Back to the Doctor

Return to the Future Part 4

"Well," the Doctor coughed as they rode the elevator down to the basement, Mickey standing between him and Martha, all three of them diligently facing forward. "This is nice. Back together again-"

"Save it," Mickey held up his hand.

"Oh come off it," Martha reached out and took Mickey's hand in hers, giving it a squeeze and smiling at him. "You love it."

"Hey," he grinned back at her. "I love anything I get to do with you."

"Right…" the Doctor was relieved when the doors finally opened and they walked into the basement lab.

A lone scientist walked through the rows of desks, covered with glass vials and complicated machinery Mickey neither knew nor cared much about. He wasn't here for a sciency stuff, he was here for the trouble that always followed the sciency stuff.

"Uh, hello," the scientist looked up at them, he was a balding Asian man in his late 30s who looked like he had eaten one too many donuts. "Can I help you?"

"Surprise inspection," the Doctor held up his psychic paper.

The scientist came forward, quickly reading over his imaginary credentials, slightly narrowing his eyes first, and then nodding.

"Inspectors love taking people off guard, don't they?"

"It makes everyone's life easier," the Doctor read over his nametag. "Can you answer a few questions for us, Dr. Yeong?"

"Sure," Dr. Yeong held out his hand for the Doctor to shake.

"Right, I need you to show all the files on any projects you've been working on this past month to Doctor Smith here while I take care of the questions."

"And, uh, you are?" Alan walked over to a computer and started typing something in.

"Doctor Smith."

"Oh… you two are…?" A file opened on the computer

"No," Mickey interjected. "We are. Her and I, that is."

"Great, a visit from three Doctor Smiths," Alan pointed to the screen. "This is everything from the past month, except for the top secret stuff of course."

"I'm not a Doctor," Mickey said as Martha went to the computer. "I'm an agent, Agent Smith."

"… You're kidding."

"Anyway Alan," the Doctor put his arm around Alan's shoulders and started steering him away. "We've heard some things at our – uh – agency that have left us a little worried."

"Worried?" Alan kept trying to look back at what Martha was typing into the computer, but the Doctor kept leading him farther and farther away.

"Oh you know, this whole robot business."

"I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more detailed than that. This is Morton Robotics after all."

"Of course, of course," the Doctor stopped and quickly turned to stare the scientist down. "But you know which one I'm talking about."

"Well, I, uh…" Alan looked away awkwardly, then glared at him. "Hey, listen. You don't have the clearance to know about that."

"But I know about it anyway. Strange universe we live in."

"I'm not project leader on… that. I'm not the person you want to be asking questions."

"Alan, Alan, Alan! You're the exact person I want to be asking questions."

"Why?"

"Because you're in, and we're not coming back tomorrow," the Doctor grinned. "So, do the words 'time travel' mean anything to you?"

Alan swallowed. "Of course, science fiction stuff."

"No one's every talked about it around here?"

"Well sure, it's an interesting topic – but it isn't reality."

"Yet."

"What?"

"I know more than you think."

"Then why ask me any questions?"

"I have all the pieces, I just need the instructions to put them together. Alan," the Doctor put his hands on his shoulders, "we're the good guys. We just want to make sure nothing goes wrong here."

Alan looked uncomfortable for a moment, then slowly nodded. "I meant what I said. I'm not project leader. I don't have a lot of the answers."

He started walking away from the Doctor towards the wall, and when he reached it he swiped his ID over a card reader and a hidden door opened in the wall, leading to a smaller lab.

"We've nicknamed it Arnold," the scientist smirked as both of them turned to look at the figure lying on a table.

It was a robot, half assembled and crudely made. It bore a passing resemblance to the robot tracking down time travellers, but this prototype was a bulkier far cry from the kind of science and robotics used to make its far superior descendant.

"Not very far along, is it," the Doctor went to grab his sonic screwdriver, remembered he gave it to Marty, and instead picked up some papers on the table and started reading them.

"Well, this project's still in its infancy. They've got a long way to go before they reach where they're headed."

"Yeah, and where's that?"

"You said it yourself: time travel."

OOO

"What are we looking for, babe?" Mickey asked once the Doctor was finally out of earshot.

"It's hard to tell," she slyly looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being watched, then took a flash-drive out of her pocket and inserted it into the computer. "Our best bet is to take what we can and let the Doctor go over it later. Damn firewalls…"

The computer screen was flashing a warning message about entering secure files, but with some fast typing from Martha the computer finally calmed down and began downloading its hard-drive.

"Why do you have to act that way around him?"

"What way?" She looked at him in confusion.

"Like he's the only man in the world who matters."

"Mickey," she reached up and grabbed his collar. "I'm just happy to see him. You know what he means to me – to us. We never would have met if it weren't for him."

"I know, I know… I just need to know that he doesn't mean more to you than me."

Martha gave a soft laugh and leaned in to kiss him, just as the download was finished.

"Martha! Mickey! I need you!" The Doctor called out to them, waving his arm through the doorway.

Mickey rolled his eyes, but followed the smiling Martha – who quickly grabbed the flash drive and threw it in her pocket – to the room containing the robot prototype.

"Is that it?" Mickey looked at the robot, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He didn't know if he wanted to mess with something that even the Doctor was having trouble with.

"That's just the unfinished prototype," Alan tilted his head towards another door. "We keep the finished one over there."

"Sorry, finished?" Mickey felt his hand reaching for his gun.

"We'll get to that in a moment. You think you can send a robot through time?" The Doctor asked cautiously.

"I don't know the details, but essentially the thought is that sending a human through time would kill them, whereas a robot can't die."

"Can't you just send them in a capsule or something?" Martha asked.

Alan just shrugged. "We weren't told to build a capsule, we were told to build a robot."

"Show us the complete prototype."

Alan looked uneasy. "Can I see your ID again?"

"Of course," the Doctor held out the psychic paper again. Alan still didn't look convinced, but he walked over to the other door nonetheless, and with a swipe of his card opened it.

The finished version of the robot lying on the table stood inside a space the size of the closet, and as the Doctor stepped up to it, its red eyes slowly came on, and in a scratchy, inhuman, voice it began to speak.

"Time traveller detected."

To Be Continued…

(According to my incredible math skills, I've deduced that we've just gotten over the halfway hump. What a relief! It's nice to know that the bulk of the work is behind me, but my loyal reviewers need to make sure I don't get lazy from this point on. Don't be afraid to hound – or encourage – me to make regular updates. For now you don't have to worry, we still have three more chapters to go before I take another break. As for the Doctor Smith bit, I wasn't entirely sure if Martha took Mickey's last name as her own, but I thought it was a cute enough gag to throw that in.)