"N-no, I haven't," Rose stammered.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and sighed, noisily. "I suppose I'll have to go and look for him--"
"How can you be the Doctor, too?"
"Too?" He turned abruptly to look at her, his fair hair flying. "You've met me before? Other versions of me?"
"Yes, two—I mean three—I mean—well, several of you! I was just talking to--"
Suddenly he leaped forwards and put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her down behind the table. Seconds later, a white Kaled glided into the room. "IS THERE A-NY-THING ELSE YOU RE-QUIRE? IF SO, I CAN WAIT."
Rose wriggled out of the Doctor's grasp, and stood up. She smoothed down her hair, which had become a bit disheveled when the Doctor pushed her down. "Um...no. No, thank you. We don't need anything else, we're both just...just fine."
The Kaled swung its eyestalk around and stared at her for a moment; then it dipped down, apparently to look at the Doctor's legs--his striped trousers were extremely visible sticking out from behind the table. Then the eyestalk came up again, and stared at her some more. She couldn't be sure, but she had the idea it was trying to work out what she had been doing on the floor with the Doctor. She said, sharply, "Like I said, we don't need anything else. You can go now."
It stared a moment longer, then said, "I O-BEY." It trundled off.
"What was THAT?" asked the Doctor as he scrambled to his feet. "Some kind of—tame Dalek?"
"Oh, so they have Daleks where you come from?" asked Rose.
"You could say that! And they're not nearly so well-mannered."
"I thought that one was a bit cheeky, myself," Rose said, scowling after it. "Anyway, that's a Kaled. From a universe where there aren't any Daleks, or so I'm told."
Obviously startled, the Doctor turned to her. "That shouldn't happen!"
"You keep saying that," said Rose. "I mean--that's what the previous you said as well."
"He saw the...Kaled too?"
"No, he was talking about being able to read a letter."
"What letter?"
She handed it to him. He scanned the first two messages. "Right. Two Doctors, parallel universes, got it."
He read the third message aloud:
Dear Doctor,
Given that you can read this, and I can write it, the only possible conclusion is that the massively parallel nodal architecture is unstable.
The Doctor
"What does he mean--massively parallel nodal..." asked Rose.
"Well," said the Doctor, curling the note up and rapping it against his palm. "It's what makes this restaurant a real marvel of engineering. It keeps a massive number of parallel universes totally separate from one another."
"Wait," said Rose, now very confused. "I thought this place was a node, where all parallel universes collapse together."
"Right you are! This area of space-time is a node. But the restaurant, Rose, the restaurant itself is not. Barriers between universes are artificially maintained. It keeps you from running into different versions of yourself, and allows the Proprietor to keep undesirables from one universe out, but their desirable counterparts from another universe in."
"So..." said Rose, finally understanding. "Kaleds can get in, but Daleks can't."
"That's the theory."
"But wait—I came here from one universe, and a Doctor from another universe was supposed to meet me. How could that even be possible, if the universes are kept separate?"
"I think you've hit upon the problem. The Proprietor must have tried to arrange things so you could meet—lowered the barriers for you."
"But something's gone wrong," said Rose.
"Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree." The Doctor frowned. "I think its time to find the Proprietor."
They felt their way into the dimly-lit entrance hall, and became aware of the sound of shouting. It proved to be the voice of the Proprietor energetically scolding a cluster of Kaleds. "Whatsa matter with you? You stupid or something? How many times do I have to tell you? You can't go into the public areas except in universe Zed Zed Theta." The Kaleds didn't answer; their eye stalks drooped down, pointing at the floor. "That lady had a fit, and I'm going to have to comp her entire party's meal! If I catch one of you guys running around again, I'm gonna--" He shook his fist; then became aware that the Doctor and Rose were staring at him.
The Proprietor's demeanour immediately changed. In an oily voice he said, "Good evening Doctor, Miss Tyler. I trust your dinner was satisfactory? Is there anything else we can do for you?"
"Yes, bit of a problem, actually," said the Doctor, tossing his hair out of his eyes. "You've got barrier problems. I understand you must have taken them down so Rose could meet her friend--"
"No," said the Proprietor, "I haven't done anything to the barriers. They're all still up. He hasn't arrived yet." He nodded to Rose and added in a syrupy voice, "But we expect him any minute." Rose forced a smile in return.
"In that case, you've really got problems. The barriers are coming down anyway," said the Doctor. "I shouldn't even be here."
Amid noises of protestation and disbelief, the Proprietor produced a small, blue probe from his desk and touched it to the Doctor's finger; a moment later, he flipped the probe on its side, apparently looking at some sort of reading. He gasped; then clapped his hand to his forehead and exclaimed, "Oh! I apologise, I am so sorry, Doctor, I swear I don't know how this happened. Yes, you're in the wrong universe division."
"That's all right," said the Doctor. "The important thing is to find the reason for the malfunction."
"It's the temporal stabiliser," the Proprietor said, dramatically wringing his hands. "I just had it calibrated the other day, and it's been nothing but trouble ever since."
"Let's go take a look at it." The Doctor turned to Rose. "I think you're sorted, and I still need to go and find Adric. Just stay here and wait for the...er...person you're waiting for." He started to go, then realised he was still holding the note Rose had given him. "Hmm," he muttered. "Maybe useful, maybe not." He pulled a pen from his pocket and hastily jotted an addendum. Then he folded the note and handed it to Rose. "Bye. I'm sure I'll see you again--one way or another!" He grinned and waved to her, as he bounded off down the corridor, the Proprietor following. Soon they had disappeared into the gloom.
The Kaleds glided off. One of them turned to look at her; she thought it was the same one who had given her the eye...stalk. She suppressed the urge to make a rude gesture. Finally it left; and she was alone.
Seconds passed, then minutes. She couldn't be sure how long she had been waiting, but it seemed like a very long time. Presently, she became aware of movement in the corridor. She strained to see. It was a man...with curly hair...and a velvet jacket. It was him, the Doctor from her parallel universe, the one who had brought her to the restaurant. He hadn't left yet, he was still here. She felt a sudden pang of remorse. She had behaved horribly to him when they parted. She would apologise. She called, tentatively, "Doctor? Is that you? It's me, Rose. I'm so glad you're still here, I just wanted to say--"
He came into view: he was an older man with grey curls, and walked with a sort of swagger. In addition to the velvet jacket, he wore a shirt with frills at the collar and sleeves; and draped across his shoulders was, of all things, a cape. He smiled at her, his eyes crinkling. "Hello...Rose, is it? Yes, I am the Doctor. A pleasure to meet you." He took her hand; his manner was almost flirtatious. "Perhaps you can help me. I'm looking for a friend of mine--have you seen Jo?"