The Lost Doctor
Episode 1 – Introductions
The time lord known as the Doctor awoke on the floor of the Tardis wearing clothes that no longer fit him so well. His vision faded in and out of focus and his head swirled as slowly he sat himself up. He rubbed his face with his hands but something about them caught his eyes.
As they came into focus he realized they were different.
His limbs still wobbly, he stood, using the center of the Tardis as support. Carefully he made his way around it to one of the powered down monitors. There he gazed onto his visage confirming that he had been regenerated. His face was a bit rounder. His hair was short and dark, mostly askew. His eyes were brown but they were, as always, his. Taller too, he believed, than he was last time.
“Hello…” The Doctor started, then stopped.
“He…llo?” he repeated. He opened his mouth wide, stretching his mouth.
“Hel…” He used is muscles to pull at this face from his eyes to his neck.
“Hel… lo?” His mouth hung open in a bit of shock, his hands up near his mouth as if he were catching the words as they fell.
“Oh no… Oh no, no no no…. ” the Doctor mumbled to himself. “I sound American.”
The Doctor shook his head; there were other things to worry about other than his unfashionable accent. Regeneration of a time lord can be disorienting, sometimes even disheartening. The time lord would undergo a physical and mental change in the blink of an eye. These things were not easy on the body.
But despite that, this one had been different. Something about it was not usual, and the Doctor knew it. For one, he could not remember what caused it. Not even a little bit. In fact, his mind struggled to remember anything that would have been recent.
Tara, he remembered Tara, and travelling to watch the end of the world. The tomb of the cybermen… no wait, that was in the wrong direction. Recent. Rose. He remembered Rose.
“That was a few of me ago,” he whispered, looking back at his reflection. “Where did you come from?”
The Doctor started inspecting his outfit: suit and tie, fairly normal for him, no shoes and the pants were entirely too short. The shirt was torn in several places and most of outfit was coated in dirt. Checking the pockets he found his sonic screwdriver in the coat.
“Hello there, glad I didn’t lose you,” he said, flipping it in one hand as the other searched the rest of his outfit.
“Nothing.”
The doctor’s head jerked back and forth as he thought, his right hand shaking the screwdriver in the air absentmindedly. His eyes fell on the one clue he hadn’t looked at yet: the front door to the Tardis.
He started for the door and stopped, looking again at the predicament of his cloths.
“I can’t go out like this.”
The Doctor turned, heading to a storage closet in the Tardis, opening a full closet full of wares and accessories.
“Now… who are you?” he asked himself, eyes travelling across the spectra of clothes. Hats, a scarf, a vest, no vest, ties, bow ties, plaid, even a kilt all passed his sight.
The Doctor emerged in a sweater vest, tie, half Winsor, nothing too fancy, loose slacks, comfortable but utilitarian brown shoes and a trench coat.
He looked himself up and down a few times before nodding his head.
“Alright, so this is me, American accent and a trench coat. I better not run into Harkness. I’ll never hear the end of this.”
The Doctor stood for a moment in front of the Tardis before opening the door. Sensors and panels could have easily told him what was outside, maybe even where he was, but that always seemed to take the thrill away of just opening the door.
The light from the sun was blinding at first and he raised his arm to block the sun as his eyes adjusted. The Tardis was tucked in the corner of a large mansion. Before the Doctor stretched a humble flower garden followed by a vast open field. The mansion itself was several floors, but Victorian age. It was pleasantly quiet, a cool breeze was blowing from the east and the only sign of any technology was a single antenna on the roof.
The side of the mansion the Tardis was on stretched north and south, and with no indications on which way would be better, the Doctor set out to the north.
Around the corner was the main entrance and the Doctor walked up and rang the doorbell. He stuffed his hands into his coat pocket and looked out over the view. A bit isolated, only a distant barn and wooden fence were visible from the porch.
Behind him, the doctor heard the door open.
“Yes?”
“Ah, hello, I am…”
“Late, professor,” the butler said, opening the door wider. “As expected.”
“Right…” the Doctor said, entering the foyer. “Sorry about that, I was a bit, held up.”
“Of course you were. May I take your coat?”
“My coat?” the Doctor turned. The butler had extended his white gloved hand. He was shorter than the Doctor, and his dark suite was appropriate for Victorian age, which made sense to the Doctor.
“Oh, my coat!” the Doctor said before the butler could speak. “Of course.”
The Doctor slipped out of his trench coat and gave it to the butler. The servant draped it over his arm and then extended the other one.
“This way, Professor Martin.” “Doctor, actually,” the Doctor corrected.
“This way Dr. Martin,” the butler corrected himself.
“No, no,” the Doctor replied as he started to walk. “Just the Doctor is fine. Wouldn’t want to confuse me with the Professor when he arrives.”
“Very good, sir,” the butler said, leading the Doctor.
They arrived at the sitting room a turn or two later. The butler looked at one of the six people in the room until the man looked up from his tea.
“The Doctor, sir,” the butler said.
“Thank you Jeffery,” the man said. The butler gave a short but formal bow and then turned to leave.
The man set down his tea carefully in its saucer and stood from the couch he was sitting in. There were three couches set up at right angles in the room. Two people on each couch. The host, or at least that is who the Doctor assumed the man now approaching was, sat in the center, a woman to his left. Another couple sat on the left side of the room. Two older gentlemen sat to the right.
“Ah, Dr. Martin,” the man said. “I am Hugh, and that is my wife Elaina.”
“Doctor, actually, just the Doctor. Professor Martin is still en route.” The Doctor shook Hugh’s hand as he spoke.
“Doctor…?” Hugh quizzically mumbled. The Doctor walked past him, however, and took Elaina’s hand.
“Pleasure to meet you, madam,” he said gently kissing the top.
“You too Doctor,” she answered, smiling.
“Ah, and you must be…” the Doctor started at the other young woman, who gave a slight blush and looked away.
“My wife,” the man next to her answered, a near agitated tone in his voice.
“Of course she is your wife,” the Doctor replied. “But I still don’t know her name, Mr…”
“Alice,” the woman answered, now extending her hand. “And forgive Max, my husband. He believes that all men are as enamored with me as he is.”
“As he should, miss,” the Doctor replied.
The Doctor turned to the two older gentlemen. Instead of introducing himself, however, he spun, and sat in-between them, spreading his arms on the back of the couch behind the two of them.
“Gentlemen,” he said, looking to the left.
“Earnest,” the man answered.
Then the Doctor looked to the right.
“Bernie, though most of these jokers call me stubby,” the man said, displaying his right index finger. It ended at the first knuckle.
“Oh? Lose that in the war did you?” the Doctor asked.
“I was overseas, young man, as an officer. But no, we weren’t fighting at the time.” Stubby leaned in a bit to the Doctor, whispering, “Caught it on a window pane I was leaping through before a Sultan caught me with his daughter!”
The three men laughed. Hugh rolled his eyes. The two women pretended to neither hear nor be laughing. Max was unamused.
“Jolly good then,” the Doctor said, except the words sounded wrong. They felt wrong too. He flexed his mouth for a second before realizing the grotesque faces the distortion was creating.
“Where are you from, Doctor?” Max asked. “You sound like a bloody Yankee.”
“Max!” Alice hissed, “Be nice to the other guests.”
“Quite alright, madam, quite alright.” The Doctor interjected. “I do, don’t I? Been travelling so long, seems I don’t sound myself these days. I’m sure it is just a phase. A few days back home, and all will be well again. Jolly, cheerio, and all that non-sense.”
Max seemed unimpressed, but the rest of the room seemed to buy it. He looked as if he was going to ask another question when a maid entered with a cup and saucer for the Doctor.
“Ah, tea, just what I needed,” the Doctor said as he took the two from her. She held one end of the pot as she carefully poured it into the cup.
“Oh, hot,” he said, half laughing as he drank the first sip. “Oh but good. Just what the Doctor ordered.”
Alice laughed again at that, further agitating Max.
“Well, we are still awaiting the Professor,” Hugh said, taking his seat with his wife again. But it was Alice he looked at as he sat. They gave each other a warm glance that the Doctor caught as he drank.
But as he looked up, he noticed that Max had caught it as well.
Earnest started talking about local politics. Local, that is, if you were in India a few years ago, but Earnest had been. Bernie, or Stubby as he pointed, countered with the current situation in the south Pacific.
The Doctor was just thinking this was shaping up to be a pleasant afternoon when Max stood up.
“I will not tolerate this any more!” he shouted, mostly at Hugh, but at everyone in the room. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked up at him.
“Well, if the politics bores you that much…” Stubby started.
“Keep quiet, old man,” Max said, pulling a pistol from his jacket pocket. He pointed the gun at Hugh.
“What is the meaning of this?” Hugh asked.
“Oh, you know the meaning, my dear brother. You know indeed.”
“Max, put that away this instant!” Alice cried.
The Doctor slowly stood, putting down his tea. He straightened his sweater as it had bunched up in the back some.
“Now Max, why don’t we put the gun down and discuss this like civilized men.”
“And sit by and watch my brother steal my wife from me? No, sir. I shall not.”
“I’m sure that isn’t what is happening, if we just talk about…”
“You just want me to put the gun down so you can have your shot at her too, don’t you? Isn’t that how you Americans do it?”
“Look, I told you, I am not an Ameri-”
The Doctor didn’t get to finish it.
Alice grabbed Max by the Jacket, calling his name. The momentary distraction gave Hugh an opening and the man leapt from his seat onto his brother. The two fell to the floor and the gun went off. Max shoved his brother off, again standing and pointing the gun at Hugh.
“Alice?” Elaina said, so softly it was a wonder anyone heard it over the scuffle. All the eyes fell onto the woman. Her eyes were glazed over and the dark red stain was already covering her dress.
For an old man, Stubby moved quickly and efficiently, covering the distance from his seated position on the couch to the other side of the room before Max knew what was going on. The old man grabbed the gun hand, sending it upwards, but not quite in time. A second shot was fired, the bullet finding its way into Hugh’s chest.
Stubby knocked Max over, causing the younger man to drop the gun. Earnest picked it up, stepping back from the other two men.
The Doctor went to Alice first. She was slipping away, and he took her hand.
“Max….” she let out before the life faded.
Elaina was sobbing hysterically at Hugh, who was gone as well. The Doctor stood, his eyes fixated on the blood on his hands. He looked over at Max.
“Was it worth it?”
FLASH
The Doctor stood at the open door of the Tardis.
The light from the sun was blinding at first and he raised his arm to block the sun as his eyes adjusted. The Tardis was tucked in the corner of a large mansion. Before the Doctor stretched a humble flower garden followed by a vast open field. The mansion itself was several floors, but Victorian age. It was pleasantly quiet, a cool breeze was blowing from the east and the only sign of any technology was a single antenna on the roof.
“What?” the Doctor asked to no one in particular. He looked down at his hands, but there was no blood.
The side of the mansion the Tardis was on stretched north and south, and since he was pretty sure the front door was where he last saw it, the Doctor set out to the north.
Around the corner was the main entrance and the Doctor walked up and rang the doorbell. This time the Doctor simply waited by the door for it to open.
“Yes?”
“Ah, hello, I am…”
“Late, professor,” the butler said, opening the door wider.
“As expected?” the Doctor asked.
“As expected.” The butler answered.
“Right…” the Doctor said, entering the foyer. “Say, Jeffrey, is everyone, uh, alright?”
“Alright, sir?”
“Yes, you know, in good health, all of the guests. No sudden cases of, cold, or death?”
“Death sir? No. All of Mr. Laurie’s guests are quite alive. May I take your coat?”
“My coat?” the Doctor turned. The butler had extended his white gloved hand.
“Oh, my coat!” the Doctor said before the butler could speak. “Of course.”
The Doctor slipped out of his trench coat and gave it to the butler. The servant draped it over his arm and then extended the other one.
“This way, Professor Martin.”
“Doctor, actually,” the Doctor corrected. “Uh, Jeffrey is it? Was I just here? I mean is the first time you’ve seen me today?”
“The very first, sir. This way Dr Martin,” the butler answered.
“Just the Doctor is fine.” the Doctor replied as he started to walk.
“Very good, sir,” the butler said, leading the Doctor.
“And you are sure you’ve not seen me twice today?”
“Quite, sir.”
“Fascinating.”
“If you say so, sir.”
They arrived at the sitting room a turn or two later. The butler looked at one of the six people in the room until the man looked up from his tea.
“The Doctor, sir,” the butler said.
“Thank you Jeffery,” the man said. The butler gave a short but formal bow and then turned to leave.
The man set down his tea carefully in its saucer and stood from the couch he was sitting in. The room was exactly as the Doctor remembered, each person sitting in the same places. And, as Jeffrey had said, none of them were dead.
“Ah, Dr Martin,” the man said. “I am Hugh, and that is my wife Elaina.”
“Doctor, actually, just the Doctor. Professor Martin is still en route.” The Doctor shook Hugh’s hand as he spoke.
“Doctor…?” Hugh quizzically mumbled. The Doctor walked past him, however, and took Elaina’s hand.
“Pleasure to meet you, madam,” he said gently kissing the top.
“You too Doctor,” she answered, smiling.
“Let’s see, Max?” the Doctor said, Max nodded, “Alice?” she nodded as well. “Earnest and Bernie, but people who like you call you Stubby?” The man held up his finger.
“Fascinating,” the Doctor added and sat in-between the two older men, spreading his arms on the back of the couch behind them.
“Doctor, how is it you know us?” Hugh asked. “Certainly I’ve never seen you before.”
“And that, my good man, is a good question. If I told you I was just here, you’d probably think me mad. So I won’t tell you that. Instead I’ll tell you that I am still trying to figure all of this out myself.”
“Where are you from, Doctor?” Max asked. “You sound like a bloody Yankee.”
“Max!” Alice hissed, “Be nice to the other guests.”
“Quite alright, madam, quite alright.” The Doctor interjected. “I do, don’t I? Don’t sound myself these days, trying to figure that out as well.”
Max remained unimpressed as before, but the rest of the room seemed to buy it. He again looked as if he was going to ask another question when a maid entered with a cup and saucer for the Doctor.
“Ah, tea, just what I needed,” the Doctor said as he took the two from her. She held one end of the pot as she carefully poured it into the cup.
“Oh, hot,” he said, half laughing as he drank the first sip. “Oh but good. Just what the Doctor-”
He stopped mid drink, mid sentence, even mid thought.
“Of course! Of course, of course.” The Doctor said with a smile. “Time loop. What else?”
The Doctor put down his tea, but not before getting a final sip.
“Hugh, you must let me take some of that tea with me when I go, it is simply fantastic.”
The rest of the room was still quizzically looking at the Doctor. This was something that the Doctor was used to. He got up and walked over to Max.
“I think I know where to look to fix this,” the Doctor said mostly to the room. “But I can’t have you killing anyone while I gone, Max. Your gun please.”
“What? What are you saying about my brother sir?!” Hugh said, moving to the Doctor’s side. “I’ll not have you insult…”
“Your gun, sir,” the Doctor repeated. Max’s face started to burn with anger and he pulled the gun from his pocket. The Doctor snatched it from his hands before any harm could be done this time.
“Max, what is the meaning of this?”
“Ladies,” the Doctor said, taking control. “Would you kindly retire to the study? Your husbands need to have a discussion. Hugh, it would seem your brother thinks you are leading his wife astray. So much so, he brought this gun to talk to you about it. Now, instead you too are going to discuss this like civilized men.”
The brothers eyed each other. But Hugh sat down reluctantly after a moment.
“Good.” The Doctor tossed the gun to Earnest. “You sir, will kindly make sure that they do not kill each other while we are gone?”
“Uh, quite, Doctor,” Earnest said, fumbling with the weapon.
“Excellent. Stubby, care for some adventure? You can tell me about your sultan’s daughter on the way to the attic.”
“Most indeed, Doctor. Most indeed.” Bernie replied and the two headed out of the room.
“Jeffrey!” The Doctor called.
“Yes sir?” he heard from behind. The Doctor spun.
“Right, could you take these too ladies to the study. I suspect they will need some tea…”
“Or brandy,” Alice interjected.
“Or brandy,” the Doctor agreed. “Also I need my coat.”
“Yes sir, very good sir.”
Another servant showed up a few moments later with the Doctor’s coat.
“Now Doctor, you must tell this old soldier how you just did what you just did.”
“I’m not sure I know how I did it ol’ chap.” The Doctor said, except the words sounded wrong. They felt wrong too. He flexed his mouth for a second before realizing the grotesque faces the distortion was creating. Again.
“Doctor?”
“Sorry, things aren’t… oh nevermind, to the attic, I think that is where we will find the culprit.”
The two men made their way up three flights of stairs, all the while Stubby relating the story of being a young Lieutenant in His Majesty’s army who had a pennant for beautiful foreign girls.
“…until finally I convinced them that it was in fact THEY who were being inconsiderate and had them apologize for taking my clothes in the first place.”
The two laughed. They stood for a moment in front of the attic door.
“What do you think is in there, Doctor?”
“No idea… but that is part of the fun, now isn’t it?”
The door opened to reveal a large room which extended over most of the house. At this end it looked as a proper attic should with old furniture and boxes covered in several years of dust.
That dust is what led the Doctor to exactly what he was looking for. In the back corner where the treaded dust lead the two, sat a machine far outside of its time.
“By Jove!” Stubby said. “I wish the professor was here, Doctor. I suspect he’d be fascinated by this machine.”
The Doctor knelt down looking more carefully at the machine.
“Ah yes, Professor Martin, is it?”
“Donald is the reason we are all here. Some hypothesis he has that he wants to share with all of us.”
The Doctor stopped and turned around.
“Donald Martin?”
“Why yes… do you know him, Doctor?”
“And that would make you Bernard Hampton…” The Doctor stood back up and took Bernie again by the hand and shook it. “Bernard Hampton. Of course!”
“Doctor?” “Your professor friend is indeed going to bring a hypothesis for you to hear. And he is wrong, Stubby, terribly, terribly wrong.”
“He is?”
“He is. Until, that is, you fix it. Oh of course, I should have recognized the names, or the place. This is a great day in history. You sir, take this broken hypothesis, and between the two of you discover one of the greatest scientific finds of all time. So great in fact it will be four centuries before anyone proves you right.”
“Four hundred years… what on earth are you talking about Doctor?”
The Doctor’s face got wide-eyed with his smile.
“Time travel, my good man. Time travel. Bernard Hampton. This is truly an honor sir, truly an…”
The machine behind the Doctor made a beep, reminding him why they were up there. “Right,” the Doctor said, turning back to the machine.
“What is it doing?” Bernie asked, leaning down to get a look as well.
“Receiving. At least it is now.”
“Receiving?”
“Yes, a signal from somewhere. Then it is resetting the time here, trapping this house into a perpetual hour. Should be easy enough stop… I’d think.”
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it to open one of the panels.
“Fascinating…” The Doctor started fidgeting with the insides, his hands looking for something very specific.
“This device is highly advanced. Whoever put it here knew exactly what they were doing.”
“And do you know what you are doing, Doctor? I am at a loss here.”
“I believe so. See this is the transmission line. When the full signal comes down, I’ll simply pull it and…”
“And?”
“And, all should be fixed.”
“You don’t sound convinced, Doctor, maybe we should take more time to …”
The machine lit up, bright lights on all sides sent their colored photos scattered throughout the attic.
“No time!”
The Doctor pulled the wire. The machine went dark.
A moment passed, and nothing happened.
“See? All is…” The Doctor said, turning. “Stubby?”
There was no one in the attic with him.
“Must have reset the hour one last time,” the Doctor mumbled. “Suppose that means I need to keep the brothers from killing one another one more time.”
He flipped his sonic screwdriver in his hands before standing and tucking it into his pocket.
Down the stairs he went until he was again on the first floor. This time he walked up behind the butler.
“Ah good man,” he said. The butler jumped, but only a little. He was, after all, a professional.
“Sir?”
“Forgive me, I came to the wrong door and let myself it,” the Doctor said. He took off his coat and handed it to the butler. “I’m the Doctor, here for Mr. Laurie’s party.”
“Quite so, sir, follow me,” Jeffrey replied, draping the Doctor’s coat over his arm.
This time at the study, the Doctor did not wait for Hugh to acknowledge the butler.
“Ah Hugh, good to see you again,” the Doctor said, shaking the confused man’s hand. “And Elaina, still beautiful. And Max and Alice, a pleasure. Earnest and Bernie, or should I say Stubby.”
“Ah, sir, I don’t believe…” Hugh started.
“Doctor, I’m the Doctor. And yes I know, you don’t know me, but the story of how I know you is quite fascinating. I’ll tell you as soon as you get back.”
“Get back, Doctor?”
“Why yes, you and your brother are going to go for a walk to talk about some things. I think the fresh air will help.”
The Doctor released Hugh’s hand and walked over to Max.
“What conversation is this, Doctor?” Max said. A bit of sourness filled his words.
“You know very well what you and your brother need to talk about.” Then the Doctor added, “Oh and I am not American.”
“Say again?”
“You were wondering, but I am not. I just sound that way, too much travel it would seem.”
Max looked incredulously at the Doctor.
“So go for your talk, gentlemen. But before you do, I will insist you give me your gun, sir. This is to be a civil conversation…”
“What?” Hugh said from behind. Alice’s face turned surprised as she looked at her husband.
Max’s expression turned harsh, and he turned up his lip as he reached in and pulled out the revolver, handing it to the Doctor.
“Quite better, I assure you,” the Doctor said as Max still glared at him. “I assure you, gentlemen, it is really a misunderstanding.”
The two men left through the front door. The two women moved to the couch in the center, and the Doctor sat to the left. The maid brought in the tea, and for the third time the Doctor burned his lip as he drank, and for the third time the tea was so good it didn’t matter.
Bernie and Earnest were again discussing politics after the Doctor assured everyone he would explain things when the two men returned.
A few moments later the door opened.
“Ah, here, our brothers have returned,” the Doctor said, taking a sip from his second cup of tea. It was just as hot and just as good as the first.
“No, no, just Doctor,” was heard from the outside. “And what did you mean you already had my coat?”
The butler entered, a trench coat on his arm, and a man, or, more precisely, a Doctor, following.
The first Doctor looked up from his tea and caught himself from spitting it out. The second Doctor froze in the doorframe looking at the first. They were, in most senses, identical in appearance.
“Now this is fascinating,” Stubby said, looking from the two. “You didn’t tell us you had a twin, Doctor.”
“I don’t,” both Doctors said simultaneously.
The first Doctor put down his tea and stood, walking over to the second.
“Are you the Doctor?” the first Doctor asked.
“Yes, at least I was when I woke up. Are you?”
“Same.”
The two looked at each other while all of the other guests looked at both of them.
“We will be right back,” the first Doctor said to the guests.
“Can’t I get some tea first, it smells delicious.”
“I’m afraid not,” the first Doctor said, grabbing the second Doctor’s coat from Jeffrey as they exited into the hallway.
“So which one of us is a trick?” the second Doctor asked as he followed the first. The first Doctor led them to the stairs, the attic being the only place he knew to go.
“What do you remember?”
“Nothing, I woke up on the floor of the Tardis and stepped outside and found you already here.”
“But didn’t remember being here before?”
“No, should I?”
“Fascinating. I’ve been here two cycles now.”
“Two cycles?” A voice said from behind. The two Doctors turned and looked won the stairs. Bernie was following closely behind.
“Who is this?” the second Doctor asked the first.
“Stubby,” the first Doctor said. “Are you following us?”
“Quite so, chaps. Do you think after your performance I could just sit there? This old soldier’s curiosity wouldn’t allow it.”
The first Doctor smiled.
“Of course,” the first Doctor said. “Doctor, this is Stubby, better known as Bernard Hampton.”
“Oh, pleased… to… meet… Bernard Hampton?!”
“The one and only,” the first Doctor said, opening the door to the attic.
“Wow! The Bernard Hampton, here… why that means…”
“Martin is the professor they are waiting for.”
The second Doctor shook Bernard’s hand when they got to the machine in the corner of the attic.
“This is an honor sir. Imagine that, you are Bernard Hampton.”
“Right… I am….” Bernie said, giving the two Doctors a confused look.
“Now here is the machine,” the first Doctor said. “Now to figure out what is wrong.”
“Well here is what’s wrong,” the second Doctor said. “Someone has ripped out the power cable.”
“That someone was me,” the first Doctor replied. “I was trying to stop things.”
“Didn’t work. Wouldn’t work if you think about it for a second.”
“I did think about it. There was a time loop and this machine seemed to be the cause. If I stopped it before then the loop would end. But not only did it not end, you showed up.”
“Because this machine didn’t make the time loop.”
The first Doctor looked over at the second with a confused look. The second Doctor looked at the first with a smug look.
“Are you going to tell me, or have me guess, Mr. I-Just-Showed-Up?”
“This machine isn’t creating the time loop.”
“It isn’t?”
“No. This machine is stabilizing it.”
“Of course!” the first Doctor said, standing and hitting his head on the slanted roof.
“Ow, of course, of course. And when I pulled the power cable…”
“You destabilized the time loop.”
“Which is why you showed up.”
“Well, I have to say, while I think you two are talking fiction, that does sound logical to me,” Bernie added in.
“So instead of shutting down this station,” the second Doctor started.
“We need to shut down the one that it is connected to.”
“Right… right… right…” the two Doctors mumbled. The first one started pacing while rubbing his still throbbing head, the second merely stood rubbing his chin.
“Couldn’t you over-energize it? Send power back to the point of origin? Surely you chaps can get it to do something like that.”
The two Doctors stopped what they were doing and looked at each other before looking at Bernie.
“Power cable from the Tardis,” the first said.
“Up the window, spliced in,” the second added.
“Turn it on at the right moment,” the first continued.
“Poof!” the second finished.
“Genius, Bernie,” they both said.
“Ok, I’ll fix this thing back up,” the first Doctor said. “You go down to the Tardis and grab the…”
FLASH
“Where did Bernie go?” the second Doctor interrupted.
“Oh no,” the first said, going to the window on the side of the house where the Tardis had been. The grounds were empty of blue police boxes.
“Was that the loop?” the second asked, peering outside.
“Yes, which means soon there will be three of us.”
“Well, I hope he is as smart as I am,” the second added.
“Ok, as I was saying, I’ll stay up here and fix this up so it is ready. You go down there and when the Tardis shows up get the third us to help put together the cable and get it up here.”
“Got it,” the second Doctor said, starting for the door.
“Oh, and stop off in the study and get the gun from Max,” the first said as he knelt back down, pulling the sonic screwdriver from the second Doctor’s coat.
“Gun? What for?”
“To keep him from killing his brother over his wife. Just get the gun and make the two talk to each other like civilized men.”
“Ok, ok,” the second said, heading down the stairs.
Several minutes later, the third Doctor emerged from the door of the Tardis. As his eyes adjusted to the bright sun he found himself faced with, well, himself, but himself with an impatient look on his face.
“No real time to explain,” the second Doctor said to the third. “There is a time loop. Need to get a power cable from the Tardis up to that window to send a surge up to whatever is causing the loop.”
The third Doctor gave the second a skeptical but curious look.
“Ok, am I to believe then, that you are me?”
“Yes,” the second said.
“What are you two doing?” a voice said from above. The second and third Doctors looked up at the first who was leaning out of the window calling down to them.
“And that is us too?” the third Doctor asked.
“Yes,” the second one replied, then called upwards. “We were just about to start!”
“Well hurry up!”
“Hurry up, indeed,” the second Doctor said, stepping past the third to go inside the Tardis. The third turned around and followed.
A few minutes later they emerged from inside, the second Doctor pulling a long cable, the third Doctor feeding it through the door. The first Doctor looked down from the attic.
“How are we getting this up there?” the second called out to the first.
“I’ve got a line you can tie it to, hold on,” the first replied and then threw a line from the window down to the two Doctors below. Naturally the line was too short, but fell within reach of the roof of the Tardis.
“It’s too short!” the second one said, already starting to climb to the roof of the Tardis.
“It was the best I could do!” the first one shouted back.
Once on the top of the Tardis, the second Doctor pulled the line to him. Below the third Doctor passed the cable to him. Once tied off, the first pulled it upwards to the attic.
“Ok, I’ll hook it in. Send the third Doctor inside and I’ll call down when to flip the switch.”
“Aye aye!” said the second Doctor. The third went back inside.
The first doctor took the cable over to the machine, fully expecting it to be too short, but the reach was nearly perfect.
“Well, two of me did make it,” he mumbled as he used his sonic screwdriver to attach all of the parts back together.
Just in time as well, the machine began to blink as it did before, the colored lights illuminating the room. Everything attached, the first Doctor ran to the window.
“Now!”
“Now?” the second replied.
“Now!” the first confirmed.
“Now!” the second said to the third.
“Now?” the third asked.
“Now!” the second answered.
The third Doctor threw the switches, and power from the inside of the Tardis shot upwards into the machine in the attic. The antenna on the roof began to glow, electricity shooting off of it. Then a beam shot upwards into space, then stopped.
In the attic, the power threw the Doctor backwards. The machine lasted but a few seconds before it fried itself out, going first dark, then silent. Then it was all over.
The Doctor ran again to the window.
“Good job! It worked…” but stopped. There was, of course, no one out there, confirming what the Doctor had just said. It had indeed worked.
Downstairs the Doctor prevented Max from killing his brother and wife one last time, sending the men off to talk like civilized people. He talked politics with Ernest and Bernie, and talked Elaina into some of the excellent tea to take with him.
There was another man arriving as Jeffrey brought the Doctor his coat.
“Professor,” the Doctor said, extending his hand. “I am the Doctor. Can I say it is an honor to meet you.”
“Thank you Doctor,” Martin said.
“I apologize for missing your presentation on your new theories, but I have no doubt I’ll hear about them soon. Good day sir.”
“Thank you, sir. Good day, Doctor,” the professor said.
In the Tardis the Doctor stood around the center control for a moment.
“Well, new me, for a first adventure, I’d say you did pretty well. Now, let’s see what other ones are out there.”