"I'm sure there's a spare around here somewhere, Peri." The Doctor was sitting cross-legged by the control console with a worn-looking piece of equipment balanced on one knee. "I usually have more than one of everything."
"What if you don't, Doctor?" Perpugilliam Brown had often wondered if the TARDIS would simply stop working one day, leaving them stranded in the Time Vortex forever. Not exactly what she'd had in mind when she joined up with the Doctor for the remainder of her summer vacation!
The Doctor ran his fingers through his curly blond hair. "Well, if we land somewhere soon, we'll be all right for a while. The problem is that when the Temporal Regulator malfunctions, it frequently throws off the Temporal Locator and the Spatial Coordinate Stabilizer as well. As of now, all I can't control too well is when we land."
"As if you ever could!" Peri muttered rebelliously.
"I beg your pardon?" the Doctor said indignantly.
"I'm sure you heard me. So what you're saying is you can land somewhere but not somewhen specific. And if you don't replace this whatever-it-is, eventually it'll throw off some other parts and we might not be able to land somewhere specific either."
"That's it, in a nutshell," replied the Doctor cheerfully. He went over to a panel in the wall, which opened at his touch.
Peri looked exasperated. "I don't see how that's any different from what you do now!" She crossed the control room to stand next to the Doctor in front of the open wall panel. It turned out to be a large spare parts cabinet.
"Wow!" Peri was surprised to see that the shelving was quite well stocked. There were relatively few spaces that did not hold a computer board or a piece of shining metal, and the spaces without TARDIS parts held cases of jellybabies. In fact, a case of jellybabies stood squarely in the place labeled "Temporal Regulator."
"Uh, Doctor, there's some kind of candy on the shelf where the spare Temporal Regulator should be."
"I can see that, Peri." The Doctor stood frowning at the case of jellybabies. "That's odd. I'm sure I never replaced the Temporal Regulator since I've had the TARDIS. It's a very important part - not the kind of thing I'd forget about."
Peri was privately of the opinion that the Doctor would forget his head if it wasn't firmly attached to his body, but she always found it was best to humor him. "So maybe whoever had it before you used the spare and never replaced it."
"No, no, no; according to this inventory list I made when I first…ah…borrowed her, the TARDIS had a spare Temporal Regulator." (The Doctor always insisted he intended to return the TARDIS someday.)
As Peri took the yellowing inventory list from the peg on which it was hanging, it crumbled apart in her hands. "Doctor, how long ago did you do this?"
The Doctor looked a bit vague. "Quite a while ago, now that I come to think of it."
"Well, there's no Temporal Regulator there now, so you must have used it." She pointed at the shelf. "AND you must have put the jellybabies there, too."
"I'm sure I'd remember if I'd replaced it, but I might have used it for something else — now that rings a bell. I used it for something, but not as a Temporal Regulator," he snapped his fingers "and not on the TARDIS. Eureka!" He looked smugly at Peri.
"Are you going to let me in on this, Doctor, or are you going to stand around admiring your prodigious memory all day?"
"I left it on Yyrikk, a small planet in the Tau Phylox Cluster. I used it to help them solve some problem or other, and then they asked me if they could have it as a memento. I remember they put it on a pedestal or something."
"So what are we going to do now?"
"I think we'll just pop over there and ask them very nicely if we can have it back."
Peri shook her head. "How are we going to get there? The Temporal Regulator isn't working, remember?"
"Yes, that could be a bit of a problem. I have to land AFTER my previous appearance, or else no one will know who I am or what I'm taking about. Hmph-hmph-hmph. I have to land there at the right time to get the Temporal Regulator back, but I can't land there at the right time because the Temporal Regulator isn't working. This certainly calls for a little creative problem-solving, doesn't it?"
The Doctor went to the console and, to Peri's total amazement, began to talk to the TARDIS. "Well, old girl, I need your help. I'll set the spatial coordinates for Yyrikk, but you must help me out a little by using your telepathic ability to pick the right time to land, if you would be so kind. I'm leaving it up to you." He boosted the power to the telepathic circuits and the time rotor began to rise and fall. The Doctor nodded in satisfaction. Peri stood speechless.
When the time rotor stopped, the Doctor said, "We've landed. Well, let's see where she set us down." He operated the controls to the viewscreen.