3. The Tinsellite Clinic.
A year later.
"Next please," Devian calls out. There is a waiting room full of volunteers for the new Tinsellite Regeneration Scheme. Everyone has read in a paper about someone who fell to their death, had no signs of life, bled significantly, then leapt up as the ambulance crew scooped them off the deck. A strange yellow swirl was briefly seen. But when the person mentioned that he had been a volunteer at Crystelle's clinic, so many volunteers were waiting to have the trial, they couldn't fulfil them all. They have to be selective. This had initially been awkward, but more injections are being made.
It is well past the trial state really. But Crystelle has resisted requests to roll it out to everyone. She guesses that she just likes to be in control! But also, she doesn't want the fame of her scheme to spread. The Doctor might have something to say!
Above all, Crystelle loves to help others. Here, she really is making a difference. But where is it leading to? Would her people take more daring risks than they ought? Reports had come in that it only worked once. Someone had actually died doing something really stupid, daring to go too far.
Crystelle feels that there is something very wonderful about helping her own people. They are all lovely people. They are all Earth descended. She might be biased, but she really loves her own people!
Crystelle had no great plans for her new-found explosion of regeneration. Until one day...
Cybermen in her sights.
Crystelle is going through her things left over from when she had travelled with the Doctor. She comes across a small envelope. She had meant to give it to the Doctor, but it had been forgotten. She opens it.
One day during her travels with the Doctor, she had been aboard a Cybermen's spaceship (episode 6, Cyber Cooking in this series). She had seen a Cybermen's spaceship Navigation Console appear in the Tardis Control room. She had had no idea what to do, but she had noted just where the Cybermen's spaceship was heading to. This information is what she is now looking at. What should she do with it? She puts it away, for now. It makes her want to be travelling with the Doctor again. Maybe she could look him up? But how?
Shall I call the Doctor?
Crystelle thinks back over her travels with the Doctor and recalls her parting party. She rummages further through her left-over things. The Doctor had given her a pager. She might be able to see the Doctor again. But his pagers were meant to be used in emergencies. Could she call the Doctor to another party?
Matchmaking?
Crystelle remembers Ommera, the Doctor's closest companion at the time. But Ommera had had a crush on the Doctor and really wanted to be much closer. Could she, Crystelle, try to get them together? She had tried at her leaving party, lining them up for a steamy night in her spare double bedroom. But the Doctor had seen through it straight away and had breezed out with Ommera to resume their travels.
Crystelle likes the idea of giving them time to be together, relaxing. Could she face the Universe instead of the Doctor? What a long way she feels she has come since leaving the Doctor. True, she has grown stronger in herself. She has set up her own biological laboratory, with some help. But the regeneration capability that she has developed gives her much more confidence and courage.
Yes, she will invite the Doctor to her party. She will organise a party and invite him at the last minute. He might be a bit annoyed as there is no emergency, but then she can offer for him to stay longer somewhere... Oh, plans!
I'm Dreaming of my Own Tardis.
Crystelle is thinking out loud. "Oh. If I could only borrow the Tardis while the Doctor is here to use it just at that time, then I couldn't organise much of a group to help me face the Cybermen. But, if I could have my own Tardis..."
"How could I possibly do that? I could borrow the Doctor's Tardis. There are other Tardises on Gallifrey under the rubble. Could I get one of those?" The Librarian had shown her while she was there, so she knows just where they are.
To what extent might we consider it ok to rescue something from a scrap heap if it is only going to ignominious waste? The answer really is that we can only do this if we actually own it and have permission to do this. We might be tempted to do so, but we should resist the temptation and let it go! But then, the Doctor "stole" his Tardis...