Earth, October 4th, 1997 A.D.--London, England
Rain pattered softly down from a slate grey sky of clouds and some droplets landed without protest or complaint on an elderly figure seated at a luncheon table at an outdoor caf�. A large parasol helped to deflect most of the afternoon drizzle as it stood blossoming out over the table and the elderly figure's hoary head. An old, gnarled hand reached out towards a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea whilst the figure reached again for the paper with the other hand. The copy of the London Times was beginning to curl at the edges in the damp, and the figure, an elderly gentleman, had a slightly difficult time thumbing through the paper to the obituaries. The old gentleman seemed to have a world of great sadness hidden in his blue eyes--eyes that twinkled with a life and mischievousness that belied his age. Long white hair was swept back from a high forehead and high cheekbones gave the man's face an aristocratic look. A prominent nose and thin lips with skin stretched tight over the bones completed the elderly man's face. He was wearing a white shirt with a high winged collar, a waist coat, a pince-nez on a silk cord with
checked trousers and a black frock coat. He was also wrapped in a gentleman's traveling cloak. This was the Doctor, in his original form just prior to his first regeneration--a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Quietly the old man thumbed to the obituary and there it was, staring at him. The old Time Lord could scarcely believe it, yet here it was in black and white. With trembling hands and a single tear glistening on his cheek, the Doctor read the obituary of long since departed traveling companion and friend, Barbara Wright.
BARBARA WRIGHT
Retired history teacher Barbara Wright passed
away in hospital after a long illness Friday. Miss
Wright was sixty-five. Miss Wright taught at the
Coal Hill School in the Shoreditch district of London.
It is believed Miss Wright suffered from a rare form
of leukemia.............................................................
The Doctor stopped a moment to brush away a tear. He knew that as a human, Barbara would never live anywhere as long as he, a Time Lord. The Doctor stopped for a moment to consider his own age and was shocked when he realized that he was 280. It really didn't seem like it had nearly been three centuries in his own personal lifetime, but then, his race were a very long-lived people. Still, as he looked back down at the paper, he couldn't believe she was gone. He noted that the funeral would be held in Shoreditch on Monday afternoon. The Doctor then refolded the paper, paid for his tea and wrapped his checked scarf about his neck and face. The October air was not bitterly cold, but there was a nip to it. Turning on his heel, the Doctor strode down the street towards a tall blue box that was surmounted by a white light.
As the Doctor neared the doors of the TARDIS, his space/time machine in its
disguise as an obsolete Metropolitan Police Box, he noticed they were slightly ajar. He paused and his brow furroughed and he noticed a single skein of light shining forth from where the doors parted. Cautiously, he opened the doors further which gave a lingering creaking sound that caused the Doctor to wince as he tried to sneak into his space-time vehicle. The Doctor entered into his ship, crossed the dimensional void that separated the interior of the TARDIS from its outer disguised hull and stopped when he noticed the heavy double door to the console room standing wide open. Surely I locked the doors, he thought, In fact, I know I did. The old Time Lord strode into the huge brightly lit white hexagonal room. At the center of the room was a mushroom shaped six-sided console with a cylindrical column at its center. The central column contained an apparatus for navigational and environmental information and had three lights on its outer perimeter that flashed randomly inside the column's glass housing. The column, known as the time rotor, slowly rotated in its niche in the center of the console. The usual satisfying hum of the TARDIS at rest filled the console room with its hypnotic drone and helped to settle the Doctor's nerves. He wandered over to the console and set to work trying to locate the source of the signal the TARDIS had locked onto and had followed through to Earth. He speculated that there might even be a connection between the signal and his happening upon Barbara's obituary in the Times. He replayed the events in his mind starting with his arrival on Earth. As the time rotor came to rest in the console and stopped its rhythmic rising and falling that occurred when the ship was in flight, the Doctor noted that the TARDIS' environmental sensors declared a bright, sunny day out with cool autumn breezes. He, however was caught unawares when he stepped outside into a rain shower. He had taken a tracking device to help locate the source of the signal and thought that while he was out, he'd grab a bite to eat when he spotted the outdoor caf�. As he wrapped his cloak around him, he noticed that the streets were rather busy for a wet October afternoon. He had stepped into the caf� and had noticed another old traveling companion, Ian Chesterton. Ian had traveled with the Doctor at the same time as Barbara and in fact had known her when they had both taught at Coal Hill School. When the Doctor saw Ian seated at the bar, his first instinct was to immediately pull Ian aside and ask him how he was doing and ask about Barbara and how they had resumed their lives after their travels with him but something made the Doctor stop and he ducked behind a corner leading to the restrooms. A thin fog of cigarette smoke was drifting through the air like the restless spirits of the dead. The Doctor looked at Ian and to him, he suddenly looked different. Of course, Ian was thirty years older than the last time he had seen him but he was also very haggard looking and haunted shadows played across his features. He was talking to another man sitting beside him and the Doctor's heightened Gallifreyan hearing could just pick out enough of the conversation above the low din in the caf� and the soft patter of the rain. Ian was muttering over a pint of bitter to the man beside him and the Doctor caught the following:
"It was all so sudden..."
"Barbara was so full of life..."
"I've never seen a disease work so fast..."
"She was my best friend..."
As the Doctor strained to listen, his hearts fell as realization slowly dawned on him, but it was the next bit that made him really pay attention.
"I wonder where the Doctor is? No doubt still lost in space and I'll bet he still can't fly that TARDIS properly."
That last comment caused the Doctor to bristle with indignation and he was about to step out and confront the schoolteacher when he saw Ian bidding his farewells and he ducked back around the corner just as Ian passed through the area where the Doctor had just been standing. The Doctor then left his cubby hole and noticed the copy of the Times on the bar where Ian had been. Picking up the paper, the Doctor thumbed through to the obituaries and as though he had been shot, the Doctor saw what he feared; Barbara's obituary. The Doctor folded the paper, chose an outside luncheon table and then sat down for tea to help him sort through it all.
The Doctor started from his reverie with a shout of surprise when he felt someone's hand on his. He was surprised to see his granddaughter Susan standing next to him. It was Susan who, when she and the Doctor had first come to Earth thirty years before, had piqued Ian and Barbara's curiosity with her seemingly superior and anachronistic knowledge of science and history. They followed her home one night to 76 Totter's Lane only to find that Susan's home seemed to be an old Police Box smack in the middle of a junkyard and thus the adventures began. The old man turned to his granddaughter and hugged her close.
"Dear Susan, how good it is to see you again! But tell me my dear, how do you come to be in this time?"
"When we last met on Gallifrey, grandfather, your fifth self passed this on to me just before we left." said Susan, holding up a time ring. She continued, "I thought about being here, in this time, and here I was. I had been having dreams lately about something terrible happening to Barbara. Somehow, I just knew that this time was the correct one. When I arrived I ran into Mr. Chesterton and he told me what had happened. I was able to improvise a signal beacon that I knew the TARDIS would lock onto and guide you here. As you are probably already aware, the funeral is Monday."
"Yes, child, at least now I know how I came to end up here. Still, help me to set up a recall signal. I'm sure my other selves will want to be here."
"But grandfather, surely your later selves will retain the memory after you go to the funeral Monday--in fact, they should know now."
"Perhaps, Susan, but as it hasn't happened yet, it would probably stand to reason that my other selves have no knowledge of it yet."
"Well, then, let's set up that recall signal." Susan said. The two Gallifreyans turned to the hexagonal console and set to work to activate the signal that would cross the boundaries of space and time and draw the Doctor's other selves to Earth, 1997.
* * * * *
Ancient Greece--The forest clearing
Gabrielle stood clutching her staff with her knuckles white. Xena had just stood looking at her; motionless like a statue. Instinctively, Xena started to move and slowly reached out to touch Gabrielle's face and the bard almost backed away but froze when the warrior's fingers brushed her cheek. Gabrielle closed her eyes and she could no longer hold back the emotions that started to flood through her. The sobs forced their way through and burst forth and Xena pulled her close and held her as she sobbed. Gabrielle didn't see, but a single tear ran down Xena's face.
Inaudibly she whispered, "Be calm my little one." Xena held Gabrielle as her sobs subsided and then the young woman pulled away and looked up at the warrior. A strangled cry of "Why?" croaked out of Gabrielle's throat.
"You've never raised a hand in anger towards me Xena, never! Even during some of our most heated arguments, never have you ever made to attack me like that! I feel a combination of anger and revulsion for you right now. But not only do I feel angry and revulsed, I'm scared Xena. I was afraid that you'd leave; afraid that you'd go away and I'd be alone. You're like family to me Xena. I almost lost you once and I won't lose you again." The whole while that Gabrielle was talking to Xena, she was doing her best to choke back her emotions as waves of them kept washing over her. But as Gabby finished, she was crying again and Xena was at a complete loss as to what to say so she tried to manage an apology.
"Gabrielle, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. The last thing I want to do is hurt anyone, least of all you. I don't know what has happened and I know I should have tried to talk to you." Xena pulled Gabrielle close again and felt the young woman's sobs subside into her breast.
"Ssshhh...." Xena whispered as she tried to calm her friend. Gabrielle stopped crying and wiped her red rimmed eyes and Xena dropped her guard just momentarily and the bard saw a side of the warrior that she didn't see very often...a little girl trying to live the life of a female warrior. Xena took a deep breath and said, "C'mon. Let's go. We can talk this over as we walk. Who knows? Maybe a rest from our travels is just what the doctor ordered." The two women left the clearing, gathered Argo and headed back down the trail.
* * * * *
Monday, October 6th, 1997 A.D.--Earth
London, England
The Doctor and Susan stood in the background among the throng of people who had gathered to attend Barbara's funeral. The two could see Ian standing near the casket, partially hidden by the floral arrangement atop the casket. Susan dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief she borrowed from the Doctor. The sun was shining and the air was crisp and frosty on this October morning and Susan turned to the Doctor and said, "Oh, I do hope they are all able to make it."
"I'm sure they will my dear, I'm sure they will." So far, the Doctor and Susan had met three of the Doctor's future selves: his third, fourth and sixth incarnations. The Doctor nearly had a stroke when he saw what he would look like and act like after his fifth regeneration. The arrogant and aristocratic face framed by a mop of fair curly hair, which was clothed in a patchwork coat of clashing pieces, a mismatched waistcoat and livid green shoes with fluorescent orange spats and finally, yellow trousers with black stripes. Both the Doctor and Susan thought they would throw up and they both had hoped dearly that his sixth incarnation was not his latest one and they were soon to find out, this was not to be.
* * * * *
Somewhere in the Space/Time Continuum--
In the vastness of deep space, a lone shape plunged through the eternal night of a starlit backdrop, tumbling terminus over origin through eternity. The vast energies of the continuum swirled and stormed around the shape as it glided through space and time. The shape resembled a tall, blue box with a flashing light on top. This was the Doctor's TARDIS as she traveled, all alone in the night. The Doctor, in his eighth and most current incarnation had been returning to Earth after several adventures he had had lately. He quickly did a mental catalogue of all his adventures...There was the incident on Earth when his old arch-rival, the Master, had nearly caused the destruction of the planet on the eve of the turn of the century in 1999. Since then he had parted ways with another old friend and long time traveling companion, Benny. Professor Bernice Summerfield, who preferred to be called Benny, had been the Doctor's longest serving companion to date and he had been sad to see her go. The Doctor had also gone rounds again with his other mortal enemies, the Daleks; the very same Daleks who supposedly had tried and executed the Master and whose treachery had helped start the chain of events that brought about his seventh regeneration. The Doctor had decided to return to Earth and see how Dr. Grace Holloway was doing. Grace had been the reluctant cardiologist-turned-companion who had inadvertently killed the Doctor's seventh incarnation believing him to have had an erratic heartbeat when all along he had two hearts, as all Time Lords do. Grace, though, had been different from any of the Doctor's past companions. Though she was beautiful, intelligent and a gifted physician, she had touched his life in a way that he hadn't known for years. For the first time in centuries, the Doctor had once again known love. Parting ways hadn't been easy for him and he had desperately longed for Grace to join him on his travels, but her destiny led elsewhere, different from his. Even now he could recall those last moments when he had said goodbye.
"There you go, interfering again." Grace had said the statement in sort of a mock sense of resigned hopelessness, intending to pick at him. He had turned to face her and even though he had warded off all her questions for knowledge as to her own personal future, he could no longer hold back and he started to speak.
"Grace, something you should know..."
"Don't tell me." she said holding up a hand to silence him, a smile starting to pull at the edges of her mouth.
"Why not?" he asked, curious to know why the sudden change of heart.
"I know who I am, and that's enough." A smile now played on her lips.
The Doctor smiled back at her, his perfect teeth flashing as he smiled at her in the light drizzle that had started to fall.
"I'm glad." he said. The remark was followed by another one from the Doctor which caught them both off guard, "Come with me." To Grace, he almost sounded like he was begging.
"You, come with me!" she countered.
"Me come with you?"
"Yes!"
"Me come with you?" Grace had started giggling and the Doctor seemed to
consider what she was saying. "It's tempting." came the Doctor's reply. Maybe living out the remainder of his days on Earth in San Francisco wouldn't be so horrible after all. When Grace had stopped giggling and had caught her breath she looked up at him and said, "I'm going to miss you."
"H-how can you miss me? I'm easy to find. I'm the guy with two hearts,
remember?" With a smile still on her face, Grace said, "That's not what I meant."
The Doctor and Grace had then shared one last, brief kiss and then they each
turned to go their separate ways when Grace said suddenly, "Thank you, Doctor."
He countered with, "No, no! Thank YOU, doctor!" Another giggle passed between them and then he climbed the steps back to the TARDIS and just as he was about to enter the doors, he turned back to look at Grace. She waved up at him and then he disappeared inside the ship. The last thing Grace saw before she left was the TARDIS dematerializing, making that curious groaning and wheezing sound that it always made when it arrived and departed, and there she stayed for a few moments pondering on how her life would never be the same again.
The Doctor had finished his thoughts and then it was that the call had come through from Gallifrey that he was wanted at once to return home. He was working at the controls of the TARDIS and the console room looked radically different than it had during the time of his first persona. The console room was immensely vast and more spacious than it had ever been in any of his previous lives. The console itself seemed to be made of polished oak and like the rest of the ship had a definitive Victorian Gothic feel to it. The six panels were covered in old-fashioned knobs, levers and switches and the plinth of the console seemed to have come from a Victorian-era dining table. The time rotor was of a different configuration as well with a single glass cylinder that ran from the center of the console to an apparatus that hung suspended over the console and supported by five great, green metal girders that stretched from over the top of the time rotor and spread outward and came to rest on the floor just beyond the console where the floor went from wood to beautiful marble, forming a sort of five pillared arch. The rest of the room was vastly spacious with the double door being made of wood with inlaid panels and two ornate lamps lighting the way on either side. Above the door, inlaid into the wall, was the Seal Of Rassilon, made of shining brass. The floor at the doors formed a type of landing and three steps led down onto the main floor of the room. Facing the console room from the door to the left was the two story library where many rare and precious volumes were housed complete with a sliding ladder and off to the right was the garden room with various flora and fauna. Lighting was provided by various electric lights, candles and flambeaux. Hallways lead off the console room at every angle, lit by the flambeaux and straight behind the console, opposite the main door to the outside world, was the door that led to the Cloister Room and it had another Seal Of Rassilon inlaid into the wall above it. It was there that the Master, in his bid to take over the Doctor's remaining regenerations, had nearly ended up destroying the Earth only to find his own doom. The Doctor could barely repress a shudder as he remembered the events. The two sets of crystal rods inside the time rotor rose towards each other and fell back again as the Doctor set the final coordinates for Gallifrey. Finally, he set the controls for the holographic scanner and looked up at the ceiling. The darkness of the ceiling vanished as a holographic representation of his home world came up on view. According to the monitor suspended just above the console, looking like an old black-and-white television set, there was just minutes remaining before he landed and he was loathing having to deal with his people. The relationship wasn't the best one in the universe and the Time Lords had been guilty more than once of using the Doctor to further their own ends. With nothing else better to do, he sighed and ran a hand through his tangled mop of medium brown, shoulder-length hair and decided he'd have a cup of tea while waiting to arrive on Gallifrey. On his way to the TARDIS kitchen, he stopped to observe himself in the mirror. He was not at all unpleasant to look at but he noticed that he seemed to himself slightly pale and drawn. His blue eyes sparkled with the vast intelligence of centuries of living and he looked rather regal in his current outfit. A white shirt with a high-winged collar and grey cravat with black stripes held in place with a tie pin over which he wore a grey paisley waistcoat, grey trousers and a grey velvet frock coat that many of his earlier incarnations had favored. He came into the kitchen which had the same feel of the console room and activated the food processor which had an old-fashioned key pad and a lever with a big brass knob on the end and had gilded brass lattice work over it and it resembled a very exquisite version of a dumbwaiter. He punched in his request and a gentle hum filled the air. A shower of golden light seemed to dance and coalesce into the form of a cup of steaming hot tea. For a moment, it dawned on the Doctor just how lonely his TARDIS was with no-one else traveling with him at present. He had no clue as to the adventure that awaited him on Earth and so he returned to the console room to await his inevitable arrival on Gallifrey.
