The Lost Doctor
On a far away moon, in a distant galaxy, there was a house. It looked like an old house, maybe sometime from the 18th or 19th Centuries. It was made of red bricks and had battered windows and was alone on that moon. There's nothing else there. Just the house, surrounded by acres of dust, rocks and ancient debris.
But there was a spirit that haunted that lonely house. The spirit of a lost Doctor who burned in battle. The spirit of someone who knew of alternate timelines, who'd seen things that never were and never could be. A ghost that couldn't exist.
A ghost that Maximus Finch and his two associates wanted to talk to.
They came to this world via a shuttle. It took them directly from Jaxobar Spaceport to this moon, without any delay. They didn't want any delay today. Today was their special day. If you were to say that Maximus Finch was looking forward to speak with the ghost of the lonely house, you would be making the understatement of the century. He was thrilled.
Mainly because it would provide him with ideas for his next novel and cure his writer's block, which had reached an irritating stage recently. He hadn't even managed to get a few words down of his latest idea for a novel - a sci-fi crime thriller called Echo Train about a train crash and the alternate timelines that spun out of that crash - when he thought the whole idea was rubbish and he deleted the draft from his computer. He needed ideas and wanted to do some research. What better research to do than to contact an actual ghost of an actual warrior and see if they could give him some inspiration?
His two associates were called Bella and Annion. Bella was a young girl from one of the outer colony worlds - Gelfraxia VI, a planet best known for manufacturing pink salt - and she wanted some adventure in her life. Her parents had disagreed but she had disagreed with her parents disagreeing. She, ultimately, had had the final say over whether to accept Maximus's offer or not. It was a no brainer.
Annion was quieter and calmer and more logical. He wanted to come to this planet to see if ghosts were actually real. He didn't believe that ghosts were real for a second but, because he was a secret fan of Maximus Finch, he wanted to prove him wrong. Imagine that, he thought. Proving Maximus Finch wrong about ghosts existing on an alien planet. That would be the achievement of the century.
But they were not the only people heading for the lonely house on the moon.
Because, also on that moon, also interested by the house, was a traveller in time and space called Annika Orxis. She did enjoy a good ghost story from time to time, relishing the chill up the spine and hearing tales of the inexplicable. Annika, however, was someone a little more accustomed to dealing with the inexplicable and explaining the inexplicable, making ghost stories have little effect on her. Nevertheless, she did enjoy a good mystery.
She, after using her vortex manipulator to jump to the house, decided to wander round the house, curious as to why an odd, lonely house had ended up on a distant moon. She peered in through the large ground floor windows, observing the perfectly preserved lounge with a patterned carpet, portraits of noblemen on the walls and chairs belonging in a period drama. "Hmm." she murmured, tapping at the window, "I wonder if anyone's at home."
Making her way round the house, she eventually found the large oak front door with a brass knocker that resembled a lion. She knocked three times.
No response. She tried again.
No response.
This time, she tried to push the front door open.
Success. The door swung to the side, allowing her to see the entrance hall and the impressive staircase that twirled upwards towards the upper floors of the house.
She entered the hall and whistled. Once, then again for luck. No response.
"So just the ghost at home then." she said to herself, as she made for the staircase, "And a very quiet ghost at that."
On the upper floor, Annika felt a hand on her shoulder. It was cold yet burning. She twitched, her advanced reflexes kicking in.
"Hello!" she cried out, "Who's there?" Nothing.
She entered what he guessed must have been the main bedroom. That was clear from the impressive bed at one end of the room and the vast window looking out onto the planet outside on a nearby wall just to the right of the bed. There was a painting on another wall of someone she thought she recognised yet couldn't quite place. The figure depicted in the painting was dressed in the clothes of a Tudor nobleman and had a thin face with a prominent chin, wise eyes and a quiff that made him very distinct. But why did Annika think she knew that man?
"Because he's me and we've met before, in a very different reality." whispered a voice in her ear.
She twitched again. There was nobody nearby. Just the empty space surrounding her. Yet she was certain she had heard a voice. She was sure that somebody-
"Where do you think the ghost could be?" came the voice of a young girl from downstairs. So someone else was here as well.
She knew she should probably speak to them.
Bella, Maxwell and Annion had only been in the house a few seconds when Annika turned up. She had a confused look on her face, almost as if she'd been shocked.
"What exactly are you three doing here?" she asked the novelist and his friends.
"Looking for the ghost of the lost doctor. Isn't that what you're here for?" Maxwell said, a tad surprised.
"No, I'm here about a temporal disturbance, although I've been getting those a lot lately. Something has gone wrong with time and I suspect that the epicentre of the disruption is linked with this house."
Bella and Annion nodded and shared a look that said 'Ooh, she's good'.
"Although, if you think it's relevant, you'd better explain what this ghost of the lost doctor story is." Annika added, moving towards the staircase and indicating that Maxwell and his friends should follow her, "Because I suspect that this temporal disturbance is quite significant."
"I'll explain, if you don't mind." Annion insisted, "Because I know the story the best."
There was a universe. A perfectly ordinary universe with a perfectly ordinary timeline.
But then one day, a vengeful god called Sutekh wanted to burn that timeline and bring back a war so devastating, so horrible it nearly destroyed reality as we knew it. The epicentre, apparently, was this house which, in another version of the timeline, had the ghost of a lost warrior in it. Someone who was very powerful and very mighty. The lost Doctor visited that
timeline and was about to call in the Time Lords when Sutekh burnt the timelines and kickstarted the Time War.
"You mean history already has been changed?" Annika wondered, baffled by this revelation, "But I can't remember it."
"That's where it gets complicated." Bella said, before continuing.
Because the Doctor was an individual who could save the universe. Who had saved the universe, time and time again. He was the stuff of legend: a galactic wonderer who protected people from evil, making him the perfect target for Sutekh.
And the Time War wiped the Doctor out completely, the only evidence being-
Annika reckoned she could fill in the gaps from here. "His temporal ghost, flitting about this old house?" Bella nodded.
"This house is all the evidence that's left that there ever was more than one Time War. Although, if you thought that Time War was bad, wait til you hear about the Time War between Time Lords and Temporal Banshees." she added.
"We need to find him then, because if he's still here, that means it's possible for the original timeline to reassert itself. And because I've been experiencing a lot of temporal disruptions lately, I reckon that's a very good thing."
Annika, Maximus, Bella and Annion decided to split up. Upper floor: Annika and Bella.
Lower floor: Maximus and Annion.
On the upper floor, Annika took Bella back to the main bedroom, where she had heard the whisper before. She had told Bella about the mysterious whisper and the painting she had seen before. Bella had reacted with intrigue to this.
"So the ghost is in this room?" Bella wondered, feeling the cool air in the room.
"Yes." came the whispered reply, sounding mysterious and smooth, "I can only exist within this house. I home in on who I choose."
"And why did you home in on me?" Annika wondered.
"Because you need to fix this. You need to rewrite the timelines and ensure this horrific war can never happen. Use your Vortex Manipulator, Annika."
"I see." Annika said, glancing over at Bella quickly, "Whose history should I rewrite?" There was a brief pause before the whisper replied.
"The Count's. Ensure his TARDIS does not collide with the Flux. Ensure his TARDIS does not explode and fracture time. Ensure the multiverse cannot collide."
"The Multiverse? As in other universes?" Bella commented, heading for the door, "We need to tell Maximus about this. Call in the Earth Defence Squadron."
"I'm not sure that will be enough." Annika said, her brow furrowing with concern, "I know exactly what to do."
Annika exited the house and activated her Vortex Manipulator, knowing exactly where to head to next.