Yes, I am still alive and still plan/wish/hope to finish this story. Sorry for the big gap, if anyone's still reading. No promise as to when the next chapter will arrive, but I am at work on it now. Cheers!
The TARDIS, Somewhere in space and time.
"Why are we here? And where is here, by the way?"
"Well, you're learning all about space-time coordinates, Peter, you tell me. Where do you think we are?"
The boy rolled his eyes as he turned back to the monitor to study the coordinates. The Doctor looked on from where he rested in the jump seat. Time passed.
The Doctor smiled a little as he watched Peter get frustrated, then finally access the quick reference guide on the mathematical composition of the space-time continuum, then return to his study of their current coordinates, then pull over the second monitor to study the panoramic view of their current location from the TARDIS cameras. The Doctor sipped his tea and waited for the boy to work it out.
"Are we in the middle of the universe?"
"Full marks, Peter! We are in the relative center of the universe. It's relative because everything is always in motion. There is no fixed center of the universe."
"But why are we here?"
"Well, I have a theory about the time fracture. If I'm right, then we have some clear steps to take to repair the remaining damage. If I'm wrong, though, we might have a lot more work to do. We've got to test out the theory, and this is the best place to do that."
"So, what's your theory?"
The Doctor joined Peter at the console.
"So far, we've confirmed that Earth is affected by the time fracture. At first, we thought it was limited to Earth, but we now know that it affects Sagacity, too."
"But what if it affects the whole universe? We're basically screwed then, right?"
"Right, so let's not even consider that for the moment. Our conjecture is that it's limited to Earth and Sagacity because Beckman made alterations in both places and nowhere else."
"But can we be sure of that?"
The Doctor paused. Good question.
"I think we can be fairly certain. The only way to be completely sure is to retrieve his time travel device and that would mean another trip to Sagacity. I know at the time that I was in its possession his visits were limited to Earth. Clearly, after he got it back, he used it to get to Sagacity so he could sit in on the inquiry and influence the outcome. But did he go anywhere else?"
"Maybe we should go back and get it, then."
The Doctor shook his head. "I'd rather not. I think we've rather worn out our welcome for the time being. We also know Sagacity is part of the corrupt timeline. Visiting again will only get us further enmeshed. We can validate our theory with a high degree of certainty without risking another visit to Sagacity.
"As scientists, Peter, we need to do our best to set aside what we think is the truth and be as objective as possible. If we keep going without taking time out to do that, we may find we're only making things worse."
What followed was a long, arduous lesson in quantum mathematics for Peter that concluded with the Doctor initiating a very simple but time-consuming observational study. While the TARDIS allocated thirty percent of her nearly unlimited reserves to the arduous task, Peter bowled three solo games in the bowling alley, swam laps in the pool, enjoyed several meals, taught the Doctor how to play Risk and had a long sleep.
Other than playing Risk with Peter, the Doctor monitored the progress on the observational study, tinkered with an ongoing drive stack maintenance project and rested. He felt himself growing weaker.
Finally, after hours or perhaps days of computations, the TARDIS monitors sprang to life and delivered the observational study, which happily confirmed that the disturbance was limited to Earth and Sagacity.
"Okay Peter, now that we've confirmed our theory, we need to pick our next intervention point."
Peter marked his place in The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which had replaced Treasure Island, and joined the Doctor at the console.
"What are the choices?"
The Doctor pulled up the time study results and swiped to the Brexit Leave/Remain macro event.
"I see two possible points that may lead to other choices along the way.
"The first will take us into 2016. Beckman made alterations to events leading up to the EU Referendum, otherwise known as Brexit. As a result England stayed in the European Union. On the true timeline England left the EU."
"We studied Brexit in school, but it was all pretty boring. We stayed in the EU, so it really didn't seem like such a big deal. Why is it important?"
"Well, it was very exciting at the time on the true timeline. When England left the EU, it meant profound changes in government and put a strain on its relationships with other countries, both in the EU and England. Commerce, among other things, had to be completely renegotiated and overhauled.
"But for our purposes, this adjustment to the timeline led to an increasingly dysfunctional European Union. EU leaders were so preoccupied with internal diplomacy that foreign relations outside the EU took a back seat, leading to deepening ties between Russia and North Korea.
"On the true timeline, the EU and England sorted through their separation, and were able to focus on affairs outside the Union, collaborating with the United States to police and enforce arms embargoes and other sanctions.
"Oh, I get it now. So, if we fix those things will that prevent the nuclear war from happening in my time?"
"It should rectify quite a few things but it won't prevent the war. Conflict still ensues but on a smaller scale, possibly without use of nuclear weapons."
"But you aren't sure?"
"No. There are too many variables. We could spend both of our lifetimes trying to fix them all and at the end of the day there would still be a war.
"Oh. So, it's macro events versus micro events again, and there's some degree of uncertainty because of that guy,"
"Heisenberg. But the uncertainty principle was well-documented by other species long before he was born. But yes, sometimes you can't measure one thing without making it impossible to measure another thing. In our case, we can fix certain things on this timeline but because we are currently on the timeline, we can't always see the full outcomes of our actions."
"Hm. What about the other intervention point?"
"In your timeline, UNIT lost its funding in 2018 and was dissolved. Without UNIT, there were no longer any global resources for identifying and dealing with outside threats. That work was still being done, but there was no formal inter-governmental collaboration. Trust started breaking down. This lack of trust spread into diplomatic circles. Several key treaties that were enacted on the true timeline never happened on the alternative timeline, and an alliance formed between North Korea and Russia, which ultimately led to nuclear war with the United States.
"On the true timeline, UNIT remained in business and reinforced inter-governmental collaboration. During the next few years there were several significant global alien incursions. With those larger threats, the UN and NATO remained united and there was no alliance between North Korea and Russia." The Doctor paused to catch his breath.
"So, no nuclear war?"
"That's right."
"But that happened after the Brexit thing. If we don't fix the Brexit thing, will we be able to fix the UNIT thing?"
"That's a good question. How do you think you can find the answer?"
"You mean you don't know?"
"I'm not omniscient, Peter, and you are perfectly capable of working it out on your own. Think it through."
"If I looked at the time study I could probably tell if the Brexit error is on the critical path to the UNIT one."
"That's right. So, let's take a look."
That led to a quick refresher on how to access and interpret macro events in the time study. Peter found the answer quickly.
"So now you see that we could start with either event, but we will need to take care of both to completely restore the true timeline.
"But if we fix the UNIT one you think it will prevent the nuclear war."
"Yes, I believe so, though we may have more work to do after that to get everything squared away."
Peter sighed.
"So what do you think we should do, Peter?"
"Me? I dunno. I'm just a kid, you know."
"All the same, at the moment you are a time traveling kid and currently not in school, so this is an educational opportunity. If it were totally up to you, which one would you choose, and why?"
Peter moved to the other side of the console, avoiding eye contact. He studied the array of switches, levers and dials before answering.
"I won't tell you my answer until you tell me what's wrong with you. Are you dying or something?"
The Doctor's mouth opened and shut but nothing came out.
"What did Erdith mean when she said you needed care?"
"That's really not relevant to what we're doing here,"
"That's bullshit!"
"Language, Peter!"
"No, I won't mind my language! You say I have to study these events and come up with the right answer. You have me mucking about with time. With people's lives. Those are pretty grown up things, Doctor. So don't treat me like a child and tell me nothing's wrong, or it isn't relevant when it's obvious you're not well. If you die out here before we've fixed everything, where does that leave me? So tell me the truth."
The Doctor slumped back into the jump seat. He'd hoped this wouldn't come up, but now here they were. Peter's words were so similar to Clara's rebuke after the unfortunate incident with Courtney the Disruptive Influence on the moon.
Ah, karma.
"Okay, Peter. You're right. It's not fair to keep you in the dark. I'm dying. I was poisoned by a leaky Vortex Manipulator. Hopefully we can get through these fixes first, but in the end I will die. In the meantime, I'm trying to show you as much as I can in case I can't see it through to the end."
"But I don't want you to die. There's got to be a way to fix it so you don't.
"Wait a minute! We can go back in time and get the vortex manipulator fixed before you use it! You know, like go back to before you came to my time at Royal London, before we were impounded on Sagacity. Just get it fixed and then it'll be like you were never exposed!"
"Nice idea, Peter, but no. We'd create yet another"
"Paradox."
"Right."
Peter cursed again but this time the Doctor didn't correct him. It was the most appropriate word for the situation.
