Doctor Who: BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures [001] - The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks

Author:Terrance Dicks
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9780563405634
Publisher: BBC Books
Published: 1997-06-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Timescoop

The Doctor lay stretched out on the chaise-longue in the TARDIS control room. On the table beside him stood a mug of hot, sweet tea and a plate of buttered toast.

He was dozing, eyes half-closed, hovering between sleep and waking, and he was reminiscing, leafing through the memories of his other selves, reacquainting himself with the events of their adventurous lives.

As the First Doctor had predicted, even those memories, dormant in his own mind, were beginning to stir… He was recovering.

He thought of the fierce old man in the prehistoric jungle, of the gentle little fellow who had sacrificed his own freedom so that others might be free.

He saw the tall, elegant dandy struggling bitterly against the chains of his exile but unable to resist defending the planet that had become his prison.

He saw the casual bohemian in the floppy hat and ridiculously long scarf who dared to take on the evil that stalks the dark.

He had no reason to be ashamed of himselves, thought the Doctor. Indeed, there was much of which to be modestly proud.

What had the old man said? Seven regenerations…

Three more to go.

‘When and where will they be, and what will they be doing?’ murmured the Doctor sleepily. ‘What will they belike?’

His eyes closed, his head nodded and a half-eaten slice of buttered toast slipped from his hand and dropped to the floor, landing, as always, buttered side down. The Doctor slept.

As his two hearts pumped steadily, his extraordinary Time Lord physiology laboured to restore him to full health and strength. Sleep, the Doctor had once observed, is for tortoises. But even a Time Lord needs to take it easy occasionally, especially with half of his blood supply to makeup.

* * *

Summoned yet again to the Temporal Control Room, President Flavia studied the tempograph on the big monitor screen. The short red segment that represented the Doctor’s seventh regeneration had reappeared. It seemed to be motionless.

‘The tempograph now indicates, Madam President,’ began Chief Temporal Technician Volnar nervously,’ that the Doctor –’

‘– is back in normal space and time,’ snapped Flavia. ‘That much I can see for myself. Have you any idea why his time trace disappeared?’

‘I think I have, Madam President. The Fourth Doctor’s time trace once showed a similar anomaly, as did that of his then companion, the Lady Romanadvoratrelundar. I believe that for a time he passed through a Charged Vacuum Emboitment into E-Space, which as you know is –’

‘– a kind of parallel universe,’ concluded Flavia impatiently.

‘Exactly so, Madam President,’ agreed Volnar, wondering if he was ever going to be allowed to finish a sentence.

‘So the Doctor visited his fourth reincarnation, then in E-Space, and has now returned. Is he heading for his fifth self?’

‘Apparently not, Madam President. As you can see, there appears to be some kind of hiatus. The Doctor seems to be, well, resting. Perhaps the phenomenon is at an end.’

‘I very much doubt it. Something tells me that if the Doctor has revisited his first, second, third and fourth selves, he will go on to meet his fifth, sixth and seventh selves as well.

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