Twists and Turns in Time
Part Four
by
Sabrina Lonewalker
The Doctor's eyebrows climbed into his hairline. "Jack?" He said out loud. The last time he had seen Captain Jack Harkness was in the TARDIS after the business with Davros and the Crucible. Now, Jack was calling him. He knew it had to be important so, he set the console to the coordinates Jack had sent to him and the TARDIS headed off. A few minutes later, the blue box materialized and the Doctor cautiously stepped out to find Jack waiting. "I was wondering if you got my message. Something really strange is happening, Doc." The Doctor looked at him and Jack motioned for him to follow him.
The Doctor followed him into the main control center where a large screen was set up. Jack, Gwen and Ianto were going over some readouts and Jack looked up. "It started about four days ago. Some of your former companions have been lifted from time and space and we don't know how it happened." The Doctor stepped back, "Lifted out of time and space? Which ones?" As the names scrolled on the screen the look on the Tenth Doctor's face was one of shock and sadness. "You have no idea as to who or why?" Jack shook his head, "No, we don't. There's something else, some of your past incarnations are working together to solve this." The Doctor walked over to the console Jack was working from. "Do you know which ones?"
Jack nodded, "Yeah, Numbers Four, Five, Six and Eight." The Doctor looked at the readout. Jack continued, "They all seem to be in one TARDIS, I'm figuring Eight's since Four's is at UNIT HQ in his timeline." The tenth Doctor nodded, "It would make sense to leave the others in secure places in order to work together." Jack smiled. "We may have hit on something. Gwen picked up a transmat signal yesterday morning around 9:00 am. We traced it and we know who it was after but, for some strange reason, it was not able to lock onto it's target and it disappeared." The Doctor looked at him, "Who was the target?" Jack grinned again, "Donna Noble."
The Doctor's eyes flew open wide. "Donna? But, I had to wipe her mind, remove all of her memories of me or the Meta Crisis would have killed her." He paced around the room in a fashion familiar to Jack then, he stopped dead still. "That's why this person hasn't been able to snatch Zoe or Jamie either, he's locking onto memories of me in their minds, that's how he's taking them!" Jack looked at him, "Then, this person could take me, Gwen..." His voice trailed off. "True but, you were never, strictly speaking, a companion. Thank God, Rose is safe. Jack, can you patch me through to Eight's TARDIS?"
Jack nodded and soon, Eight saw the view screen flicker and a man's face appeared. They looked at each other for a few seconds and Eight smiled, "Which are you?" Ten smiled, "I'm number Ten." The other Doctors smiled then, Ten continued. "I'm with some friends and we've figured out how, if not who." The Four Doctors looked at the screen as he explained about Donna Noble and what he had to do to save her. "Whoever is doing this is locking onto our companions memories of us, that's how he was about to locate and transmat them away. Donna has no memories of me so he couldn't lock onto her. That's why he hasn't taken Jamie or Zoe." Four nodded, "Makes sense but, how do we find him?" Ten smiled, "Where can we meet up? We need to be together to do this." Eight smiled, "Where are you?"
Ten sighed, "Torchwood Hub in Cardiff, Wales. My TARDIS is parked nearby. Use her signal and it will lead you here." Eight nodded, "Got it, we'll be there shortly." The screen went to black and Jack looked at him, "Four of your previous selves are coming here?" Ten nodded, "We need to work together to solve this and I need them, their strength, their disciplines." He was quiet. "Jack, does Torchwood have a transmat?" Gwen Cooper spoke up, "Yes, we do." Ten looked hopeful, "Is it multi capacity or one at a time?" Jack smiled, "It can handle five at a time, that's it." Ten frowned, "According to what you've told me, a total of ten companions were taken. How fast is the turn around on that transmat?" Jack sighed, "That's the trouble, if we transmat five at one time, it takes ten minutes to recharge." Ten frowned, "Yes, that is a problem unless..."
He was interrupted by a familiar wheezing, groaning sound as a blue police call box materialized not too far away from Ten's. As Jack, Gwen and Ianto watched in disbelief, four men stepped out of the TARDIS along with one brown haired young woman. Ten's eyes lit up on seeing her, "Peri! How good to see you again!" Peri looked shocked and looked up at Six, "That's you?" Six was equally surprised, "It looks like it is. Heaven's the changes I've gone through." Peri couldn't help it, she giggled and was rewarded with ten's warm smile. Ten looked at her, "At least you're safe, he didn't get you." Peri looked confused then her face cleared, remembering what the other Doctors had been talking about.
Ten looked at the others, "We have to end this and find out what this collector wants with us." The other Doctors nodded and all of them turned to Jack who stepped back from his console without a word said. They went to work, each taking on a different task and yet, moving as smoothly as if they were one which, of course, they were. Peri walked over to Jack, "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Jack shook his head, "No but then, I've only met Nine and ten before this. Wonder what Nine is doing now?" Peri had no reply to this and went back to watching the five Doctors around the console.
The five Doctors went still for a few moments and seemed to be communicating silently with each other when Eight opened his eyes, their blueness shining like a sapphire. "Of course, we can find them in reverse. Locking onto their memories will guide us to where they are." The other four Doctors nodded in agreement and headed back to Eight's TARDIS when Ten stopped, "Jack, you want to come and help?" Jack reached for his duster with a grin and headed into the TARDIS. After a few seconds, it was gone. They were on their way to finish this.
TBC