Sixteenth Doctor Adventures
A Meeting in Time
It was a dreary day and had been pouring rain since there was enough light to see by that morning. He breathed a long sigh as yet another lightning strike lit up the grey sky. There had hardly any customers all day. He once again paced behind the counter and looked out at the drizzle. Then suddenly as the wind blew the door open, a young woman with her long dark hair tied in high pigtails entered. She wrung the water out of them as she came to the counter.
"How may I help you?" he asked.
"I would like a Cappuccino, with oat biscuits on the side," she said, in a West Country accent.
"Sure," he said as he input the order. 'A little unusual,' thought, that she had been out in the rain. But then she was dressed in a gothic manner; certainly not one to conform to what most of society wanted. He also noticed the deep look in her eyes, as if she was older than she appeared. 'Maybe she is,' he thought. But it was none of his business!
.
Five minutes later, he brought the order over to where she was reading from her tablet, while also playing with an unusually thick stylus. "That will be four pounds fifty," he said.
The woman pressed a button on her stylus and the transaction took place. "Wait," she said as he began to turn.
"Yes?"
"What do you know about that building on the edge of town?"
He knew to which building she was referring to. An ominous looking block of a place, with hardly any windows despite being nearly twenty stories high. "Not much, other than that a tech company built it a year ago. Something to do with robots. I don't know much more."
"Seems like nobody really knows."
"The Council would," he offered.
"I talked to several officials. They didn't know much other than that the documents required for approval were a little late," she replied with a sigh.
"Sorry I couldn't help," Xander said.
She left the café less than half an hour later. 'Quite strange,' he thought.
Xander thought that he wouldn't see her again.
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The next day, Xander was having a look at that mysterious building from a nearby Park. The curious woman's questions had inspired his curiosity. The looming concrete façade looked oppressive. It certainly didn't have any answers.
As he was walking along, he crashed into someone else. "Oof!" she said.
"Oh, it's you! Didn't I see you yesterday?" Xander asked. He noted that her outfit hadn't changed since the previous day.
"Yes," she answered.
"I'm Xander," he said, indicating himself.
"Nice to meet you, Xander. You can call me the Doctor."
'Doctor? She doesn't look old enough!' he thought. "The Doctor," he considered.
"Excuse me, but we have to run," the Doctor said as she grabbed his hand.
"Run? Why?"
"There she is!" came a cry from the distance.
"That's why!" the Doctor said.
"Did you break into that building?" Xander asked.
"Running now, answers later. They may think you're involved now that they have seen us together."
'Of course!' he thought.
They ran, the Doctor leading the way.
.
They soon came to the edge of the park, where there was a strange blue box. "We'll be safe in there!"
"How?" Xander asked.
The Doctor let go of his hand and clicked her fingers. The doors to the box opened, and the Doctor hurried in. "Come in!" the Doctor said urgently.
"What have I got myself into?" Xander asked himself. He took the plunge and followed the Doctor into the box.
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Xander blinked as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. But where he had expected a small space, he could see a large room with some kind of computer system that looked like it came from the previous century in the middle of it. The doors closed, responding to another click of the Doctor's fingers. "Impossible," he said.
"Not impossible," the Doctor said. "The Console Room's dimensions are as you see them."
"This room is larger than the box outside!"
"Yes," the Doctor stated. "And the security people following us won't be able to get in."
"What is this place?"
"This is the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space," the Doctor answered. "There's more to her than this room, but this is where most of the action is. Have a look around, while I'll fill you in on what I have found out about that building."
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Xander looked around. The Console dominated the centre of the room. Consisting of buttons, screens and a large central column made of what looked like glass, it looked like there wasn't much rhyme or reason to it. Surrounding it were three chairs and many bookshelves filled with books and various disks, including vinyl records. The floor was made of some kind of dark metal, which also extended to what could be seen of the walls.
There were two higher levels connected by ramps, also containing bookshelves, tables and more chairs, as well as more doors heading off somewhere else in the ship. "I arrived here two days ago," the Doctor commented as she looked at a reading on a screen. "The TARDIS picked up strange energy readings from that building. Something is happening there. Something that shouldn't be."
"Is that what you do? Interfere?"
"Yes. Because others don't. I looked around yesterday. That's one reason why I came to your café. But people didn't know. So, today I decided to infiltrate. But I found more intense security than expected. That's when I ran into you."
Xander sat down on one of the chairs. It was a lot to take in. The Doctor, the TARDIS, that mysterious building. "This is a lot."
"I know it is, but I need help. I usually have help in situations like this. But I haven't had an assistant, or fellow traveller for a while."
'Maybe they got overwhelmed,' Xander thought. But he knew that he wanted to find out. "You know what, I will help you find out what is happening."
"Good," the Doctor said as she started typing something into the Console.
"What are you doing?"
"Do you work tomorrow?"
"No. Why?"
"We're going forwards," the Doctor answered. She pressed a button and some of the mechanisms turned to different positions.
"You mean…" Xander realised.
"Yes. The TARDIS travels in time. They will think I have given up."
"Right!"
"Hold on!" the Doctor cried as she flipped a lever. The central column lit up and began moving up and down. There was a thud, and a strange Vorrp! Vorrp! sound filled the air around them as vibrations rang through the floor. "We're on our way," the Doctor said with excitement.
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After the TARDIS had landed, Xander got off the floor. 'He's taking this rather well. Much like others I have travelled with, in my previous incarnations,' the Doctor thought.
"Where are we? Or is it, when are we?"
"The next day," the Doctor answered. "And we're somewhere in the building."
She interfaced the scanner with the local network, something she hadn't been able to do from outside. "I have connected to their network."
"Wouldn't they know the ship is inside?"
"There are no security cameras in this room."
"Anything on the network?" Xander asked.
"There doesn't seem to be. They probably use hard copies, which is certainly strange for this time period."
"Definitely."
"There's nothing for it then," the Doctor decided, "we have to find their information."
"I knew you would say that."
.
Xander followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS. The exterior looked incongruous in the room. "Why is the TARDIS a box anyway?" he asked.
"She likes it. After the chameleon circuit failed while we were in the 1960s, it has stayed that way, more or less," the Doctor explained. She brandished the stylus he had seen her use the day (or two) before as she approached the door. "To the right," she said. "But sooner or later, they are going to notice that we're snooping around here."
Xander nodded.
.
A few minutes and a few identical hallways later, the Doctor heard something to her left. She quickly turned in that direction, accidentally hitting Xander with her hair. "Sorry," she said.
"I'm fine," Xander said. "But what was that noise?"
"I'm not sure," the Doctor answered. "It may be a drone, or robot though…" She brought up the sonic.
"Great!" Xander groused.
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Several drones that looked slightly larger than ordinary commercial ones, with sharp looking appendages, approached the duo. "Uh oh!" Xander said in fear.
"Cover your ears!" the Doctor shouted.
'What's she doing?' Xander wondered as he covered his ears.
The Doctor raised her stylus and a loud oscillating sound came from it. The drones fell out of the air, smoke pouring out of them.
"What was that?" Xander asked, once the sound had stopped.
"High intensity sonic burst."
"You didn't cover your own ears."
"Time Lord ear drums are more resilient," the Doctor said. "It wasn't pleasant, mind you, but I'm alright. Besides the middle ear bones can be moved, similarly to an echolocating bat."
"Quite alien," he murmured, he had figured earlier that the Doctor was from the future. "There would be other drones?"
"That would be an absolute certainty."
.
Xander covered his ears as a loud alarm began blaring. 'Uh!"
"Uh oh!" the Doctor said. It wasn't as intense as the sonic had been earlier, but still quite unpleasant. She raised the sonic again, but found that the sound was interfering with it. 'Oh great!' she groused and covered her ears.
"They know we're here?" Xander asked.
"More importantly, they know who I am! Back to the TARDIS!"
"I knew you would say that at some point."
"Run!"
.
They made it back to the TARDIS as more drones threatened to cut them off. One was bisected by the doors closing in response to the Doctor's finger click. 'They look cheap and plasticky,' Xander thought and then sighed in relief as he and the Doctor ran up to the console. "What now? He asked.
"They know I'm here. That means it is going to be more dangerous."
"Really?"
"I can do it without the sonic," the Doctor declared. "I'll just be thinking more on my feet."
"Good thing the TARDIS doors are soundproof."
"They are resilient to almost anything."
"So, you have ear plugs?" Xander asked.
The Doctor gave him a look.
"Of course, you do," he said sarcastically.
"It's just a matter of finding them."
Xander sighed.
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How large is the TARDIS anyway? Xander wondered as he followed the Doctor yet another corridor. "We should be there," the Doctor said puzzled, as she twirled the end of one of her pigtails.
"You aren't sure?"
"It's a while since I have been in that particular storeroom," the Doctor explained.
"I see."
.
"Here they are," the Doctor said as she opened a large closet.
Xander grabbed a pair. "But we need another way to communicate."
The Doctor gave him a notebook and pen. "This will work," she said. "But we will need something else as well. A way to fight against those drones and anyone who may accost us. We'll find them on the way back to the Console Room."
.
"Quarterstaves?" Xander asked as they stopped by what could be described as an armoury filled with them.
"I don't usually use weaponry, but when I'm forced to, I prefer to use non-lethal options," the Doctor explained. "Besides, these will be very effective against those drones!"
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, I'm sure."
.
Meanwhile, drones surrounded the ship.
The TARDIS doors opened, and the Doctor emerged whirling her quarterstaff about. The drones in the vicinity all fell to the ground in pieces.
Xander followed her out. That was quick, he wrote on his notepad.
The Doctor shrugged and wrote; There will be more.
.
Xander was impressed. The Doctor was whirling about as she took out various drones with the quarterstaff. However, they still didn't know where they were going, nor where the information they were after was. Several more drones fell to the floor. The Doctor then opened a door they were unable to reach earlier.
.
The Doctor looked in the room, hoping there weren't any hidden traps. 'One thing at a time,' she thought. She then walked in toward the filing cabinet. 'Can I just open it?' She hesitated. She didn't know what form a trap would take. She decided to take the risk. She opened one of the drawers carefully. Nothing happened, but she did find some files. She grabbed them and handed them to Xander who had followed her in.
She looked back to the door. There weren't any drones, so the coast was clear. But she knew that could change quickly. She wrote a note to Xander. Keep an eye out while I grab more files.
He nodded.
She opened another of the filing cabinets, thinking about how they could be trapped. She carefully opened it, focusing on any vibrations that could indicate a trap being triggered. There were none and she breathed a sigh of relief. She carefully grabbed the files. She then handed them to Xander, before opening another.
They took another minute clearing out files before heading back to the TARDIS.
There were more drones than before, but that wasn't a problem for the Doctor.
.
They breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed and they took off the ear plugs. "That was stressful," Xander commented.
"Story of my life," the Doctor commented as she placed the stack of documents next to the console.
"It's going to take ages to go through all that."
"I can go much faster than a Human, but the TARDIS can analyse it even quicker."
"Oh?" Xander asked.
"Yes, watch," the Doctor directed. She started leafing through the files, at a rapid speed, placing the pages on the console.
"And?" Xander asked once she had gone through the lot.
"Wait," the Doctor thought as she ruminated upon what she had just glimpsed, while twirling the end of one of her pigtails. (She wasn't sure why she had picked up that habit.) She glanced at the Scanner screen and saw that the TARDIS was analysing the data.
"For what?" Xander asked.
"It definitely is something we need to stop," the Doctor concluded. She was sure of that at least.
"But what is it?"
"Nothing less than a scheme to take over the world!"
"How?" Xander asked.
"Fortunately, it is still in the early stages, and still mostly contained to this building. That is what they're working on." She brought up the plan of the building on the main screen again. An icon appeared on the top floor. "We need to get up there. That is where the CEO is. We need to at least talk about it first."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. There are rare occasions where I won't try diplomacy. Usually when I know it won't work. Here, I have to give it a try."
"OK," Xander said, clearly thinking about it.
A minute later, they stepped out of the TARDIS again. The Doctor whirled about, knocking the drones out of the air. Xander then followed her towards an elevator.
,
The alarm wasn't blaring in the elevator. "Most times, the diplomacy works?" Xander asked.
"Not often." the Doctor admitted. "But, I have to try."
Xander saw something in the Doctor's gaze that caused him to shudder, a little. 'What have I got myself into,' he thought again. He nodded with a gulp.
"We're almost there."
.
The elevator arrived on the top floor. Just before the doors opened, the Doctor pressed a signal on the sonic, giving instructions to the TARDIS. She looked at Xander. He looked as ready as he would ever be. The alarm wasn't blaring in the corridor either. "It's some kind of trap. They want me here now," she said.
Xander looked slightly more afraid, but gripped his staff with determination. He wanted to help her save the world.
She listened as she switched the sonic to echolocation mode. The office wasn't directly ahead. "Ah ha!"
"Ah ha?"
"What we're seeing isn't what's actually there. It's an illusion. Follow me closely! Listen to my footsteps. If you lose those, follow the sonic."
"Got it."
The Doctor walked forward two steps and heard Xander follow her, despite her passing through a wall from his perspective. She sent a signal on the sonic. The actual corridor curved off to the right. She started walking along, and heard Xander follow.
.
The Doctor heard them first. "More drones! Stay still." she said.
"Where?" he asked.
"Ahead, to the right," the Doctor answered. No, that wasn't right. More were coming, from behind. "And from behind!"
"Definitely a trap," Xander surmised.
The Doctor saw them come up and began whirling about knocking them down, as before. However, she didn't see them coming between her and Xander until it was too late. "No!" she cried. "They're trying to separate us!"
"Doctor!" Xander cried out as several of the drones fired nets onto him.
"I will rescue you!" the Doctor shouted as they were pushed further apart. She turned away, her eyes burning with anger as more drones surrounded her than she could handle.
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She slammed the door open. "I have read your plan," she stated to the immaculately dressed nondescript person behind the ornate desk. "I know how to interfere with it. Holding Xander hostage won't dissuade me!"
"Ah, Doctor. Or, yet another version thereof."
"I may have recently regenerated, but I have my full faculties, I assure you."
"I didn't doubt that."
"Now, why have you put your plan in motion?"
"I'm not the one who put it into motion. I'm only in charge of the aspects directed from this building."
"Of course. But I am asking you to reconsider," the Doctor said.
"No."
"I should warn you. I have notified UNIT. A detachment should arrive shortly. I would rather have this resolved peacefully."
"That was expected, Doctor. Preparations have been made."
"Of course," the Doctor groused. "However, I ask you to surrender before they get here."
"No!" the other said as more drones entered the office. "You can't get them all, Doctor."
There was an alarm, different to the previous one and someone spoke through a speaker. "Sir, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce is approaching…"
"So, I've been informed by the Doctor," the nondescript person responded. "Initiate the defence plans."
"Yes, sir."
"Now, where have you taken Xander?" the Doctor demanded.
"Somewhere, Doctor."
"You're not going to use him as a human shield!"
"Of course not, Doctor, but you'll be busy looking for him as we fight UNIT!"
"Don't I know that!" the Doctor groused as she left the office.
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Elsewhere, Xander struggled against his artificial captors as more of them come in. "Let me go!"
"No! You're a distraction for the Doctor. No further information will be provided."
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The Doctor returned to the TARDIS. "Those drones…" she murmured. She had an idea. It was risky, but what else was new? She accessed a program unused since the Time War.
The TARDIS gave a sound of uncertainty.
"I don't have much choice," the Doctor said and she twirled a pigtail.
The TARDIS seemed to calm and the screen said TARDIS External Electromagnetic Pulse online.
'Now, I don't want it to affect the town, just the building,' the Doctor thought and she laid in the parameters for the pulse.
After a few moments, she and the TARDIS were ready.
"Now!" she said as she pressed a key.
Outside the TARDIS, a blinding flash of light emanated from the lamp on it's roof.
.
Xander was still struggling against the drones when they suddenly sparked and stopped working. "Huh?" Not one to look the gift horse in the mouth, he then ran off and soon saw that whatever was generating the illusions was also deactivated. He came to the elevator and saw that it was out of commission also. "Of course!" he said, He would have to use the stairs, but at least the TARDIS was on a lower level. 'But which one?'
"Doctor?" Xander called as he went around a corner. He could hear the dull roar of guns in the distance. 'UNIT is here!' he thought.
Xander heard the Doctor. "Doctor!" he cried out again.
"Xander! You can follow my voice!" she said. "I've knocked out the illusions."
Xander found the Doctor less than a minute later. "What now?" he asked her.
"We'll return to the TARDIS, and then go to the UNIT force."
"Sounds good."
The building seemed to be deserted, so they got back to the TARDIS easily. "Locating the field office…" the Doctor said.
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Xander followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS into the UNIT field office. "A new Incarnation?" one of the officers asked.
"Yes," the Doctor answered.
"Sargent Danielle Oliver," the officer. "I'm in charge of this operation. What are they up to?"
The Doctor took out a thumbdrive. "This contains the plans I read. It should give you enough information for UNIT to disrupt them."
"Very good, Doctor," Oliver said. "Our forces are moving into that building as we speak. The strong electromagnetic pulse was unexpected though."
"They didn't really leave me much choice," the Doctor said.
"That's OK, Doctor," Oliver said. "I'd had to do things in my time."
"Good," the Doctor said.
"Sir," one of the other soldiers said as he came up.
"Report," Oliver said.
"Most of the people were captured," the officer reported.
"Most?" Oliver asked.
"A few escaped, unfortunately," the officer added.
"I'll find them," the Doctor said. "Their conspiracy will not succeed!"
"And with your information we will disrupt it significantly," Oliver said.
"Success is not guaranteed," the Doctor added. "Which is why I will find them."
Oliver nodded. "Noted."
The Doctor turned to Xander. "Would you like to come? That's not all I will be doing. In fact, we can go anywhere in Time and Space!"
Xander thought for a moment. "I guess that it won't be safe?" he asked.
"Your safety is not guaranteed. Mine isn't either. The TARDIS could break down. And there are things out there that are very dangerous. But, there are wonders that are unforgettable."
"Yes," Xander said, surprising himself. The danger was enough to give one pause. But it was an opportunity of a life time. He didn't want to miss it.