Twists and Turns in Time
Part Six
by
Sabrina Lonewalker
Alastair was still looking at the file folder when he heard the distinct sound of the Tardis materalizing. He turned just in time to see a very familiar shape fade into view. Once it solidified, the doors opened and a stream of people came out followed by a tall white haired craggy faced man in an opera cape. The Brigadier's eyes opened wide. "Doctor? It's you?" The Doctor strode over to his old friend. "Hello old chap, nice to see you again. Hope you don't mind." "Mind what?" asked the Brigadier.
Just then, another wheezing, groaning sound started. "That, old friend. I asked some, friends, to meet me here." Sarah jane and the others smiled as another Tardis appeared in the other corner of the lab. Out of it came Four, Five, Six, Eight and Ten followed by Peri and Jack Harkness. Grace looked up and sprinted across the lab, throwing herself into Eight's waiting arms. He hugged her tight as she buried her face in his shoulder. "God, I missed you, my Doctor," she whispered. "It's all right, Grace, I'm here now." He mummured.
The other companions found their various Doctors and soft mummurs could be heard. Then, Eight looked up at his other selves. "We still have work to do. We have to find out who this "Collector" is and why he did this." Ten nodded then looked at the companions. "Were any of you able to find out anything?" Tegan shook her head. "Not really, Doctor, he kept himself apart from us, we couldn't see his face." Harry nodded, "True and he disguised his voice when he decided he wanted to speak with us, which was rare. He was more interested in getting to you, Doctor." He looked at Four.
Four nodded, "The question is, was he after all of us or just one?" Sarah jane spoke up, "He was taking companions from all along your time stream, all incarnations as far as we could judge." Ian nodded, "It was as if he has a hatred of you going back to the beginning of your travels otherwise, why bother with Barbara and I?" Five nodded, "That would also explain Tegan, Nyssa and Turlough here." Six then spoke up, "It makes absoultely no sense. What does this person hope to accomplish? How can we stop him when we don't even know who he is?"
Ten nodded grimly. "The first thing to do is get everyone back to where they were before they were snatched away." Four nodded, "I can take care of Jo, Sarah Jane, Ian, Barbara and Harry. They were snatched out of my timeline." Eight nodded, "Makes sense. Grace, you were in surgery at the time, do you remember what month and year?" Grace nodded, "September 23rd 2013 8:35 am, San Francisco University Hospital. I hadn't seen you in about five months." Eight nodded then looked at the others. "What's to stop him trying again?"
Three chuckled, "My dear boy, if he tried once of course he will try again however, he doesn't realize how memory patterns change. He cannot lock onto the same person twice. Time travellers memory patterns change each trip through the Vortex. They are safe now. But, we can use his own technology to find him. I think it best that only two of us go. The others need to take their companions home." Six nodded, "Agreed. Too many of us rushing in there could make things infinitely worse." Ten nodded, "Jack is coming with you and I, He has special talents we can use." Three nodded, "All right. We'll go in my Tardis." Eight nodded, I'll take the rest back in mine. Come on everyone, time to go home." Four looked at them, "I'm coming with you. This started with my timeline."
Three nodded, "Very well, come along." Sarah Jane looked at Four, "Be careful, all right?" Four smiled, "I will, Sarah jane now go, off with you!" She and the rest piled into Eight's Tardis and they watched it disappear. Four looked at the others, "All right, let's finish this." He, Three, Ten and Jack Harkness entered Three's Tardis and it vanished. They were almost done."
End Part Six