Disclaimer: The characters of Doctor Who belong to BBC Wales and those of Stargate to MGM but the words are mine.
AU/SG1/DW: The last address of the Stargate opened on a depressing, dim world full with nothing but graves and tombstones where four SG teams already disappeared without a trace. SG1 embarks to locate them only to witness the opening of one tomb that holds the greatest of all secrets in the universe.
The Tomb of the Doctor
Chapter 13
Previously:
Vala came onboard with Commander Crichton explaining a few things. Then out of the blue, Colonel Carter appeared too directing all of them to go the Tri-axial Nexus (a convergence point for the Milky Way, the Andromeda and the Triangulum galaxy).
(Chapter 12 and chapter 11 of the Achilles Stratagem are linked and so will be the rest).
And now:
General O'Neill and Colonel Maybourne succeeded (after some time zigzagging throughout the maze of corridors) to locate the main control room. Understanding it however was something beyond their skills. The simplicity of the keyboard and the consoles were only in appearance. They tried some combinations but they led to nothing.
Lt Hailey summarized that it was possible they were not in the correct dimension and therefore nothing they tried would work. It was not a pleasant possibility as they had no way of switching dimensions.
"Now what?" Maybourne asked after another unsuccessful attempt to elicit a response from the consoles.
"I don't know. Lt Hailey, any ideas?" O'Neill asked.
"Nothing helpful comes to mind, General." Hailey replied.
"We still need to find the others." Mayborne stated.
"I agree, Harry, but apparently we have no way of doing that. We bumped into each other but we haven't seen or heard anything of the others at all."
"It is hopeless." Hailey said.
"Hope never dies, young Hailey." A grumpy voice replied. All turned their heads in the direction of it and gaped speechlessly. There stood a man who wore dark blue suit and shirt, blue grayish trousers and black shoes. His grayish hair and wrinkled forehead did not subdue or soften the maniacal look in his eyes.
"Who are you?" O'Neill asked while the others turned their guns on him.
"Oh, humans," The man exclaimed and ignoring them bolted to the control consoles and started to dance around it punching different commands and pressing all sorts of buttons and pulling levers.
The others still held their guns but stood mesmerized of this odd man jumping around the consoles with childish enthusiasm. It was logical to assume he owned the damn thing as something seemed to happen. The entire console came to life and the odd contraption in the middle began moving up and down.
Suddenly the odd man just stopped and looked at Maybourne and O'Neill intently. "Where did you go?"
"We haven't moved since you..." Mayborne was saying but the man interrupted him.
"I meant where did you go when you took a walk into the reality lane?"
"The what..."
"Did you go to another place where you were someone else?" Another voice asked and all gaped in disbelief. The same man stood atop the stairs slightly above them. He dressed differently but it was the same man.
"Ah, yes," O'Neill snapped out of his stupor.
"And you?" He turned to Mayborne who simply nodded. He was still speechless. "Did you meet someone? Did you talk to them?"
"Yes," Both replied.
"We need to take them as well." The new Doctor turned to the old one (still galloping around the console).
"I gathered."
"Who are you people?" O'Neill asked.
"We are the Doctor." The new Doctor replied.
"Doctor Who?"
"Just the Doctor, the original you might say. It is from us (from me) that everyone else decided to call themselves that." The old Doctor replied and continued his task.
"Is it normal that you are both here?" Hailey asked.
"No, dear," The new Doctor replied. "It happens only in the gravest of circumstances."
"I found them." The old Doctor exclaimed happily.
"Transfer them here."
"Done. There are two teams at the library, two teams at the Coliseum, one at the tennis court, one downstairs, one near the core, and one at the pool."
"Excellent," The Doctor said. "General, I will need your help to collect your SG teams and bring them here."
"Wait just a minute! Explain what you are doing?" Maybourne said.
"Look your presence is creating a disruption in the space time continuum. And because reality has been shattered due to other circumstances, we have to fix it. But in order to do so, we need all parties to come with us so this can be fixed. The longer we delay the lesser the chance to undo the End of Time."
"Oh," O'Neill exclaimed. That he understood and so did Maybourne. "Ok, Harry, go to the pool and the library, I believe it was there too. Lt Hailey, fetch the ones below. Jonas, you can go to the Coliseum, and the Doctor and I will go to the core and the tennis court."
"Right away, sir."
"Rendezvous here in twenty,"
"And remember, touch nothing," The Doctor said. "Shall we, mon general?"
The Doctors were right. The missing teams were at the designated areas. It took some time to explain to them what has transpired but in the end all ended well. They all returned to the control consoles.
"Good, now we will go outside to my TARDIS."
"Your what?" Maybourne asked.
The old Doctor sighed. It was always the same story with these humans. One had to explain everything and it was tiresome.
"The TARDIS is my ship." He explained trying to find his calm voice.
"It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space." The new Doctor clarified seeing their perplexed expressions.
"And what is this place we are in?" Lt Hailey asked.
"It is also the TARDIS, my TARDIS, just in a different time. When a TARDIS is dying like this one it tends to expand."
Not everyone understood the logic in this. But once they entered the smaller version which was identical in almost every way some of them understood the previous statement. Lt Hailey of course had to ask a few more questions.
"Yes, Lieutenant, this ship exists in thirteen dimensions simultaneously. Hence the reason the big one is expanding as those dimensions are leaking out." The old Doctor explained but was pleased that the young woman more or less understood what he said.
"I still don't get it." Maybourne and O'Neill both exclaimed. For them this science-y talk was complicated.
"Um, sirs, imagine, you put the SGC in a refrigerator and as it breaks down the mountain complex..."
"Ah, lieutenant, don't bother." The new Doctor cut her off. He did not want her to torture the two men trying to understand. It was obvious they were used to simpler explanations that they did not have the time for, right now.
The Andromeda Ascendant emerged from the wormhole close to the Nexus. Dylan, his crew and the new guests now had full view of it. It was a strange place. But they saw where the three galaxies converge. It was some kind of maelstrom.
"Here, we are." Crichton said and also took a look outside. During the flight, he managed to glimpse a few of the realities linked to this place and he did not like it all. It was dangerous for them to be here. This place was a tear in the fabric of reality. And there was something trying to get out. It was some kind of darkness that made him shiver. It was worse than all of his enemies and the weapon he could build combined.
"Not again," Dylan said. He did not want to be here at all. He did not like the last time he was here.
They went to the planet where the last showdown will take place and waited for the arrival of the others. Soon after, Vala's friends joined them though they did not say how they arrived here.
The council of the eldest Suns in the universe had just arrived on the convergence planet and on one side they noticed a group of people bearing projectile weapons and on the other side it was a very familiar group – the crew of the Andromeda, and Trace Gemini.
For the others the council was definitely weird as they all looked like Trance on the exception of their leader. But unlike Trance, they had the arrogant streak and that was more than visible.
"Sisters," Trance greeted.
"Trance," The leader of the council greeted though coldly. She still did not understand the purpose of their presence at the convergence planet. But there was something though she did sense – great change. She was just unsure if it was the Abyss or something else. But there was also the sense of a presence. It was not as old as them but it was very powerful.
"Thank you for coming," Trance said and approached them.
"If only we knew why we are here?"
"You are here because I demanded your presence." Another voice joined the conversation. It belonged to a man who wore dark blue suit and shirt, blue grayish trousers and black shoes. His grayish hair and wrinkled forehead did not subdue or soften the maniacal look in his eyes.
"You demanded?" The leader of the council exclaimed baffled and outraged at the same time.
"Yes, we did." Another joined too. It belonged to the same man just slightly differently attired.
"Who are you?"
"I am the Doctor."
The demeanor of the leader of the council changed instantly. She had heard of this audacious creature. It belonged to a powerful race called Time Lords. It was actually one of the most powerful and dangerous races in the universe. They had the duty of preserving time and protecting it. Until they met a bigger threat and then disappeared without a trace or so everyone believed.
The leader had recently learnt of the Time Lords return. They were hiding at the edge of time waiting for an opportune moment to come back. She smiled though. 'No one can hide from the council of Suns'. Her sisters have spotted them sneaking.
"Time Lord," She said. It was an acknowledgement and sign of some form of respect. It was as much as she could master. These creatures were also very, very arrogant. The presence of one of the most notorious one of them was curious at best but it was also a time for caution. The reason, it was the reason she wondered about. "What do you want?"
"Now, that's a very interesting question, Mrs. Hole." The new Doctor said.
"Elaborate!" She put as much authority in her voice as she was capable.
Of course, if she were hoping to impress the Doctor, she felt short. He was not in a hurry to explain his plan. He circled her and her sisters several times his eyes x-raying them. And what he found seemed satisfactory.
His plan was elaborate but required the council's undivided attention. He needed their power and he hoped that O'Neill and the humans would carry out his orders to the letter. There was no room for mistakes. That's why he relied on the direct approach that was certain to galvanize the council.
"I want your power." The Doctor said simply.
The leader of the council stood speechless for a few moments and then cracked in sinister laughter. The Doctor's audacity was well known and he did not fail to disappoint. As she was to answer she noticed the absence of the humans. The Andromeda crew was still there though. She wondered at once where the humans had gone to. With the Doctor nothing was certain but she did not believe him to be this audacious as to actually attempt to steal their power.
"You have enough power as it, Time Lord." She began cautiously. "Why would you need ours?"
"You hold the power of the oldest and most powerful suns in the universe, the suns that have been here from the very beginning and this is something that I need."
"You still haven't answered my question – why?"
"So you can kill him," The old Doctor replied instead.
The answer perplexed the leader of the council. Why would he want this? Why would his earlier version request his future death? This was puzzling. This incarnation was part of a new regeneration cycle. Why would he want to end it?
"Why?" She repeated her question hoping to get more out him. Normally one could never get this time lord to shut up and now he was uncharacteristically small worded.
"Everything comes to an end." The new Doctor replied. "I have lived more life times than anyone else and I am tired. I'm tired of saving the universe and never getting so much as a thank you. I have the right to choose how I die. "
It was certainly an interesting answer but the leader of the council doubted that was the reason behind this unusual request. He did not need the power of the suns to die. He could have one of the humans shoot him and choose not to regenerate, and that will be it. No, he needed their power for something else.
She also wondered why they were here. There were thousands other places he could have chosen to die at. 'What possible reason could he have to do it here?' She kept thinking of the reason behind this odd choice.
She suddenly noticed that the humans have returned. She counted them and discovered that eight were missing. What was the Doctor up to? And then in one swift moment she realized he was indeed going to try and steal their power. As she thought it, the Doctor took out something out of his pocket that made a buzzing sound. She recognized the device at once – it was a sonic screwdriver.
"Sisters," She exclaimed. "Defend your essence!"
The moment she said it she felt a pull. She turned to face the source and sensed her power leaving her body. Streams of essence headed towards small devices placed in perfect circle around them.
So that's why the humans went away and while she was busy with the Doctor they placed them unawares around them. It was too late to run. But she and her sisters were not going to surrender their power without a fight.
"You will pay for this, Time Lord." She advanced at the Doctor and grabbed him. But she quickly discovered that it was not the one she thought she needed. It was... she was not sure which one it was. She wondered which would be the one of the past or the one of the future and while the one of the past would certainly be the better choice it was not that simple.
She had no way of knowing what impact that will have. If she killed the one of the past none of this would have happened? But would it really? Or wouldn't it matter at all? There was two of him present, both in the same time stream. It was something that should never happen unless in the gravest of circumstances. But killing one of them doesn't ensure that the other would disappear. They were in a moment of flux.
Logically, she needed both of them. She kept the one and sought the other one as well.
"Sisters, capture the other one!"
In this moment, the humans opened fire at her sisters. Bullets could not really stop them but they could slow them down. And as mayhem ensued suddenly she lost the grab of the one Doctor. She only saw a shadow pass by her.
She turned to locate this shadow and in the middle of the circle of devices, right in the middle of all mayhem she saw it holding the Doctor. It took out a small item out of his belt and plunged it into the Doctor. It was a knife.
The effect was immediate. The Doctor held his hands at the inflicted wound and fell to a knee.
"Hello..."
She heard the first word but not the rest but whatever the continuation of that phrase was she saw the fear in the Doctor's eyes and the disbelief of the figure before him.
"Why?" She heard the Doctor ask. "Why did you do this?"
The man and the Doctor discussed something in hushed tones. And then the newly arrived man pulled away from the Doctor. He seemed pensive for a moment and then he closed his eyes and opened them again. And thus she saw incredible power in them.
The Doctor reached out with his hands and her essence and that of her sisters changed course and headed straight for him. She opted to stop this but couldn't. She did not understand the power the Doctor yielded.
A thought came to her mind as though whispered by the Doctor himself. 'This is time vortex, you old ball of gaz.' And then he directed that power into the convergence. All she could do is let out a scream of utter frustration – NO – but it was too late. The effect was immediate as everything came to a halt.
The impossibility of this situation grew further when the Doctor started to transform into something impossible and then with a flash the timeline was reset, and everything blurred and dissipated into oblivion...
To end in the next chapter
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