Megan looks back at the controls and begins to operate some of the dials and sophisticated computer functions the young Timelord operator is trying to maneuver. Both Devenari and Andrea seem curious to her actions and watch her feverishly try to aid the young man in his attempts to reverse the process again.
"Megan! What are you doing?" Andrea shouts.
"I'm a doctor too you know…and scientist…there's no way in hell I'm giving up without a fight." She barked back. "I've been watching them operate this thing for awhile so I have a grasp of what it can do. We'll switch the frequency around a bit more, interchange the harmonics and see if we can't find the right energy signature to bring the Doctor back into his body again."
"Even if you do manage to find the right one…what makes you think the Doctor can ever be the same again?" Devenari questions at her. "The universe is a complicated matter my dear, simply bringing him back might not be enough to restore the timeline that might already be crumbling."
Megan glares up at him in anger. "Then I guess it's up to the Timelords to fix the situation isn't it? For a such a superior species…you people really have the worst track record in keeping the universe safe!"
Just as the fanciful dressed man was about to rebuke her statement, the young operator at the console smiled and shouted to him in joy.
"Lord President! Something is happening!"
Pointing to the screen filled with numbers and lettering indigenous to their world, the computer operator continued to smile as he showed the Galifreian President the new results.
"There…a spike occurred! For a second he almost came back…."
Megan noticed it too and smiled as well. "Then let's find that frequency and do it again."
Andrea rushed over to the Doctor's body and bit her knuckle with worry.
"Come on Doctor…fight…fight…."
•••••••••••••••••••
"Where are you going Doctor?" The red bearded Guardian shouts out to the quirky Timelord starting to walk away from him.
"Well it's obvious isn't it…I can't go back…I can't go forward…then I'll go side to side if need be."
Suddenly another figure comes running up beside him and joins him in his sprint across the darkening wasteland. The man accompanying him, wearing a multi-colored jacket of orange and plaid, is almost as tall as the Doctor, with blonde curly hair and a very cherub like face about him.
"At a boy!" The Sixth Doctor says as he claps his hands. "Beat him at his own game is what I say. Why go forward when there's a perfectly good stretch of land at the right or left side…"
"Exactly!" The Tenth Doctor grumbles in agreement. "Who does he think he is ordering me around like some small child? I've lived too long to be shoved around like a kid straight out of the Academy…and I'll be damned if I'm going to let him win."
The two continued to walk on proudly with one another as they looked about for any sign of the Guardian following them. It seemed to go on for miles as they wandered on, the sun now dimly lit the sandy valley to a bare haze as the two stopped in their tracks to get a breather. Squinting at the emptiness, the Doctors spun around frantically and assessed their situation.
"This isn't working…" The current Doctor exhales. "Something should be happening by now."
"You'd think there was a simple way of just walking out of here." His other self muttered. "Strange how the landscape almost looks like it's never moved…as if…as if we've been walking…in circles."
The two glanced at each other and suddenly dawned on them both.
"We have been walking in circles." They reply in unison.
"Of course you have." The familiar voice of Guardian booms out. "Did you really think this was the answer?"
Both turned to face him as he suddenly appeared behind them and gave a pleased smirk. As the Tenth Doctor crouched down to get more air, the Sixth Doctor waltzed over calmly to the keeper of the realm and peered at him intensely.
"Now look here my good man. I'm tired of playing your sick little games anymore…show us the right path to leave or so help me I'll…"
"You'll do what?" The Guardian growls.
Taking a comedic gulp, the curly blonde haired man gave a nervous smile as he responded.
"I'll…report you to the Guardian Timekeeper's association for bad manners…the minute I find a way out of your little maze."
The Tenth Doctor finally sits down on the sand and folds in his knees to his chest. Resting his head on them and wrapping his arms around, the Timelord gives a sigh as he watches the two stand there.
"Why can't you just let me leave?" He moans. "You said you are the keeper of forever. Don't you have the power to let me go?"
"Not so simple a task, Doctor." The Guardian states coldly. "There are rules here…like all things in the universe…one does not simply walk away from one's own death."
"And become that monstrosity!" The Sixth Doctor yells at him as it echoes through the air. "To be so twisted and malevolent as the Master…to be just like him or worst? Do you know how much this plagued my mind after it was revealed that I was the one putting myself on trial? Me! The Doctor? I've never had an impure thought in my life!"
"Are you sure about that?" The Guardian gazes down at him with a questionable manner. "Even when faced with impossible odds and villains who continually challenge you're very existence? I find that hard to believe."
"I am not evil! I am not corrupt! I am not the Master! I will not go down that road and be the next one in line to become the sinister rogue!"
"There are other choices, Doctor." The fully regal gowned man replies to the angered Timelord. "Why you refuse to take either one instead is beyond me…"
"Because you constantly insist that I die…" Sixth version of the Timelord says as he turns his back in anger. "Whatever road I'm given to choose from ultimately means my death."
The Guardian sighs. "Please…there is one path to life, to become reborn in another life."
"Yes…another life!" The Doctor quips, as he turns around again, his appearance changes and now becomes a fair-haired individual with tanned coat and red striped pants. "A life that would mean the end of me. All that I am…all that I was…would be lost forever."
The Tenth Doctor looks up and notices his former self had now become his Fifth incarnation. A skinny man with passionate eyes and a green celery stick attached to his lapel. The Infinite Guardian could see this Timelord was using all of his personalities to argue for him, a way to give the current version a chance to rest as he listen to the debate.
"But you would be living again Doctor." The bearded man stated as he stroked his whiskers in thought. "Isn't that much better then the other alternatives? True you wouldn't be exactly as you are anymore…more then certainly you wouldn't be a Timelord…and all knowledge you have now would be erased. Still, you would have the chance to rebuild your identity, study and retrain your mind to it's level of intelligence once again…and live to whatever way you see fit."
"Not a very convincing type of Guardian are you?" The Fifth Doctor says in a stale manner. "I find that bit of flawed reasoning to be rather cold of you."
"I merely state to you of what must happen."
"Then you must understand that I find it all rather inconvenient and somewhat unfair." The celery wearing Timelord breathes out with contempt. "To be given such little options seems rather unlike the universe…I've always found that life and death is nothing but full of surprises. You say there is no other way out of this…but I beg to differ. I think you're holding me back…hiding the truth even…that there is another way out of this mess."
Looking frustrated and tired of this conversation, the Guardian squeezes the bridge of his nose as if fatigued.
"Must we go about all this forever…I don't know how many ways I can make you understand all this." He groans as he walks past the debating previous Doctor. "I tire of your constant pestering, using your former selves to help you won't change the situation any Doctor. Either choose a path or at the very least stop bringing in your other regenerations to plague me."
The Tenth Doctor finally snickers as he rises up from his crouched position. "You seek pity from me? Please…I will haunt you to the very end if need be…release me from this place and I will make them stop. Don't release me…and listen to my many voices hound you on for all eternity."
"Don't you dare threaten me…TIMELORD!" The Guardian's voice booms out as the sound of thunder and the ground shaking below their feet suddenly happens. "You can talk my ears off until they bleed with your constant whining…but know this…you will choose! Or I will force you down one of those paths by force!"
"Now, now…" The Fifth Doctor calmly states as he wags his finger at the man as he steps in between. "Temper, temper my good chap. That's no way for a Infinite Guardian to behave now is it? Or maybe…you're not so powerful as you'd like to think. Interesting, isn't it? That only when I decide not to choose…you get too riled up."
The angered Guardian glares at the foolish man standing in his sight and quickly builds up a ball of energy in his hand and strikes down the Fifth Doctor with it. The bright blue electric flash of the energy zapping the former Doctor causes his current self to step back in fear. His former self only lasted a moment as he gave a slight cry of pain as he was vaporized in mere seconds. The Guardian eyes had now become red in hue and glowing as his anger fueled his power behind them.
"Test me no longer Doctor. Because if you do not leave…then you shall endure pain the likes no creature in all of creation has ever experienced!"
The Doctor stood alarmed by the man's threat and noticed how the darkness was starting to creep in all around now, the sun finally disappearing and now the darkness slowly covering the barren wasteland.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"There…it's dropping again!" The young computer operator shouts to Megan looking on.
"What did you do?" Megan panics.
"Sorry…I thought if I went in the lower bands he might pull himself through."
"Well stop doing that…it's obvious that the higher in pitch we go the more he has a chance of resisting the drain."
Andrea remains standing near the Doctor, as the energy beam pouring into him seemed to become softer in hue. His body continued to reflect the spinning vortex inside, but now had become fainter in color as well. The Lord President of Galifrey stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders for comfort. He could see how much the Doctor meant to her, humans were always an emotional species, one that even Devenari could see why the Doctor felt so compelled to be with them instead.
"He's not going to make it…is he?" Andrea asked in a depressive tone.
"I wish I could be so certain my child." He says back to her. "The energy within him is starting to fade, it's been too long a struggle for him and I think he's given all he can to fight back."
The Canadian woman droops her head and wipes a few tears from her cheek. This sweet, yet oddly quirky man had been such a good friend to her. There are times when she even felt like it was something more between them. Gazing at his face, she couldn't bear to see him this way; it tore her up inside that she was powerless to rescue him this time.
Patting the President's hands to let her go, she walked closer to the Doctor lying on the table and crouched down to peer at him as if to study his face one last time.
"In all the times we've faced danger…" She quivered as she whispered to his ear. "I always thought you would be there to save me. Can you believe that?
Rubbing her forehead she snickered at the thought. "Me…a police officer? I should be the one saving lives, doing my duty to protect and serve. I know, I know…stop being so emotional right? But I just can't help it my friend. You of all people understood me better then anyone could…the one man in my life who gave me hope when I was at my worst. Don't die, Doctor. Don't Die…please keep fighting…I love you too much to let you go."
The woman then sobs as she tries to keep talking to him. "So many people have died in my life…friends, family, old partners…I couldn't take it if you left me as well. Please Doctor…just don't die."
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Andrea's voice echoed over and over in the air as the Doctor stood in the creeping darkness. He and the Guardian continued to stand before each other and heard her sweet sorrow filled voice. Looking up at the void, the Doctor perked as he heard her beg.
"Andrea…" He spoke as his voice faltered slightly.
"ANDREA!"
"She cannot here you Doctor." The Guardian muses. "But I'm sure she is aware that you are nearly at the end of your time."
"No…" The Timelord says as his eyes well up with tears. "This can't be…this can't be happening. Andrea…"
The darkness continues to close in around them as the Doctor kneels down and places his hands onto his face in disbelief. The Guardian remains standing over him as he slowly gives a smile watching the Doctor's reaction.
