the shadow makers page 2

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...'

~~~

One week later

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

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