just_the_doctor

The regeneration had not, by all accounts, gone smoothly. But then, when did they ever? The dreams were the worst. Flashes of faces, fragments of conversation filtering though as his mind tried to reorganize itself.

"A Dalek who doesn't want to fight. What a place of magic this must be."
"I've heard my travels called many things. Wacky, I don't believe has ever been among them. Not that I'm in a position to disagree, I suppose, though."
".... I don't think nitro and explosives could hardly count as being mellow, really."
"I'm just a soldier, we don't have stories."
"But the question, Miss Dinah, is where are you taken? And is it nearly as interesting as where I could take you?"
"Oh yes, love. I'm definitely coming back. I made a promise, didn't I?"
"You don't like it? She did pick out the colors herself, you know." "You two have been together too long."
"Has the entire universe gone mad in my absence, or was it always this way?"
"Well, hello there. Aren't you just an adorable technologically advanced wonder? Yes, you are. Yes, you are."
"Maybe I just needed to be reminded there was enough good left out there to give a damn about."

In the end, it turned out all right. Mainly thanks to Rose. And Jackie, too, if he had to admit it. Then there was the moment where it looked like she might not come back with him, but she does. ("And it is going to be... fantastic.") So she gets some things, and he runs some tests, and when she comes back into the TARDIS and gives him that smile, it all reconnects for him. He programs the coordinates without even thinking.

"So, where're we going?" she asks.

He just grins at her. "Further than we've ever gone before."

The relative peace of the control room is shattered by an alarm. Granted, this tends to happen fairly often in these older TARDISes. Most are nothing more than the TARDIS equivalent of the "Check Engine" light. This one, though, is different.

Which is why the Doctor is at the console in a matter of seconds, running scans along all available frequency bands and tying the TARDIS navigational array into the output. It was definitely a distress signal. And a recognizable one. Not specifically Gallifreyan, but one of a number of standard forms used by any of a hundred planets in the general vicinity. Very faint and weak, but still there. Whatever was calling was in trouble, and had the technology to call for help.

A spike of hope rose in the Time Lord; was it possible that another Time Lord had been thrown clear of the blast, as he was, and was calling for assistance?

The hum of travel in the TARDIS ceases abruptly as the ship materializes at its destination.

The Doctor heads over to Padme's suite and knocks on the door.

It's not technically his TARDIS that he's going into. But, then again, the key still fits, so in a very real way, it is.

The Doctor v.4 looks around the dim, organic console room, such a change from the antiseptic white of his own. He studies the console for a few moments, then pushes a series of very specific buttons.

In the years to follow, the coronation party of King Rakeesh XVI would be touted as the social event of the decade across three planets. Stepping out of the TARDIS door, it was easy to see why.

The reception room was easily the size of a football stadium. The center of the large space was dominated by a buffet table filled with foods and drinks from across the solar system. Meats, cheeses, breads, wines, shellfish, fruits... a plethora of options. Jugglers, fire-eaters, and a gallery of other such performers weave in and out of the crowd, dazzling and awing the assembled guests. Not one but three string quartets were present, seated far enough apart that the sounds did not interfere, but such that there was music through all parts of the reception.

The guests were as diverse a cross-section of beings as you could find in this sector. Reptilians, felinoids, sentient machines, and energy beings all mingled freely and openly. In one corner, as absurd as it seemed, a member of a canid species appeared to be in deep discussion with two arborials.

The Doctor grins widely and claps his hands together. "Right then. Let's have some fun!"

[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?"

The Doctor presses a few controls, and the TARDIS dematerializes with that familiar whoosh. The central column lights up and starts to piston up and down until a screen flashes 'Temporal Orbit'.

"So. You're from Earth, right? So how about we head there? Pick a year."

The door opens and Time begins to move.

The Cybermen continue their relentless approach, and their aim is improving.

But they weren't counting on the Doctor having been anywhere but just inside the TARDIS for a matter of seconds.

Silly Cybermen. Tricks are for Time Lords.