Okay work is crazy now. Let's just say I work retail at a certain famous department store known for it's connection to Santa. And the holidays are indeed upon us. That said I'm also working on a Christmas themed sequel to this story but we will see if I actually post it this Christmas or next Christmas. That's because writing science fiction is hard! I've had to constantly go to Wikipedia to get my science facts semi straight. Plus it's hard to write an ensemble cast of two TV shows and get everyone equal time in the spotlight. That's why the Ninth Doctor and Donna Nobel only make a cameo in this story and not part of the fun like I had originally intended. And why we've only seen Henry's wife Grace once…sorry Dr. Grace… Also I've had to go back to watch Eureka from the beginning since it's been a while to keep certain facts about the origins of Eureka straight. But I have to do it with my family's DVDs since Netflick took seasons one through three off. Darn you Netflick!
Meanwhile in this chapter, The Doctors figure out a few things, Jack investigates and the Companions get to know each other better. So sit back, relax and give me more reviews! I need more than one!
flames and kisses,
Mlle. Phoenix Fox
"Thanks for your time Dr. Lambert." Jack said as he and Andy left the scientist's front porch. They climbed into the jeep where Andy gave a sigh and checked off a name on his PDA.
"She had a solid alibi so I'm checking her off our list." Andy said.
"Although she had way too many David Tennent posters on her wall for a grown woman." Jack said.
"And I detected human DNA on the cardboard cutout she had of the actor." Andy said.
"Oh! Gross..." Jack muttered turning on the engine. As he pulled out to the street, he tried to think out loud.
"Okay. Maybe we're too grounded in reality here. If I were a Whooligan..."
"Whovian." Andy corrected.
"Whatever...that wanted to bring my favorite Time Lords to life, I would try to do it like they would on the show. As well as I could with real world technology. I mean it'd be the only way to do the show justice right?" Jack said.
"Sounds plausible Boss." Andy said.
"So how do you bring a Time Lord back to life?" Jack asked.
"Well on the show the Doctor regenerates." Andy said.
"Yeah. Got that." Jack said.
"And then there was that time they brought the Master back from the dead." Andy said.
"The who?" Jack asked.
"The Master. Sort of the Professor Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes. He had been shot, but he had a contingency plan to bring himself back to life." Andy explained.
"Okay. Let's get back and watch that episode. See how the Master did it. Because maybe whoever is behind this, tried to replicate it." Jack said.
"You know Boss, you really should watch the whole show to get some context. At least since David Tennant became the Doctor." Andy suggested.
"Maybe later Andy." Jack said as his phone rang.
"Ooh! We can make popcorn! Dr. Fargo gave me a disposable stomach so I can give off the illusion of eating food." Andy grinned.
Jack gave him a look before answering his phone,
"Carter."
"Jack, it's Allison. Get to GD. The Doctors are here." She told him.
"The Doctors? You mean they finally got off our couch?" Jack asked.
"Yes and they say they got something." Allison said.
"We're on our way." Jack said before hanging up.
"What is Daisy doing out there?" Daisy's father asked having come home from work at GD for lunch. He looked at his daughter perched in her treehouse with her binoculars.
Daisy's mom smiled,
"She's watching for monsters next door."
"That's it. We're going to cut back on Doctor Who reruns around here." He replied.
"Oh she's just having fun. Besides, word around town is the Doctor is real now. Maybe it's just her way of trying to attract his attention." She said.
"You mean 'their' attention. Turns out, there's two of them." said.
"Two Doctors? That should be interesting." Mrs. Foster laughed.
"And...molte Bene!" The Tenth Doctor declared shutting the side panel of K9.
"Thank you Master. Now I am fully functional." K9 said.
"Oh this is brilliant!" Taggart beamed. He sat upon a stool next to his workbench. Happily watching the Doctors repair his defunct project. The companions had taken to wandering around the lab and petting the animals.
"So, how does fixing K9 help us?" Rory asked rubbing the ears of a domesticated wolf.
"Well whatever has been causing the experiments to disappear has run off with GD's diagnostic systems. And K9 will analyze our DNA faster anyway." The Eleventh Doctor explained.
"And understanding our DNA can tell us about the person who brought us here." Ten added.
"Okay...how?" Clara asked petting a bunny rabbit.
"If I may Doctors?" Taggart asked.
"Your lab, Taggart." Eleven said.
"Thank you. So going off the working theory the Doctors have that their DNA has been altered, K9 here can now look for a signature." Taggart said.
"A signature?" Amy asked.
"Every good geneticist worth their salt leaves one when they work with organic materials. A certain set of chemicals used, the radiation used to cause the reaction, anything." Taggart shrugged.
They were interrupted when the doors opened and Allison and Henry and Fargo dashed inside while Jack was holding off an eager crowd of fans at the doors, goofy grins on their faces and smartphones in their hands. Ten winced. It was so weird to be treated like he was a Beatle. Eleven took to hiding his tall frame behind his Impossible Girl for protection.
"Doctor! Doctor!"
"Doctor!"
"Doctor!"
"Back! Back! Or I'll have you all arrested for...something. Go!" Jack yelled as they whined in disappointment.
Except for one who yelled,
"I love you Rory!"
"Rory?" Eleven asked incredulously. Clara tried not to laugh at Rory's expense as Amy gave him a narrowed gaze.
"Oh Captain Jack Harkness would have loved all this." Rose grinned, tongue to teeth.
"Yeah don't remind me." Ten cringed.
"Captain who?" Clara asked.
"It's complicated..." Eleven blushed.
"Gees! How'd you guys even get into Nerd Central?" Jack asked with a huff as the doors to the lab closed behind him.
"Snuck in with Taggart through the garage." Rose replied.
"Hey! I taken offense to that tone Sheriff!" Fargo cried.
"Oh shut up Fargo." Jack sighed.
"Don't fret Fargo. After all if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here." Ten told Fargo, tossing him his TARDIS key with a wink. Fargo beamed from his hero's praise.
"Thank you Doctor. It's not often I get appreciated around here." Fargo said as Henry and Allison shook their heads.
"Yes, now shut up Fargo." Eleven said fiddling with K9, deflating Fargo's ego.
"So Doctors you said you had something?" Allison spoke up.
"Well we had a thing. It's like something but with more greatness. No that's a plan. Sorry. We lied but we have something now so as long as you're all here we can get to it." Eleven said.
"Hopefully sometime this year?" Jack asked dryly while Allison elbowed him in the stomach.
"Right...here we are then. K9 have you finished analyzing the Eleventh Doctor's and mine DNA samples?" Ten asked.
"Affirmative."
"Wait. You upgraded Taggart's K9?" Henry asked.
"Ain't it awesome?" Taggart asked.
"No fair! That means you have an unfair advantage in the Ultimate Whovian contest! You had the Doctors themselves help you!" Fargo protested.
"There's a contest now too?" Ten sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Doctor what did you think Taggart built K9 for anyway?" Rory asked.
"I don't know, fun?" Ten shrugged.
"Look we have bigger things to worry about than Eureka Con. Like highly classified missing experiments?" Allison reminded them.
"Right. Besides we only reenforced his chassis, upgraded his memory, booted up his firewalls and increased the intensity of his laser." Eleven said.
"The robot dog has lasers?" Jack asked with worry.
"Affirmative." K9 replied.
"Great. One more thing to worry about." Jack sighed.
"K9, show them the results." Eleven told the metal dog.
"Affirmative Master. Projection online." K9 said. A ray of light came from K9's visor, projecting a 3d holographic image of a DNA strand.
"Okay. Time Lord biology 101." Ten said putting on his new brainy specks and standing with his hands in his pockets.
"This is incredible. There are thousands of genomes. Your biology is so complex." Allison said in awe.
"Well not really. Especially if you look at our DNA this way." Eleven said using his fingers to divide the DNA strand into twelve separate strands.
"Oh...thing of beauty that is." Taggart said.
"Wait. Your DNA is made of twelve individual strands of DNA?" Allison asked.
"Yup. And with each regeneration the dominant strand determines how we look and act like while the rest are dormant." Ten explained.
"And each strand has a genome that controls and generates regeneration energy upon injury and death." Eleven said.
"But once you regenerate, that genome dies with the rest of the cells that hold that DNA strand, so once you reach your twelfth regeneration, you're on your last life." Henry added folding his arms.
"Correct-o-mundo." Ten said.
"I thought we weren't going to say that again?" Eleven asked Ten.
"Eh...new life. Thought I'd try it out. Still a rubbish thing to say." Ten replied.
"Yes it is." Eleven nodded.
"Huh. That answers so many questions about how they were going to explain John Hurt as the Doctor during the Time War." Fargo said.
"What?" Ten cried.
"Don't worry. I'll explain later..." Eleven told him.
"So what does this have to do who brought us here?" Rose asked.
"Or how my hand healed itself?" Rory asked,
"Getting to that. Now anybody notice anything wrong with this DNA?" Eleven said. Everyone was silent a moment while they looked.
"Um...guessing they're not upside down?" Jack said.
"Wait...these strands are all the same." Fargo said.
"Too right..." Taggart said.
"But if this is suppose to be Time Lord DNA, and if you're suppose to look different every time you regenerate, then wouldn't the individual DNA strands be different too?" Jack asked.
"Exactly. This is my DNA. As it is right now. K9 show them the Eleventh Doctor's." Ten ordered. The projection changed to show another DNA strand which they divided again.
"It's the same again. Different from the Tenth Doctor's but the same twelve strands of DNA making up the overall strand. " Allison said.
"Crikey!" Taggart said.
"So what does that mean?" Amy asked.
"It means that the not only do the Doctors each have a full set of regenerations again, they're going to look the same every time." Henry deduced.
"Not only that. You each get to live your own life apart from each other. Same memories. Different paths." Taggart said to them.
"Exactly." Ten said.
"So...you're not going to change again?" Clara asked. Eleven caught the look of hope in her gaze. After all she was still fresh off watching him change from her Clever Boy to an old man with what she could only describe to him as attack eyebrows. That was never an easy thing to go through if his past companions were any indication. Even Rose had trouble at first when he changed from Nine to Ten.
"No we're not." Ten answered.
"Which should be a relief to some of us with vanity issues..." Eleven coughed and not being very subtle with a nod towards Ten.
"Oi..." Ten pouted offended.
"Oh please! Mister 'You-didn't-tell-her-I-was-hot?' You're one to talk." Amy laughed.
"Shut up Pond!" Eleven hissed, embarrassed.
"Anyway...so Rory's hand comes in how?" Jack asked.
"Ah! Just a mo." Eleven said walking up to Rory and Amy and yanking a strand of hair from their heads.
"Ow!" Amy cried clutching her head.
"Was that necessary?" Rory demanded.
"Ouch!" Rose cried when Ten plucked one from her too.
"Don't you dare...Doctor!" Clara cried backing up from Eleven only to get a strand pulled by Ten. The Doctors brought the hair strands to K9 and inserted it in a tray that came from his metal snout like a tongue.
"There you go boy. Test that. Show us the results." Eleven said.
"Analyzing...four samples of human DNA detected...with abnormal structure and genome present." K9 reported.
"What?" Rose asked confused. K9 showed them the DNA strands in the projection.
"Crikey!" Taggart exclaimed.
"What the...frack..." Jack said, hands on hips.
"It looks like Time Lord DNA! Twelve individual strands." Fargo said.
"Human plus." Rory realized looking at his wife.
"Like River." Amy said.
"Who's River?" Rose asked.
"Err...it's complicated." Ten blanched.
"If only you knew how complicated." Eleven shook his head.
"Yeah. It'll make your head ring. Like wedding bells." Clara said cocking a brow at Eleven. Eleven winced. She still remembered how he had never told her he had been married. And he couldn't wait for Ten and Rose to find out about River. Hang on. He could wait. He could wait a really long time.
"Hang on. We tested their DNA. We didn't find any of this." Allison protested.
"Well somebody ran off with your equipment before you could." Ten said.
"Wait, wait! So...we're like you now? We're not going to age and if we get killed we'll regenerate?" Clara demanded.
"Yes. Still human mostly. No superior senses like Time Lords. Still have to do humany wumany stuff like sleep and breath." Eleven nodded.
"Oh my gawd..." Rose said stunned. Ten crossed over to comfort her.
"Not aging sounds good to me. Been there done that." Amy huffed.
"Yeah. Breaking my hip once was enough." Rory said.
"And I was so over the arthritis thank you." Amy said folding her arms and rolling her eyes.
"But it's not just about aging. Don't you see? We weren't just pulled from one universe where we're real to one where we're fictional characters. Whoever is behind this, literally created us." Eleven stressed.
"Meaning they took raw DNA and grew us. Programmed us with our memories straight from the Telly. That's why your memories of life after us are fuzzy. The programming just filled in the gaps the show didn't fulfill. That's why the last thing myself, the Doctor and Clara remember is us regenerating. Because that is literally the last of our memories before we woke up in Eureka." Ten continued.
"Oh my gawd..." Rose repeated.
"So our memories are fake?" Clara asked.
"No. It's like Fargo told us. We remember those experiences so to us they existed. But someone created us so we'd exist here." Eleven said.
"The missing bio printer. That's how whoever created you did this." Allison stated.
"But it would have to be someone with major technological and biological experience to alter the bio printer to create a person out of just a sample of DNA." Henry said.
"Which begs the question. Where'd they get the DNA?" Jack asked.
"Well if I'd hazard a guess I'd say from the actors who portrayed...us." Ten said rubbing the back of his neck.
"Ooh! Trudy's Tresses!" Fargo cried snapping his fingers.
"Bless you." Eleven said.
"No, it's the local beauty parlor." Henry said.
"It's owed by Dr. Trudy Simmons. She holds a doctorate in Trichology." Allison said.
"Trick what now?" Jack asked.
"The study of human hair." Henry explained.
"And Trudy boasts the largest collection of celebrity hair samples in Eureka. Including all of the Doctors and companions on Doctor Who." Fargo explained.
"Okay so I need to talk to Trudy and see if she has the background to alter the bio printer." Jack said.
"Brilliant!" Ten said.
"We're right behind you." Eleven said.
"Can we pick the radio station on the drive over?" Ten asked.
"Uh...hold on fellas. I appreciate the help and all, but I think you'll be more helpful here at GD." Jack stopped them.
"Oh! But we want to investigate! Staying in one spot is boring!" Eleven whined.
"Yeah we just spent three days on your couch. We've got energy to burn." Ten said.
"So stay here and see if K9 can help you guys figure out how the experiments went missing." Jack suggested.
"Fine..." Eleven said with an eye roll as Ten pouted.
"Great...keep them out of trouble." Jack said aside to Allison.
"We heard that!" Ten called.
"Don't care." Jack said over his shoulder as he walked out of the lab.
"Okay boys. Let's get to work." Allison smirked.
"Daisy! Time for your nap!" Mrs. Foster called up to the treehouse. She was starting to get a little worried. Right after lunch Daisy had 'gone back on duty', as she put it. Back to the treehouse.
Sensing her unease, Mr. Foster told her,
"She's fine."
"Maybe we should cut back on Doctor Who reruns around here." Mrs. Foster said folding her arms as her husband climbed up the treehouse.
"We'll go out to the petting zoo tomorrow. Take her mind off things." Mr. Foster said. He chuckled once he reached the top of the ladder. Daisy was curled up on a pink bean bag chair, sucking her thumb and clutching an Adipose plush figure tightly.
"Is she alright?" Mrs. Foster called up.
"She's asleep. Come on Kiddo." Mr. Foster said gathering his sack of potatoes for a daughter in his arms. He glanced at her setup. Her iPad was set up to record the house next door. Her binoculars sat upon her notebook full of times and notes. A Hello Kitty trash can was full of snack wrappers. But before he climbed the ladder down, Mr. Foster saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. It came from the direction of the old Barlowe house. He looked at the house a moment in consideration. Maybe he would leave Daisy's iPad out here, just in case.
"Scanning...scanning...scanning..."K9 said leading the way down the halls of GD. Rory could feel the awkwardness between them. After all they were virtual strangers. Since the Doctor never mentioned any of his previous companions. And he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he was once again practically immortal. At least this time he had Amy with him. And the Doctor. And since he also had the Tenth Doctor, Rose and Clara now too, Rory figured it wouldn't hurt to get to know them better.
"So...how did you two meet the Doctor?" Rory asked.
"Well, it was during his Ninth self for me. I was just a shop girl at Hendricks. Went to the basement to drop something off when I was suddenly surrounded by aliens called Autons. Part of this Nestene Consciousness thing. Creatures of living plastic. Just before they could nab me, the Doctor grabbed my hand and said, 'run!'. And I've been running ever since. You?" Rose explained.
"There was a crack in the universe in my bedroom wall. It crashed the TARDIS into my garden as a kid. Just after he regenerated. He had to leave to fix the TARDIS and he promised to be back after five minutes. And then he didn't come back for twelve years. And then he didn't come back for two more years before I began to travel with him." Amy said.
"Oh my gawd! The first time dropping me home for a visit, the Ninth Doctor missed the mark by a year!" Rose cried.
"Shut up! So I wasn't the only one? Ooh...I'm going to give him such a smack." Amy said.
"Well I met him through Amy. And the night he took Amy on as a companion, was the night before our wedding." Rory said.
"Did the Doctor know that?" Clara asked.
"Not until after I kissed him." Amy said sheepishly.
"What?!" Rose and Clara cried.
"I didn't have actual feelings for him! I just sort of...jumped him." Amy said.
"Which makes me feel so much better." Rory said sarcastically.
"You know I'll always choose you." Amy told him.
"Yeah. Anyway, the Doctor decided the best way to fix things was to crash my stag and tell me in front of all of my mates that Amy had kissed him and I was so lucky because she was a great kisser. " Rory continued.
"He didn't..."Rose giggled.
"Then he whisked me off in the TARDIS with Amy to Venice trying to make things romantic for us. We ended up saving Venice from being sunk by vampire fish people from space. We traveled a bit, I got erased from existence, then I came back as a plastic Roman Centurion, an Auton come to think of it." Rory said.
"And I died sort of." Amy added.
"Right. Then the Doctor rebooted the universe and erased himself from existence." Rory said.
"Wow." Clara blinked.
"I brought him back though and Rory and me got married." Amy said pecking Rory's lips.
"How about you Clara?" Rose asked.
"Well...that depends on which 'me' met the Doctor." Clara said.
"Yeah you said something like that before. Something about an echo of yourself?" Rose asked.
"Yeah. In my timeline anyway, a woman in a shop gave me a number for tech support. 'The best help line in the universe'. Well since I'm rubbish at computers I needed it. I ended up calling the TARDIS. The next minute there's the Doctor standing at my door, dressed like a monk. And somehow he already knew who I was. But this group of aliens called the Great Intelligence were using the Wifi to take people. They almost got me. But the Doctor saved me. He took me on as a companion, mostly so he could figure out how I had met him before. He told me that the first time he met me, I had been turned into a Dalek on the Dalek Asylum. And he had only heard my voice." Clara explained.
"Oswin! You were Oswin!" Rory realized.
"Yeah. Then the second time we met, properly as people mind you, I was a Victorian governess that moonlighted as a barmaid. The Great Intelligence made evil Snowmen that ended up killing me. That's when the Doctor figured out Oswin and Clara Oswin Oswald were the same person. And he spent time searching for me." Clara continued.
"And you called him." Rose said.
"See the Great Intelligence wanted to jump into the Doctor's time stream to kill him. Every version of him. Turns out, after the modern me, this me started traveling with him, I jumped into his time stream to save him. All of him. Created echoes of myself all over time. The Doctor got me out." Clara said.
"Wow. He really does take the best of the best doesn't he?" Rose said.
"And now we get to be with them both. Both of our Doctors." Amy grinned.
"But seriously...have you ever caught him stroking bits of the TARDIS?" Clara asked.
"Yes! I always wanted to ask if he needed time alone!" Rose laughed.
"I have it on record that he calls her 'Sexy', when no one's looking." Amy told them linking her arms through theirs. Rory watched them as they walked ahead, gossiping about their beloved Doctor. He smiled to himself. Yeah. They were going to get along just fine.
Jack was assaulted by the smell of shampoo and hair dye as he entered the beauty salon. A woman with an asymmetrical red bob looked up from her clients head. She continued to cut as she said in a Jersey accent,
"Hey Sheriff. Come for a trim?"
"No thanks Trudy. So a little birdy told me you are a Doctor of Trichology." Jack asked.
"Is this out of curiosity or something more official?" Trudy asked.
"Little of both." Jack said. She considered him a moment before turning to one of her employees.
"Take over for me? Thanks. Uh yeah. I mean you don't really get a Doctorate in trichology you just make it a speciality. My Doctorates are in biology, medicine, genetics. But I was always good with hair so I got my beauticians license to pay my way through school." Trudy replied.
"Any interests in engineering?" Jack asked.
"A little. To help my research. But I mostly leave that stuff to the Henry Deacons of the world. Why do you ask?" Trudy asked.
"Have you heard about the Doctors? You know from the show?" Jack asked.
"Oh yeah! Crazy that they're alive! That they're real. I mean I'd love to get my hands through those gorgeous locks of hair of theirs." Trudy smiled.
"Yeah, someone mentioned you have a celebrity hair collection." Jack said.
"Oh yeah. Wanna see something cool?" Trudy asked.
"Sure." Jack said. He soon regretted that decision. For Trudy led him into a back room. Where he saw a row of heads. Before he could throw up his lunch, Trudy turned the table around and he saw it was just a bunch of wigs on dummy heads.
"My pride and joy. Wigs made from a lock of hair from each actor to play the Doctor. I even got John Hurt as the War Doctor. I wonder how they're going to keep the show going since clearly the Doctor is currently on his last life?" Trudy asked.
"You made wigs from locks of human hair?" Jack asked incredulously.
"Yeah. Just a bit of genetic manipulation and hair gel." Trudy said.
"Um...do you do...other wigs? Like the companions? Maybe?" Jack asked.
"Not yet. I'm gonna do them next. I just finished my wigs for the tenth and eleventh Doctors if you want to see." Trudy said crossing over to a locked cabinet.
"Sure." Jack nodded. So far Trudy was looking like a good suspect. But surely she would take credit for bringing the Doctors to life? Why keep it secret?
"Hey!" Trudy cried suddenly.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked.
"My wigs are gone! And so are some of my companion locks of hair." Trudy said searching the cabinet.
"Which ones?" Jack asked.
"My Billie Piper, Arthur Darville, Karen Gillian and my Jenna Louise Coleman." Trudy replied.
"Why am I not surprised?" Jack said shaking his head.