The Space Wizard and the Istari
When One Door Opens…
The Doctor hurried about the Tardis console. The beautiful old girl had picked up one of the strangest things ever: a door in the fabric of reality! Not a tear, not a rip, a door! A portal just up and opened in the fabric of the universe! And it was anchored! To a planet!
Specifically, the planet Selmorth in the Ti-urvan system, of the Ceruvian spiral galaxy. A fairly ordinary planet, as far as planets go. It had at the present a population of five billion (not counting the seven billion who resided on other planets), who were a young space-faring species, limited still to their local solar system, and wholly unequipped to deal with such a brilliant problem. In fact, they shouldn't even have this problem at all. Somebody had been playing around with technology beyond this era.
He parked the Tardis on the surface of the planet and checked the Tardis scanner. Good, the door was still stable. Well, better make sure that it doesn't open a whole world of troubles for the universe or something. If this portal let through something like the great vampires, well, he would have a really bad day.
The Doctor dashed out the door, and right into a large room. it was quite bright compared to the gothic interior of the Tardis. The Tardis was parked in the corner of the room, hidden partly in shadows. A bright white light came out from the centre of the room, crackling with energy. The light was rectangular in shape and was surrounded by scientists in totally unnecessary protective gear waving scanners at it. The Doctor grinned madly and rushed forth.
As soon as he got near to the strange, beautiful thing, one of the scientists spotted him.
"Excuse me, sir, you can't be here without protective gear," said one person.
"No, that's okay, I'll be fine," the Doctor said, smiling, waving his hands. "Don't worry, I'm meant to be here."
The Time Lord stepped past the scientist, taking out the sonic and scanning the door. "Oh, you are beautiful," he said to the portal. "Now, how did you get here? Who opened you up?"
"Excuse me," said a gruff voice behind him.
"Oh, no worries, you're excused," said the Doctor, waving a hand. "Just admiring this beautiful thing, it's remarkable! Giving off some amazing signals, oh! the sonics gone wild!" The Doctor spun up, coming face to face with a burly man in a white protective suit. "Now how'd you open this? You're not an advanced enough civilization to open this portal. So, somebody else then." He spun around again. "But who, that is the question."
The Doctor knew that he probably didn't have too much time before Mr Probably-in-charge-and-angry would get his wits back. That distraction at least got the scientist thinking. Hopefully. He couldn't always tell, to be being honest.
"Really, quite fascinating," he said, walking around the door. "Good grief, it's giving off immense artron particle readings. How is it stabilised? A portal this powerful, the energy required to open it would have to be equal to at least seven or maybe eight stars going supernova, and I suppose keeping it open would be easier, cause then you're just keeping it open. You're not tearing a great big hole in the universe open anymore. But look at it! It's not a hole at all, is it? Ha! It's a door, rectangular and everything."
Well, he'd gotten all he could from the sonic. Time to stop stalling. He turned around to face the man who was following him, ceaselessly asking questions, and demanding to know who he was, and why he was here.
"For the last time, who are you, and why are you here? Tell me, or I will have you arrested at once!" yelled the man.
"Alright, calm down," said the Doctor, fishing out his psychic paper. "I'm the Doctor. I was sent here to help you with your little problem here."
"What 'problem'?" demanded the angry man. "There isn't any—"
Before the yelling man could shout anymore nonsense, the sonic detected a huge build-up of energy, warning the Doctor of an imminent explosion. Working in overdrive, the Time Lord's mind calculated the likely blast radius, the necessary force to knock the shouty man over, and the time needed to warn everyone to duck.
Just before the blast, the Doctor yelled, "DUCK!" spun around, and bowled the angry man over, covering him partially. He was just in time, as the door exploded, sending a physical and temporal shockwave against the Doctor; nothing serious for a time-insensitive being, like this lot, especially if anyone heeded his warning, but for a Time Lord it was like crashing through a glass door: highly unpleasant, but not serious. He'd feel a bit disorientated for a little while.
The man shook the Doctor off with a grunt, and the two of them stood up. The Doctor looked back to where the door was. It was now gone, and in its place was an old man with a long, white beard, a large, white walking stick, and white robes. There was a sword on his hip. Time seemed slow about him somehow, and to the Time Lord's eyes, there was a sort of glow around him. He sensed a kinship between them, of some sort. Then he realised: this was a man who lived in higher dimensions!
The Doctor was vaguely aware of men coming in through the door. He wasn't interested, though. He walked over to the newcomer, who turned around in what seemed to be confusion.
He didn't really get far, however, when the shouty man yelled: "Sergeant, arrest those two men!" and an electronic pulse hit him from behind. He cried out and fell down, and the world went dark. The last thing he saw was the old man drawing his sword, only to be struck once, twice, three times! before falling.
The Doctor was first aware he was awake when he felt cold, hard, unforgiving stone beneath him. Only it wasn't cold, it was actually nice and cosy, despite being hard, unforgiving, and undoubtedly stone.
Blearily, he opened his eyes. The next thing he noticed was time was ever so slightly slow next to him, on his… right? Yes, right. That was right. He sat up with a start and looked to his right.
"Ah, you're awake," said the old man, sitting back with a smoking pipe in his mouth; his staff was to the side, leaning on a wall. His eyes were closed, and the Doctor, now that he was a little closer to the man, felt something not too far from… kinship? That was odd. Who was this man?
"Yes," said the Doctor. "I am. Nice to be awake. Pity I'm in a jail cell, though. I suppose I am used to it by now, but still not pleasant."
The man chuckled. "Yes, it isn't particularly pleasant. I hope I've managed to diminish the discomfort a little."
The Doctor realised he meant the warmth of the stone slabs. "Oh… that was you? How'd you do that?"
The old man shrugged. "Oh, that is something I learnt to do in Imladris, quite some time ago. But I daresay that is quite unimportant against the far more important question: who are you, and where are we?"
Now that piqued the Doctor's interest. You don't open a door through reality, through different universes, without knowing where you're going. That was simply impossible, unless you stumbled across the door by accident, or on purpose, and with all the self-control of, well, the Doctor.
Hopping to his feet, the Time Lord introduced himself. "I'm the Doctor. And you are?"
"My name is Gandalf the White, or at least that is what many Men have called me," said the old man. "But may I ask: doctor who?"
"Yes, you may," laughed the Doctor, pacing over to the cell bars. They were lasers, of course, and – he gave a sniff – liable to slice right through him if he wasn't careful. "Just the Doctor, me. But tell me, Gandalf the White, how'd you manage to walk through an inter-universal portal and not know where you're going? Seems rather implausible."
He turned around to have a look at Gandalf, taking in his surroundings whilst he was at it; no camera, that's a relief. The old man had finally opened his eyes, and was taking the Time Lord in.
"I suppose by not knowing that is what it's called," answered Gandalf. The Doctor stared at him, looking deeply at the strange man. There was a closeness to "Gandalf", he noted. A guardedness not unlike himself. Then there were his eyes: they were old eyes, older than the rest of his not inconsiderably old body. There was a cunningness to them, and much wisdom, and no small amount of sorrow and pity. They were not unlike, the Doctor thought, coals that could burst into flame at any moment. But he was warm and comforting as well.
'Not unlike a certain someone, I suppose,' he thought. 'I hope.'
"Well, we've got plenty of time," said the Doctor, sitting down beside Gandalf. "How about you tell me everything?"
Gandalf laughed. "I doubt we have time for everything, Doctor. But I think I can tell you some things."
So, Gandalf recounted his adventure to the Doctor, explaining how he came to be in the gardens of "Yavanna", and was wandering about, looking for a friend of his; a horse, who was descended from a long line of horses - he had in fact been friends with one of his ancestors, Shadowfax. A funny name for a horse, the Doctor thought.
In return, the Doctor explained that Gandalf had travelled between universes, and was now on a planet called Selmorth. Gandalf was troubled by this, but the mention of other universes and planets didn't quite phase him as much the Doctor expected.
"So, Doctor, what do we do now?" asked Gandalf.
"Hey?" asked the Doctor.
"Well, I am in your territory, so to speak," said Gandalf. "I am, for once in at least a nearly four thousand years, out of my depth. But this is not beyond your area of expertise, is it, Doctor?"
Four thousand years?! Well, that explained the eyes. But time to focus on escaping.
"Yes, well," began the Doctor, kind of unsure. "We need to either get past the lasers or wait for the guards to come and fetch us. And unless we can switch off the lasers, we're stuck waiting for the guards."
The Doctor wished now for the sonic. But of course, it was taken off him when they stunned him. It was really quite frustrating. At least, if the guards came and they were interrogated, he could find out more about the days before the portal, and the days up to now. Gandalf merely frowned.
"These lasers, Doctor," he said thoughtfully, "Are just light, are they not?"
The Doctor frowned. "Yes, technically. Very hot light that will cut right through you, but yes."
The old man rose and moved over to the lasers, taking his staff. "Well, as it just so happens, I have some skill with light." He tucked his pipe in a pouch on his belt.
Gandalf laid a hand on the wall next to the emitters. He bowed his head and closed his eyes once again, and it seemed to the Doctor that the strange glow about him encompassed the lasers, as though it were a hand stretching out.
Then Gandalf moved back and said in a low but deep voice, in another language, alien yet beautiful, pointing his staff at the lasers, "Nuhtcala!"
And just like that, the lasers stopped. They simply stopped. The Doctor wanted to stare, but he also needed to quickly slip by; Gandalf seemed to be deep in concentration.
As soon as he slipped past the emitters, Gandalf sprang forth. As he crossed the threshold, the lasers turned on again, singeing the old man's hair.
"How did you do that?" asked the Doctor, amazed. Gandalf furrowed his brows.
"I think I'll tell you some other time," he said in a hushed voice. "Perhaps when we are in a safer environment." There was a slightly sarcastic edge to his voice, which the Doctor picked up on.
"Right, yes," he said, spinning around with a flourish. "First, we need to find my sonic screwdriver, then we need to get back to the Tardis."
"And find my sword," said Gandalf.
"Sure," nodded the Doctor. "But two things: one, we need to move quickly, and two, nobody dies."
He didn't know why Gandalf carried a sword; perhaps it was for valid reasons. But if he could avoid anyone dying, he would. These people were innocent of any crime, as far as he knew, beyond ignorance and jumping to conclusions.
Fortunately, Gandalf was glad to comply. So, without further ado, they hurried down the corridor.
Gandalf hurried down the strange corridors alongside the ancient, young Doctor. He was glad that the people here were kind enough to let him keep his staff and his pipe. He was quite confident in his ability to overpower any who would oppose their escape in hand-to-hand combat, but having a large and heavy staff with him just helped so much more.
If I can get close to them, he thought grimly, for they wielded weapons unknown to him. In appearance, they were not dissimilar to crossbows if rounder and with no string or limbs. But they loosed a wave of electricity and were capable of putting one to sleep without harm, if with a little pain.
They stopped by a corner, the Doctor looking around it, crouching down and sticking his head barely past it. Then he hopped up, a look of concern on his face. Gandalf guessed the reason at once.
"A guard?" he whispered.
The Doctor nodded. Gandalf thought as quickly as he could over their options: simply hitting the man and knocking him out would be easiest, but he could quickly wake up and arouse the guards; someone else may find him. The next would be a spell of imperception. It would need quick action, and even quicker speech.
Gandalf laid a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and began whispering in Quenyan. He wove an enchantment of hiding, of uninterestingness, of blending in; he whispered of things that hid, that changed shape, that lay in wait, and of things that were dull. He closed his eyes, ignoring the Doctor's looks.
His whispers got softer and softer, for he could the guards' footsteps come nearer and nearer. Gandalf finished his enchantment just as the guard came around the corner. He felt the Doctor stiffen, but not move anymore. Gandalf himself remained as a statue. He waited until the guards' footsteps were far enough behind them that he could almost not make it out, before opening his eyes and pushing the Doctor along. The two moved and the spell snapped like string.
"Nicely done," whispered the Doctor. "If only I had you on more of my adventures." There was an excited, jovial tone to his voice, and though his face was hidden from Gandalf, the wizard could see the man's cheeks lift in a smile.
"Thank you," whispered Gandalf in turn. "I learnt it from the Sindar. A valuable skill when you wish to avoid detection from a horde of angry orcs, but don't have the time to put anything more permanent in place."
"You'll have to teach me that sometime," said the Doctor, positively giddy.
"Perhaps I shall," said Gandalf.
Finally, they arrived at the storeroom, stopping in front of a big white door. The Doctor tried the round handle, but it was locked. The strange young man reached deep into his pockets… then deeper, and deeper, till his elbow vanished, all the while muttering "where'd I put it?"
At last, he pulled his arm out, along with a few interesting instruments, which he inserted into the lock. A few seconds later, he opened the door.
"Thank goodness for old tech, ay?" he laughed. "Right, now where are they? Ah, there we go, my pretty." The Doctor picked up a small cylinder, with a small, strange, pointed red tip.
The sonic screwdriver, I presume, thought Gandalf. He ignored it for now, searching for Glamdring. He found it lying on a shelf, almost as though someone had just cast it there without concern.
"Right," said the Doctor as Gandalf strapped it to his belt. "Got what you want?"
"I do," answered Gandalf.
"Good, 'cause they're probably on their way soon. They've likely spotted that the cell's empty, or seen us through the cameras," the Doctor explained. "We should probably hurry now."
Gandalf frowned, annoyed that they had not progressed more carefully – he wasn't sure what cameras were, but he suspected that they were some sort of surveillance device –, but he did not voice his irritation.
To his surprise, they managed to escape to the room they were captured in quite easily. Hiding in one of the corners, the Doctor pointed to a blue box standing inconspicuously by a wall.
"That's where we need to get to," he said. "That's my Tardis. Don't worry about the size right now."
Gandalf frowned but nodded.
"Right, we'll have to make a run for it," said the Doctor. "Quick and easy. Let me just get my key." He fished out a golden key from an inner pocket. He turned and gave Gandalf a mad look. "Let's go."
With that, he and Gandalf burst out from their hiding spot and sprinted towards the blue Tardis. Gandalf was almost shocked by the Doctor's speed; they managed to keep together rather easily.
The wizard heard many shouts, but he ignored them. Then he heard the sound of electricity and picked up the pace. The pair arrived at the Tardis doors, and the Doctor slipped the key into its place, opening the door and rushing in. Gandalf felt something… well, almost familiar from the box, but he ignored it, for he heard another… he'd continue to call it a blast of electricity for now, and spun around and released a burst of power through his staff. It stopped electricity, but he'd underestimated the blast's power, for his own power went right towards the man who loosed the blast at him, knocking him down.
Gandalf wasted no more time, rushing in the box and closing the door behind him. He turned.
And his staff clattered to the floor.
The Doctor spun around his Tardis' console, laughing. He flipped a few switches, pulled some levers, pressed a couple of buttons, and sent the Tardis flying off into the time vortex.
He heard wood clatter on wood, and guessed that Gandalf had figured out that the Tardis was a tad bigger on the inside than the outside.
"So," he said, checking the astro-sextant rectifier. "What d'you think? It's alright, I've heard it all before."
"It's alive," whispered Gandalf.
The Doctor turned to look at the old, wizard-like man. How could Gandalf know that? He voiced his confusion. "It's just, that's not the usual response," he added.
Gandalf smiled and put a hand on the stone wall. "I may be old, but I am not so old that my vision would fail me." His voice was seemed to grow lighter, and younger, and a feeling of wonder crept into it. His eyes glistened with astonishment and nearly childlike glee. "I can quite clearly see a living being when they are in front of me. And one so… great, no less."
The Doctor smiled. Yes, the Tardis was quite great, in both ways. But no time for any of that. There was still the matter of the door between realities. What had happened? Who had opened it? And why? And how? And also, from where? So many questions whizzed through the Doctor's head as he danced around the Tardis.
"Well, anyway, we need to find out who opened this door," he said. "We also need to know if it can be reopened, so we can send you back home. The good news is that the signal's coming from this planet. I can track the signal, get us with a hundred kilometres of it, and no more than a few days." He set the coordinates and placed his hand on the lever. "That depends on one thing, though."
Gandalf raised his eyebrows, and a knowing glint was in his eyes. "Oh?"
A grin broke out. "Are you ready for an adventure?"
Gandalf smiled, and it grew into a hearty laugh. He stretched out his hand, and the lever moved seemingly of its own accord. The Doctor laughed as the rotor moved, and the Tardis spun into the next part of this ever-growing adventure.
Hello everyone. So, I have decided to publish another story! Because I can't! Bring myself! To finish ONE! Of my other THREE stories first! So, if you've read any of my other stories, you know I don't update on a regular basis. If you haven't read my other stories, I don't update on a regular basis. I am physically incapable of such a feat. And I've got uni now, so :| And also, this is kind of a "procrastination project." You know, the project you work on when you don't want to work on your actual project.
So, basically, this story is going to involve Gandalf the White, roughly two thousand years after the events of the Lord of The Rings, as the companion of the Eighth Doctor, although it was inspired by the Eleventh Doctor's quote "I'm like Gandalf, space Gandalf." This was originally meant to be a crossover with the Eleventh, but I recently got interested in the Eighth, so here we are. So if you found any dialogue that would suit the Eleventh Doctor better, that's why.
I should get better with the dialogue as I go on, but the Eighth Doctor is a little unknown to me; I've only recently started dipping my toes into that part of Doctor Who lore, an apparent habit of mine. The story will hopefully improve. It is important to note that I have only a vague idea about this story. I tend to do that. Hopefully, the idea will grow as I write.