**This has become a little pet project of mine, so in writing it I asked myself the question, who do I enjoy writing more? That answered, there'll be more Theta-Doctors action in the future. For this next chapter you'll see a moment from "The Robots of Death". (I wanted to try and do two episodes for Four, since he has so many and he's fun to write for, but in the end I decided to hold off and save some good moments for Five in the next chapter.)**
"If this is going to work, we'll need to let Theta drag us around one more time. Then all we have to do is scan the energy signature he leaves behind, connect it to the TARDIS navigation systems, and away we'll go!" The Doctor paused in front of the monitor and twitched his fingers. "In a sense."
Clara had been excited to see the old alien finally finding some fun in this erratic game, but with those three magic words she glared at his back. "Meaning…?"
"Nothing that we can't handle, I'm sure!" He retorted, glancing back at her with a gleam in his eye. Although, Clara sincerely hoped she detected nervousness in his eyes as well, and not something far more dangerous.
As soon as the Doctor was finished with his calibrations, and had sat back on his heels to wait for Theta to make a move, Clara asked, "What has Theta said to you?"
He half turned towards her and frowned in confusion. "Sorry?"
"In those new memories you have, where Theta came in," Clara explained. "Did he say or do things?"
The Time Lord shrugged. "Well, yes, of course he did. He appeared randomly, we would converse, and then he'd disappear again like nothing was wrong." His shoulders shook slightly as he chuckled. "It's a good thing I'm remembering this now. My past selves were so terribly confused."
Clara nodded slowly, unconvinced. "But what did he say? Advice? Spoilers?"
"Mainly insults. But there were those moments where he seemed to know more than he let on. Maybe the TARDIS was helping him there." The TARDIS console went "ding", stopping the Doctor in his thoughts. "Ah! Here we go!"
She rolled her eyes, but dropped it. Truthfully Clara was beginning to look forward to seeing each of the Doctor's incarnations. The female gryphes de stellis from New Gallifrey had only given her a brief glimpse, and some of them looked a bit odd, even for the Doctor's standards. She jumped up and leaned forward to see around the Doctor's shoulders. "And where is he, then?"
"Nowhere we can go, as usual. It would punch a hole in the universe if I tried to materialize my TARDIS inside my counterpart's. But the TARDIS is giving us a visual." The Doctor turned to her, and for some reason, grinned. "Would you like to take a look?"
Clara was instantly suspicious. The Doctor, eager for her to see some element of the past? A visual of a memory that might be hard for him to remember? This she had to see.
All it took was one look at the man standing in the middle of the image, and Clara burst out laughing. This was a Doctor she definitely wished she could've met!
Brown. That's all Theta could see when he opened his eyes. He was lying on his side, facing what appeared to be a wall of some kind. Before he could move, a female voice behind him said, "Doctor…"
"Hm?" The gruff reply, a male voice this time, came from somewhere in front of him, and very close by.
"Can I stop now?" The female continued.
A pause, and then, "If you want to."
"It will not affect this?" Affect what? Theta silently asked, hoping it wasn't something drastic. He slowly turned his head towards the voice and froze, eyes wide. Yellow! The brightly colored circular object was bouncing up and down, shining in the artificial light. Theta barely glanced at the leather-clad woman who was manipulating it somehow; all he saw was yellow, and that meant gold!
"Affect it?" The male's voice sounded confused. "No, it's a yo-yo. It's a game, I thought you were enjoying it."
"Enjoying it?" The woman faced the source of the other voice with indignation, abandoning the thing that was a "yo-yo". Theta tensed his claws in anticipation as he watched the abandoned golden disk spin on the floor. "You said that I had to keep it going up and down, I thought it was part of the magic!"
"Magic, Leela? Magic?" The male sounded like he was making fun of her.
"I know, I know, there's no such thing as magic…" She started coiling the rope around the disc, but something was tugging it. She looked down, and was suddenly looking straight at Theta.
"Doctor, a creature!" She screamed, dropping the yo-yo and crouching with a knife already in her hand. Theta yelped in surprise and scampered back. Seeing the knife, he snarled and raised his hackles, his claw holding the yellow treasure underneath him protectively.
"A creature? What kind?" The male voice asked in an excited, youthful voice. He raced to the female human's, Leela's, side, and his appearance made Theta chortle in surprise. Checkered jumper? Wild hair? Crazed look in his eyes? It could only be the Doctor.
Recognition crossed the Doctor's face as well. "Ha, you again! Coming to join me on an adventure?"
You're inviting me this time? How kind, Theta replied. He flapped his wings and cawed in laughter. Leela tensed at the movement and raised her knife higher. And…did she just growl?
The Doctor smiled and gently lowered the woman's arm. He certainly was happier this regeneration, the small griffin mused – must be an effect of having a companion around. "Now, now, Leela, we can't go brandishing weapons at our guests. That's very rude."
"But it's a stranger! An enemy!"
"Do you know that for certain?" Leela looked back at Theta, and shook her head. The Doctor nodded. "Quite right, too. If I hadn't have stepped in you two would've been at each other's throats, and then where would you be? All he wanted was your yo-yo."
At her suspicious glance, Theta nodded vigorously – that knife did look very sharp. To demonstrate his innocence, he turned his attention to his prize. So shiny…He gave it a sharp bite, but spat into the air with disgust. Artificial human paint! Underneath the color was nothing but worthless metal. He hissed at it and kicked it away in disgust. Humans always have to ruin everything, didn't they?
He glanced up at his audience and saw that Leela was frowning at him. "It doesn't like it?" She looked to the Doctor. "Why not? Does it not know how to use it?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Why not show him how it's done?"
Theta perked up his ears, and watched as Leela picked up the discarded disc and approach him. She was crouched close to the ground – supposedly this was how humans interacted with animals and other small creatures they wished to befriend. A strange position (it was actually more difficult to run away from such a stance, rather than less), but he appreciated the gesture.
Rather rudely, Leela shoved the yellow disc in his face. "This is a yo-yo!" She shouted, enunciating each word as if he was a kit learning the basics of language. "I will show you how to use it!"
I gathered that, Theta muttered, shaking his beak and backing up a step. Did you know that I happen to be more intelligent than you?
"You're being rude, gryphes, and it does not become your species," the Doctor warned.
Leela's eyebrows narrowed in confusion, but she did not look at him or pull back her hand. "You can understand him?"
"Yes, unfortunately." Theta stuck his tongue out at the Time Lord, but the alien only smiled. It was almost beautiful, how much gleeful, child-like amusement was in his eyes. It made them twinkle with brilliance. "He's one of the gryphes de stellis kind, aliens that travel the stars. Usually all on their own."
Leela's eyes softened. "That sounds lonely."
Theta looked down at his claws, now uncomfortable under their twin gazes. Sure, it was lonely. But he used to have a family, hadn't he? Loads of other astral griffins could travel with a pack. And it wasn't like he wasn't trying to find a family. It wasn't his fault they turned him away at every opportunity, calling him names and only being nice to him because they had to…
Wow. Where had that thought come from? He shook his head roughly. These time jumps were making him sentimental. And why should they? He was having fun! No sense in moping about love and family and belonging or the general lack thereof.
Theta barked a harsh laugh and flicked his tail playfully. Sorry, Leela, but I gotta run! He gave her the biggest grin he could muster. Maybe you can teach me next time!
Before the Doctor could reply, Theta found the inner chord of time and yanked it as hard as he could. In seconds, he was gone.
Leela stared in shock at the space he used to occupy. "He…He's—"
"Gone, yes." The Doctor nodded his head and sighed, the griffin mystery once again put off for another day.
His companion stood up and turned the yo-yo in her hand. She rubbed her fingers absently over the scratch marks the griffin had inflicted on the toy, and the Doctor couldn't ignore the look of disappointment on her beautiful human face. "I'm sorry, Leela," he said. He wished he could offer more comfort than that. "He apologized that he couldn't stay longer."
"I think I upset him," Leela replied. "But what a strange magic that is, to disappear at will." She smiled ever so slightly. "Even if there is no such thing."
"Exactly! To the rational mind nothing is inexplicable, only unexplained." The Doctor went back to the center of the TARDIS and continued doing whatever it was he did with all those controls.
"So…" Leela began. "Explain to me how this…'TARDIS' is larger on the inside than on the out."
"Hm?" Lost in thought, it took a moment for the Doctor to remember what the conversation had been about. "Alright, I'll show you." He turned and walked to the back wall. "It's because the inside and the outside are not in the same dimension…"
"Got it!" The Doctor shouted, jolting Clara from her nap in the leather chair the TARDIS had conveniently provided. He had the audacity to grin at her. "We got him now!"
She sat up and glared at him from across the console room. "Good. Because one more interruption like that and I'm leaving you to figure this out yourself."
