Ziggy Stardust

On Vanaheim Thor sat watching the Doctor. The Time Lord was still tinkering with the contraption he had built around the Tesseract.

Thor remembered Jane once setting up what she called a 'projector' on the balcony. She had hung up a white sheet and use the projector to display silent moving pictures of her parents and her childhood. The machine the Doctor had constructed reminded Thor of this 'projector' but he was certain they would not be using it to watch movies. That was if the Doctor ever finished the confounded contraption.

Sonic screwdriver in hand and poking out of the corner of his mouth, the circled his machine detaching and reattaching equipment. Occasionally he would take a step back, frown and mutter something about neutron flow and then would continue his tinkering.

Growing increasingly impatient, Thor spoke. "Can you possibly work faster Doctor? It will not take my father long to realize that we are on Vanaheim".

The Doctor waved a hand dismissively "you can't rush a genius Sparky. I'm sure your father has bigger things to worry about anyway, like a misplaced Infinity Gauntlet perhaps?" He raised his head as he said this and gave Thor a stern look.

Thor stared back in surprise "how did you know about that?"

"I'm a bit of a busybody" the Doctor replied with a shrug, "but that's not my fight, not that one. I wish you the best of luck though".

Thor frowned "I suppose it is a matter for another day".

The Doctor looked grim "let us hope another day comes". He felt another twinge of pain and winced, it did not go unnoticed by Thor.

"It is getting worse?" he asked the Time Lord.

The Doctor nodded.

"Is it affecting Loki also?" Thor asked his voice tinged with worry.

"No, no" the Doctor said, "only Time Lords".

Thor thought about Odin's words in the vault and doubt began to seep into his mind.

"Why are you so certain that Loki is in danger?" He asked pointedly, "how can you be sure that it was not Loki who stole the sands?"

"I can't be sure" the Doctor replied evenly, "the sands were in the lost vault on Gallifrey, and the list of people who know Gallifrey's location is very short. Unfortunately Loki's name is on that list".

The Doctor titled his head to the side and then tightened some screws on his contraption.

"But Loki knows better than to mess with any time stream" he continued, "especially his own. And let's face it; your brother has a habit of accumulating enemies".

Finally he tucked his sonic screwdriver back into his coat pocket and surveyed his creation with satisfaction "there" he said, "almost done. I just need one more thing".

The sound of a spaceship entering the atmosphere caused Thor and Hogun to look up. The Doctor looked at his watch "and about time too".

The Milano came to rest on the grass and Peter Quill stepped out with a grin and held up a leather bag "alright Doctor, got your bounty right here".

He walked towards the Time Lord, but stopped short when he saw Thor. Peter eyed Moljnor slung on Thor's belt and then looked up at the golden haired man in awe "dude... You're Thor".

"Yes" Thor replied, "and you are?"

"Peter Quill" the young man replied, "but you might know me by my other name, Starlord".

"No" Thor said plainly.

Peter looked slightly crestfallen "seriously? Well you'll remember it from now on right?" He extended his fist towards the God "fist pump? Come on dude, don't leave me hanging".

Thor stared at Peter in bewilderment and then turned to the Doctor and said in a low voice "is he touched in the head?"

"No" the Doctor murmured, "He's just mostly human".

The Doctor looked impatiently at Peter and held out his hand. Peter gave him the bag and the Time Lord looked inside, giving a satisfied nod. He turned back towards his machine and was interrupted by the sound of Peter deliberately clearing his throat "uh, Doctor? My payment?"

"Oh right" the Doctor said fishing about in his coat pocket. He took out a small object and handed to Peter.

"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" Peter read the label on the cassette tape with a frown, "This is what I get? Do you know how many favours I had to call in to find that freaking vortex manipulator?"

The Doctor nodded "yes, thank you for your services".

Thor watched with interest as Peter stared open mouthed at the Doctor unsure of whether to yell or not.

Ultimately he shut his mouth and gave the Doctor a curt nod. "No problem" Peter murmured sarcastically, "catch you later Time Lord". He turned back towards his ship.

"Call if you should ever need me" the Doctor replied, "Star Lord".

Thor thought he heard Peter say a rather impolite word as he got back into his ship but chose to ignore it. The Milano came to life and soared up into the sky out of sight.

Thor turned back to the Doctor who was again busy; he had discarded the leather bag and was fitting its contents into his contraption.

"Why him?" Thor asked.

"Best salvager in the business" the Doctor said, his gaze remaining fixed on his machine "and one of only a few with principles. If anyone was going to find where Loki had discarded the vortex manipulator, it would have been him".

Thor looked at the vortex manipulator with interest "this is what Loki used to escape Earth?"

"Yes" the Doctor nodded as he tapped it a few times with the sonic screwdriver "it's useless on its own now, no power. But with the Tesseract and my brilliance..."

The Doctor gave the machine a thump with his fist. It began to glow and hum. Light shone from it like Jane's projector and the air in front of the machine began to ripple and shimmer like water.

The Time Lord grinned "I just opened a door through time. It should take us right to the TARDIS".

Thor looked on in wonderment as the Doctor walked towards the rippling air, he stopped and looked at Thor "shall we?"

Instinctively Thor gripped Moljnor. "Hogun" he called to his friend who still stood on guard, "take the Tesseract back to my father when we have gone". With a deep breath Thor walked towards the rippling air "with any luck, we shall find another way home".

Peter sat sullenly in the pilot seat of the Milano, wondering if his friends would be cross with him for running a fool's errand. He looked at the box in his hands and took out the cassette, putting it on his sound system. Peter frowned as he saw something written on the inside of the cassette box. It was a small series of numbers. The Doctor's last words floated back to Peter. "Star Lord, call if you should ever need me – the Doctor".

Peter grinned "well I'll be damned". And he continued on to meet his friends with David Bowie blaring from the speakers.