A Fair to Remember

by LTAOZFAN

Kim and Ron just wanted to get inside before the rain started, but the place they ducked into turned out to be very unusual, even for them.

7. Chapter 7

A Fair To Remember

Part Seven: Your Mission Is . . .

Author's Comments: My thanks to all those who have read this story and offered Comments, listed this tale as a Favorite Story, put it on Story Alert or sent me a private message about it: Anonymous, Cajun Bear73, Harubibunny, Jimmy 1281, Joe Stoppingham, Mahler Avatar, Muzzlehatch, Old King Betsy, Sharp the Writer, Steve Robinson, Stormchaser 90 Simerlein

Read on, people, and enjoy . . .

Kim stared at the smiling man with a mixture of disgust and suspicion in her mind. He

seemed to be enjoying the fire and the fact that men's lives were in great danger. Maybe he

started the fire, Kim mused, and now he's happy about it! But why does he have his eyes

closed?

"That guy looks as if he likes this," Ron's voice came to Kim. "E-w-w-w-w! That's just

plain wrong-sick!"

Kim kept her gaze on the stranger, who suddenly opened his eyes. He turned and

looked directly at Kim, Ron and the Doctor, and his blissful expression changed to surprise,

followed by . . . fear? He's afraid of us! Kim realized, but then her thoughts were interrupted

by yells and screams from the crowd watching the fire.

"They're jumping!"

"Oh, Lord have mercy!"

Kim glanced back at the Cold Storage Building, and saw a man leap from the tower and

fall toward the blazing roof. It was just like the World Trade Center! She remembered seeing

video clips of the 9/11 tragedy and the people who jumped from the burning upper floors of the

twin towers. She couldn't help those people in New York, and she couldn't help these men

now.

"Hey, where did that guy go?" Ron's question brought her attention back toward the

strange man, but he had vanished.

"Doctor, did you see that man?"

"I did, Kimberly; I rather think he's an Empath." The Doctor's voice was grim.

"Ah, what's an 'M-path' thingy?" Ron asked.

"I'll explain later," said the Doctor. "Let's get back to Drax's TARDIS."

"What's the sitch, anyway? What was that man doing?" Kim and Ron were almost

trotting to keep up with the Doctor's long strides.

"That fellow was absorbing emotional energy from the crowd and those men who were

trapped," he explained. "They're very good at calming down people who are panic-stricken

and frightened, but they can become addicted to the energy-surge they get when they do it."

"They get a high out of watching scared people?" Ron exclaimed. "Gross!"

"More than that, Ronald," the Doctor went on as they re-entered the Pennsylvania

Railroad Exhibit building. "Sometime Empaths develop a craving for feelings of fear and

panic that drives them to go hunting for tragedies to watch. They have also been known to

cause tragedies so they will have panic to enjoy."

The building was still deserted; everyone was outside, watching the fire.

"If all he wanted to do was to absorb the fear of those people, why did he run away?"

"Empaths can detect anger when it's directed at themselves, Kimberly. You were angry

at him because he was enjoying the pain and terror of the trapped firemen, and he knew it,"

the Doctor answered. "That got his attention, and he saw the three of us watching him. Then,

when we looked at the fire again, he made a run for it."

The Doctor paused at the entrance to the railroad toolshed that was really Drax's

TARDIS. "A two-year war on the planet Zarauff was caused by six Empaths just so they could

gorge themselves on fear, hatred and terror energies."

"Maybe this guy started the fire so he could get a jolt from it." Ron's voice held a

mixture of disbelief and disgust.

"But those men were dying! If he caused that fire, then it's murder!" Kim exclaimed

as the Doctor opened the door.

"It might be," the Doctor replied as they entered the console room of Drax's TARDIS.

"Drax! Are you finished with your repairs?"

"Oh, 'ello, Thee . . . Doctor," Drax quickly corrected himself. "Yeh, just finished. Now

she's all fixed up an' ready to fly."

"Actually, I need to use the scanners." The Doctor stepped to the console, but before

he could do anything a new voice was heard in the room.

"Well, there you are at last, Doctor; I've been looking for you."

"Who's that?" Kim pointed at the viewscreen on the wall. It showed a man in

formal-looking robes and a close-fitting head-cowl. He seemed to be gazing directly at her.

"This must be Kimberly, and her friend Ronald. Rufus and K-9 have told me quite a bit

about you two."

"Oh, you contacted my TARDIS," the Doctor remarked. "But where are my manners?"

He looked at Kim and Ron, and gestured toward the figure on the viewscreen. "Kimberly,

Ronald, may I present Chancellor Borusa, a Time Lord like myself. I had several classes

under him in the Academy."

"How do you do, sir," said Kim, while Ron waved at the viewscreen in greeting.

"And this person is . . . ?" Borusa regarded Drax thoughtfully.

"This is Drax," the Doctor explained. "You remember Drax, surely."

"Yes . . . yes, I do . . . " Borusa frowned and gave Drax an annoyed look. "I believe

that you had the lowest marks in Temporal Theory of any student in my teaching career."

"Well, some of us got the knack, some of us don't," Drax said placidly.

"In any case, Doctor, we need you to perform a small task for us," Borusa began, only

to be interupted by the Doctor.

"Hah! I knew it, the High Council wants me to do something for them. Well, I won't do

it, whatever it is! In my previous regeneration they kept sending me here, there and

everywhere to tidy things up for them, and I got rather sick of it."

"Doctor, if . . . " Borusa tried again, but the Doctor didn't listen.

"Besides, I was released from that duty, Borusa, as you well know." The Doctor turned

his back to the viewscreen with an air of 'and that's final!'

"Doctor, maybe you should hear what he wants you to do, first," Kim said, in a

reasonable tone. "It might be something you'd want to do anyway."

The Doctor looked at Kim, opened his mouth to speak, changed his mind, glanced at

Ron, and then Drax.

"It can't hurt to listen, can it?" Ron asked, cautiously.

Drax nodded in a knowing way. "I've never met anything that was so dangerous yuh

couldn't at least talk about it."

"Oh, very well, Borusa." The Doctor sighed, and turned to face the viewscreen again.

"What is it this time?"

"A TARDIS is being used by a non-Time Lord," Borusa explained. "To be specific, a

native of the planet Empathios."

"Doctor, is that where that 'empath' person we saw came from?" Kim broke in.

"Yes, Kimberly, I'm afraid so," the Doctor replied. In the screen Borusa raised an

eyebrow, but didn't seem very surprised.

"You've seen an Empath on Earth at your present time and place, then." It was a

statement, not a question.

"And you're not surprised that he's here, are you, Borusa?" said the Doctor. "You must

have a tracer on the stolen TARDIS, then."

"An advanced study team from the Academy was visiting Empathios, using several

capsules. Each TARDIS could track the others so that the instructor . . . "

" . . . Could keep an eye on his students, yes, Borusa, I see. And an Empath got away

with one, right?"

"How do like that, KP? Even these people have car thieves," Ron observed. Kim made

a 'shushing' gesture; she wanted to hear the details.

"Then you realize the danger an Empath can be to your favorite planet, Doctor. The

High Council wants the stolen TARDIS retrieved before serious damage is done to the history

and culture of Earth, and I assured them that you would pursue this task with a whole-hearted

enthusiasm," Borusa explained. "You can also carry out this mission with a minimum of

disturbance all around."

"I get it!" Drax remarked with a grin at Kim and Ron. He jerked a thumb at the image

of Borusa on the viewscreen. "The Establishment wants the Doctor to clean up the mess for

them on the quiet. No names, no packdrill, eh?" he added to Borusa.

In the screen Borusa scowled at Drax. "I see . . . you haven't changed a bit."

"So, how do we find this Empath?" Kim asked Borusa. "If he can hop around in time

and space like the Doctor, he could be any place and any time." She shook her head. "This

is a really tough sitch."

"I have loaded the tracer code into the controls of the Doctor's TARDIS," Borusa calmly

replied. "You will have no difficulty in determining where the stolen TARDIS has gone."

Ron nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me, KP."

The Doctor frowned at Kim. "Now, see here, Kimberly! You and Ronald are going back

to Middleton, Colorado, as soon as we get back to my TARDIS. K-9 and I can deal with this

'sitch,' as you call it, once I've dropped you two off."

"Doctor, this Empath sounds like a threat bigger than anything Doctor Drakken or

Professor Dementor has ever cooked up," Kim firmly replied. "What if he meddles with history

and changes things so much that Middleton isn't there when you try to take us home?"

"Say, that could destroy Bueno Nacho!" Ron exclaimed in horror. His face turned grim

and his manner became deadly serious. "Let's go, Kim." Ron slapped his left palm with his

right fist. "We've got an Empath to catch!"

"I think you will find their assistance most helpful, Doctor," Borusa remarked. "You've

had assistants and companions many times in the past. Why not let Kimberly, Ronald, and

their friend Rufus join that group?"

"You realize I may have to pursue this fellow anywhere in history, don't you?" the

Doctor warningly asked Kim. "It will be very difficult, and extremely hazardous."

"It can't be any worse than fighting Monkey Fist, or stopping Drakken's plot du jour,"

Kim answered.

"It could be very dangerous for you both!" the Doctor said, verbally clutching at his last

straw.

"Well then, let's get dangerous!" Ron snapped. Then he grinned. "I've always wanted

to say that, KP."

Kim rolled her eyes at Ron's remark, and muttered, "Thank you, Darkwing." Then she

hit the Doctor full-force with her 'ultimate weapon:' the 'Puppy-Dog Pout' of the Possible family

females. "Let us help you, Doctor," she cooed sweetly. "Pu-wease?"

The Doctor looked away from Kim, glanced at Drax, and then at Borusa's image in the

viewscreen. He looked back at Kim, then Ron, and then Kim again. His shoulders sagged

in defeat.

"Kimberly, I know that I may live to regret this, but . . . all right! You and Ronald can

come with me."

"Very good, Doctor," said Borusa. "You can contact me when you have retrieved the

stolen TARDIS. All necessary information is already loaded into the computer of your

TARDIS." He shifted his gaze from the Doctor and pointed at Drax.

"However, I'd like to see you back here on Gallifrey," Borusa continued. Drax's face

sagged in apprehension.

"Blimey! Wot 'ave I done now?" he muttered.

"When that Empath made off with that TARDIS he was able to over-ride the safety

circuits that should have prevented the theft," Borusa explained. "And as I recall, Drax, you

are very adept at finding potential weak spots in a TARDIS control system and in developing

corrective measures."

Drax's face lit up with relief. "Oh, you want to hire me for a job o' work, then?"

"Exactly."

Borusa smiled at them all. "From what I've been told about you, Kimberly, with

you, Ronald and Rufus to assist him, the Doctor should be able to settle this matter easily.

Good luck." The viewscreen went blank.

"Now, I ask you: why does it always have ta be good luck?" Drax remarked in a general

way. "I rely on skill, most o' the time."

"Shouldn't we go back to your TARDIS and start searching for this Empath, Doctor?"

The Doctor gazed at Kim and Ron for a moment before he answered.

"Well, Kimberly, if you two are determined to come with me . . . "

"We are!" the two teens chorused.

" . . . then we'd better get started," he finished, in a slightly annoyed tone. "Drax, may I

hop your TARDIS over to mine? The sooner I start the sooner the job will be done."

"Be my guest, Doctor," Drax made a 'help yourself' gesture at the console.

The Doctor tapped the keys on one control panel, threw two switches, and then

pushed a knob-headed lever down. The central column began to rise and fall, and a smooth

whooshing noise was heard. After about a minute the Doctor pulled the lever up, the column

stopped moving, and the control room was quiet. The Doctor snapped another switch and

the viewscreen lit up.

"Right; here we are," said the Doctor. "Come along, Kimberly, Ronald. Thank you,

Drax!" The door swung open and the Doctor went out, quickly followed by Kim and Ron.

Behind them they heard Drax's voice.

"Good luck . . . ah, good hunting, Doctor! Keep an' eye on 'im, you two," he added,

just before the door closed.

Kim had barely heard what Drax said, for instead of the British Pavilion she and Ron

were surprised to find themselves actually inside the control room of the Doctor's TARDIS.

They turned around to see that they had just stepped out of an old-fashioned wardrobe

that stood in one corner of the eight-sided room.

"Greetings, Master! Mistress Kimberly . . . Master Ronald," K-9 said to them. From

where he sat on K-9's head, Rufus waved a paw and squeaked, "Hi!"

"Rufus! Did you miss me?" Ron quickly scooped up his pet, while Kim walked over to

the Doctor, who was now studying a small screen on one control panel.

"Doctor, is that Drax's TARDIS?" She pointed at the wardrobe as it began to make the

'wheeze-whooshing' sound again. It also smoothly faded away until it was completely gone

from sight.

"Yes, of course," the Doctor absently replied.

"But how could something as big as a TARDIS is — well, inside, anyway — fit inside

another TARDIS?"

The Doctor looked up with a smile on his face. "Kimberly, the outside of a TARDIS is

very small; only the inside is big. So you can easily fit that small 'outside' into a room on the

'inside' of another TARDIS. You see?" Kim started to say that she didn't understand it, then

decided to just let the matter go.

"Sort of," Kim said. "Do you know where the Empath is, yet?"

"Yes, I believe I have a location for the stolen TARDIS." The Doctor frowned. "But it

seems to have its protective force-field turned on, so we can't just materialize inside it."

Kim glanced at Ron, who was conversing with Rufus, using K-9 as an interpreter. Then

the Doctor gave a growl of annoyance.

"Well, seeing us seems to have spooked the fellow into flight! His TARDIS has just

dematerialized."

"You mean, he got away?" Ron had stood up, still holding Rufus, and come over to

join Kim at the Doctor's side.

"Oh, I can track him, never fear. Hmmm . . . he seems to be traveling into the past, and

somewhat east by south as well," the Doctor muttered.

"So, we follow him until he stops somewhere and somewhen, then we grab him, right?"

Ron asked.

"Exactly. And once the stolen TARDIS is returned to Gallifrey, I can get you two safely

home."

Kim nodded as she gazed at the swirling patterns on the console screen. This was just

about the strangest sitch she and Ron had ever had to tackle: chasing a villain through time

and space, to catch him before he changed history and made the Middleton they lived in

disappear! Daddy always says that anything is possible for a Possible, she thought. I wonder

what he'd say if I told him about this?

The End - For Now . . .

Author's Disclaimer and Notes:

The Disney Company owns the Kim Possible concept and characters.

The British Broadcasting Corporation owns the Doctor Who concept.

The term TARDIS is also copyright by the BBC.

The plot of this story is my responsibility.

So . . . Kim, Ron and Rifus won't be going home to Middleton just yet. They have an important mission in hand, and Team Possible never leaves a mission unfinished. Where will the stolen TARDIS go? What will our friends and the Doctor have to deal with? Not to worry, the next story in this story arc is already well advanced and posting of it will begin as soon as it is ready. Anyone who thinks they know what the next story will hold is free to make a suggestion.

The descriptions and locations in this story of buildings and exhibits at the 1893 World's Fair are as accurate as possible.

Please leave a review if you can. All comments and criticism will be replied to.