(no subject)

[just_the_doctor]

[following this]

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor plugs the hand scanner back into the console.

"Every TARDIS has a distinctive signature. If we'd gotten here with a day or two of the departure, I would have been able to tell you exactly which one it was. The signal has degraded somewhat, but we should still be able to narrow it down. You still remember your ID charts?"

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[just_the_doctor]

Six looks out across the landscape.

"Who is that out there?" he asks, somewhat miffed. He cups his hands around his mouth and calls back, "Must you belabor the obvious, young lady? Naturally you would have to be suicidal to attempt such a stunt. Most people underestimate the number of truly suicidal people in the cosmos."

Nine, meanwhile, allows the energy ball to absorb into him, reawakening those memories in his new form. "They're still operating," he explains to Ace, "because they're used only for spacial transport now. Escorts and patrols, that sort of thing. The temporal circuitry was removed from them entirely."

Then he turns back to the others. "Except that one of them is still moving in time. But the temporal bias is too high on it. It shouldn't be possible."

[just_the_doctor]

"It isn't. Can't be. Must be a malfunction." Five decides to join the party at this juncture, apparently bringing his unique brand of optimism along with him.

"I've checked it on two scanners," Nine explains. "And Ace's is almost brand new."

Five shakes his head. "Nevertheless. It can't be done. The calculations required to keep the TARDIS stable at that level of bias are unsolvable. At least, not in the time before the material stream would lose cohesion. No one could work out the shifting variables and input corrections fast enough."

All of the Doctors look at each other shiftily. The thought occurs to all of them at once, but it's Nine who voices it. "Adric could."

Five bristles. "Perhaps Adric could. But he was unique. He's also dead."

Nine nods slowly and replies, "That's true, but it doesn't seem to have slowed him down much. But the fact remains. If Adric could, someone else could, too. The problem is narrowing down who."

[just_the_doctor]

The Doctors come to a decision collectively.

Seven pats Nine on the back and nods knowingly. "Go. You've got what you came for. We'll sort this mess out."

The rest of them look appraisingly at Nine. In turn, each one gives a curt nod of approval, and then fades back into the mists, sealing away their set of memories as they go.

Finally, Nine is alone in his mind once again, and, with a shuddering breath, blinks himself out of the trance and back into Ace's TARDIS where the 'search complete' light has just begun to flicker.

He looks at his former Companion and gives a sheepish grin. "Family's always embarrassing."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

She'll sort out how she feels about all that later. For now, she shakes her head at him and heads back over to the abandoned tea.
"Y'know, there's nothing quite like warning a gal when you're about to do sommat like that." She grouses, pouring another cup of tea and offering it, as well as one of the biscuits, to her
friendfathermentor
Doctor.

[just_the_doctor]

He looks at her ashamedly when he takes the cup. "Er. Sorry. Never done that before; didn't know what to expect."

He quickly changes the subject. "Now, let's take a look at these search results." As expected, there are 41 Phi II's listed, all marked as 'Temporally Inactive'.

The Doctor scans down the list. His eyes catch a name and his entire body freezes. He very carefully sets the teacup down.

"Who do we know, Ace, who has an aptitude for 5-dimentional maths, is capable of hacking a TARDIS console, is gifted enough to restore long disabled circuitry to an unstable class TARDIS, is probably just unstable enough to do it, and moreover, doesn't like you very much?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace could, if she were so inclined, stand on her tip-toes and be just able to see the name that has so completely caught his attention. She doesn't need to, however.
"Gentaro." Somehow she manages to turn it into a four-letter word. "Bloody hells, I told you he was completely off his rocker!" It's probably a good thing her former classmate isn't here right now.

[just_the_doctor]

"I never said you were wrong. Unfortunately, he fooled most everybody else enough to stay in."

The Doctor shakes his head.

"His evals had to have reflected something wrong. It's probably why he was given a spacer instead of a fully-operational TARDIS. But they underestimated him. They're good at that."

It's possible the Doctor is recalling an old classmate of his at this point.

His eyes go hard, his jaw sets, and there is steel in his voice when he speaks. "Finish your report. Don't say anything about this yet. When the council summons comes, we'll make our move. We'll get him, Ace."

His gaze has not moved from the screen, where the single name blazes out at him, almost mockingly.

Gentaro