So I thought about it. Decided that maybe if I posted a chapter with the Doctors someone would review. So let the fun begin…and review!
flames and kisses,
Mlle. Phoenix Fox
The next morning, Jack walked into Cafe Diem where he found his deputy sitting at the counter.
"Morning Boss!" Andy greeted him cheerfully.
"Morning. Anything happen last night?" Jack asked.
"Not a peep. All experiments at GD were accounted for." Andy said as Vincent poured Jack a cup of coffee. Only for Jo to interrupt them.
"Then why is the sample of invisibility potion, the transporter and an instant camouflage machine missing?" She sighed handing Jack a file.
"What?" Jack asked reading the contents.
"Same spike of energy around midnight." Jo said.
"Boss I swear it was all there last night." Andy insisted.
"I believe you Andy. But I think you should let Henry check you out at GD. Make sure nothing is wrong." Jack told him.
"On it Boss." Andy nodded before leaving the café.
"First the missing experiments, now Andy? What the hell is going on?" Jo said taking a seat.
"Maybe we should cancel Eureka Con until we know what's going on." Jack suggested.
"No! I've got a five hundred pound chocolate truffle cake in the shape of a Dalek in my fridge. I worked hard on that thing." Vincent protested.
"How is a cake suppose to help you win the contest?" Jo asked.
"It shoots real lasers." He said.
"What?" Jack cried.
"And everyone loves cake." Vincent added.
"Come on. Let's head to GD. Before I exterminate someone." Jo said sending a glare Vincent's way.
"Yeah. And that cake better not shoot anyone while I'm gone." Jack told the curly hair restaurant owner as he and Jo headed out the door.
"Never thought I'd hear you say that again." Jo said.
"Worst Fourth of July ever..." Jack muttered.
It wasn't made of stainless steel and a high power laser, but so far Daisy's sonic screwdriver was looking pretty good. A chopstick,an old flashlight, some clay and plenty of pink glitter were her supplies as she worked at the kitchen table.
Her Mom was making lunch, and she asked her daughter,
"So do you know what your costume is going to be yet Sweetie?"
"Yeah." Daisy nodded.
"Well?" Her Mom prompted after a moment.
"Sorry Mom. That's classified." Daisy said.
"Haha. Okay. Just let me know if you need any help." Her Mom told her with a kiss to her head. Daisy nodded and added more glitter to her sonic screwdriver.
Andy had a full diagnostic done, but all they found was a small gap in his memory logs around midnight. It was only a half a millisecond, but still, for an android, that was a significant gap. Jack soon found Henry in his office to go over what they found so far. Jo soon joined them after taking stock of the other recently discovered missing items. Added to the list were computers and flight simulator equipment.
"Okay. So the bad news is I still don't know what caused that spike of energy. The good news is that every item to go missing so far always disappears at exactly midnight." Henry told Jack and Jo as they walked the halls of GD.
"Right. How is that good news?" Jo asked.
"It's a pattern. Patterns are great for solving any mystery." Jack said.
"Exactly. And this one suggests that someone took advantage of the time change at night from pm to am so that no would notice the logs weren't right. That the items were missing." Henry said.
"Wait. So in like the millisecond it takes to change from 11:59 pm to 12:00am, someone made the experiments disappear?" Jo asked.
"As crazy as it sounds, yes. It's like someone stopped time to steal those experiments." Henry asked.
"Sounds like someone would need a time machine to do that." Jo said.
"And I think I know who to ask." Jack said heading off. Henry and Jo followed him to an office. A piano was in the corner and black and white photos hung on the walls. A man with brown hair looked up from work at his desk and said,
"Hey Sport. What brings you by?"
"Where's the bridge device Trent?" Jack asked.
"Locked up in Section Five where it belongs. Why?" Dr. Trent Rockwell asked.
"Someone is manipulating time to steal experiments." Jack said.
"Yeah I heard. But the Bridge device only works when there are solar flares and positronic lightning. Or if it's been charged with a DED power cell. It's been stuck down there in storage." Trent said standing up.
"And there's been no solar flare activity lately. And no one's been working with positronic lightning." Henry added.
"Still I would feel better if we knew it was still there and turned off." Jack said.
"Then let's go. I'd rather not let these experiments fall into the wrong hands." Trent said grabbing his coat.
"Could anyone be creating artificial solar flares somewhere?" Jack asked as they walked.
"There's no such experiment on file." Henry said as the head of GD.
"What about a pet project? Like if someone wanted to win a Doctor Who contest?" Jack asked.
Jo stopped in her tracks and growled,
"Fargo..."
"I thought you said he and Holly were working on a holographic game?" Jack said as they switched gears and followed her in another direction.
"But he's the only one who's asked to classify his project as top-secret. If I were messing with solar flares or positronic lightning wouldn't I need a cover story?" Jo said.
"Still Fargo knows how dangerous the bridge device is." Jack said skeptically.
"Well we all know how Fargo loves to win." Henry said.
"And cheat to win." Trent laughed.
Jo lead them to a door where she punched in a security code on a side panel. But when the door opened, Jack's eyes widened and his jaw went slack.
"What the...frack?" He muttered as he stared at the blue British police box.
"Okay. Maybe he's not working with solar flares." Jo admitted. Just then the door of the box opened and Fargo poked his head out, wearing a pair of plastic, red and blue 3D glasses.
"Jo! I told you this project is top-secret!" Fargo hissed coming out of the box.
"Sorry Fargo. Just following up on a lead." Jo apologized.
"More of a hunch than a lead." Jack said. Jo shot him a look.
"Oh! Hello Sheriff. Jo. Dr. Deacon. Dr. Rockwell. What brings you by?" Holly greeted cheerfully coming out of a back room of the lab her high heels clicking on the tile floor.
"You two don't know anyone who would actually try messing with time travel to win that dumb contest do you?" Jack asked.
"Dumb?! Sheriff the Ultimate Whovian Contest is the crown jewel of Eureka Con!" Fargo said defensively.
"Besides time travel is illegal. Everyone knows that." The redhead added with a shrug.
"So what the heck is this thing?" Trent asked circling the box.
"Well we were trying to keep it a secret but since you obviously suspect we had something to do with the disappearing experiments Sheriff, and since you probably wouldn't be able to explain anything using technical terms, let me show ya." Fargo said pulling Jack inside the box.
"Hey...Fargo!" Jack protested as Fargo stepped inside with him.
"Put these on please. Holly close the door and start her up." Fargo said handing Jack another pair of 3D glasses.
Jack sighed and complied while Holly saluted,
"Yes sir Douglas!"
She closed the door and the two men stood in awkward silence in the dark.
"Fargo?"
"Yes Sheriff?"
"It smells like feet in here." Jack said.
"Just wait Sheriff. Any second now, you're going to be..."
Fargo was interrupted when there came a flash of light around them and the small room pixellated and turned into a massive, other worldly control room with a central console.
"Amazing..."Jack said in awe as he looked around the huge room. And though part of him knew there was no way he was moving in the small space, in this virtual reality he and Fargo were walking up the ramp and to the console.
"Welcome to the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. In this game you can choose any desktop, any Doctor, and any other companions to join you on a random adventure through time and space." Fargo explained.
"Cool...this is cool!" Jack had to admit.
"Yeah it is! And with any luck, the BBC will buy it for the Doctor Who Experience... Anywho! Let's have some fun. Let's do...the Ninth Doctor with Donna Nobel in the Eleventh Doctor's first TARDIS desktop." Fargo said. First the room changed to a more cheerful orange interior with a glass platform. Suddenly two people appeared in the room. The Ninth Doctor Jack recognized from Allison's book, and a curvy red-headed woman.
"Whoa..." Jack said.
"Don't worry. They're just holograms. But in here, they'll feel and act like real people. Activate program." Fargo commanded. The two people blinked and The Doctor smiled.
"Hullo. I'm the Doctor." He said.
"No you're not. He's a tall streak of nothing. So who the hell are you?" Donna demanded.
"I'm the Doctor!" He stressed.
"It's true. The Doctor you know is his future." Fargo said.
"Hullo!" The Doctor said with cheeky grin and a wave.
"Oh. Blimey. He never told me he used to be cute..." Donna said giving him the once over.
"No." The Doctor shut her down.
"Ha! You wish Sunshine." Donna scoffed.
"Now it seems my timeline is mixed up, so we've got to fix it. But first, let's go somewhere. Get to know each other. Sound good lads?" The Doctor asked in his thick Northern accent.
"Cool. Let Jack pick." Fargo suggested.
"Me?" Jack asked.
"Sure. All of time and space. Where do you want to go?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh. Um...ooh. I know. The 1912 World Series Game. Boston Red Soxs versus the New York Giants." Jack said.
"Fantastic! Haven't been to a game in ages. Literally." The Doctor said beginning to flip switches and push buttons.
"Figures I'd end up going to some sport thing with a bunch of blokes." Donna rolled her eyes.
"Oh it'll be fun Donna Nobel. Just you wait and see. Here we go." The Doctor said pulling a lever. Everyone held on as the TARDIS took off into the time vortex with a jolt. After a few minutes, the TARDIS landed with it'd metallic wheezing groaning noise and a clang.
Vworp! Vworp! Vworp!
The Doctor leaned back on the console and crossed his arms over his chest.
"There you are Jack. Take a look." The Doctor said nodding towards the doors. Jack looked to the doors before crossing over and opening them. He saw Fenway Park in her glory, a huge crowd and the green diamond down below. He could even smell the grass and the stale beer. An organ was playing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'.
"Awesome!" Jack grinned watching the game.
"Pause game." Fargo suddenly said.
Jack looked back to see the Ninth Doctor and Donna frozen in place again.
"Save game." Fargo commanded as the TARDIS faded away, and Jack found himself inside the box again. He took off the glasses and stepped back into the lab where Henry, Jo and Trent were watching the monitor of Holly's computer.
"So? What do you think?" Holly asked with a giggle.
"That was great. You guys are a cinch to win." Jack said with a grin.
"Starting to see why we like Doctor Who so much Jack?" Henry asked.
"Yeah. That was fun." Jack nodded.
"Well. We still need to check out Section Five and the Bridge Device. See you later guys." Jo said leading them out.
"Definitely save my spot for later." Jack told the couple as he backed out of the lab.
"Will do!" Fargo gave him a thumbs up. Then he and Holly gave each other a high-five and a kiss.
Daisy was swinging on her swing outside. But then she stopped when she saw a flash of light coming from inside the old Barlowe house. She quirked her head in curiosity.
After a long elevator ride, the group found themselves before a locked lab, armed guards at either side of the door. Henry put his code in, then Trent and the door opened. A red light flashed and a warning alarm sounded. In the middle of a dark empty room, a copper device covered in dials and switches about the size of a water cooler sat silently illuminated by a single light.
They circled the dormant device and Trent said,
"See. Not a peep."
"Well it was a theory." Jack sighed, put his hands on his hips.
"While we're down here we should do an inventory with Zane to make sure nothing is missing." Henry suggested.
"You guys go ahead. I've got paperwork at the station." Jack told them as they headed out the room.
"See you later." Jo said as they parted company.
Jack headed into the elevator, lost in thought. Who could be behind the stolen experiments and why? As far as he could tell none of the experiments had anything to do with each other. The how was a more solid theory. Stopping time wouldn't be the craziest thing he had seen in Eureka. So why did he get the feeling it was more complicated than that?
The elevator stopped at GD's main floor and Jack walked out into the rotunda. It was one of those rare times of day when it was empty and quiet. But just as Jack began to cross the middle, two bright flashes of golden light flared up before him.
"Whoa!" Jack cried staggering back and shielding his eyes. When the brightness dimmed, he lowered his arm to see two white men standing before him. Both were tall, but one was skinnier and dressed in a brown pinstripe suit with wild gravity defying brown hair and sideburns. His feet were clad in white converse sneakers. The second man was about ten years younger with lighter brown hair styled with floppy bangs. His head was square and he had a big chin. He was dressed like he had stepped out of a Christmas Carol with a long purple tweed coat, purple vest, black jeans and boots. Jack recognized them as the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors.
"Oh...this must be part of Fargo's game." Jack mused out loud.
That's when both men opened their eyes and took a deep breath.
"What?" Said the Tenth Doctor looking around in shock.
"Clara?" The Eleventh Doctor said looking around. Then he felt his throat. "Wait a mo. Same vocal cords..." He realized.
"What?" The Tenth Doctor said feeling his hair and facial features and body.
"Legs. Two. Arms. Hands. Fingers. Hair. Still not ginger..." The Eleventh Doctor said doing an examination on himself.
"What?!" The Tenth Doctor cried.
"What the hell are you doing here? Where's Clara?" The Eleventh Doctor asked his past self.
"How should I know? Where the hell are we?" The Tenth Doctor said looking around.
"This is great." Jack said as he watched them. The Doctors turned to look at the Sheriff watching them.
"Oh! Hullo. Um, sorry. But can you tell us where we are?" The Eleventh Doctor asked, stepping up to him.
"This looks so real..." Jack said ignoring him to poke a finger at him. But when it hit a solid chest, the Doctor jumped back, hands up, ready to defend himself.
"Even feels real...unbelievable. Only in Eureka." Jack shook his head.
"Eureka? Is that where we are? West Coast America judging by your accent." The Tenth Doctor guessed, circling around him.
"Uh yeah. What's the matter Doc? Lose the...the...oh shoot what's the name of the blue box time machine thingy?" Jack asked himself, snapping his fingers. The Doctors shared an incredulous look.
"Thingy?" Eleven asked.
"The TARDIS?" The Tenth Doctor supplied.
Jack snapped his fingers and pointed at him,
"That's it. Where's your TARDIS?"
"How could you know about my...our...TARDIS? I've never met you before in my life. Did you?" Ten asked his older self.
"Never. Do you know a future version of us maybe?" Eleven asked.
"Is he...(or she, never know with regeneration) ginger?" Ten asked as Eleven nodded.
"Okay this is getting weird. Pause game. Save game." Jack called out. But both Doctors were still before him.
"Game?" Eleven asked.
"Fargo! Come on. Don't tell me that it's voice locked." Jack said.
"What's a Fargo? Why do you think this is a game?" The Tenth Doctor asked.
"Jack?"
Jack turned to see Allison, Henry and Fargo staring at them with wide eyes.
"Finally! Fargo, turn off the game." Jack said.
"I did. When you left my lab. Why are Matt Smith and David Tennant in the rotunda?" Fargo asked confused.
"Who are Matt Smith and David Tennant? Why do you think we're them?" Ten asked.
"And what kind of boring name is Matt Smith?" Eleven asked making a face.
"Okay guys. Very funny. I get it. Making fun of the guy who's never seen the show. Now turn the game off, it's getting annoying." Jack told his friends.
"Jack. This isn't a game." Allison told her husband seriously.
"They're...they're not holograms?" Jack asked meekly.
"No Jack. They're...real." Henry shook his head.
Jack looked at the Doctors with dread and shock.
"Oh...crap." He cursed.