From: pih@doc.ic.ac.uk (Paul Ian Harman) Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative,alt.drwho.creative Subject: Doctor, Samuel Beckett (Part Four) Date: 1 Nov 1994 16:16:05 -0000 Organization: Dept. of Computing, Imperial College, University of London, UK. Message-Id: <395pk5$ic7@oak24.doc.ic.ac.uk> Herein is part four of the Doctor Who/Quantum Leap crossover. I hope you've enjoyed it so far! Part Five should follow before Monday. Take care! Ozzy. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Doctor, Samuel Beckett ---------------------- or A Leap in Time -------------- by Paul Harman ============== Part Four ~~~~~~~~~ The Castellan led Sam through the corridors of the Capitol on Gallifrey, and Sam was having increasing trouble in working out what was going on. The best he could manage was that either it was a secret society, or somehow he had been warped into an alternative reality through some sort of hyperspace gate. The physicist in him was trying to puzzle it out, when he heard his salvation: the door to the Imaging Chamber opening. Sam remained silent, but his hopes leapt up. "Sam, you're never going to believe this..." said Al. Sam grunted. He whispered quietly under his breath "Where the hell have you been?" "Look, Sam - we haven't got long. You've got to go back to the TARDIS and..." "Is that the blue box thing?" Sam asked. "That's right." "How?" Sam asked. Al seemed to be talking to someone else in the Imaging Chamber. "Who's there with you?" he asked. "It's the leapee. Just get back there, bluff your way through. Say, oh I don't know..." Al seemed to listen to something. "I can't say _that_!" Al said to nothing. "Okay, then." he said, turning back to Sam. "I feel really stupid saying this... Say you've left your Sonic Screwdriver behind and it's terribly urgent you get it." "Okay Al, but..." Sam began, but the image of Al was crackling. It went two dimensional for a second, flashed and then disappeared altogether. "Al..." Sam said. "It's no good, we've lost him." Al said, and turned to walk out of the Imaging Chamber. "Are you coming, Doctor?" he asked. The Doctor seemed to be distracted himself, and was also massaging the right-hand side of his chest, as if he were in pain. "Probably indigestion," Al thought, and left the Doctor alone. "Sir..." the Doctor said to the gentleman in white. "I wasn't expecting to see you..." "No," he replied. "You remember me then, as the White Guardian." "I remember having to do... or maybe I don't." he said, more to himself than the Guardian. "I'm having future echoes, I think..." he muttered. "It must be something to do with this Beckett..." "Doctor, are you in pain?" the Guardian asked. "No, just a twinge of cosmic angst." "Good - then I have an important task for you to perform, and also some information which may help you. You know that I have an interest in time travellers, and from time to time I ask them for their help. Well, for some earth years now, I have been guiding one such traveller in his quest to right wrongs." "You have been interfering with his life, his destiny!" the Doctor shouted to the Guardian. "Sorry, sorry..." he said, backing down a little. "In the narrow sense, that may be true" the Guardian replied, "but the traveller does not appear to upset by this. At least, not until recently. However, a short time ago I met him in person, posing as a figure he could understand, and he said he would like to return home. However, at that point he made the wrong decision. Now I have offered him another chance. You, Doctor, are that chance." "What is happening?" the Doctor replied. "The traveller in question, Doctor Samuel Beckett, travels through time by exchanging minds with someone in history. When the task is done, he swaps out and into someone else. This time, he has swapped into you. You may experience a few ill effects as your mind is not in it's customary body. Do not be slack in returning Doctor Beckett, Doctor. I can give you no further help in this matter, or I will be observed by the Black Guardian. Beware the Black Guardian." The White Guardian faded from the Doctor's view, and so he left the Imaging chamber. However, as he walked out of the chamber a great pain seized his chest on the right hand side, and he collapsed onto the floor. "Could it be a heart attack?" Tina asked. "I don't know... I just don't know." Al replied. "Er... I've left something behind in the TARDIS" Sam said. "Could I just pop back and get it?" "By all means, Doctor. But remember that it's Chancellor Flavia that is being kept waiting." Sam turned and ran back towards the TARDIS, trying hard not to trip over the huge scarf. "It really is hot in here." he thought. "I'll see if I can change into something more comfortable." He reached that TARDIS and the doors seemed to open automatically. He walked in, and began to explore the corridors like before. He seemed to remember a store-room full of clothes. It took a few minutes to find, but he managed to rid himself of the thick coat, waistcoats and such. He found a pair of thin trousers and an Umpire's overcoat to wear. On an impulse, he picked up a recorder which was also in the room. "Not bad, and a bit cooler" he thought, looking in a mirror. He left the recorder on top. Sam looked again in the mirror: a large, bulky frame with a friendly face that looked equally right smiling a toothy grin and also stern, serious. Large frizzy hair sprouted from his head. "Hmmm... I could get used to that", he thought. "Doctor...?" Tina said, tapping his cheek lightly. The Doctor seemed out cold. Abruptly he sat bolt upright. "I'm fine, Sarah. Just watch out for that yeti!" he said, and collapsed again. "What's wrong with him?" Al asked. "I'm not sure," Gooshie replied. "He is, after all, alien and so it could be anything. I presume that he's suffering from hallucinations because his mind is in the wrong body. I think he should be given some tranquilisers so he can have a good sleep." At that point, Ziggy's alarms went off again. "I have lost contact with Doctor Beckett again." "Has he leaped?" Al asked. "Negative." "He must be back in the TARDIS" Al said. "I'll get back into the chamber." The Doctor sat back up again. "Doctor Beckett and I have swapped bodies, it is possible he has triggered a regeneration, which is why..." the Doctor screamed again, and cluched his chest. "Two hearts... one heart. Cold, blood temperature too cold. Don't you understand, Brigadier?" he asked Al. "I'm suffering from a regeneration crisis which could leave us both unconcious..." ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ -- -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Paul `Ozymandias' Harman : pih@doc.ic.ac.uk -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- +-+-+-+-+-+ The amazing changing quote currently stands as follows: +-+-+-+-+-+ "Let's call it any number, say.... minus four." - Dr. A. J. Mestel