Chapter 5
Harry Potter was in deep sleep, down within his memories while his conscious mind slept, resting and evaluating his past encounters.
In his memories; in his dreams he dreamt of Gallifrey, of his House of Lungbarrow, the hallowed halls and corridors that he walked of the Capitol. Of the statues of modern Gallifrey's founders of Rassilon, Omega, Apeiron, Pandak, Eutenoyar and the figure who even in statue form hid his face from view; the Other.
He remembered those places that were held as remembrances to Pythia, she who ruled Gallifrey, during the old times, the times of Chaos, the times of Pythia.
It was from those times that psychic powers came. Gallifreyans from the time of Pythia; the Dark Times, the Time of Chaos, that was when they had amazing powers.
Then the room began to rock, the physical room; Harry's sleeping chambers within Marie and he was roughly shoved out dreams. Harry blinked quickly as he wakened and immediately became aware of several things.
The room wasn't just rocking it was vibrating and the gravity was shifting around. The lighting was also fluctuating and, as he rushed from his bed and changed quickly he heard it.
"Cloister bell." He said as he ran out of his sleeping chamber towards the console room, he was thrown into the walls of the corridor as he ran. The noise of the bell echoing throughout the corridors.
-/
Inside the control room there was less evident turbulence. He heard and felt the door to Marie's further dimensions shut and seal, indicating that Marie's systems were locking down all but the essential areas within her.
Rushing over to the console he looked through Marie's logs. He didn't bother calling out her name. He knew from past experience that attempting to communicate with her at this moment was pointless.
He had set Marie to lightly drift through a portion of space that had nothing in it, it wasn't on any major, minor or otherwise shipping lines and would have nothing in it for either side of a couple thousand years. It was the perfect place for her to drift and do some scans. Her database of some spacial locations was lacking. Part of corrupting and wiping of her systems as she entered this universe.
Gripping the console with one hand to keeping himself stable of searched through the logs and found it.
A rogue temporal source, from the temporal readouts looked to be a Navarino timedrive. Badly maintained and even worse badly piloted, it had almost collided with Marie forcing her to activate her HADS and the Navarino ship to jump a time track.
As Marie had rematerialised it looked to be that she had collided with an asteroid that contained traces of dark matter that had passed through a parachronic field.
Harry felt a deep sense of foreboding begin as he read this and rushed through the rest of the logs, it indicated Marie had attempted to flush her outer shell of the material and had managed to remove 65 percent of the material.
That was likely when he was woken up and the cloister bell had began to toll.
Moving around to the console he checked the instruments, Marie it seemed had also jumped a time track and had attempted to rematerialise.
Some of her sensors indicated they were near a planet. If they could materialise on a planet the fixed time field would allow her to regenerate her outershell and recover.
Harry reached for the controls and tried to rematerialse.
The whole room shuddered and Marie's secondary control systems exploded. Harry winced.
Moving around the console he groaned, Marie's engines were phasing and it appeared her temporal coordinates were drifting as well. If they drifted too far there wouldn't be a planet to lock coordinates with and nothing to rematerialise onto.
He began to type through the mountains of data looking, searching, hoping for something to lock onto.
It had been only a few microspans when he realised he would need to send a distress signal, hoping that the probabilities were in his favour, that another temporally aware being was on the surface of the planet.
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Zoe looked up at the mountains that loomed over them where they stood in an open park waiting for the Doctor. They'd been on the planet Huldraa for a week waiting for the 'storm' to pass. Not that that was what it was, she knew that the Doctor was just simplifying it for Jamie.
She'd tried to ask him to explain what was actually going on but he just said 'something dangerous for us to leave, much safer if we just wait'.
She knew it was dangerous, their landing on the planet was worse than it was usually, much worse in fact. She had seen parts of the walls the 'roundels' the Doctor had said showed signs of having exploded. He'd rushed them all out of the TARDIS as they'd landed on the planet.
It seemed like the Doctor knew something on the planet. Huldraa was, or would be placed on the Galactic Heritage list. Not for a long time though according to the Doctor.
Zoe had managed to discover while they were here that the time period was some time after her time on the W3 Space Wheel, although humans were still active in space part of some form of 'fledgling' Earth Empire.
"Is it still broken Doctor?" Jamie asked as the Doctor came out of the TARDIS.
"Yes Jamie. There's still traces in the atmosphere of the field that brought us down." The Doctor said as he gazed upwards.
"What sort of field Doctor?" She asked.
The Doctor looked over to her. "A parachronic field Zoe." The Doctor replied seemingly deciding to enlighten her. "Something dangerous to my people." He added walking back to join them away from the TARDIS.
He seemed distracted by something and paused when he was closer to them and looked up at the sky again.
Zoe watched him, his eye line suggested he was watching something, although there was nothing that she could see against the clouds and sky.
"What is it Doctor?" She asked.
"I'm not sure Zoe. But I think..." Then she saw it an explosion of light swirling around a something and then it was gone again.
"Doctor" Jamie made to run but the Doctor grabbed them both. "Shouldn't we?"
"No Jamie. We should stay here." The Doctor looked worried.
"What is it Doctor?" She asked.
He turned to look at her a very concerned look of worry across his face. "That was a ship out of control."
Zoe thought for a moment. "Like the TARDS?"
The Doctor nodded. "Yes. And most worrying it is if you could see it." The Doctor returned his gaze to the sky.
-/
Harry swore in old high Gallifreyan as he attempted to rematerialise again.
He had almost managed it until the secondary forcefields gave out. He had almost managed a rematerialisation, he was sure he'd penetrated normal space before the parachronic field shoved them back into a warp elipse preventing full materialisation.
He tried not to look at the pressures and warnings that were presented around the central column, many of them were approaching danger levels.
This he knew, he could tell without looking at the readings. From the feeling around him and the sounds of Marie's engines.
Harry had in the few microspans that he had when he could do nothing considered what he could do to escape.
From what he had discovered so far Marie did not have escape capsules. Some early TARDIS models did have escape capsules that allowed the pilot and passengers to escape the TARDIS would then home in on it once it had manoeuvred around the danger. He could possibly escape into the vortex.
It was possible for a Time Lord to survive in the vortex, although it was not a recommended form of escape or travel. The many eddies and vortex streams made for an uncomfortable experience.
Marie's engines were also phasing, making her shift between the vortex and normal space uncontrollably. If he mistimed it he would be caught in the interface and vaporised, or even vaporised by Marie's shielding which while on fail threshold was flaring through the energy spectrum. If he made it into the vortex Marie would be able to retrieve him.
Moving around the console he tapped the controls cycling through the communications and sensors, he was sure, as Marie shuddered through the vortex again as they tried to rematerialise he had seen a glimpse of a chronon source.
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"Doctor look!" Jamie cried pointing, but he didn't move, wary Zoe noted of the Doctor's warnings.
She followed his finger and saw the TARDIS light had turned on and seemed very bright and then the TARDIS dematerialisation noise began to start.
"Doctor! Shouldn't we...?" She asked but the Doctor seemed to be concentrating.
"No I..." He looked skywards again.
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Harry almost cried with out in relieved laughed. A TARDIS, a TARDIS had replied to his distress signal. He still had to filter it through the temporal noise and fold it back into Marie's systems so they could lock on.
Then suddenly he felt a rumble from within the console and ducked at the last moment as the helmic regulars fused and exploded. It would mean a much trickier landing without them. Harry cursed again, to the Old Gods in High Gallifreyan as he tapped into Marie's systems and recalculated the rematerialisation vectors.
"Just a little stronger." He said as he tapped a request through Marie's systems, those that were responding. Sending another signal to the TARDIS that was on the surface. When it was he wasn't sure, that was part of the temporal information that was missing. He would need a much stronger signal to home in on so that he could rematerialse.
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"Doctor what's going on?" Zoe asked the Doctor who as watching the sky, on whatever it was he could see and also keeping an eye on the TARDIS.
"I..." He started but then Jamie interrupted.
"Just a moment Jamie." She said, she wanted answers from the Doctor.
"But Doctor look." Jamie insisted.
"That is interesting Jamie." The Doctor said focusing on the TARDIS.
Zoe looked down from the sky where she had been trying to see what the Doctor had been looking at and returned her focus to the TARDIS.
"Oh, Doctor...is that meant to be happening?" She asked. From within there seemed to be a light shining out of the windows. The sign around the top of the TARDIS was lit up bright, almost glowing and the light from the windows was equally bright. The light on the top was now also quite bright and blinking. There seemed to be a pattern though it didn't match any patterns that she recognised, but it certainly wasn't a random pattern.
Zoe turned to the Doctor who was watching her with a smile. "You won't be able to discern an intelligible pattern from that Zoe."
"Why not Doctor? Do you know what it is?"
"It's Gallifreyan morse. It's a signal for another timeship in distress." The Doctor said his eyes bright with wonder and curiosity.
"What sort of timeship Doctor, ya mean another TARDIS?" Jamie asked, a question Zoe thought was a good use of deductive reasoning based on available information.
"I'm not sure Jamie, we will have to stay still and wait." The Doctor said, again emphasising that they do not move.
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The safety interlocks had firstly disengaged and then exploded as he tried to re-engage them. He really hoped that no one was near the TARDIS he was homing in on. The safety interlocks prevented a TARDIS from materialising within something living. Although he knew it was more complicated than that. But that was the basics that he recalled from his Academy classes.
'Disengage them only in the most dire circumstances' said Savar when he'd seen him studying.
Disengaging them did allow TARDISes to materialise in some of the more varied circumstances where various safety systems would prevent them from doing so.
But Marie's had exploded, which suggested the dark matter had passed through Marie's outer shell and was disrupting her internal systems.
Her engines were still phasing and edging towards complete failure.
Harry wasn't really sure what would happen if Marie's engines completely failed, oddly that was not covered in any of his Academy studies.
There was the suggestion that any of their potential activities should not take them into dangerous situations, unless you pursued them.
Then as he was recalling back to his studies the signal came through, clear and ready, even with the background noise present it was clear to Marie's failing systems.
Reaching for the materialisation controls he mentally prepared himself. Rematerialisating with so many manual systems was something he only just knew the theories of.
But operating a TARDIS was more than just knowing the theories it was reading and understanding the systems and the personality of a TARDIS.
Harry took a deep breath and pulled the primary materialisation levers and heard Marie's strained engines howl and roar as they began their push into normal space.
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Zoe felt it almost at the same time as Jamie did, both looking at one another and realising it.
"Oh dear." The Doctor said, he seemed to decide to take a step back and then stopped himself remembering his own advice.
"What is it Doctor?" Zoe asked.
The Doctor had a frown of worry on his face and was looking back over at the TARDIS.
Before the Doctor could speak the rumbling increased, as did a long noise like the TARDIS made but different.
Zoe could make out something in front of them, opposite the TARDIS it seemed to be very bright.
A breeze seemed to pick up from no where, whipping and circling around them around where the whatever it was that was trying to appear.
"Doctor shouldn't we..." Jamie started worry in his voice.
"No Jamie!" The Doctor said holding them both steady. "It should be over soon, something's coming through."
And something was Zoe thought looking at the space where the wind seemed to be coming from. It was bright and shining and yellow and full of energy swirling around it.
The noise, a noise like the TARDIS made only louder and fuller somehow reached a pitch and then came back down and then with a thud it stopped and the energy swirling around the whatever it was ebbed away.
"Well, well, well, now that is interesting." The Doctor said curiously as they all saw what had made it through.
It was a woman with red hair, she had her eyes closed and hands by her side. Her clothing was burning, black marks like soot on her body but she didn't seem to be bleeding or showing any pain.
And then something happened that made Zoe exclaim out loud.
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Harry barely had time to relax as he realised he had managed to materialise Marie as most of Marie's systems went into cascade failure. There was enough information on the console, before it explode for him to check the environment outside. It had a breathable atmosphere, a large amount of chronons present which was likely the fault of their materialisation. No radiation.
Rushing over to the clothing and outdoor preparation of the console room he filled his dimensionally trancendental bag with some currencies that might be useful and precious gems some clothing, a staser and other things that might prove useful.
Marie's systems would recover and regenerate but he knew as he looked at the sparks coming from the console and the smoke pooling around the time rotor it would be some time. He would also need to wait for the dark matter that they'd collided with to pass through this system before they could dematerialise safely.
Going back to the console he operated the door controls, knowing Marie would not be any conscious state to open them for him and rushed out.
-/
The woman, had just split in half revealing a bright light and some smoke pouring out of...Zoe couldn't, didn't understand it. This was a woman who had just appeared and now...a man...a man was walking, almost rushing out of a woman.
Zoe could barely understand it.
The man looked up at the sky for a brief moment and breathed in the air taking a deep breath and then looked around and focused on the TARDIS.
-/
Harry walked over to the blue box. It said 'Police Box' on it. This was obviously the TARDIS that guided him down.
Reaching out he placed a palm on its outershell. He could feel it humming beneath his hands.
"Thank you." He whispered with his voice and his mind.
The hum changed pitch for a moment and then the lights within and the brightness of its outershell sign turned off.
Then he heard a voice.
-/
"Doctor shouldn't we..." Jamie started but the Doctor had a big smile on his face as he watched the young man walk over to the TARDIS. Jamie also watched and seemed nervous about the dark haired man who seemed younger than Jamie.
The young man reached out a hand and placed it on one of the panels of the TARDIS and whispered something. Then the lights on the TARDIS switched off.
"Harry?" The Doctor called out as he walked over to the man.
Zoe looked over at Jamie who seemed surprised as she felt.
The Doctor knew this man?
The Doctor ran up to the younger man and pulled him into an embrace Zoe looked on curiously, this was the first time she had ever seen the Doctor interact with anyone like that.
-/
"Brother?" Harry said as his brother let him out of a warm surprised embrace.
"Harry! You have a TARDIS I see." His brother observed looking over at Marie.
Harry stared at his brother. "And you've regenerated, already." He said surprised, now looking at his brother more closely. He had known who it was as soon as he had scooped him up, although his brother's new body was somewhat shorter than he had been previously.
Harry called his brother's name to pull him away from looking at Marie, and he swung around to look at Harry.
"Not many people call me that Harry." He said with a smile of longing.
"I've been informed you're now permanently known as 'the Doctor'." Harry replied.
His brother looked at him with some surprise. "From whom?" He asked.
"Iris Wildthyme." Harry saw recognition on his brother's face.
"That woman and her bus." He wrinkled his nose. "So you've run into her."
Harry nodded. "She's perfectly fine, Doctor." Harry said deliberately annunciating the word, his brother's name.
His brother looked at him as to question him.
"It suited you when you first came up with it and I think it still suits you." Harry said with a smile. "You're still my brother, whatever you call yourself. Doctor." Harry said with a smile.
His brother grinned. "As are you Harry." He looked back at Marie. "And this is your TARDIS." He said looking at her. "I thought you were going to stay at home. Stare out with all the others, not interfering." He said with a satisfied smile.
"Something you did not wish to do I see. Maybe I was tempted by the Untempered Schism?" Harry asked.
His brother looked back at him seemingly considering what he'd said, or perhaps recalling his own experiences, even one renewal backward some things become fuzzy.
Although Harry could tell his brother had been in this current body for a while, there were clues that one could look for to discern the time since a Time Lord had gone through the processes of regeneration.
The qualities and drives that a Time Lord could direct during a regeneration and the level of control one could exert over the process was a subject Harry had some curiosity with. He knew that there was a degree of randomisation to the regenerative process. Although there were accounts of Time Lords who had controlled the regenerative process.
Sometimes to control others, during the Age of Rassilon when Time Lords went out into the universe there were many abuses of the great power of the Time Lords. There was some brief mentions of Time Lords who set themselves up as gods and deities to beings.
Harry was broken out of his thoughts by someone making a choking noise. He looked to his brother who reacted as though he had suddenly remembered an Otherstide party.
"Harry." He said rushing over to two beings who were standing and watching them. "These are my two friends; Jamie McCrimmon." He said placing both hands on the shoulders of the young man. "And Zoe Heriot." He looked over at the younger woman. "Jamie, Zoe, this is Harry Potter."
"Hello." Harry said with a smile walking over to greet them and offered his hand to Jamie's outstretched hand.
"You're the Doctor's brother?" Zoe Heriot asked. His brother looked at her in surprise.
"I thought you said you didn't have family, that's what ye told Victoria." Jamie said looking at his brother curiously.
"Ah, you remember that Jamie." His brother said.
Harry looked at his brother curiously, he knew his brother sometimes, when they were out with the Shobogans and others liked to pretend he didn't have a family. So he could run away and not be beholden to anyone. Harry was somewhat different, he valued Ordinal General Quences' opinion and very much enjoyed being at the House of Lungbarrow; its libraries its millennia of history contained within its walls.
"I was simplifying things for Victoria Jamie, she had just been through a traumatic situation, I didn't want to make things more complicated for her." His brother said shoving his hands into his pockets.
"And what about that stuff about ye head?" Jamie pushed.
Harry wondered if Jamie was alluding to the different selves' memories that slept within a Time Lord's mind, the personalities of past that slept inside the minds of a Time Lord. They could be called upon in times of great need, but they were locked away when a Time Lord regenerated.
"Doctor, will the TARDIS be alright now that it's..." Zoe trailed off looking between himself and Marie.
"Of course Zoe, now that it's helped Harry and" His brother paused looking at Marie. "and his TARDIS down."
Jamie walked over to Marie. "And this is ye TARDIS Harry?" He said looking at Marie. The burning and charing around her outer shell had already begun to regenerate and recover. "Strange." He said poking Marie experimentally. His brother rushed forward and grabbed Jamie's hand.
Harry raised an eyebrow in amusement. Marie wouldn't be aware enough to acknowledge anyone aside from him and perhaps other time sensitives near her until her primary systems were back online. Even if they were he doubted she would have responded, a simple being like Jamie wouldn't concern her any more than the insects on Felsecar.
Jamie looked at his brother. "Don't do that Jamie. This TARDIS is..." His brother trailed off. "More advanced than the TARDIS."
"Can't be more advanced if it needed help down." Jamie commented.
The deduction was a logical one, lacking any further information it was a logical conclusion to draw.
"We collided with a large amount of dark matter exposed to a parachronic field Jamie." Harry explained.
"We?" He looked at Harry.
"My TARDIS and I." Harry said, he wasn't sure why he did not reveal Marie's name to these two associates of his brother.
"Oh, aye." Jamie said.
"So you'll be waiting as well, the Doctor says we won't be able to leave for at least another week." Zoe began.
"Or two." His brother added. "If you passed through a parachronic field."
"The dark matter had passed through it." Harry clarified. "It was fortunate that your TARDIS was here." Harry said looking back to the 'Police Box' exterior of his brother's TARDIS.
"So ye're stuck here like us then Harry."
Harry nodded. "It seems so." He looked over at Marie. "The dimensions within my TARDIS will have locked down so I can't pass the time there."
His brother clapped his hands together. "You can stay with us!" He said with a grin.
"We've got plenty of room." Zoe said. "The Doctor was prepared-"
She was cut off. "For once." By Jamie.
Zoe glared at Jamie. "With credits for this planet."
"Ah yes, Zoe Harry doesn't want to hear about that." His brother started awkwardly.
Harry smirked at his brother. "A temporal banking scheme brother?" Harry asked.
"It's this way Harry, ye can tell me all about what the Doctor was like when he was young." Jamie said with a grin. "If he was young." He looked back at his brother.
-/
"Doctor?"
"Yes Zoe?" The Doctor said as he watched Harry gesturing with his hands as he talked to Jamie.
"Why does Harry's TARDIS look like a woman?"
"I believe Harry's TARDIS is a much more advanced model than ours." The Doctor said looking back at his and then looking to Zoe.
"Doctor, is that TARDIS a woman? Or does she just look like one?" The Doctor looked to her as they continued to walk along the grassy path.
"What do you think Zoe?" He asked in a neutral tone.
Zoe opened her mouth and then closed it. She knew that the TARDIS wasn't a wooden police box, because of what it contained, even though it felt like wood. It vibrated - it hummed with power when you stood close to it; when you pressed your hands against it you could feel a power beneath.
The Doctor's brother's TARDIS, Harry Potter's TARDIS wasn't like their TARDIS it was a woman, or woman shaped. But there was something more that she couldn't put into words, something...
"I'm not sure Doctor." She looked at him and he grinned.
"Exciting isn't it, knowing that you're not sure but are presented with the facts regardless. Your knowledge and experience is telling you one thing." The Doctor paused. "But reality is something quite different." The Doctor rubbed his hands together excitedly.
Zoe opened her mouth but the Doctor had already rushed forward to walk with Harry Potter and Jamie.
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It had been a few cycles or days on the planet. Harry had visited the local library establishment, guided by Zoe who had explained she had been an astrometricist and astrophysicist aboard a human space station. Her 'photographic memory' was intriguing though. All Time Lords had very good recall of memories and experiences, but in some cases time was needed for the recall of information. They were still biological beings. That a human could claim to have this 'photographic memory' or near perfect recall was fascinating. Although, it had been revealed to him by his brother, Jamie and a little bit by Zoe that her training for this had affected her psychological and inter-personal development.
Harry had detected some signs of a reliance on logic in some of her arguments. While that was an excellent place to start some of his teachers had instructed them not to rely on logic. Computers maintained logical systems, but could not read the intricacies of life and time. That was why computers could not navigate the time vortex alone, and even TARDISes as advanced as Marie still required a Time Lord pilot. The flow of time, piloted through the vortex was something that could only be comprehended by a living mind.
The following day, after Harry had spent a night out with Jamie drinking much alcohol with him, something he seemed not to believe that a "wee lad like you" could consume equal and beyond what Jamie could.
Harry had tried to explain their differing physiologies meant that he could consume more and had a better control of his biological systems meaning he would not get as inebriated as a human of similar size.
Although it seemed to have little after affects on Jamie McCrimmon as the following day, according to Zoe Jamie had already been up for a walk. "Makes a change from all the sleeping he does." she'd commented as he'd sat down with her for their early morning meal.
It was then that the Doctor and Jamie returned to the accommodation they were sharing.
"He's got one of his plans." Jamie said to Zoe and say down at the table he and Zoe were sharing.
"What plans Doctor?" Harry asked, having become used to calling his brother 'Doctor'.
His brother grinned at them. "I've heard of this wondrous site up in the mountains, a statue Zoe that will answer 'unknown' questions." He rubbed his hands together. "It's exciting isn't it. I thought we'd go up there today."
"Just what we need excitement." Jamie grumbled.
"You're just grumpy because you and Harry were out drinking all night." She said staring from Jamie to Harry.
"You went out drinking with Jamie?" His brother had an almost judgmental tone to his voice.
"Might I remind you brother of your debauched acts with the Shobogans, I had to drag your lifeless body back to the House?"
His brother looked to Jamie and Zoe who were now looking between him and his brother.
"Why don't you tell us Harry?" Zoe asked sweetly watching his brother.
"Now, Harry, that was once-"
"That was more than once brother." Harry countered looking at his brother closely. "I can show you, I have a good memory of those many times you had become inebriated with the Shobogans. You were babbling about the stars one night."
His brother wrinkled his nose, revealing his defeat. "Well, maybe." He shook his head. "Now eat something and meet me outside in half an hour. A good bracing walk, will be good for all of us, shake the cobwebs out." He said walking out of the room.
"More likely he's just bored." Jamie said plucking a fruit from the vessel on the table.
This, from what he had gathered speaking with the two humans was a common trait of his brother, something that a regeneration had not changed. His brother loved stimulation, mental or physical he wanted to be engaged, entertained and even more he wanted to explore. Sitting still and observing was never, would never satisfy him. That was what made him leave Gallifrey. His brother; 'the Doctor' could never sit and observe the universe.
-/
They had been hiking up one of the larger mountains for some time and his brother seemed very much cheered by the prospect of a temple 'or possibly a cave' that they were making their way towards.
His brother and Jamie were leading the way, Harry had fallen into step with Zoe, who had walked in silence, though every so often turned to enjoy the view that they were afforded from this elevation.
"Was the Doctor always like this Harry, when he was younger?" Zoe asked as they stepped up an even steeper path. His brother and Jamie moving with gusto.
Harry preferred a simple calmer approach, observing how Jamie and his brother approached the stepped slope before following them.
"Yes. He has. He's always been passionate, excitable and occasionally grumpy when things don't turn out the way he wants." Harry said with a smile.
"I don't think the Doctor's ever been..." Zoe trailed off as she looked to Harry who raised an eyebrow at where she was leading the conversation. "Yes, I suppose he can be frustrated when plans don't turn out the way he intended."
"He didn't always have plans, he just liked to rush into things or explore and see how they turn out." Harry mused as he gauged the next rise of steps and took the lead up a particularly high inclination before holding out his hand to Zoe allowing her a grip up the slope.
"Thank you." She said craning to look up. "It looks like they've stopped."
"Finding the entrance where we will find something to answer unknown questions." Harry mused following her gaze.
-/
As soon as they walked into the large cave Harry's senses were alive, he could feel a bombardment of energy waves many around the psychic range coming from somewhere within the cave. There were also flashes in the ultraviolet and infrared flaring out.
"Some scanning coming from here" He said his brother's name softly but his brother had already wandered further into the cave's interior. "Brother." He shook his head. Jamie and Zoe had followed his brother while he had been working to focus his senses and ignore some of his other ones. "Doctor." He said a little louder and rushed to follow him and the two humans who'd disappeared into the realms of darkness.
He rushed into a small ante-chamber.
"Harry! Don't." His brother turned around as he came in.
Harry felt it whip down around him, it was also within the normal for humans visual spectrum.
"Oh, that's great now." Jamie said from one side of his brother.
They were all surrounded by individual force fields. He stuck out his hand experimentally and pulled it back as it made contact with the field.
"Electrostatic force field." He said looking to his brother, the Doctor.
"Yes, very tricky, I had thought you might wait before rushing in." His brother seemed amused that he had even done so.
Harry was more annoyed with his brother. He would have waited, thought and observed and made a considered decision. Instead he'd...followed his brother's lead and rushed to catch up with them.
"Welcome." Suddenly boomed a voice.
Before them there was a glow of what Harry presumed was some form of phosphor lamps judging by the glow around the cave.
"Hello." His brother said and looked to his companions.
"Oh, eye, hello." Jamie said after a moment of annoyance from his brother.
"Hello." Zoe said awkwardly into the space.
"Greetings." Harry said as he looked into the darkness trying to discern something from the darkness. There was nothing specifically he could see and the bombardment across his senses had eased slightly.
"You have come seeking answers to truly unknown questions. They will be answered if they are so. If not" The voice paused. "You will face a penance."
"That doesn't sound good." Jamie said to himself, or possibly to Zoe.
"You will provide service to the systems of this place." The voice continued.
"Well that's alright Doctor?" Zoe looked over at the Doctor.
"Yes, it does seem so." His brother mused.
"For 1000 thulons." It continued.
"Oh my giddy aunt!" His brother exclaimed oddly.
"What is it Doctor?" Zoe asked.
"A thulon is a measurement of time." Harry explained drawing the attention of the Doctor's two companions. "It's approximately the equivalent of 100 million day night cycles on this planet."
"Oh." Jamie said.
"But..." Zoe started. "But that's more than 250 thousand years."
"Yes, I imagine that no one has lasted that long Zoe." His brother commented dryly.
"Well, all we need to do is ask a question." Jamie commented. "That's not hard."
"No, Jamie we need to ask a truly unknown question." His brother said.
Harry mused up into the darkness. It was an interesting query. There were several questions that he could ask, or it could be that it was a logic puzzle. He said as much to Zoe who was beside him.
"Yes!" Her eyes were alight. "That's right."
Harry opened his mouth to question her reasoning but she began to speak.
"If there is a truly unknown question, that you are capable of answering then you should also have the answer and know the only question."
The voice responded almost instantly. "An uninspired query." It seemed to almost sigh. "Though reasoned." The force field around Zoe dissipated and she looked to Harry and smiled.
"And now you have exhausted quite a pool of queries based on that premise. Though I was about to say it was a dangerous query to pursue." Harry said.
"Wait for us at the cave entrance Zoe." Said his brother 'the Doctor' as Harry was now thinking of him as his companions called him.
"Your companion will not be harmed." It said calmly.
Harry wondered if it was some form of biological intelligence or just a technological one.
"Jamie? Do you have a question?" The Doctor asked seemingly worried.
Jamie seemed to be thinking hard. "I dunno Doctor, I don't want to ask somethin' like Zoe asked."
"I think the key is to ask something you do not know Jamie." The Doctor said slowly. "Isn't that right?" Then quickly added. "That wasn't my question."
"That is correct." Said the voice.
"Oh, eye, well I know then." Jamie said.
Harry listened to Jamie's question it seemed to relate to something that happened before he began travelling with the Doctor to do with a childhood question.
It also seemed to stump the intelligence. "Interesting. A personal experience question. A sign of intelligence with a question of specificity." The voice commented as the force field let up.
"Harry?" The Doctor, his brother asked.
"Did Apeiron's bowship survive his battle with the Vampire hoard during the 29th mega-span of the war with the Vampires?" Harry asked. He had read that Apeiron had carried many of his writings on his bowship during the Vampire wars. Very few of his theories on the vortex survived.
"Harry?" His brother's voice was tight.
"Interesting. A genuine query. A being seeking knowledge." The voice said. "Knowledge which may be available, though is not."
"You don't know?" Harry asked surprised. For an intelligence to claim to be able to answer 'truly unknown' questions it seemed to be failing at quite a many questions.
"It is a specific question. Based on this point in time, it is likely it survived." It said as the force field dissipated.
Harry walked away from where he was standing and over to the Doctor's companions.
He wasn't sure when, in his mind be became comfortable thinking of his brother as 'the Doctor'. But it was probably seeing his companions defer to his knowledge and experience, and how he looked to them, watched for them.
"Oh, dear, now, well."
"You do have a question in mind brother? You did lead us here." Harry asked looking over as his brother seemed nervous.
"Well, of course Harry, I just didn't expect, well oh dear I..." He said looking around. "I just wanted to know what created such a thing." He said looking around. Harry also looked around trying to follow his brother's gaze but wasn't sure what he was looking for.
"Yes. Many have asked this question." It paused.
Harry then realised that his brother was looking for, or possibly was looking for the generators for the forcefields.
Removing the staser from his pocket he looked around for the flares in the upper reaches of the light spectrum that would indicate the generators emission point.
"Your question is unknown, though truly it is not." Said the voice.
"Because someone has already asked it." His brother said realising his mistake.
And then the forcefield switched off. "But a question nonetheless." It said with a sigh.
"We're free to go?" Jamie asked almost surprised.
"Why is that so surprising?" Harry asked as his brother walked back to them. His brother looked at the staser he held, Harry looked at his brother and replaced it within his pocket where he'd held it previously.
"You really don't know what he gets up to." Jamie shook his head as they exited the cave.
"Not all beings are as forgiving as that intelligence Harry." His brother explained calmly.
"Most want to lock us up." Jamie commented.
"Not all of them Jamie." His brother chastised.
"Aye, not all, just most." He shook his head. "Come on." Jamie said to Zoe as he walked ahead with her leaving Harry with his brother.
"You are still interested in the founders of our society? And their wars." His brother wrinkled his nose.
"It is the less talked of ones that are interesting brother. You have stood and looked up at the statues." Harry commented.
"Not as much as you did." His brother acknowledged.
"Apeiron's spiny boots always intrigued me." Harry said with a slight smile.
"How he could walk in those boots." His brother looked back up the mountain with a smile. "You were the only one to ask a genuine question."
"But given what it said it doesn't appear to have the intelligence to be trustworthy." Harry paused. "But it allows for some further investigation."
"Investigation is always good." His brother smiled broadly.
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Some days later it was time to depart. Back where their TARDISes stood; Marie's chameleon circuit was operational, though without any other individuals of the society within close proximity she had defaulted to clothing that camouflaged her into the plant life.
"Well Harry." His brother seemed awkward, looking at Marie every now and then, worried, maybe. Harry wasn't sure.
"Would you like to have a look inside brother? You seem worried." Harry asked. He had already ascertained that Marie was functioning normally and her interior dimensions had unlocked.
His brother's face lit up like the sun through the atmosphere on a wintery Gallifreyan day.
Harry nodded to Marie who parted her arms slitting her body in half allowing them access.
"Oh!" Zoe exclaimed as he walked in followed by his brother.
Zoe and Jamie attempted to follow but Marie closed before they could approach.
-/
Harry walked over to the console to check that they were able to dematerialise.
"All the power levels look good. Marie are there any problems?" He asked as he walked around the console checking her systems.
"This is a very advanced TARDIS Harry." His brother looked around the console room, pausing and frowning at the weapons store.
"More weapons Harry?" He asked.
"Marie is much more advanced and specialised brother." Harry said as Marie's image appeared on the scanner.
"All primary systems are fully functioning." She paused seemingly slightly uncomfortable. "There are a few systems that require you to perform maintenance."
"Can it wait till we're away from this planet?" He asked. She nodded. "Good." Harry turned back to his brother who was watching his exchange curiously.
"Much more advanced." He said smiling and walked over and enveloped Harry in a hug. "It was very good to see you Harry."
"And you too brother." Harry said returning the hug.
His brother seemed sated with seeing the console room. "We should also depart, shouldn't leave Jamie and Zoe waiting."
Harry nodded his agreement and gestured towards the exterior doors.
"Don't you need to..." His brother began looking to the console about to ask, Harry assumed about the door controls. "Of course no." He said in wonderment as the doors opened and they stepped out back into the real world.
"Doctor how did...?"
"TARDISes are bigger on the inside Zoe." His brother explained.
Harry walked over to the pair, shaking their hands. "It was very nice to meet both of you."
"Hopefully we'll run into ye again." Said Jamie.
"Hopefully." Zoe said. "It was very nice to meet you too Harry."
His brother, the Doctor hurried them over to his own TARDIS and stood on its threshold and waved at him. Harry returned the wave and watched and listened as his brother's TARDIS dematerialised. He watched amused, the noise of its engines echoing all around the local area and into the vortex.
"Let's go Marie." Harry said as he walked back into his TARDIS and a similar noise echoed around the local environment.
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A/N:
Here we are, finally a chapter with the Doctor in it. A proper um...non-adventure.
The idea I had with this chapter was originally Harry and the Doctor and co go up to the cave, see the monster and then get trapped servicing his mechanisms and whatever, they find a way out using Harry and the Doctor's unique skills. Simple story, early Doctor Who adventure style.
Then I thought 'well, not all the Doctor's travels were awful things happening'. So this is one of those not-awful happenings. It's a nothing adventure.
Harry won't meet the First Doctor because essentially he's grown up with him. The Second Doctor is a better introduction point for Harry and Marie.