From: eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse) Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: The Three Doctors, Part 10 Date: 23 Jan 1993 16:38:06 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Lines: 173 Message-ID: <1jrs9eINNpkr@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> Reply-To: eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse) NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu The TARDIS had finally landed. Sam activated teh viewscreen and was greeted by what seemed a rather ordinary landscape. The sun was just peaking out from behind rain-ladden clouds and the air seemed clear. In the distance he could see what looked like smoke, but he couldn't be sure. He panned the camera to get a better look at the surroundings and was rather surprised to see another TARDIS sitting right next to the one he was in. Now that was the last thing he had expected to see. He opened the door and carefully wheeled himself out. The ground was not paved so he dared not go too far for fear of getting stuck in the muddy ground. From the door of the TARDIS he could clearly see that it was smoke in the distance and he could even smell it as th breeze blew in his direction. It was then that he noticed a man and young woman walking up the path towards the TARDISes. The woman was dripping wet and had her arm thrown casually around the man's waist. It was the man who caught Sam's attention. He was a short man, wearing a white hat and carrying an umbralla that had a distinctive question mark handle. The vest he was wearing was covered withthe question mark motif and Sam guessed that maybe he was a Time Lord like the Doctor. He surmised that the question mark was probably a common theme in all Time Lord cloths, remembering the suspenders and shirt collars of the Doctor. The problem was that Sam was sure that he had met the man before somewhere, but searching his memories he couldn't think of anyone who even slightly resembled the approaching man. The man looked up and started, staring at the two TARDISes and at Sam sitting in the doorway of one. "Do all your people travel in police boxes, Professor?" the young woman asked her companion. She had a very distinctive English accent that Sam found a little hard to understand. "Of course not, Ace," he replied with a slight Scottish accent. He held out his hand to Sam. "Hello, Dr. Beckett. It's good to see you again." "Have we met?" Sam took the hand and shook it, more than slightly bewilderedl. He was desperately trying to remember where he had met this man before an he was coming up with nothing. Perhaps his memory was still a little swiss-cheesed from his time traveling. "In a manner of speaking, you just left me a little while ago, Sam, but I looked a little different then." He turned to the woman. "This is Ace and I'm the Doctor." "But she called you 'Professor,'" Sam said, more than a little confused now. This man couldn't be the Doctor. Not even plastic surgury could change a man's height and this man was considerably shorter than the Doctor, not to mention that his voice had drastically changed. "Yes, I know," he said with a glare at her. "Ive been trying to break her of that habit. Ace, why don't you go put on some dry cloths and fetch the maroon satchel from the wardrobe and bring it here." "Sure, Professor," she said with a quick smile and dashed into the other TARDIS The Doctor just sighed and turned back to Sam. "This is probably going to be a little difficult for you to understand, but I really am the Doctor you met in 2002." The Doctor leaned against the side of the TARDIS, searching for an easy, quick way to explain about what happened. "My people have the ability to regenerate when the body is about to die. It involves a complete change in appearance, personality, many different things. Since I last saw you, I've done so twice. For you it's been, what, five minutes?" Sam nodded, trying dessperately to understand what he was being told. "For me, it's been, well, a considerably longer period of itme." "But this is the past. At least, I think it's teh part, isnt' it?" The Doctor crouched down next to Sam, much the same way he had when Sam had grieved for all those he had killed and that in itself almost convinced him that this was the Doctor that he hoped was still waiting for hm back at Stallion's Gate. "Earth's past, yes. World War Two is happening right now and this is England. For me, it's the future, or at least my future for the me that you know." Sam's head was beginning to spin. He thought his own theory on time travel was complicated, but compared to what the Doctor was saying, the string theory was childn' play. "So, for the Doctor I know, this is the future and what happened in New Mexico is the past for you?" "Exactly, Sam," the Doctor smiled. Sam just shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Dr. Beckett," Ace said as she emerged from the other TARDIS. "I've stopped trying to completely figure him out. Just accept it; it's easier." Ace handed a bag to the Doctor. "Is this what ou wante, Professor?" "Yes, thank you, Ace." The Doctor began rummaging aoround in the bag, searching for something that Sam had given him many years ago and would be giving him again in a few hours. "Here it is," the Doctor said, handing th eobject he had found to Sam. Sam immediatly recognized one of the circuits from the Accelerator Chamber. "We'll put this in the TARDIS, the one you arrived in, that is. When you get back to the Project, don't forget to give me this." "Doctor, you are a very confusing person," Sam said, shaking his head. "I thnk my method of tiem travel is a lot easier. Only one of me and I don't think I've ever crossed my own time stream like you seem to do." "There are times that I agree, Sam," the Doctor answered. "Now, shall we install this little component so that you can get home?" "I'm not too sure I want to go back," Sam said, a rueful smile on his face. "Al is probably going to kill me once I get back." Sam could picture his friend, first yelling at the Doctor, blaming him for what happened, and then blaming himself. Sam promised himself that once he got back to the Project, he would dismantle the Accelerator so that Al would never have to worry about him taking off in time again. The Doctor smiled at his memory of what had and would happen. "He was a bit upset, but Peri helped a bit, and you weren't gone all that long, so he didn't really have a chance to fall into a very deep depression." The Doctor had opened te panel that Sam and the other Doctor had spent so much time poking around in. With careful movements, he put the new component in and closed the panel. "Better say good-bye, Ace. Dr. Beckett will be leaving soon, and so will we." The Doctor began setting some dials onthe TARDIS preparing it to take Sam back to New Mexico in 2002. "Nice meeting you, Dr. Beckett," Ace said, shaking hands with Sam. "Maybe next time we'll get a chance to talk." "That would be nice, Ace," Sam ansewred her, taking her hand. "If you're ever in the are, feel free to stop in." Ace's smile lit up her face and she nodded as she left he TARDIS to enter the one she was travellig in. "All right, Sam," the Doctor was pointing to a switch on the counsel. "Once I've left, press this and it will take you back to the Project about a half-hour after you left. I want to make sure you don't meet yourself." "Thank you, Doctor," Sam said simply. "Do you mnd if I ask you something?" The Doctor shook his head. "What happened ot Peri?" "Why do you want ot know?" "Al's rather fond of her, and I would like to know that she's okay. Although he probably won't ask, I know Al would like to knw." The Doctor looked thoughtful, remembering back to the trial and the two different fares he'd seen for Peri, one leading to death, the other to what had appeared to be a happy life. He still wasn't sure which had been the true version, but he knew which one he'd want Al to think had happened. "She met and fell in love with someone we encountered in our travels. She ended up marryjing him and, as far as I know, is very happy." "Thank you Doctor. If Al asks, I'll tell him, but otherwise, I'll just keep it to mmyself. Is there any message you'd like to send to yourself?" The Doctor's look became distant, obviously remembering something painful. It past so quickly that Sam wasn't sure he had seem it. "None that I can think of, but thank you, Sam," the Doctor said, noticing Sam's interest in his expression and quickly masking it. "Now, I must be off. Take care." The Doctor shook Sam's hand and left the TARDIS. He stood outside it and watched as the doors closed behind him and then it disappeared. He smiled briefly and entered his TARDIS and soon it too had left England. to be concluded........ -- Beth Hlabse eah4@po.CWRU.Edu Assistant Sysop The Science Fiction and Fantasy Sig (GO SCIFI) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If all the beasts were gone man would die from a great lonliness of the spirit.