• Published 30th Dec 2013
  • 2,830 Views, 143 Comments

Time Keeps Wibbling On: A Doctor Whooves Adventure - Shotoman



Something's wrong with time. Again. Why else would there be more than one Doctor at once?

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Misremembrances

Trottingham, 963 C.R.

Romana was still rather irritated, much to the (Yes, fine, Eighth) Doctor's amusement. Oh, how he'd missed her over the years, especially recently,what with the war that was ravaging everything good--and even a lot of the bad--during his time. "Do you realize just how much of a stir you've caused at Gallopfrey, just with that one stunt?" she huffed.

The Doctor chuckled. "Disappearing with one, or possibly more," (he shot her a very smug look that she scoffed at) "of Gallopfrey's prime relics is hardly a 'stunt,' Romana. And I know I caused enough of a stir that you were easily led to believe that you were spying for the Council when you first arrived at my TARDIS."

Romana stopped. "You knew about that?"

With a chuckle the Doctor nodded. "Oh, you were very good. Very subtle. Never asked anything too obvious, never explored more than could be chalked down to general snooping and curiosity. And I did notice that even that stopped long before you learned that the 'Lord President' who assigned you to me was the White Guardian--or was it the Black Guardian in disguise? I don't think I ever learned where one's influence began and the other ended. But let's both be honest, eh? Considering the thorn I've always been in the Council's side, what other reason would have been feasible at the time, eh?"

Romana actually pouted a little at that. "So you knew my what my initial 'mission' was the whole time, and never once did you..."

"Why would I say anything? I took no offense, nor would I have if I didn't know the truth about your circumstances," the Doctor said with a smile. "If anything it was a boost to my ego, which I suppose I've never really needed, especially back then. And it's not like you did any real harm. Your efforts were minimal and ended remarkably quickly. By my accounts, you were more interested in me as the mysterious Doctor who ran away from Gallopfrey rather than anything I might be hiding in my TARDIS."

Romana chuckled. "I don't think your ego has calmed itself as much as you think it has."

The Doctor shot her the beginnings of a cross look, before he chuckled himself. "Heh, probably not. It does seem ever present, no matter the face I wear, doesn't it? Ah, here we are."

Romana stopped along with the Doctor and blinked in confusion. "But the junk yard is still a good mile away," she said with a frown.

"Well, yes," the Doctor responded, picking up a rock and testing its weight. "I have a few preparations I'd like to make while outside the Dalek's sensor range."

"Dalek! You plan to engage a Dalek?"

The Doctor chuckled as he began digging through is great coat. "Certainly not. I'm hoping to simply confirm its presence. Preferably without its knowledge. Not to bore you with too much detail, but this particular Dalek is an instigator, a first encounter if you will, which eventually led to my destroying Skaro. If it is still at the junkyard, waiting further orders, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief and focus specifically on finding my past self without having to otherwise fix the timeline as well. If it's not there, well, that would be bad."

Romana's ear flicked in agitation while the Doctor continued digging around in his coat. "'Bad' doesn't half cover it, Doctor. If this Dalek encounter is as important as you make it out to be, we could be dealing with a paradox of astronomical proportions."

"Or greater," the Doctor agreed as he finally withdrew a hoof-held device from within his coat. "But, even a quick in-and-out operation, no matter how essential, needs a little preparation whenever a Dalek's involved." The Doctor activated the device, causing a pair of what could only be described as holes in the air about three hooves apart. Then he almost casually tossed his rock into one of the portals. The rock then flew from the other hole and back into the first, over and over again, each time gaining speed until the Doctor deactivated the device and the portals vanished.

The Doctor was not unaware of the strange look Romana was shooting him. "What?" he said.

Romana hesitated for a moment before asking, "Since when do you carry a vortex generator?"

The Doctor's eyes widened for a moment, as if he were surprised at the question, before his face settled on that sad smile that he and his successors seemed to have gained over the years. "It's just a sign of the times, I suppose." He then pushed himself past her and started back toward their destination. "Now come along, Romana."

Romana paused briefly before sighing to herself. She already knew he was... damaged, she supposed, and unfortunately there was little she could do about it, so there was equally little reason to obsess over it. "I'll have you know, I never liked being told to 'come along,'" she said, in an attempt at lightening the mood.

"I know," the Doctor responded, his usual mood restored.

The lightened mood lasted until they reached the gate to the junk yard, where both Gallopfreyans tensed up immediately. The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver in hoof, its red sensor module blinking as it scanned for various proofs of Dalek existence. Romana watched in interest. The sonic screwdriver of her time was, for the most part, just that. A handy tool to have around and the most effective lock pick in the universe. It was clear, though, that this Doctor and his successors had made innumerable modifications to the blessed thing. Even she could hardly imagine how the Doctor was reading anything off of it when he held it up to look at it, or the one time he stuck the end of it in his mouth. It had truly become something unique to the Doctor. Somehow, she thought, that was really quite fitting.

The Doctor's eyes widened briefly at whatever it was he saw, heard, or sensed. "That's... that cannot be right." And suddenly all caution was thrown to the wind and the Doctor was galloping deeper into the yard, Romana close behind. Moments later the Doctor was tearing at something that could charitably be called a "structure" formed of a pile of sheet metal and other assorted garbage. Before Romana could ask what the issue was, she saw with her own eyes. Here, clearly, was the Doctor's Dalek.

The remains of it at least.

There was no mistaking the tall, dome topped monstrosity before them, but given that most of its front had been blasted away, leaving dangling wires, loose components, and the ever-so-lovely scent of cooked meat, there was also no mistaking that it was dead as dead could be. "That is not good, is it."

"Understatement is beneath y--DOWN!" The Doctor bodily tackled Romana to the ground as a bolt of energy barely missed them and sheared off a chunk of the Dalek's dome top.

The Doctor and Romana turned to face their attacker to find--to neither of their surprise--a second, very much alive Dalek. The Dalek turned its domed "head" towards the Doctor and looked right at him with its unblinking eyestalk. "You-Are-The-Doctor. Enemy-Of-The-Daleks," it said.

"Goes without saying," the Doctor deadpanned.

The Dalek turned its attention to Romana. "You-Are-Romanadvoratrelundar. Enemy-To-The-Daleks."

"It knows my name, I'm flattered," Romana said with a slight smirk of her own.

"You-Are-To-Be-Exterminated."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed as he got back on his hooves. "Are we now?" he said in a tone that caused an instant chill to run down Romana's spine. She'd seen the Doctors mood swings in the past, but this one... she could almost physically feel the hatred. "I unfortunately don't feel much like being exterminated today."

"Resistance-Is-Futile. You-Will-Be-Exterminated."

The Doctor chuckled. "You've not been following your history." With that, he put his screwdriver in his mouth, and a small vortex appeared over his left shoulder, launching a rock directly at the Dalek's eyestalk with the speed of a bullet--faster even. The Dalek tried to shoot it down, but missed and was rewarded with a shattered eyestalk. It let out an unnatural shriek and backed up a few hooves. "My-Vision-Is-Impared-I-Cannot-See!"

The Doctor leaped onto the disabled Dalek and jammed his screwdriver into the seam in its armor that would roughly correlate with its neck. Its dome popped open like the lid to a rubbish bin, and the Doctor shoved his screwdriver right into the new opening. A moment later, the Dalek shuddered as smoke rose from various points of its armored body. In a moment, the Dalek stopped altogether.

The Doctor hopped off the remains of the Dalek, an almost feral look on his face as he took deep, ragged, breaths. Romana reached toward the Doctor then pulled back. "Doctor, wh... I thought you said you were staying out of the war."

The Doctor's gaze softened, though he was still a far cry from the jovial pony he usually was. "I said I avoid the war. Sadly, it doesn't always avoid me." He sighed, calming down.

"So... what do we do from here?" Romana asked, casting a look at the first Dalek body. "This was your worst case scenario."

"Oh, my dear Romana. It's so much worse than that."

Romana stopped short at that. "What?"

He pointed at the second Dalek. "What do you see?"

"A Dalek, obviously."

The Doctor scoffed, a small amount of his old self--the Doctor she traveled with--leaking through. "No, Romana. I mean really look. At both of them. What do you see?"

Romana began to seriously appraise the two destroyed Daleks. Though a good portion of the first one was missing, it was still enough for Romana to tell a number of differences between the two, in size, basic design, etc, even apart from the color difference--the first one being largely a dull gray with the round weapon pods being black, the newer one a the color of brass, with more complex black workings. "They're different models from each other." she finally said.

"Yes, yes they are," the Doctor said. "And this one... this one is remarkably like the ones from my time. But not exactly the same. I'd imagine one of my successors would recognize this one." He turned to Romana, a haunted look on his face. "This Dalek is from the future. Far in the future. Don't you get what that means? The Daleks are interfering with their own timeline. The one Law of Time even they would never break. And they've broken it."

Romana's eyes widened as the implications hit her. "Oh, my."

The Doctor chuckled. "Understatement is beneath you," he repeated.