Pandora's Comet
Chapter 3.

Authors note:-
I know this takes a while between chapters but there is a reason. I've got more than one story running at the moment and I'm still brisling with ideas. All this is getting to be a full time job, and I already have one of those!

Data had completely scanned the wooden police box and that was all it was. No drive system, no power source despite the lights and energy signature, no transporter or subspace trace. According to every reading possible this box had existed in the exact same place on the bridge for longer the Enterprise had been built. He noticed the door was open and decided to scan the inside for clues.

There were not many clues inside, only more questions. First of all it was not made of wood. The metal was a form of composite; carbon, silicon and calcium bonded with mostly copper and gold in an organic structure. If he had to guess Data would say it was incredibly resilient and had the ability to self repair.

He looked up. The copper wall in front of him curved.

And curved.

For the first time Data looked around at the impossibility. Quite simply the facts neither made sense or fit within the realm of relative physics.

Before his positronic net finished calculating the problem it was interrupted; 'Data! Where are you?' it was Commander Riker on the comm badge.

He walked up to the central column. 'I am onboard the Doctor's ship, it will require some time to analyse the controls.' A great bell rung dully somewhere high above and one of the monitors spun round to face him. It displayed his schematics in a Da Vinci sketch. As he took a scan of the console the circle surrounding the famous drawing span down and moved from point to point. Little dents appeared in the circle and information scrolled across the other side of the screen. Data watched for a time before hypothesising it was doing the same as he was.

'What have you found?' the commander asked.

Data watched the circle focus on his badge as he answered; "Commander Riker, I am on board the ship. I believe an advanced intelligence is in control of the vehicle.'

'Data; the computer say's your still on the bridge.'

'I do not understand how that is possible commander. A structure of this scale could not fit within the bridge, let alone the wooden box. I believe I passed through a tightly controlled aperture in space time, focused on the doorway.'

'No Data, according to ships sensors you are still here.'

'Evidently the Doctor's people are a highly developed race. I will attempt to access the vehicles information archive.' Data looked at the controls, there was no logical pattern or structure to them. He tried to set up a remote link with this tricorder but was doubtful of his possible success.

When the small device exploded 1.276 seconds after making contact Data suspected he had made a mistake. Dropping the charred box he watched the screen scroll with more alien text 'I have failed, Commander, however I do not believe it was a security measure. Contact was established but the tricorder was unable to contain the information presented.' Data saw the text shift and become English. 'One moment Commander.' Checking his systems he found a query lodged deep within his neural net; 'I believe I have made contact commander. Accessing...'

Reg tried to follow what the strange visitor was doing with the deflector dish but it was hopeless. This "Doctor" had no pattern to what he was doing, or how. If he was going to guess Reg would have said the man was deliberately obscuring it all. The Doctor threw his spectacles to Ensign Brambly, who was still busy trying to fold the guy's coat.

'Good now time for the difficult bit.' He glanced at Reg; 'Tie in the transporter's materialisation circuit to the deep range sensors. Lieutenant Commander get me the range and direction of the nearest solar body.'

'What are we doing?' he had to ask.

'It's quite simple really. A transmat beam punches through subspace, leaving a footprint; if you know what your looking for. Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow and you reverse the beam, then all I have to do is time the deflector pulse to fire at the moment the transmat beam enters subspace and I bounce the Cybermen into the sun. Job done in time for tea.'

The engineering crew stopped for a moment as they figured the plan out. 'You would have to shift the deflector pulse into subspace. It would be like threading the eye of a needle on a dart board half a light year away.' Mr Laforge gasped.

'Et viola!' The stranger grinned as the screens changed. 'Now for the magnetic bottles, you:-...'

'Me?' Reg gasped.

'No, the other specialist engineer standing by the main console. What is the frequency of polar shift in the magnetic bottles?'

'35.4 per second.'

'Good.' The Doctor looked to the ceiling, muttering to himself; 'Carry the 9, allow for disruption and pulse differential...'

'What is he doing?' Mr Worf asked Geordi.

'I don't know.'

Snapping his fingers the strange man shouted; 'ah ha! A frequency of 1.5 cubed terahertz on a bi-polar shift should do the job. Here we go...' He tapped the controls...

Reg guessed what he had just done...

All the lights on the ship died...

As the light's died the top of the blue box lit up and oddly the bridge filled with a golden glow. 'I'll find out what's going on.' Number One ran for the Engineering console that was flickering

'Mr Data respond!' Picard shouted into his badge moments before the yellow skinned commander exited the blue box. But something was different. Data's pail yellow was now a deep golden bronze that matched the glow.

'The TARDIS has communicated all necessary information, sir.'

Looking to his first officer Picard gave him the first question 'What is it Data?'

The Commander tilted his head almost as if he was looking at a table of information; 'TARDIS. An acronym for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. This was the prototype for the type 40 model. Grown from engineered corral, a TARDIS is an ever expanding life form created to explore and travel the time vortex.'

'Time Vortex?'

'The Time Vortex was created by the Time Lords. It is what binds time and space together as one. To travel through this energy envelope bypasses the laws of time and space.'

'So this ship is not governed by any of the laws of of physics.'

'Correct.'

'And that's why it looks like a Blue box'

This time Data looked to he far left. 'No sir. All TARDIS craft are equipped with a chameleon circuit. This system automatically adapts itself according to the environment, world and time of it's landing. An SEP field then distracts people from investigating further.'

'SEP?'

'Someone Else's Problem. Through neural induction and aura infusion anyone curious about the TARDIS will simply leave it alone. They believe it is not anything to do with them, that is why I alone investigated it. The TARDIS was curious and isolated me from the field.'

'You talk as if it's alive.'

Guinean and Rose answered at the same time 'It is.'

'That is correct captain. The TARDIS achieved conscious thought 200 years after construction began. As it was the prototype it was relived and put into a museum shortly after.' Data stopped and walked up the ramp to one of the science stations.

'Mr Data?'

'My positronic net has been directly linked to the TARDIS telepathic interface. Computer access requested.'

'Whatever the Doctors done in engineering killed all but life support power.' Riker explained as Data touched the screen.

'Yes!' he shouted in the darkness

Geordi watched the Doctor in the half light from his sonic device. 'You cut power to all but the life support and the grav plating!'

'I know. For some reason all the sensor logs and computer records of my modifications have been erased by the power surge. Speaking of...' he pointed the device at the panel he had worked on and it exploded in a shower of sparks. 'You've got to be careful with the power on these old ships you never know when they could surge.' As the sparks fell the lights came back up.

'You destroyed it!' Reg shouted.

'Yes, the technology for a stable transmat is at least two thousand years ahead of this junk. The subspace pulse another hundred or so. I will not allow you that sort of leap in technology.' he stood in front of the blast doors. 'But there was another reason for the power cut. The magnetic locks.'

'You cut them, Now we can open the doors!' Reg jumped

'Why would we want the doors to open when there is no atmosphere on the other-side. Hum?' The strange Doctor shook his head and looked to poor Ensign Brambly who had finally finished juggling glasses and coat.

'What?' the Ensign asked, baffled.

The chief engineer sighed as the Doctor lazily pointed is magic wand at the life support console Brambly was standing next to. The flashing red section that was the main core room bleeped and went green. 'Oh'

As the Doctor rolled his eyes Geordi slapped the door controls and the massive blast door finally rose into the roof. 'Awe! No!'

Engineering was a complete loss. Consoles smashed, the crystal frame hanging out of the reactor housing. 'Captain,' he spoke into his comm badge. 'The warp core is shot to hell and the room isn't any better. We won't have warp power for at least a week, two maybe three without a starbase.'

'Which is exactly what we'll be without warp power Mister Laforge. Can the Doctor help?' Picard glanced at Data his hand on the LCARS of science one.

'Doctor? Captain he's vanished.'

The blond girl smiled. 'He's coming back up. Don't worry.' Guinan, who had been trying to melt into the background in the midst of the all the chaos, nodded in agreement.

'Looks like your on your own Geordi. We're almost out of time.' The view screen flickered but it still showed the massive comet on its collision course with the planet. It was getting too close for them to stop it in time.

Suddenly a thud echoed across the bridge. 'DATA!' Riker shouted.

The captain turned to look in time to see the android sit up like a ram rod. 'A fascinating experience. The TARDIS has access to all the knowledge in the universe, across time itself. Yet still it has the personality of a child. Perhaps with further...'

'No Data. Right now I need you boost the Subspace radio.' Picard knew there was something far more important. 'We need to warn the planet that this is an invasion. Then contact Starfleet, the reinforcements have no idea what they are up against.' The turbolift doors opened. 'Perhaps you could help us with that Doctor?'

'With what?'

'The Cybermen invasion of Gorham Four.'

A sudden change came over the Doctor. Gone was the scattering scientist, or the jovial old friend. It was like a cold wind blown across the ship, with the chill of space. 'How many people?'

'Seven million.' He answered without thinking. There was no reaction, he only slowly walked down the ramp and across the bridge.

'Doctor?' Miss Tyler asked in whisper between fear and awe.

He opened a panel on the front of the blue box. Behind it was a old style telephone, he dialled a number in it with a short tube.

The strange ship began to glow, its discordant sound of grounding gears echoing behind picards eyes. But nothing else, no fadeing way or vanishing trick.

'Captain; the comet!' The councillor pointed to the screen. In the middle distance the chunk of ice and gas faded in and out of existence. 'What's happened to it?' As the final cord echoed across the Enterprise the comet went back to solid and just vanished.

'That should deal with that.' The Doctor closed the panel before it opened again and burped.

End chapter 3