Chapter Five: The Doctors
To Sarah, it seemed appropriate that River would be waiting for her. She couldn't help but grin as her hand rested on the weapon the woman had given her. Except River was not smiling. And, while she was waiting, River was not waiting for her. Her gaze was centered on Jack.
"That was too easy," River said.
"Not for me," Jack answered with a small laugh.
"Killer Robots without firearms? A central control switch to turn them off? An electrical field with a ground nearby?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"I think you do."
The two were almost glaring at each other. And Jack, she could tell, was becoming nervous. Sarah decided to speak up.
"Jack may be lying, but I'm not. I don't know what you mean by all of this being easy."
Doctor Holloway suggested that River enlighten all of them. Sarah saw River give Grace a strange look and Grace nod in return. River smiled and apologized to Jack, saying she must be jumpy. "It must be the excitement and the fact that I'm paranoid." Her grin was infectious and Sarah found her lips curling as well. Then River added, to Jack, "something like that really gets the hearts beating."
Jack nodded. "I can still feel them," he added with a laugh.
"There," River said with triumph.
"What do you mean by 'there'?" Jack was still laughing. His tone became smug. "You already knew. Doctor Grace found out when she examined me. And my guess is the Doctor knows. He knew we weren't injured. He probably scanned us. And if he knows, that means that all his other regenerations know as well." He indicated their surroundings. The metal-strewn open area. The formerly luxurious waiting room. The room they were standing outside of. The one that contained multiple forms of the same person. "This is not a good place for keeping secrets."
"Secrets?" Sarah asked.
Jack turned to her in surprise. "That's right. You don't know." His face became sad. "And now I have to tell you."
Sarah knew she was staring. "You're . . . You're . . ."
"A runaway." Jack looked sheepish. " I ran away when I had the chance." He snorted. "And I was found by someone who had done exactly the same thing. Only, I think, a lot earlier."
She was still staring. "You're . . . not . . . human?"
"He's a Time Lord," River explained. Jack started to object until River asked him if he looked into Schism. When he nodded, River reminded him that was why he had the title. She turned to Sarah. "You're right. He isn't human. That's why the robot believed him when he claimed to be the Doctor. Its scan told it he was from Gallifrey"
"That . . . That does explain a lot about him," Sarah replied, trying to smile. "What I mean is: He's very smart but there are some things he should know but doesn't. Everyone knew he wasn't from London or nearby. We didn't know how far away he came from." She saw Jack was smiling. "You look so human."
"I do not look human," Jack said indignantly. "YOU look Time Lord."
As he grinned smugly, she turned away, saying, "I hate you."
River was laughing. "Time Lords do have that effect on people."
Grace was laughing as well. "And that explains why we solved the problem with the machines so easily." She was grinning. "Except you ran back to the Tardis, River Song. I know Sarah followed you, but you were the only one who thought to go back to the Tardis. That was why most of those killing machines went after you."
River nodded. "I was the bigger threat. And I know what you're asking. I'm the second part of the mystery. I'm not the Doctor's companion. I'm . . . Well . . . It's complicated."
"That's the truth," Grace Holloway laughed.
The Doctor appeared in the doorway, Sarah's Doctor. He smiled first at Sarah. "Did I choose my time correctly? I always like to interrupt at a convenient point in the conversation."
Sarah smiled as she put her hand on the Doctor's arm. "They were trying to convince me that all Time Lords are rude and annoying. I insisted they were wrong."
The Doctor complimented Jack for telling her, then thanked Sarah for her compliment, suggesting they should go in. She giggled at the way he patted her hand. That was why she liked him. The little things he thought to do.
Inside was not what she expected. A short hallway left them in a circular room. In the center was a raised dias. It had (she counted) thirteen rods arranged, with a space for one more. Each rod was topped with a round knob, making them look like thirteen walking sticks. They were spaced so that a man could stand on the dias in front of each one. And one person was standing there, his hand on the knob of the unmoving cane. He looked young and seemed rather annoyed with himself. The man was smiling and saying not to mind him.
Sarah couldn't help herself but she did as he said. As the Doctor led her forward, she saw that the wide walkway around the dias was lined with alcoves. In each alcove was a Tardis. When she commented, the Doctor assured her there was only one Tardis. It just happened to be in all thirteen alcoves.
The Doctor pointed out, not only to her but to the other late arrivals, that four of the alcoves had statues in front of them. Those were from the Doctors who had touch their respective controls. Sarah asked the obvious question. "Will the Doctor on the dias become a statue?"
"Not at all," The Doctor on the Dias answered. "I seem to be the exception. Either that or my statuification circuit is broken."
"Look at him." It was the Tenth Doctor, the one with the toothy grin. He was upset. "Look at him," he told Sarah as he stepped close. "He Has Ginger Hair." The Doctor pouted. "I wanted Ginger Hair."
"Saved the best for last, lad," the Dias Doctor said. "You have to live with it."
"I have Ginger hair," Jack called from behind her.
The Tenth Doctor sneered as the Dias Doctor told Jack he was a good man.
"At least you have hair," another Doctor said, "and these ears. My hearing is excellent but . . . you get the point."
Sarah was confused. And angry. "Ears? Hair? Four of you have been turned to stone and you're arguing about how each of you looks."
"Don't worry about it," the Third Doctor assured her. "Some of us haven't been as fortunate as others."
A man with a long scarf walked up and said, in a joking tone, that the man was a Dandy. Sarah put pride in her voice when she said he was. He was exactly as a Dandy should be.
"Earth, 1916," the Doctor in the bow tie said. "It was a compliment back then . . . for about three months."
The Doctor with the umbrella thumped it on the floor. He announced that since everyone was present that, because he was the middle one, he would do the exposition so that everyone would know what to do and maybe even know why. Sarah was distracted by Luke coming over. He said hello, then walked up to Jack. That made Sarah turn around. Luke was asking if it was true. Sarah assumed that IT was the fact that he was alien. Then he asked if Jack had one.
"EXCUSE ME," the Seventh Doctor said loudly. He was glaring at Jack and Luke. "Why are the two of you talking?"
"He's from Gallifrey," Luke said, trying to make it seem important.
"And he's a cloned composite." Jack's tone said it was obviously important.
"Cloned?" Sarah asked.
"It was the Bane," Luke began.
"The Bane are not part of this discussion," the Doctor insisted. "This is my big moment and you're ruining it." He paused. "Do you ask him yet if he has a Tardis?"
"I just did, Sir," Luke answered.
"Then hurry up and get your answer Then we can get all of this done with."
Luke asked his question again. Jack flashed a smile at Sarah as he said yes. He added, as a warning, that it didn't work very well. Luke offered his help if he wanted to try to fix it.
The conversation done, the Seventh Doctor began his explanation of events in the room. He first explained the side hallways. The ones with the Tardis in them were obvious. The ones that were only a corridor were where the Doctor touched their respective rod. (He noted that it was perfectly safe to touch any of the others.) The walls moved and the Tardis ended up in its alcove. The blank wall was where that Doctor had yet to arrive. All the Doctors having arrived, the Tardis was moved to all the alcoves by having seven doctors touch rods (not their own, of course).
Next came the explanation of the statues. This was done by the Last Doctor. His predicament made him a compulsory witness. "The Second Doctor was there when I arrived." That was all he said. He told how he walked up and casually examined the rods. "They look like walking sticks," he pointed out. When he touched the one in the first position widdershins, he found himself stuck.
"Widdershins?" It was the boy, Adric.
"Anti-clockwise," the Doctor answered. "And as for my previous regeneration, he walks in, says hello, walks up to his rod and puts his hand on it. I know I knew what I was doing but, for the life of me, I can't remember why. And I turned to see if anyone followed. And I missed it all."
"Number Six was next. He said there must be a purpose and ordered me to watch. And to hope he was doing the right thing. When he touched his rod, he froze. He was shining with an aura which faded as it forced him backward. When he stopped, he was a statue. The Eighth Doctor was an accident. He didn't even touch it with his hand. He brushed against it with his coat."
He paused to point with his hand at the Fifth Doctor. Sarah thought it looked like he had a piece of celery in his lapel. "He had the right of it. He touched his rod while everyone had their screwdrivers out, examining the event, trying to interfere with it to see what happened."
"And?" Sarah asked as everyone paused.
"I knew it would be her," the Doctor with the bow tie commented.
"We all knew," The Seventh Doctor replied. He smiled at Sarah. "We know how to reverse it. And this is where we need everyone to help. We need to have the Tardis touch it. At least seven times."
He went on to describe what had to be done. All that Sarah understood of the technical terms was that they had to run cable from inside each Tardis to its respective rod. Luke tried to help by explaining to her what the interdimensional dispersion circuit was but she begged him to stop. Then the Doctors called their companions to help.
Someone asked about the First Doctor.
"He's around," the Dandy Doctor assured everyone. "Probably watching us to see how we do. I wouldn't worry about him." He turned to Sarah Jane. "I'll have Adric and his friends help me. Why don't you and Luke tackle the first Tardis?" He smiled at Sarah. "I know a young couple who will help you."
Sarah Jane walked over to Luke and told him it was time to prove he was a genius. Luke smiled at the compliment but admitted that he knew what to do but he didn't know where anything was. Sarah saw the concern on their faces but smiled when Jack said he could figure it out. Every Tardis had everything in the same place, even if it didn't look the same. Luke nodded, then walked up to the first Tardis.
"It's locked." Luke then called out, "I need a key."
Grace Holloway called back. "There's one tucked behind the P."
"Boost me," Sarah told Luke. He gave her a leg up and she felt behind the lettering where it said 'POLICE BOX'. She called out, "It's not there."
The Seventh Doctor stuck his head out of the Tardis. "I was the one who started doing that. It won't be there for another six hundred years."
"Let me try," Jack said as he walked up to the police box. "This is how I managed to get into my Tardis." He knocked on the door. "Hello? Is anyone home? Could I come in, please?" A click was heard. He pushed the door open then turned back to the others. "Sometimes all you have to do is be polite."
Once they were inside, Sarah Jane told Luke to follow her. If the Doctors were consistent, she would know where the cables were. They disappeared through the door. Jack smiled at Sarah. "Would you like to see inside?"
Sarah walked inside, in time to see Sarah Jane and Luke disappear through another door. The interior looked the same as the other Tardis she had been in except the room seemed smaller and the control panel in the middle of it seemed simpler to use. Jack was saying it must be the same model as the one he had.
"You sound proud."
"Perhaps I am. The Tardis, my Tardis is wonderful. It doesn't ever go where I want it, but . . . it's funny, that. Wherever I ended up, I was able to help people. I met a doctor, once. He was trying to find a cure for smallpox." Sarah laughed at the idea but he continued. "I became his errand boy. I was there when he infected a boy with a weaker form of the disease." He was beaming. "Sarah, I was there when humans discovered how to vaccinate against illnesses."
"But that happened more than a hundred years ago."
"And I was there. I saw what Doctor Jenner did. And he didn't do it for the fame. He did it because he wanted to help people." His voice became low. "That's what I wanted to become. Someone who helps people."
Sarah was smiling. She couldn't help herself. She knew his secret. And it was funny. It was funny because he didn't. "They call you the Old Man. You do know that?"
Jack's face became a mass of emotions. She could see him trying to understand. And Sarah Jane was there, with Luke. She had heard, enough to understand. She was telling Jack about the Tardis. She opened for Jack because she was his Tardis. Her grin matched Sarah's as she said, "or did you think they all became police boxes?"
"The chameleon circuit was broken," Jack said as he tried to explain.
Luke was also grinning. "Just tell us what to do, Old Man. We still have a puzzle to solve."
Jack nodded and went to the controls. He pressed a few buttons then pulled a switch. A panel slid open to reveal some kind of electrical plug. Jack grabbed the end of one of the cables and pushed it into the plug. Less than a minute later they were outside again, all the cables hooked up and the last one, with a clamp, was attached to the knob on top of the first rod, going clockwise.
Sarah jumped when she heard the noise. It sounded like metal hitting metal. She jumped again when the sparks began shooting out of all the rods, not only the ones with cables attached. And she ran to the Last Doctor when he was thrown from the dias.
"That definitely hurt," The Doctor told her. He turned his head at another noise and pointed.
The wall behind them, the fourteenth wall, had formed a crack and the two halves were sliding back. They revealed a corridor that led to darkness.
"What is it?" Sarah asked.
A man knelt next to her. He had wavy brown hair and was dressed in a mid-nineteenth century style, including waistcoat and pocket watch. "It's the Valeyard."