The presiding Time Lord official Goth, and two more of his colleagues watched as the small impish man had his eyes glued to the Thought Channel screen. The small, impish little Beatles tramp watched as Zoe, now his former companion who'd travelled with him in his Type 40 TARDIS for a while was back on her space station where they'd met, during a battle with the Cybermen. The Doctor's hearts ached as Zoe looked back in confusion for a moment, looking like she knew something was wrong.
That was the trouble and the thing with memory loss; there was always a shadow of a thought there was something wrong, but it passed quickly.
"She'll be all right, won't she?" The Doctor asked the Time Lords.
"Of course," Goth said, with something approaching sympathy in his voice.
"What about Jamie?"
"Look."
The Doctor turned to face the Thought Channel monitor again, just as an image of Jamie appeared. He was just getting up, a look of confusion on his face while the sound of bagpipes filled the air. A redcoat was standing up, aiming his musket at Jamie's back. Sensing danger, Jamie dropped as the gun fired.
"Try to murder a McCrimmon, would you?" Jamie yelled, furious. "Well, I'll show you! Creag an Tuire!"
Jamie charged the Redcoat, swinging his sword while the man tried frantically to reload. The soldier wisely gave up and fled.
The Doctor laughed to himself as he watched Jamie, good old Jamie rushing after the redcoat, yelling at the top of his voice. He turned around.
"They will both continue their lives as if nothing had happened," Goth said as the Doctor's laughter faded.
"Yes, very efficient. Now then, what about me?" The Doctor asked almost hesitantly.
This was the part he had been dreading since he had found himself on Gallifrey again for the first time in years since he and Susan had escaped the first time around.
"We have accepted your plea that there is evil in the universe that must be fought, and that you still have a part to play in that battle," Goth said, he and his other colleagues staring deeply into the Doctor's eyes. "You gave us much to think about when you showed us those moments in your travels where you encountered various divergence points, and how you showed commitment to the Laws of Time."
"What?" The Doctor blinked in surprise, stunned that the Time Lords would even consider that. "You mean that you're going to let me go free?"
Goth stared at one of the other Time Lords before turning back to the Doctor. "Not entirely. We have noted your particular interest in the planet Earth," Goth began. "The frequency of your visits must have given you special knowledge of that world and its problems."
The Doctor scrunched up his face slightly in thought. "Yes, I suppose that's true," he said as he thought about the numerous invasions humanity had dealt with in the past, "Earth seems more vulnerable than others, yes."
"For that reason, you will be sent back to that planet."
"Oh, good," the Doctor sighed in relief.
"In exile," Goth added with a smirk.
"In exile?" The Doctor repeated, in horror.
The Doctor had been starting to wish he had found the War Chief's TARDIS and used it to send the brainwashed humans home instead of calling in Gallifrey.
Yes, he had stolen his TARDIS, even if he had been granted it long ago by the Kingmaker but it was decommissioned and it officially left his custody, but the Doctor had still stolen her back and he wished he had taken her long before that point. Yes, the TARDIS was old and ruddy, but she was still good.
But there were Time Lords other than him who'd done worse.
Look at the Master, trying to destroy an entire race with nuclear weapons to repair his TARDIS. The Meddling Monk tried changing history, and so did the Doctor, and he allied himself with the Daleks. The War Chief, his most recent Time Lord enemy, had helped to kidnap humans for brainwashing.
Now, here he was, being tried for his travels. His friends were snatched, they no longer remembered their time with him, and this was how he was thanked!
"You will be sent to Earth in the 20th century, and will remain there for as long as we deem proper, and for that period the secret of the TARDIS will be taken from you."
The Doctor But you, you can't condemn me to exile on one primitive planet in one century in time! "Besides, I'm known on the Earth," the Doctor stammered. "It might be very awkward for me."
Goth was definitely smirking, "Your appearance has changed before, it will change again. That is part of the sentence."
The Doctor's eyes widened in horror at the thought of regenerating again, "You can't just change what I look like without consulting me!"
Goth held up his hand for silence "You will have an opportunity to choose your appearance. Choose quickly, Doctor, for time is not on your side."
The Doctor closed his mouth. "Oh, well, that's not so bad. But I warn you, I'm very particular."
"Here is your first choice."
The Doctor turned around, and on the large screen, a sketch of a man with a big bushy beard appeared.
"Oh, he's too old!"
The sketch of a fat man appeared.
Well he's too fat, isn't he?"
A thin man's sketch appeared.
"No, he's too thin."
A young man's face appeared.
"That one's too young. Oh no, that won't do at all. It's ridiculous," the Doctor swung around and glared at the Time Lords.
Goth sighed. They were letting the fellow off lightly, and instead of being humble, he was instead kicking up so much fuss. "You're wasting time, Doctor."
"It's not my fault, is it? Is this the best you can do? I've never seen such an incredible bunch. Why couldn't you have given me more choices?" The Doctor demanded. "There are so many choices, so many possibilities out there, and this is it?"
Goth sighed again and turned to his colleagues. "Very well, Doctor. But choose quickly, please."
The Doctor turned around, just as a new sketch appeared. This time it showed a man with curly hair and a big nose. "No, not that one."
Another sketch appeared, this time showing a woman.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "No-," but then he stopped and took a closer look as he studied the image closely. She was a woman slightly physically younger than he was now in his current body. And certainly nowhere near as young as the sketch of the young man before. She had long hair and an amazing smile, tempered by timeless beauty. The Doctor had always been interested in cross-gender regeneration, hard to pull off by some Time Lords, but possible and he had considered it from time to time since regeneration was like a chain you were meant to learn from each time.
The Time Lords looked at each other, noting his silence as he studied the sketch. They were about to speak up when the Doctor beat them to it. "I'll have this one," he said.
"This is your choice, Doctor?"
"Yes," he said, turning around. "If I'm to change, then I better make it count, won't I? Just get on with it please."
The Time Lords bowed. "Very well," the Third Time Lord stepped forward. "Doctor, you have a choice of where and when in the 20th century you wish to reside. You must tell us now before you suffer from post-regenerative trauma."
The Doctor paused for a moment, thinking about where in the whole century in the C-20th he would want to live in. He wanted to make this count. And then it occurred to him. If he spent time in this period, then he would have the time to wait for that Dalek time machine and enjoy the wonders of the 20th century…
Xxxxx
Earth, London, 1931.
The paperboy and paper girl were finishing up their rounds. It was getting rather late, and they knew the sooner they finished delivering the papers, the sooner they could get home. Both of them were siblings and they did two streets at a time. As they began passing down the streets, they both heard something.
"Wait, Anna, can you hear that?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, what is it?" Anna said.
It was an odd sound, a grinding groaning sound. It was like an ancient engine that was straining to go.
"It's really close," Peter said as he turned his head. "What the...?" He said, his eyes widening as he saw something weird. Anna turned in his direction and saw something appearing. It was a blue police box with the lamp on top flashing as it solidified. Then there was silence.
"Peter," Anna whimpered, holding her brother tightly.
"It's okay, Anna," Peter said, holding her comfortingly, but the door of the strange police box opened, and a woman stepped out or rather staggered out of the box. She almost fell out of the box, panting hard as she clung to the side of the box, her head tilted backwards. Anna yelped when she saw a stream of golden particles stream out of the woman.
The woman held onto the side of the box, panting before she opened her eyes, took a few deep breaths and straightened herself out. From what Anna and Peter could see, the woman was wearing crumpled clothes that looked too big for her. Wherever she came from, Peter knew she was not of this world.
The woman slowly looked around her surroundings before her eyes fell on them. A dazed smile appeared on her face.
"Hello, there," the woman greeted them, suddenly burping more of those particles out of her mouth.
"Peter," Anna had had enough and she was terrified. "Let's go."
"Hey, are you alright?" The woman called after them as they ran.
Xxxxxx
London. Montgomery, Alabama, 1955.
The Doctor waited in the alleyway for the time traveller to arrive. She had built a scanner that allowed her to pick up time travellers that were about to appear. She had built it in the 30s and prepared herself to be taken away from here or to have a time machine for her own use while she lived in the rest of the C-20th.
According to the scanner, there was a time meddler who was going to send Rosa Parks back in time with a time weapon that would send her back into the past. The Doctor stiffened when she sensed the build-up of time particles, and she turned in the direction and saw the man appear. She took out her sonic screwdriver and triggered it, interfacing with his neural implant to freeze him. From what she'd picked up he was a former inmate of Stormcage, and his crimes warranted surgery to stop him from committing more murders, but the implant had the power to freeze him if he tried to murder others. All she did was activate it. The Doctor froze him completely and she took off his vortex manipulator and took the case he was carrying, seeing the anger in his eyes. She opened the case, finding an info brick and the time weapon. These pieces of time tech would help her with the TARDIS, but she was looking forwards to the swinging sixties she had never really enjoyed them the first time around.
She had been on Earth for years now and she had started enjoying it once she had hidden away from the Second World War. Now she had a way to escape.
Once the Doctor examined the manipulator, she saw she'd need to get some replacements. This one was old and falling apart. The Doctor took out the Time Destructor, pressed her sonic screwdriver at the device and boosted its range and made sure it brushed against the Jurassic Age, she stood up and ran her screwdriver over his head. In a few minutes, he would have the capacity for violence again. She lifted his Time Disruptor and pointed it at him and she triggered it, sending the time meddler away. He might have been a murderer of people, but he was going to have problems with dinosaurs.
Too bad. He had no way out.