Tegan had been scanned immediately after the Doctor. He’d assured her it
was nothing to fear, and she knew him well enough by now to take his word. It
hadn’t hurt, merely left her with a slight dizzying sensation.
She was hoping that by
maintaining this pretence, they’d eventually get bored and let her and the
Doctor go. They were motioned to exit the room by a different door to the one
they’d entered by, and found themselves in what appeared to be a small holding
area.
'Wait here. I’ll send
someone to assign you temporary quarters.' With that, Novik marched out of the
room, leaving a bemused Doctor and Tegan behind.
'What’s going on here
Doctor? Arrested and scanned within minutes – that’s a little quick even by
your standards!'
The Doctor was busy
looking for an exit point in the room, but could find nothing. 'Yes, most odd.
Though I must confess I have been here before. My younger self. Youngest in
fact. Something was very odd then, all sorts of time distortion. The man we saw
leaving the room was my companion, Steven. He was stuck here for a year, and
this must be the start of it.'
Tegan crossed her arms. 'You mean that old guy with the white hair is about somewhere too?'
The Doctor shook his
head. 'No, not yet. But he will be. In a year’s time. Do try to keep up Tegan!'
She stared daggers at
him. 'Is it my fault that you live such a complicated life? How I meant to keep
ahead of it all? And besides...'
Before she could continue
she noticed the Doctor put a finger to his lips. He was listening carefully to
the room itself, tapping the walls every so often to see if he could find
another way out. Eventually, he gave up and sat down cross-legged on the floor.
'It’s no good, we’re
going to have to wait it out. Though while we’ve got the time, we need to talk
about a plan to get out of here when the time comes.'
Tegan joined him on the
floor. 'But how are we going to plan for every contingency?'
The Doctor smiled. 'You
forget, I’ve been here before. There’s an advantage to living such a
complicated life on occasion...'
~~~
The Doctor and a Tegan
left the room, much to the delight of Novik. She watched them leave,
accompanied by armed guards, right to the door of the TARDIS.
'Why you needed me here I
don’t know. I know you’ve already scanned my TARDIS.' The Doctor looked to
Novik, who didn’t seem surprised.
'We wanted to test you,
see if you were who we thought. But it seems you aren’t. You’ve not tried to
dissuade us, tried to bring down our society. You disappoint us Doctor.'
Tegan stepped into the
TARDIS. 'Let’s just leave Doctor, I don’t want to stay here any longer than we
have to.'
The Doctor pulled himself
up to his full height. 'No, it’s definitely time we left. I would say it’s been
a pleasure, but...' He stepped through the door to the ship and closed it
firmly behind him.
Novik saluted as the
TARDIS dematerialised.
The man who had saved the
world.
~~~
The Doctor set the coordinates for
Frontios, for the pair of them to retrieve their errant companion.
'So how did you know that
their scan of the TARDIS wouldn’t be able to replicate it?' Tegan was confused.
'Simple really. The
TARDIS is a living being, intelligent, independent. I knew that she wouldn’t
let them copy her completely. She’s bound to have put some little glitches in
the system.' He could see Tegan was about to speak, and anticipating her
question, jumped in before she could. 'You forget, I’ve been here before. The
use of their TARDIS is what caused the time fluctuations. They end up stuck
in a perpetual loop, all because they tried to use technology that was beyond
them.'
Tegan looked aghast. 'So this
is all your fault? You caused it all?'
The Doctor shook his
head. 'No, not all. They were already experimenting, my visit was an
unfortunate side effect.'
'But I died! A copy of me
maybe, but still me! Not only that, but all those people. Can’t you do
anything?'
The Doctor sighed. 'In
the future perhaps, but not now. We’re too caught up in events. I’m sure I’ll
come back, one day.'
Tegan walked towards the
interior of the ship. 'I need some time alone, Doctor. Let me know when we’re
back on Frontios.'
The Doctor watched her
leave with sad eyes. He knew he would never return, that he never could.
It was time to move on,
and he wouldn’t be surprised if Tegan felt the same too. No one stayed forever.
With a heavy heart he set
the ship in motion. Wherever he went next he would try to make a positive
difference.
The TARDIS headed on
toward Frontios.
The Doctor didn’t know it
yet, but it was the beginning of the end.
written by
ANDY WESTON
copyright 2013
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2013
written by
ANDY WESTON
copyright 2013
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2013