"Away Team to Transporter Room One."
A moment's pause, and a young man's voice issued from the communicator pin.
"This is Lieutenant Barclay, Commander."
The Doctor, looking on, noticed that this seemed to catch the Enterprise first officer by surprise, as he spoke, "Barclay? What are you doing there? I thought Ensign Holman was on duty."
"Lieutenant Commander LaForge asked me to run a diagnostic on the Transporter relays while you were on the surface, to make sure none of the important circuitry was affected by the triolic radiation. Sir.", he added sheepishly.
Riker looked at Geordi, who nodded and smiled. "There hasn't been much for him to do in Engineering, with the Gurien System being mostly a scientific endeavour. He's been getting that itch again, Commander."
"What? Oh, *that* itch. Well, must keep him busy then. Good idea, Geordi. Lieutenant, could you beam us up, please?"
"Certainly, sir. One moment..." Another pause, and then, "Energizing now."
Before the eyes of the Away Team, the Devidian cavern vanished, to be replaced a moment later by the muted colors of the Transporter Room. The figures of the group remained still in place for a brief instant, and then moved as if coming out of a deep sleep. They stepped off of the pad, and Riker moved toward Barclay, who was fidgeting nervously.
"Thank you, Reg. Are you finished with the diagnostics yet?"
"Not-not yet, sir. Almost... another half-hour at most."
"Good. After that, I wouldn't mind it if you help Lieutenant Commander LaForge run a level three diagnostic on the computer function relays. We might get into some trouble here, and I want to make sure the computer is working up to speed. Okay?"
"Sure thing, Commander. Thank you."
"Carry on, Lieutenant. Doctor, Geordi, Deanna", he nodded to each in turn, "I'll go on to the Bridge. I'll let the Captain know that he's required, Doctor."
"Thank you, Commander. Time is of the essence. I will be in the Cargo Bay, running final checks on the TARDIS circuits. If you wouldn't mind, Counselor, I could use the company." He bowed gallantly at the exotic Betazoid, who smiled.
"I would be honored to accompany you to your machine, Doctor."
As Riker left the room, Geordi spoke. "If you want me to come with you, Doctor..."
"Oh, no, Geordi, that's all right. You run that diagnostic, or whatever the Commander wants you to do. We'll be all right." With another quick nod to the two engineers, the Doctor and Deanna left the Transporter Room and headed down the corridor toward the lift.
As they reached the lift, the doors obligingly opened, and Deanna and the Doctor stepped through. As the doors closed, Deanna called out, 'Cargo Bay Two, please." As the lift sped on its way, the Couselor turned to the Time Lord.
"What's bothering you, Doctor?"
The Doctor looked at Deanna, surprised. "What do you mean?" They locked eyes for a moment, and then the Doctor sighed. "You're right. Something is bothering me. How did you know?"
"Your alien mental ablities make it difficult for me to read you effectively, I'll admit. Luckily, I also have skills that don't require empathic senses... like the ability to read body language. Ever since the last conference, you've been very tense, withdrawn."
"I have, I admit. I just don't know..."
"Why don't you talk about it? It might help to get it out in the open."
"You must understand, I may not be typical of my race, but if there's one thing I share with the rest of the Time Lords is the reticence to share my feelings. This is very difficult..."
"I understand completely, Doctor. I promise that nothing we discuss will reach anyone else on this ship."
"Thank you, Deanna. It's just that I 'm anxious about going on, and finding Ace."
"Ace?"
"My former companion. She traveled with my previous self. I'm not sure how to explain this... when we parted, it was very bitter. She was very upset at me, and with good reason. You see, I took someone that was very important to her..."
"A man?" The Doctor nodded.
"I took this man she had developed feelings for, and subverted him and those he trusted. I put him directly into danger, and contributed to his eventual demise, because I thought it would benefit the Universe as a whole."
"My previous self was like that, Deanna. He was cold, cruel, manipulative... anything it would take to get the job done. Looking back on it now, in my present, more... sensitive state, I wonder how I could ever be that bad."
Deanna thought for a moment, and spoke.
"Doctor, based on what you've told us about your travels, you tend to rely on your companions a great deal. Maybe, deep down, you didn't want Ace to leave because then you'd be alone."
The Doctor thought for a moment, and nodded. "That may be so. But it still remains that he, or rather, I did that, and it tore Ace apart, hurt her more deeply than I ever imagined, and then she left me."
"I've noticed that you talk like your previous versions are not really you, but separate people."
The Doctor thought about this for a moment, and nodded.
"In a way, they are. I guess you could say that each of my previous versions are different parts of my personality taking center stage. Sometimes, it's not so bad; my third self, for example, was quite the technical wizard. But, other times, like my sixth self, who was a little crazy, and my seventh self, who was this cold, manipulative person..."
The Doctor paused, as if he was gathering the strength to go on, and continued.
"It can be the worst thing in the universe, to have someone like that with so much power. I've often wondered why I have so many totally different incarnations. It might have something to do with the circumstances of regeneration. I'm unique, among Time Lords, in that all of my regenerations have taken place under very extreme duress, and that duress may have a direct impact on these splits in personality."
"And you're worried about Ace because she thinks that your earlier self, the seventh Doctor, is coming to get her?"
"I think so... at least, that's the feeling I got when she was taken. That in her mind, the "Professor"--that's what she called me when we were traveling-- was the only person who could save her."
"And once she finds out that you've regenerated again?"
"I don't know how she will react. She might accept it and not cause too much of a fuss. But, knowing Ace as I do, she'll more than likely not have anything to do with me, since I've changed so much. And that could be a problem, for both of us."
"Well, this is a most interesting situation...", Deanna said, as the lift doors opened, and the counselor and the Time Lord entered the cargo bay.
"But I think you're thinking about it too much. Let things happen as they will... and have a little faith in Ace's ability to adapt, and forgive you for what you've done. Things will work out, I'm sure of it."
The Doctor smiled. "Thank you, Deanna. I guess i just needed someone to tell me that, an outside voice to let me know that I should stop worrying. I appreciate it."
The Doctor looked at his time machine, and waved his hand toward the TARDIS. "Now, then, Counselor Troi, would you like to enter my wondrous time machine?"
"Again, I would be honored, Doctor." Deanna smiled, and entered the TARDIS. The Doctor spoke. "I must warn you, though, Deanna..."
Inside the TARDIS, a gasp was heard, and a exclaimed, "Oh, my goodness!"
"...it's not what you expect." The Time Lord smiled again, as he entered his time machine.
"Hello, Commander Uhura."
Uhura turned around in her chair and smiled at Melissa. "Hello, Melissa. It's good to see you again. You're feeling better, I see."
"Yeah, Doctor McCoy says I've recovered from the time lag enough to move around the ship. He even tofd me that it shouldn't happen again; the Doctor told him that the TARDIS would help me acclimate to each time period as we arrive."
"The TARDIS? The Time Machine, you mean?"
"Yes. It is really a wonderful piece of machinery. The Doctor talks to it as if it's alive... and from what I've seen lately, I think I'm starting to believe him." Melissa smiled. "Where is everybody?"
"You mean the command crew? Captain Kirk is in his study, trying to relax. Scotty is in Engineering, keeping an eye on the engines. Lieutenant Saavik is in meditation, hoping, I think, to contact Spock telepathically..."
"She can do that?"
"I don't know, and frankly, neither does she. But, Spock is half-Vulcan, and as such, is susceptible to telepathic probing. Saavik figured it was worth a shot."
"Half-Vulcan? I didn't know that."
"Yeah, his mother is human. HIs father is Sarek, the great Ambassador to Vulcan. He's getting ready to retire, though; he's quite old, even for a long-lived race like the Vulcans, though not quite as old as your Doctor." Uhura smiled briefly, then continued.
"Spock has been seriously considering taking over for his father when we return to Earth for decommissioning."
Melissa looked shocked. "You mean, this ship is on its last legs? Doesn't look it to me. In fact, it's the most amazing thing outside of the TARDIS that I've ever seen."
Uhura smiled grimly. "Yeah, well, nost of us think so, too. And the Captain isn't quite ready to let the ship go into mothballs just yet, which is why he's so anxious for the Doctor to get back. He's hoping that the Enterprise can get one last shot in before the end. And of course, everybody's trying to keep their thoughts from betraying the hopelessness of the situation..." Uhura couldn't keep the pain out of her voice, and Melissa nodded sympathetically.
"I can understand that completely... Wait; the Doctor isn't back yet?"
"No, he isn't; we've been scanning both internally and externally for the TARDIS's signature for the past two days, but no luck yet." Uhura looked at Melissa for a moment. "Say, there's something I've been meaning to ask you..."
"Yes?"
"You and the Doctor are time-travellers, right?"
"Yes, that's right..." Melissa looked suspicious, as Uhura laughed.
"Oh, I'm not going to ask about my future."
"Good, because I have no idea what your future is. You see, I'm from the past, Commander."
This took Uhura by surprise. "The past, and not the future?"
"Yes... it seems to be the Doctor's favorite pastime, besides solving the mysteries of the Universe and fighting the evils of time and space; picking up human women from Earth's past."
"Where from, if I may ask?"
"Late 20th Century... 1998, to be precise. You already know what the planet is like then."
"Yes, I do... more than I'd like, I think."
Melissa resisted the impulse to ask Uhura about that particular comment and about her own future. *Oh well... if there was anything important going on in my future, the Doctor wouldn't have taken me away, right?* Melissa decided to change the subject.
"Has Lyta been poking around up here lately?"
Uhura thought for a moment. "No, she hasn't... she's mostly been keeping to her quarters, waiting for the Doctor to return, I think."
"Is it just me, or is there something altogether strange about her?"
"I know what you mean. It's as if there was something else on her mind besides the obvious. As if revenge on the Ancient Shadows wasn't her primary motive for being here."
"I know... and if there's anything I've learned in my brief time with the Doctor, it's to be wary of anyone with hidden agendas." Melissa smiled. "You said Captain Kirk is in his study?"
"Right... out that door, and down the hall. Can't miss it." Uhura pointed to a door at the end of the bridge, next to the viewscreen.
"Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. Let me know if you get anything from the Doctor?"
"Sure thing. You'll be the first to know, trust me."
Melissa nodded, smiled again to Uhura, and walked down to the lower level of the bridge, past the conn stations, and entered the door next to the viewscreen. A moment's more walking, and she found herself facing another door. She pressed the touchpad on the side, and upon hearing Kirk's voice yell for her to come in, she entered.
She saw James Kirk sitting in a chair in front of a desk, reading a book. He looked up, saw Melissa, and smiled, taking off his reading glasses.
"Please, Miss Chambers, sit down." He motioned to a chair in front of the desk, and Melissa seated herself. "Bones tells me that you've recovered sufficiently from the time lag symptoms you encountered earlier... that's a relief. I was worried for a little while."
"Thank you for your concern, and please, call me Melissa." Melissa smiled, as Kirk smiled back, "Fine, if you call me Jim."
"Okay, Jim. I just talked to Uhura on the bridge... the Doctor hasn't returned yet."
"Are you worried about that?"
"I really don't know. I haven't been traveling with him that long, so I don't know what to expect. I've learned, though, to keep my eyes and ears open for just about anything."
"I guessed you were from the past, by the way; you seemed so astonished by the ship to be anything else. I've been meaning to ask you: Why did you go with the Doctor in the first place?"
"It's a long story, but for the most part, I wanted to explore the unknown, the Universe, you know, make my mark, that sort of thing. Pretty much the same reason you came out here."
"That's true..." Kirk trailed off, a look of pain crossing his face.
"Thinking of Spock?"
"Yeah, that and the Enterprise. We've been through a lot together, the three of us. I got both of them at the same time, you know. Spock and the ship kind of came together, and they've been pretty much inseparable ever since. And now, to think that they could both be taken away from me so quickly..."
Melissa reached over and touched his hand. "Don't worry, Jim. If there's one thing that I've learned from traveling with the Doctor, it's that you can't give up. The Doctor and I won't stop looking until we find Spock and bring him back to you. You have my word." Melissa smiled.
"Remember, he's got a vested interest in this too." She thought again about Ace, and what she had learned about her and the Doctor, and shook her head. *No... I won't believe what that Master told me, even if the Doctor admitted to it. I'm sure he had a reason for doing what he did.*
Melissa returned her thoughts to Kirk, as the captain spoke wistfully.
"You're right. And besides, he wouldn't leave you here... would he?"
Melissa nodded sharply at that, remembering how the Doctor left Ace... "No. I won't think about that. He's coming back, I know it. And we've got to be ready. If I know the Doctor, he'll have a plan to save everybody." The unspoken words *I hope* passed between them, like a great wave of uncertainty.
"Oh, my goodness!", she repeated again, not quite sure what else to say.
"Not many people can communicate with the TARDIS that way, Deanna. Usually only those who are psi-sensitive or particularly adept mechanically have been able to understand the ship. You should consider yourself fortunate."
"Oh, I do. I sensed a great worry from your ship concerning Ace, Doctor. Was she one of those special people?"
"Yes; she was a natural psi, though not on any really discernible level. Her abilities to communicate with the TARDIS increased over the years she traveled with me."
"She traveled with you for years? Many years?" Deanna spoke as they exited the cargo bay and went out into the corridor.
"Yes, off and on since she was seventeen years old. She came to me rather spectacularly, as I recall. As the song goes, she was 'working as a waitress in a cocktail bar' when I found her."
"Song?"
The Doctor was about to reply when he thought better of it. "Never mind; it's an old and particularly uninteresting tune." He began to recount the adventure on Iceworld to Deanna, and as they reached the lift, the Betazoid was laughing.
"Ace certainly seems like a character, Doctor."
"That she is, Deanna. She once told me that the things she cared about most in the world were loyalty, street cred, and high explosives, in that order."
"Why did she decide to travel with you, Doctor?"
"You know, I asked her that once, too. She said that the main reasons were that she felt I needed someone to look after me, and because we both fought for pretty much the same principles."
Deanna paused, as the lift doors opened. "I see."
They came to the bridge, and as the Doctor spotted Riker right away, he moved down to the first officer.
"Hello again, Commander. I trust everything is working well?"
"Yes, Doctor. Is the TARDIS fully operational?"
"Fit as a fiddle, Commander. Is the Captain about?"
"He's in the ready room, waiting for you. I told him you would be along to get him shortly."
"Very well, then. We won't be a moment." The Doctor began to salute, again thought better of it, and instead moved over to the ready room door. As he heard the clipped British tones of Captain Picard allow him to enter, he walked into the room to find the Enterprise commanding officer poring over a screen.
"Hello, Doctor. I was just looking over information in our databanks on you. You do seem to get around."
"I've had almost a thousand years of travel time, Jean-Luc. Anything in particular strike you as interesting?"
"Well, many things. The most interesting is the information that you, or someone very much like you, was an 'unpaid scientific advisor' to an organization known as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce during the latter part of the 20th Century."
The Doctor reacted to this information with a small grin.
"Ah, then the UNIT files on me have finally been declassified. That was my third life, Jean-Luc. I was tried by my people, involuntarily forced to regenerate, and exiled to Earth during the 1970's. Very interesting time, that was. All kinds of alien activity and paranormal stuff hanging about."
"Tried? What for?"
"Crimes against the statutes of the Time Lords forbidding interference in other times. Their rules are much like your own Prime Directive, I gathered from your records."
"Yes, that may be true. You're telling me that you don't believe in these kinds of directives?"
"Oh, no, not at all; I think they work quite well most of the time. It's just the other times that bother me."
"Other times? You mean like when other extraterrestrial activity poses damage to the conventional timeline?"
"Exactly. Mind you, on the surface, the Time Lords may seem like a 'well perfect' lot, as Ace would say, but they can also break their own rules. In actuality, for all their advanced technology and near-immortal lifespans, they're much like the rest of the civilized Galaxy; insufferably corrupt and morally bankrupt."
"Have they done anything to affect Earth in any way? I was just thinking that they might have had something to do with all of this."
The Doctor frowned as he thought about this, remembering again the movement of the Earth and renaming into Ravolox in the far future, instigated by the Time Lords and discovered during his second Trial.
"It's certainly possible that they might have somehow pushed the Devidians into thier situation, but I doubt it. It doesn't look like they have anything to gain from it." But, then again, the Doctor reasoned, they really didn't have anything to gain from the Ravolox incident, either. He really hoped he was right; he wasn't too keen on facing down the Time Lords again. The times he had, he had come very close to death, final death.
"I understand, Doctor. Commander Riker told me that you were completing final checks on the TARDIS with Counselor Troi."
"Yes, I thought Deanna would be of help in communicating with the TARDIS on a more telepathic level, and besides, she seemed to enjoy the experience of working with such a vastly different intelligence."
"Yes, that is one of her gifts, something that has assisted me many times in the past. So, are we ready to go? I don't want to waste any more time..."
"Of course, mon capitaine. Right this way." The Doctor noticed the frown on the captain's face. "Is there something wrong, Jean-Luc?"
"Oh, no... it's just the French. It reminded me of someone I haven't heard from in a while."
"Really? Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"
"I never really know with Q. I wonder if he's got anything to do with this..." Picard's mind lept, unbidden, to his memories of the Borg invasion, and Q's part in it. *More now than ever, I hope I never have to face those hideous monsters again.* he thought with great resolve, as he followed the Doctor out into the bridge.
Once on the bridge, Picard turned to Riker. "Number One, we're off. You have the bridge. Keep her in one piece for me."
Riker understood the hidden message in his captain's inocuous remark: *If this gets hairy, get the hell out of here.* "Understood, sir. Be careful."
Picard nodded, understanding the first officer's concern. "I will. We'll get Data back, I promise."
The unspoken *Or die trying* passed between all on the bridge, and all accepted it as part of their duty. Their captain, the finest man any of them had ever known, was going away, and he might not be coming back. As Picard and the Doctor left the bridge, Riker, as he had many times over the past several days, wished he had objected a little bit more to the Doctor's plan. There were so many obstacles, so many little things that could go wrong...
Artwork by Robert Sankner, Copyright 1997
Cris Lawrence, alias Doc8 on Dalnet, is a 20-year-old sophomore Political Science student at Miami University of Ohio. In addition to this story, he is currently working on two other Eighth Doctor stories: "Picture of Guilt", featuring the first adventure of Melissa Chambers and the Doctor; and "The Play's the Thing", which, with some revision, will hopefully become his first published New Adventure sometime in 1998. Cris is also a fan of the DC Comics character The Flash, and you can see the culmination of his obsession on his Scarlet Speedster Web Page