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. There is an element in this story from episode #39, "Hogan Springs" written by Laurence Marks.
Who Goes There? Part 4
By Diane Maher
After coming up from the tunnel below, Hogan went into his office and prepared to go to bed. He took off his cap and jacket as he heard the light switch in the next room being flipped. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. He opened the wooden locker, hung up his cap and jacket and then closed the door. Seeing the closed door of his locker made the feeling worse. Shaking his head, Hogan climbed into his bunk to go to sleep.
As Hogan lay in his bunk staring at the ceiling, he wondered why he believed the strange story of their futuristic visitors. The money could be faked, he realized. He reached to his chest and fingered the ring that hung on the chain with his dog tags. How can I tell whether these people are really telling the truth? Hogan asked himself.
Hogan pushed himself up, swung his legs over the edge of the bunk and jumped to the floor. He went into the main room of the barracks, crossed silently to the bunk where Kinch slept, squatted down, and gently shook his shoulder.
"Kinch," Hogan whispered.
Kinch's eyes opened and he whispered, "Colonel? What's going on?"
"I need to see the most current list of the prisoners in Stalag 13," Hogan replied.
"Yes sir. It's in the tunnel," Kinch said as he pulled on his boots. He then stood and activated the hidden trap door leading down below to the tunnel.
Hogan followed Kinch and they went down to the radio room. There was a box of books on the floor on the far side of the room from the radio. Kinch went over to it, knelt down and a moment later, stood holding a small black book.
Kinch handed the book to Hogan. "Is there something in particular you're looking for sir?"
"I'm not sure. I hope I'll know when I find it," Hogan replied. "Let's go back above, I need some better light."
When they returned to the barracks, Hogan went straight to his office with Kinch following, turned on the small desk lamp, opened the book and scanned the names on the first page. He turned to the next one on which he continued his examination. Several pages later, he paused and his eyes narrowed. "I think this is what we need."
"What is it?" Kinch asked.
"Do you know an RAF Captain by the name of Richard Stewart?" Hogan asked. "He's in Barracks 5."
"I seem to recall that he's married and lives in London," Kinch replied. "He's in his early thirties, tall, skinny and has dark hair."
"I need to talk with Captain Stewart tomorrow after the morning roll call," Hogan said. "Will you arrange it?"
"Sure. What have you got in mind, Colonel?" Kinch asked.
"I let our visitors off too easy. One of them has the last name of Stewart. Maybe I can get the two of them together for a little chat."
Kinch nodded, understanding. "I get it. You want to see if the Stewart from the future recognizes the captain as an ancestor."
Hogan said, "You got it. After morning roll call, bring Captain Stewart to my office. After I explain the situation to him, we'll follow you down to the tunnel beneath this barracks. Meanwhile, I want you to try and get the future Stewart in the same place with the lure of breakfast."
"Yes sir. Good night," Kinch said.
"Good night," Hogan replied. Kinch left his office and Hogan climbed into his bunk for the night.
The next morning after roll call, Kinch came into Hogan's office with Captain Stewart.
Hogan then said, "Kinch, have Le Beau make some food for our guests below while I talk to the Captain. Go down and let them know, will you?"
"Sure Colonel," Kinch replied.
When the door closed, Hogan turned his attention to Captain Stewart. "Captain, do you have any relatives by the name of Lethbridge-Stewart?"
"No, but my brother is married to a Lethbridge," Stewart replied. "I don't know whether they combined their surnames as I was shot down three days after their wedding."
"Good enough. Now, you will shortly meet someone by the name of Lethbridge-Stewart. I want to see how he reacts to you," Hogan said.
Stewart shrugged. "Yes sir."
Hogan said, "Let's go below, they should be eating breakfast now."
Hogan and Captain Stewart left Hogan's office, crossed the main room of Barracks 2 and Hogan activated the trap door leading down to the tunnels below.
Kinch nodded as he walked past them on his way back to the barracks. Hogan continued on into the next room where Lethbridge-Stewart was consuming his meal and listening to Carter as he described the magnesium pencils.
"Good morning, Brigadier," Hogan said.
"Good morning, Colonel. Who's this chap...?" the Brigadier replied. He frowned. "You know, Captain, you remind me of my uncle. His name is Peter Stewart."
The Captain looked at Hogan and grinned. "I am Peter Stewart," he said.
The Brigadier gaped for a moment, then stood and came over to where Hogan and the captain stood. He looked at Stewart and exclaimed, "Good Lord, you are Peter Stewart!"
"Yes, I am," Stewart replied.
Jo caught the end of this exchange as she sat to the table to have some breakfast.
"What's going on here?" Jo asked. Next to her, the Doctor sat down and began consuming his breakfast.
"This is my uncle, Captain Peter Stewart of the RAF," the Brigadier replied. "I never recalled hearing that you were a POW."
"I imagine that I wouldn't want to discuss this experience. All things considered, this is no picnic," Stewart said.
The Doctor heard this exchange, stopped eating, turned and stared at Hogan who stood behind the Brigadier with his arms crossed over his chest and a knowing grin on his face. "What the devil do you think you're doing, Hogan?" the Doctor demanded.
"I'm making sure that you really are who you claim you are. I realized last night that your conversation could have been rehearsed, the money in the Brigadier's wallet could have been forged," Hogan replied.
"You still weren't sure we were telling you the truth?" the Doctor asked.
"No. I suppose that to you, I seem paranoid," Hogan said.
The Doctor grunted. "Well, um, yes, I think that you are paranoid. But you've gone too far!"
Hogan put his hands on his hips and looked the Doctor in the eye. "Why have I gone too far?"
"I…uh…can't tell you," the Doctor replied quietly.
"If you can't tell me, then don't say I've gone too far," Hogan said.
"What's going on here?" Jo asked.
"Nothing," Hogan said. He crossed to the table where a coffee pot sat, picked up a cup and poured some coffee into it. When he turned around, he added, "I am merely trying to protect my crew and this unit."
The Brigadier interrupted. "But this really is my uncle Peter. I've seen pictures of him from just after the war."
"Well, my brother was married just before I was shot down last year and I didn't hear anything about his wife being pregnant. Perhaps they have a child by now though," Stewart said.
The Doctor motioned for Hogan to come over to where he stood. When Hogan stood in front of him, he said, "Look here, old chap, we have no reason to lie to you."
Hogan sipped his coffee and then replied, "Doctor, let me tell you something. My crew and I risk our lives daily. We can't afford to believe the fantastic story that you've told us without doing something to try and prove the truth of it to ourselves."
"What if you hadn't found this fellow that you brought down with you today?" the Doctor asked.
"I would have tried anyway. There's too much at risk for us," Hogan replied.
"I understand," the Doctor replied with a nod.
Later that night, Carter and LeBeau left the camp via the tunnel that came up underneath the bushes outside of Stalag 13. They were to mine a bridge that was several miles away and return to camp immediately. There were no incidents on their way there or while they mined the bridge. On their way back, due to the presence of several German patrols, they had to make a detour through Hammelburg. As they approached the edge of town, they noticed a statue there that neither of them recognized. As they watched, the base of the statue opened and a woman stepped out of a concealed door.
Carter and LeBeau looked at each other in stunned disbelief as the woman closed the door and left. When they were certain that she wasn't coming back immediately, they went over to the statue and searched for the door she had come out of, but couldn't find it. They quickly left the area and headed back to camp to inform Colonel Hogan of this newest development.
On their return to Stalag 13, Carter and LeBeau changed back into their uniforms before going above for the night. As Carter lie awake in his bunk, he considered what they'd seen at the statue on the edge of Hammelburg. He slid out of his bunk, walked to the room at the end of the barracks and quietly entered.
"Colonel Hogan?" Carter asked in a whisper.
"Yeah, Carter, what is it?" Hogan replied from the top bunk. He rolled on his side to face Carter and propped his head up on his arm.
"Louis and I saw something strange at the edge of Hammelburg on our way back to camp tonight," Carter replied, and then tried to describe what they had seen.
Hogan frowned as he listened to Carter's report. "You found a statue that has a concealed door that you saw open, watched a woman come out of and yet you and Louis couldn't find the door or open it moments later?"
Carter shrugged. "That's about it, sir. I know it's really strange, but..."
Hogan's brow furrowed. "Don't worry, I believe you. We've had our share of strange things happening here lately. I wonder if our friends below would know anything about what you saw."
"I guess we won't get much sleep tonight, right sir?" Carter asked.
"Yeah. Hogan's twenty-four hour service – we never sleep," Hogan replied as he sat up, swung his legs over the edge of his bunk, jumped down, put on his cap, shoes and jacket again, then followed Carter to the next room.
Hogan woke Kinch so he could activate the trap door leading to their tunnel. A few minutes later, Carter and Hogan approached the police box situated in the middle of the emergency tunnel and saw that its doors were open. They entered and found themselves in a large, well-lit white room with a large, hexagonal shaped console in front of them.
They heard a strange humming sound and when they looked back over their shoulders, they saw the doors closing behind them. "Uh, oh," Hogan said.
The Doctor entered the room with a tool of some sort in his hand, saw them and asked, "What the devil are you two doing in here?"
"Carter, describe what you and Louis saw in town," Hogan replied. Carter repeated his story to the Doctor who listened intently.
The Doctor frowned and then asked, "Can you show me this statue?"
"Yes," Carter replied.
"Let's go," the Doctor said.
The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and Hogan and Carter led the way to the emergency tunnel's exit. Carter went up first and Hogan motioned to the Doctor for silence. Once Carter was out, the Doctor and then Hogan followed. After Hogan closed the lid of the stump, he pulled the Doctor down to the ground.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor whispered.
"Keeping us from being spotted by those searchlights," Hogan whispered.
The Doctor looked over Hogan's shoulder and for the first time, saw the POW camp. Hogan pushed himself up and motioned for them to get moving. Twenty minutes later, they slowly approached the edge of Hammelburg, and Carter pointed out the statue's location.
"Where did you see the door open?" the Doctor asked.
Carter indicated the area. The Doctor examined it and pulled something out of his jacket's pocket. He looked at them, grinned and activated the instrument. There was a strange, high-pitched whine, and then the door opened. Hogan and Carter looked at each other, surprised, then at the Doctor.
"Door handle," the Doctor said with a mischievous grin as he walked through the door. Hogan and Carter followed.
"What is this place?" Hogan asked.
"It's another TARDIS," the Doctor replied. "You didn't by chance see a man wearing a black suit with salt and pepper hair and goatee walk out of here too, did you?"
"No," Carter replied. "We only saw the woman leave."
"Perhaps she is a human under his control," the Doctor muttered.
"How would he control her?" Hogan asked.
"He uses hypnotism to control his subjects," the Doctor replied.
"Who is this man?" Hogan asked.
"I'm ashamed to admit it, but this man is one of my people," the Doctor replied. "He's known as the Master and is extraordinarily dangerous. Come, we must see if we can find out what he's up to here."
The Doctor led the way through the control room. Hogan watched as Carter picked up a small item from the console and slipped it into his jacket's pocket. He had also asked Carter to bring several of their magnesium pencils along with him. You never knew when you might need a fire for a diversion.
As they went further into the TARDIS, they came across a room in which there was a bank of strange looking contraptions along one wall. Suddenly, they heard a beeping sound.
"What's that sound?" the Doctor asked as he stopped to listen.
Hogan turned towards the source of the beeping sound. "All right Carter, what did you do now?"
"It isn't a matter of what he did, it's a matter of what he picked up," the Doctor replied as he examined the beeping item that Carter handed to him.
"What is it?" Hogan asked.
"This device can detect the presence of a TARDIS!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"But why would it go off if we're already inside one?" Hogan asked.
The Doctor turned around, walked towards the wall and the signal got stronger. "That's incredibly dangerous!"
"What do you mean, Doctor?" Hogan asked.
"There are two TARDISes in the same space/time location, only one is inside the other," the Doctor replied.
* * * * * * *
Inside her ship, the Rani began her experiment. She removed the tissue sample from the plastic bag, inserted it into her machine, activated the instrument and pressed a sequence of buttons. As she watched it go through each stage of the cloning process, she knew that this phase of her plan would be completed soon.
Satisfied that all was proceeding normally, she went to check on her prisoner. She stopped briefly in the control room and saw the image on her ship's scanner. I have some visitors, she observed. She opened the doors, walked out of her TARDIS and asked, "Whom do we have here?"
"And just who might you be, madam?" the tall, fancily dressed man asked.
"I am known as the Rani. Now, the three of you will kindly step inside my TARDIS," she said as she pulled out the tissue compression eliminator and pointed it at them.
"What's that?" the dark haired man asked the fancily dressed man next to him.
"It's a particularly nasty weapon called a tissue compression eliminator. If it were to be used on us, we would look like small dolls about ten inches tall," the fancily dressed man replied.
The three men went through the door. The Rani followed and closed it behind herself.
"That's right. Could it be that I'm speaking to one of the incarnations of the Doctor?"
"Yes. I am the Doctor," the fancily dressed man said.
The Rani nodded. "Ah. You must be the dandy."
"I've never heard of the Rani," the Doctor said.
"I'm from your future, Doctor. Although with us Time Lords, time is a relative thing," the Rani said.
"I take it you're another renegade from Gallifrey?" the Doctor asked.
The Rani ignored the Doctor's question. "Now, if you'll go through the door in front of you, I'll put you in your cell."
They walked through the door and shortly, were inside what appeared to be a glass cell. The Doctor noticed another cell's occupant when they entered. "So, she's got hold of you, too?"
The Master glowered as the Doctor was put into a cell with the two Earthlings. They started inspecting the cell to see if they could somehow escape. The Doctor soon joined them.
"Oh, don't bother yourselves with trying to escape, there's nothing you can use to cut through that material, short of a diamond and none of you have one. I'm going to check on my experiment," the Rani said and laughed as she left.
"It's a shame we don't have a diamond," the Doctor said, and then turned towards the Master. "How did you end up like that?"
The Master sighed. "It's a long story, Doctor. I'd be happy to tell you if we could escape from here before she carries out her diabolical plan."
"What exactly is her plan?" the Doctor inquired.
Before the Master could reply, the door opened again and the Rani entered the room. Apparently, she had been listening just outside the door. "Ah, Doctor, wouldn't you just like to know!" She paused for a moment before continuing in an arrogant tone, "Since you have no way of stopping me, I'll tell you. I've come back to this miserable planet and this time to give the secret of cloning humans to Hitler and his scientists. It would allow him to overrun his enemies in this world by force of sheer numbers."
"That's insane!" the Doctor exclaimed.
The Rani shrugged. "No, Doctor. I am merely assisting in what they have already started."
"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked.
"They are trying to create a master race by removing certain unfit elements of their population and thus improving their gene pool," the Rani replied.
"They are murdering innocent people!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Millions of people will die if you help them!"
"Millions of people will die even I don't help the Nazis. Doctor, you know that as well as I do," the Rani said, her tone flat.
"You can't do this!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"I can and I will," the Rani replied and then left the room.