were out of sight when a shaft of light shined down the emergency tunnel.
A tall man, with curling silver hair, dressed in a frilly white shirt and black velvet pants, cape and jacket entered the room, followed by a blonde haired woman dressed in form-fitting gray pants, vest and white shirt and a tall, dark haired man with a mustache dressed in a uniform of some sort. It looked vaguely like something the British Army would wear, but it wasn't quite the same. They wore brown, not olive green, Hogan observed. Who are they and what are they doing here? More importantly, how did they get here?
The man in the fancy clothes saw the document on the table and went over to inspect it. "I wonder if this document has any hint as to what we are here to do?"
Hogan quickly moved behind the man and put his gun to the back of the intruder's head. "And just what are you here to do?" he asked as calmly as he could, given how nervous he was. It wasn't everyday that they had people just show up in their secret tunnels beneath Stalag 13.
His crew came out and pointed their weapons towards the other two. The uniformed man went to draw his weapon. "No, Brigadier!" the man in front of Hogan exclaimed. He then calmly raised his hands, turned and faced Hogan. "Will you please put down the gun? We're not the enemy. I'll try and explain who we are and why we're here."
Whoever he is, he's willing to talk first, Hogan thought as he slowly lowered his gun. He would listen to this stranger who happened to have a British accent, yet was still wary as they had appeared out of nowhere. "Sit over there," he indicated a table with several chairs around it. His men kept their guns trained on the other two.
The man gave a quick nod and sat in the chair indicated. He coughed nervously as though he didn't know where to begin.
Hogan looked at him, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Well? Let's start with who you and these people are, and then we can go from there."
"That's a reasonable request. I'm known as the Doctor, this is my assistant, Jo Grant and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT."
"UNIT? Who are they?" Hogan asked.
Before Lethbridge-Stewart could answer, the Doctor replied, "We can't tell you."
Hogan shot a glare towards the Doctor. He had been patient with this man thus far, but this was pushing it. "Why not?"
The Doctor remained silent and hoped both the Brigadier and Jo did the same. Hogan walked over to the younger man. "Well? Who or what is UNIT?!"
"Like the Doctor said, we can't tell you," the Brigadier said.
Hogan's brow furrowed. He then ordered, "All of you, get up against the wall." To his crew, "Search them. I want to see everything they've got in their pockets."
Hogan noticed the nervous look on the Brigadier's face. "Is there a problem, Brigadier? You seem nervous."
"No," the Brigadier replied.
Carter said, "Um, excuse me ma'am, could you please raise your arms and put your hands behind your head?"
Jo was surprised by the man's politeness. "Where are you from?" she asked as she complied.
"Muncie, Indiana," replied Carter as he lightly frisked her.
"That's nice," Jo commented as she lowered her arms.
"You've got nerve, frisking Miss Grant!" the Brigadier exclaimed angrily.
"Take it easy, Lethbridge-Stewart. We have to make sure that none of you are carrying anything that could interfere with or expose our operation here," Hogan replied calmly as he caught the look that passed between Carter and the young woman.
"I still don't like it," said the Brigadier.
"Yeah? Well, it's over and done with and he didn't hurt her. We're not like that," said Hogan. His crew placed the items on the table and Hogan gave them a cursory glance.
"Colonel, I could order you..." the Brigadier began.
Hogan looked sideways toward the Brigadier. "Yes, I suppose that technically you can. However, I won't allow you to pull rank on me because the security of this operation is of paramount importance and British accent or not, I have no idea what organization you're a Brigadier in," Hogan replied sharply.
The Brigadier's wallet and all their IDs were on the table. Newkirk checked out the money in the wallet to see whether it was counterfeit.
"Well?" Hogan asked, curious.
"Blimey, I've never seen anything like this!" Newkirk exclaimed quietly.
"What is it?" asked Hogan.
"Look, the bleedin' date on this five pound note is 1968! And there's some woman's picture on it, not the King's," Newkirk replied.
Hogan looked at Newkirk in disbelief. He then took the bill, looked at it under a light himself and finally turned back to the three people who were still against the far wall under the watchful eyes of Kinch and Carter. He put down the bill and picked up their IDs and inspected them.
"United Nations Intelligence Taskforce," Hogan continued as he read the information on one of the IDs out loud. "Never heard of it and I know the League of Nations is gone."
The three intruders were silent. Hogan considered the situation and he didn't like it at all. Perhaps these people are Gestapo agents? Looking at the Doctor, he dismissed that thought. Hogan frowned and then went back to the table. He picked up the five pound note.
"Well? Would you care to explain this?" Hogan asked, holding the five pound note toward them. They said nothing. "Tie them up, Carter and sit them against the wall. Until we get some satisfactory answers as to who they are and why they're here, we can't take any chances that they'll escape and tell the Nazis about this place and us. Then, we need to check the emergency tunnel and make sure it's clear. We don't want any nasty surprises waiting for us."
"What about tonight's mission, sir?" LeBeau asked as he came to stand next to Hogan on the far side of the room from the prisoners.
Hogan considered the Frenchman's query for a moment. Turning away from their captives, Hogan quietly replied, "Two of you will have to go out and complete the mission. Headquarters said that it must be done tonight. LeBeau, you and Carter will go out after midnight."
"Yes sir," replied LeBeau.
Could they really be from the future? That's extremely hard to believe and even harder to confirm, Hogan mused as he looked down at the British five pound note in his hand. He saw the year that it was printed was indeed 1968. He checked his watch. It was almost time for the evening roll call. On his way to the ladder, he paused at a table where there was a sewing basket and turned back to address his prisoners, "I'll be back shortly. I'd like to talk with you some more."
"Are we to remain tied up?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes, but only until I return. Then, based on your answers, I'll consider releasing you," replied Hogan.
Hogan and his crew left and they heard a trap door of some sort close. The tunnel was quiet and the three prisoners looked at each other.
"Well, that's not much consolation is it?" Jo asked.
"No," the Doctor said.
"What do you think of these men, Doctor?" asked the Brigadier.
The Doctor frowned as he tried to untie the ropes that held him. "I'm not sure. At first, I believe they thought we were hostile."
"I agree that they're not sure about us," chimed in Jo.
"Can you blame them?" asked the Brigadier. "I still can't believe where we are, but seeing the Colonel's uniform, I recognize it as being an American one from the war."
"I think we should give them a chance. Remember, we still aren't sure why we're here," said the Doctor.
The sound of a trap door activating echoed through the tunnel. A minute later, Hogan returned to the tunnel. He was glad that his three prisoners were still sitting right on the floor where he'd left them.
"That was quick," the Doctor commented.
"Roll call usually is," Hogan replied with a shrug as he pulled a chair in front of them, straddled it and crossed his arms on its back.
"Roll call? Where exactly are we?" the Brigadier asked.
Hogan said nothing.
"Oh. Since we told you nothing, now you're telling us nothing?" The Brigadier paused before continuing in an agitated voice, "Well?"
Hogan frowned. He was getting tired of the Brigadier quickly. He stood, left the room momentarily and returned with a handkerchief. He went over to the Brigadier, squatted down, calmly put it in his mouth and tied it around his head. Jo snickered and got a searing look from the Brigadier.
"Sorry, Brigadier! I can't help it! That's the first sensible thing I've seen happen today!" she said between fits of laughter. The Doctor laughed too.
"Now that's settled, I suppose you really would like some answers from us," the Doctor said.
Hogan returned to his chair. "Yes, I would. I'm an open-minded person if you give me a chance. Besides," he said as he pulled the English five-pound note from his jacket pocket, "I've seen some of the proof already."
"We can't tell you a lot, as we can't afford to mess up Earth's future," the Doctor began.
Hogan nodded his understanding and the Doctor continued. "We've been sent here from 1971 to stop a catastrophe from occurring which would change Earth's future from here on."
"Do you know what you're supposed to be stopping?" asked Hogan.
"Unfortunately, no," the Doctor replied.
"And time travel exists in 1971?" Hogan asked, skeptical.
"No. My people have discovered the secret of time travel," replied the Doctor.
"Oh? Who are your people?" asked Hogan.
The Doctor sighed. "This is going to be a little hard to explain. You see, I'm from another world."
Hogan looked in disbelief at the Doctor and then at the other two prisoners who said nothing. "Doctor, can you prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're from another world?"
"Do you have a stethoscope?" Jo asked.
"Yes." Hogan stood and left the room for a moment, and then returned with a stethoscope.
"Now, put it against the Doctor's chest and listen. You'll find something rather...unusual."
Hogan put the earpieces in his ears, squatted down, placed the stethoscope on the Doctor's chest and listened. He wasn't a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but Hogan could swear that he heard the sound of two separate heartbeats, one on each side of the man's chest. He moved the stethoscope to each side to confirm this strange phenomenon.
"Well? What do you hear?" asked Jo.
"I think that I heard two heartbeats," Hogan replied, a look of shock on his face. He stood, took the earpieces out of his ears and considered what he'd heard from these people to this point. Certainly, the Gestapo or the SS wouldn't be able to pull off something like this. Hell, even we couldn't pull off this one! Strange as it may seem, they may be telling me the truth. Can I afford to take that chance?
Hogan walked over to where he had a recorder going and switched off the power. He moved the switch into the rewind position, turned the power back on, rewound it, then switched back to play mode and played it back.
Jo and the Doctor were surprised when they heard their voices being played back from a sewing box. Hogan listened to what they had said after he'd left for roll call. He chuckled at the last comments made before he returned. He sighed as he turned off the recorder and considered his next words carefully.
"I guess we'll have to trust you. I've heard enough that I'm convinced you're not Nazis. If there is anything we can do to assist you in your mission here, we will." He then went over and began untying their bonds.
"Are you sure you want to untie the Brigadier?" Jo asked. "He probably wants to court-martial you,"
Hogan grinned and replied, "I will miss the peace and quiet. By the way, I'm Colonel Robert Hogan, US Army Air Corps. Sergeant Carter, an American and the one who tied you up, is a chemist. Corporal Newkirk is the British member of our unit and takes care of forgery and the occasional safe. Sergeant Kinchloe is another American who takes care of the communications, electrical equipment and on a rare occasion, the plumbing. Corporal LeBeau of France is our chef."
"Nice to meet you," she replied. "What do you do here?"
Newkirk and Kinch returned from their inspection of the emergency tunnel. "Sir, there's a bloomin' police box right in the middle of the tunnel not far from the stump!" Newkirk reported. As he and Kinch entered the room where their captives were now standing and stretching their muscles, he asked, "You let them go?"
"Yes. I've learned some more things about them and I'm convinced that they are telling us the truth," Hogan replied.
"You're the guvn'r!" Newkirk said.
Hogan turned and looked at the Doctor. "Is that police box yours?"
"Yes. That is my ship, it's known as the TARDIS," the Doctor replied.
"TARDIS?" asked Hogan.
"It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space," replied the Doctor.
Hogan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. He was tired and it showed. "It's getting late. It's," he checked his watch, "2330 hours. After roll call in the morning, I'll come back down here. Meanwhile, I'd appreciate it if you spent the night in your ship."
"Speaking of your roll call, where exactly are we? A military installation?" the Brigadier asked as he drank some water after removing his gag.
"Not exactly," Hogan replied. "We're beneath a German POW camp."
The Brigadier looked at Hogan as though he was crazy. "Are you serious? We're really beneath a German POW camp?"
"Yes. We're all prisoners of the Germans," Hogan replied.
"But you have all this down here?" asked the Doctor. "Incredible!"
"Yes, it is. Now, you understand why we greeted you the way we did. Our lives depend on this operation remaining a secret. We just can't afford to take chances. Good night, gentlemen, Miss Grant," Hogan said tiredly, and then went above for the night.