TWO

At the top of a slope behind Starbridge House the TARDIS slowly flickered back into existence. Inside the Doctor was picking himself up off of the floor, a hand going to his spinning head. He then patted himself down to make certain he was still in one piece. "Everything seems to be here," he muttered as he crossed to the door. "Wherever here is."

The Doctor cautiously peeked out of the door of the TARDIS before stepping outside, a rumble of thunder sounding in the distance. He looked up at the darkening sky, his long scarf flapping and twisting in the wind. As he turned to lock the door, he saw the Police Box flicker, momentarily fading from sight.

"Oh, no you don't," he said firmly. "You stay put until I find out where we are. I need you to get back." He went back into the console room to make sure the TARDIS would not vanish before he returned. Once satisfied this would not happen, he reemerged and walked towards the slope, looking down as a gust of wind shook the trees and brought down a cascade of leaves.

The Doctor turned and actually jumped at the sight of Starbridge House through the trees. He had assumed he was on a planet other than Tel-Shye, the weather being so drastically different from what he had left behind only moments ago. Suddenly he remembered he had left something else behind and looked around for his companion, seeing him at the bottom of the slope with a young girl.

"Jason!" he called, waving his arms. "Jason, up here!"

The Doctor's words were snatched away by the wind, the couple hearing only the sound. They looked up, giving the waving form a puzzled look.

"Were you expecting company, Jason?" asked the young girl who happened to be his cousin.

"No. Not with the coronation so close," came the equally baffled reply. "Must be one of Aaron's friends."

"He didn't say anything to me about anyone coming."

As Jason and his cousin climbed up the side of the slope the Doctor moved to meet them, mak ing the same mistake he had made on his first encounter with his Alterran companion. He stepped on the boards covering a dry well.

"No!" Kyska called, but it was already too late. The ground vanished from beneath the Doctor's feet and he found himself at the bottom of the well. This time he was able to cover his head with his arms before the boards joined him at the bottom of the hole.

Jason and Kyska ran to the where the figure had vanished. Jason dropped the backpack he was carrying and pulled out a lantern, tying it to a rope attached to the side of the well. He lowered it down before climbing down himself.

"I'll get help," Kyska said before sprinting to the house.

"You'd better get my bag, too!" her cousin called after her.

Dropping down from the rope, the Healer found the Time Lord struggling among the debris and pulled what remained of it off, kneeling down beside him. "Just lie still," he practically ordered, putting a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. A clap of thunder sounded overhead and he looked uneasily up at the gathering gloom. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped in the well during a torrential downpour. "Help is on the way," he added nervously.

"Just like before, isn't it?" the Doctor said weakly, a hand going to his throbbing head.

"Before what?" came the bewildered reply.

The Doctor scowled, looking the boy up and down. He was dressed in an unusual pseudo-formal manner, not his normal casual form of dress. The Doctor's vision seemed to blur at that moment and he closed his eyes. "I'm going to have a headache in the morning," he muttered.

"You'll be alright," the Alterran informed. "Just sit still until help arrives."

The Doctor nodded and tried to relax. The more frequent claps of thunder did nothing to ease the pounding in his head, and he desperately needed to think. He had a terrible sinking feeling he was not on Tel-Shye at the time he had left it. A suspicion that seemed to be verified when the Jason asked, "What's your name?"

"Most people call me the Doctor," the Time Lord replied faintly. From above he heard another voice, which turned out to belong to Jason's cousin, Kyska.

As Jason called back to her, the Doctor wondered how best to deal with what was happening. The events playing out before him were almost identical to those that occurred when he first met his companion. Almost, but not exactly. Was he replaying his original meeting with Jason, or interfering with it? Causing it to happen too soon. Or…was it something else?

It was this third option the Doctor felt was most likely.

It would also be the most difficult to explain.

When help arrived, the Doctor was helped from the well. By the time he got out, it was pouring down rain. Kyska led him to the house and into one of the examining rooms. Jason shooed her away and then turned to the servant in the room, ordering, "We're going to need some dry clothes. See to it."

"Yes, m'lord," a servant replied, causing the Doctor to raise an eyebrow.

Once everyone had gone, Jason turned from the door with a disapproving scowl on his face that puzzled his patient. "So," he said accusingly, crossing his arms, "why have you come to Tel-Shye, Time Lord?" He had intended on startling the Doctor with the fact that he knew him to be a Time Lord. Instead, he was startled himself when the Doctor replied, "You don't know?"

"Why would I want to know anything about your repulsive race?" the Alterran spat venomously.

"Oh, dear," the Time Lord muttered. "This is worse than I thought."

"What is worse than you thought?" Jason demanded, his blue eyes cold and hard.

"This. This situation. The whole—" The Doctor broke off and sighed heavily. "I'm not from this dimension. I was working on inter-dimensional spatial theory and accidentally—" He broke off and frowned. "I know that look. You don't believe a word I'm saying."

"That's the first thing you've said that I do believe," came the astringent reply.

"Fine. In that case, I'll be on my way." The Doctor got down from the table and took a step towards the door.

"You're not going anywhere," the Healer said firmly, grabbing the Time Lord roughly by the arm and thrusting him into a chair. "Aside from the obvious, you also may have a concussion."

The Doctor gave the young man a puzzled look. "I'm afraid the obvious eludes me," he said mildly.

"Because you're from another dimension, right?" came the sneering reply. "That's a new one, I'll give that to you." When it seemed the Time Lord was going to maintain his pretense of ignorance, the Healer sighed. "You know perfectly well the truce expressly forbids your…people, from traveling unescorted anywhere within the Empire."

"Truce?" the Doctor repeated. "There's no Alliance then?"

"Alliance!" Jason gave a derisive laugh. "Alterrans ally with Time Lords? You can't be serious."

"I am. Completely. In my world, the Alliance has been in place for thousands of years." Pausing, the Doctor wondered if he should reveal more but was prevented from doing so when a servant arrived and announced that Jason's father had returned with a guest, this being Premier Magnus. He was a man of some influence whom Jason had been trying to meet for some time, and he was not about to allow the presence of an injured Time Lord disrupt the occasion. He therefore sedated the Doctor, ignoring his protests while forcefully doing so, and had him moved to the second floor until such time as he would be able to deal with him fully.