The Doctor stepped back, switching off and removing his head-light. He gave his work a narrow eyed critical look.

The panel now leaned against the wall beneath the hole. Most of the wiring had been stuffed back in, re-attached, to some degree. The Doctor poked at a junction box, then drew his hand back quickly.

There was a greasy yellowish residue on his fingers.

"Oh, blast," he said, stepping back and looking around. "Rose!"

"Yes?"

"Go grab me a towel or something. Quick!"

As she raced through a door deeper into the TARDIS interior, he looked back at his hand, gritting his teeth.

It was smoldering a little.

"Owww."

Rose ran back in with a towel, which the Doctor whipped away from her. Before she knew it, he had it wrapped around his hand and was wiping it off.

"Should I take it back to the wash?'

"Don't bother," he said. "It'll take care of itself." He dropped it on the floor, then took another look at the sad state of the panel. "Sorry, old girl. I'll get back to fixing this up as soon as I can." He gave it another once-over with his sonic screwdriver, then slipped it back into his pocket.

"What part was that to, anyway?" said Rose. She glanced back at the towel, then gasped. Where it had been, was a puddle of some bluish substance, which drained out through the grating to the floor below.

The Doctor glanced back over where she was looking and shrugged. "Yeah, it'll do that. Better your towel than my hand. I already told you what the other was, by the way."

She scrunched up her face in thought. "A communications... thing?"

"In a way," he said. "Think of it like this: if you were about to scream, and doing so would bring all kinds of trouble down on us, like usual, what do you think I would do?"

"You'd... put your hand over my mouth, I guess. Is that what you did to the TARDIS?"

"Not exactly." He walked back over to the console, and pulled out a keypad. He pressed in a code, pushing up two slides. He ran over to another section, pumped three times, then looked up at a screen. "Huh."

"Doctor!"

He looked over at her. "What?"

"Is that what you did to the TARDIS?"

"Nope. 'Fraid what I did was a little more drastic. The equivalent act would be..." he tapped his chin, then gave a small, mirthless smile. "Her larynx. Yep, ripped out the old girl's voice box." At Rose's startled squeak, he looked at her with a frown. "What? Never said I would do the same to you. I can fix my ship."

He turned back to the console. "Now that all that other stuff is out of the way, we..." he raced over and turned a knob, "can..." he ran back and clicked a large switch up and down. The green light began to pulse faster. "Get to where we can get some answers." The glow slowed, then stopped. He came back around the console, and faced Rose.

"We're here to see some old friends of mine, but since this isn't my time frame, I'm going to give you a few tips." He held up a finger. "Only gonna say this once, Rose, so pay close attention, and no questions or interruptions."

She nodded.

He took a deep breath. "My people, the Time Lords, had a civilization millions of years old before your race even developed lungs," he said. "So don't act all surprised when I tell you this.

I am not the first to be named... the Doctor."

Rose just stared at him, a confused look on her face.

"No interruptions. Good. I'll go on then. Not easy for me to say this, anyhow." He looked away a moment, then back at her. "We're all pretty different, mind. Only thing we share, really, is the name, and this ol' TARDIS," he said, reaching over to pat the console. He looked off, lost in thought.

Rose opened her mouth-

"Ah, ah," he said, raising a finger. "Not finished yet. You are doing a little better at this, though."

She closed her mouth, looking peevish.

"Now, then," he said, "don't get me wrong, there's another thing we have in common." He grinned at her. "We're all bloody brilliant."

"Is this like, handed down from father to son or something?" said Rose.

"Rose!"

"Sorry."

"The temporal mechanics involved are too complex for you to understand, but the gist is that we're close enough in temporal resonance that we each need to keep to our own time frame. Meeting up with another Doctor generally means heavy temporal meddling - paradox even."

"Reapers?"

The Doctor frowned. "No, not in this era. Remember how I told you how my people kept that under control before?"

She nodded.

"Well, before is now. So, no Reapers. The main problem will be staying off of their radar ourselves, so we don't get captured or wiped out before we can figure out a way home."

"So, we're going to meet another Doctor?" Rose asked, as both walked toward the door. He paused, giving her a grim look.

"I don't think so. At least, I don't remem- I mean, well," he said, catching himself, "if we do run into one of my predecessors... just be polite, ok?"

He got to the door, opened it -

Rose looked past him. They were in a mid-sized room, with an old-fashioned laboratory setup at one end. More pressing, however, were the three men in front of the TARDIS. They looked like military; the two flanking were armed with rifles. One had started to bring his up, but the other was in process of pushing the barrel down so it was aimed at the floor. The man in front of the other two looked like an officer, with black hair and mustache. She glanced over at the Doctor -

Who was grinning so wide, she thought the top of his head might fall off!

He practically leaped forward to grasp the officer by the shoulders.

"Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart! Oh, this is fantastic!"

He whirled to one of the other soldiers, and began shaking his hand with enthusiasm. "And Benton! Good old Sergeant Benton!" He looked over at Rose. "Very dependable man, could always count on him. Both of them." He stepped back. "Great to see you both again! R-"

"What the blazes is going on here?!" The officer had found his voice now, and the cold anger in it was quite apparent. "Who are you, and where is the Doctor?"

The Doctor blinked, and stepped back. "Oh." He shook his head, then raised his hands. "Sorry, sorry, introductions. I'll go first." He rummaged about in his pockets. "Where did I put that.... Ah, here we go." He pulled a tattered ID card from his pocket and showed it to the men. "That should account for me. Now, Rose Tyler, may I present Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant Benton, and..." he glanced at the other soldier's name tag , "Dowles, of UNIT. One of the best, and sometimes most pig-headed, groups I've worked with on Earth. Gentlemen, this is Rose."

The Brigadier put his palm to his face. "Oh, blast. Not another Doctor," he said. He looked back up at the Doctor. "Can I hope you at least found out where that box came from?"

"Eh?"

The Brigadier stepped forward, and spoke very carefully. "Are-we-being-invaded, Doctor?"

"Wait a minute," said the Doctor. "I just left from here, then, didn't I..."

"Yes," said the Brigadier. "We really do need to know what's going on; the planet could be in grave danger."

Rose stepped forward, opening her mouth, but the Doctor raised a finger."I already explained, Rose. No time for repeats." He turned back to the Brigadier.

"You'll have to excuse my ignorance in this case, Alistair," he said, pointedly ignoring the quick look of annoyance that crossed the Brigadiers face. "For me, personally, it's been a couple of centuries since I saw you last."

Benton gaped, while the Brigadier looked carefully blank.

"Anyway, do you think you could see clear to re-brief me in your office? Perhaps let me see the old notes?" He grinned again. "Fantastic to see you both, by the way. Bears repeating."

"I don't see that we have much choice in the matter," said Brigadier. "Very well. Come along, Doctor, Benton." He started out the door, the others following-

The Doctor heard Rose gasp, and whirled to find Dowles with his rifle trained on her.

"Sorry miss, no civilians allowed-"

Benton stepped forward. "Dowles, stand dow-," he began, but the Doctor was already past him and yanking the rifle from the stunned guard's hand, a furious snarl on his face.

He threw the offending firearm across the room, then rounded on the man, grabbing him by the collar. "Who the Hell do you think you are?!" he shouted. "You stupid ape! She's with me!" He shook the man. "If you ever even make a move toward her again, I will personally see to it that you eat that popgun, every last bit!" He then released his hold, letting the stunned guard drop to the floor.

Benton and the Brigadier looked on in astonishment.

The Doctor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Right." He straightened his jacket, then beckoned to Rose. "Come on, then."

He walked past the stunned UNIT men, Rose in tow, then stopped and turned back.

"Alistair."

The Brigadier shook himself. "Right," he said. He turned to the Sergeant. "Benton, get Dowles here over to Sergeant Cayle for punishment detail, then meet us in my office."

"Yes, sir."

"Doctor, ...Miss," he said, "this way." He started off, the Doctor and Rose close behind.

Rose looked up at the Doctor as they walked, but he steadfastly just looked straight ahead.

Well, she thought, here we go again.