From: eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse)
Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative
Subject: The Three Doctors, part 2
Date: 8 Dec 1992 17:52:42 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Lines: 225
Reply-To: eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu



	The Doctor immediatly opened his eyes as the door swung open.  Al
entered, this time without the gun, and pulled up a chair and sat behind
the desk.  Peri had sat up from where she was an dcame to the Doctor's side
when the door pened so they both were facing Al.  Al looked at them, trying
to figure out how much he could tell them.  The Doctor saved him many
minutes of anguished thought.

	"Whoever developed that time machine of yours is a genius.  I would
very much like to meet him.  I take it that would be Dr. Beckett," he said,
pointing to the Time Magazine cover.  The Doctor his a smile at Al's
quickly masked astonished expression and continued.  "However, there seems
to be some problems with it.  You don't seem to have any control of where
the traveller is going and the program to bring the person travelling back
to his own time doesn't seem to be working like it should.  I could be
wrong, after all, I didn't have much time to look at it, but it seems to be
slightly off.  If you like, I could fix it for you."

	Al jumped to his feet and leaned forward over the desk, eyes
locking with the Doctor's.  Words he had been hoping to hear from Gooshie
for years coming from a complete stranger was not what he had expected. 
Stewart had warned him things would get weird, but this was unbelievable. 
And how had he figured out what was wrong after what could only have been a
few minutes inspection time?  "Just exactly who are you?" he demanded, his
voice a very real threat.  If this man though to imtimidate Admiral Albert
Calavicci, he had another thing coming.

	"Well, I'm generally known as the Doctor, as I'm sure the Brigadier
told you," he answered, correctly guessing that Al had check up on him. 
"And this is Perpugilliam Brown, otherwise known as Peri," He said as he
pointed to the girl who smiled shyly.  "And we really didn't mean to land
here, but since we did, I though I might be able to help you out."  The
Doctor gave the Admiral on of those smiles that could (almost) win over a
Dalek.  It (almost) won over the Admiral.

	"How do you know so much about what's going on here?" Al asked.  He
was not, but nature, a very suspicious person, but life had taught him
differently.  Al was also very good at judging people and this young,
innocent looking man was definitely not what he appeared to be.  What had
Stewart not told him?

	"Well, I did give your computer a quick look.  Marvelous piece of
machinery, by the way, and it seemed to have a small glitchin it."  The
Doctor smiled again, in a mysterious sort of way, it seemed to Al.  "I do
know a thing or two about time travel and machines that are tempermental." 
That made Peri chuckle.  "Well I do," he said, turning to her with a hurt
expression in his face.  "It's not my fault that the TARDIS brought us
here."

	"You said you were going to show me the most restful spot in the
universe and instead you bring me back to my own planet."  Peri had a
disgusted look on her face.  When she had asked the Doctor if she could
travel with him, she had thought she was going to see the wonders of the
universe, not earth.  "I don't think you meant earth, Doctor."

	Al's eyebrows shot up at this.  "You mean you're not from earth?! 
You sound Englis to me and I know she's an American."

	"I am," answered Peri.  "I live in New York ... usually.  The
Doctor's from ... Where are you from, Doctor?" Peri asked, suddenly
realizing she didn't know.

	"Somewhere else," the Doctor answered.  Al looked puzzled at the
short answer.  "Now, would you like me to help you fix your computer, or do
you want to stay here and argue all day?"  The Doctor had stood to face Al
and patiently waited for an answer, hands thrust in his pockets.

	The Doctor turned as the door behind him opened and Verbena walked
in.  'Too late, Verbena' Al thought, 'Things got weird the minute I walked
in the door.'

	The Doctor smiled at her and held out a hand.  "Hello.  I'm the
Doctor," he said pleasantly.

	"Doctor of what?" Verbena asked him.  She had been so stunned by
what she was hearing that she had forgotten that Al had asked for a rescue.

	The Doctor smiled at the woman.  "Practically everything," he said.
Verbena smiled back, shaking her head at his imp-like behavior.  She had
been observing him quite closely and believed everything he had told the
Admiral.  Now all she had to do was convince Al that the Doctor could help.

	"All right, Doctor," said Al.  "Let's just suppose for a minute
that I believe what you're telling me.  Do you really think you can fix
Ziggy and bring Sam back to 2002?"  Al had a worried expression on his face
that he hadn't allowed the Doctor to see earlier.  "We have to get him back
soon, before he does something that he shouldn't."

	"We're in the year 2002?" Peri asked.  She had a surprised
expression on her face.

	"Of course," Al answered her.  "What year did you think it was?"

	"I thought it was 1985.  At least, that's what year it was when we
left Sarn, wasn't it, Doctor?"

	"It was 1985 when we left earth.  That lurch was the TARDIS being
dragged into this year, and it shouldn't have happened."  The Doctor turned
to Al.  "You'll have to forgive my young friend.  She's not used to time
travel yet."

	"Neither am I," Al said to himself, causing the Doctor to raist an
amused eyebrwo.

	"Who's Ziggy?  And what do you mean 'before he does something he
shouldn't?'" asked Peri remembering what htey had been talking about before
they got off on this tangent.

	"First question: Ziggy's our computer, or actually, she's Sam's
computer.  And be nice to her; she has an ego that won't quit an can be
rather tempermental.  Second: Sam's Leaped into a peson who works at NASA. 
Unfortunately, he thinks he's there to stop the Challenger from exploding
and he's not.  We don't fix the big things.  It could cause to much damage
to time.  He's there to help his host's daughter pass a big medical exam. 
He wants to stop the shuttle from going up and there's not much we can do
to stop him from trying."

	The Doctor had an intent look on his face.  "What do you mean by
host?  Isn't Dr. Beckett traveling though time physically?"  At least he
could not figure out why he was here.  The Time Lords must have diverted
the TARDIS to make sure the Web of Time was not disrupted by Dr. Beckett.

	"It's a bit complicated," Al answered.  "Come with me, Doctor, I'll
show you some of Sam's research.  Perhaps you can figure out what he was
trying to do before he Leaped.  Have you ever heard of the string theory of
time travel?"  Al and the Doctor walked out the door, leaving Peri and
Verbena looking after them; astonished expression on both their faces.

 
	"What does he man about he shuttle exploding?" Peri asked Verbena. 
Peri had seen one of the earliest launches of the shuttle and had really
enjoyed it and thought it was one of the most beauiful sights she had ever
seen.  The thought of one of the shuttles crashing was horrifying and she
hoped that th Doctor would try to stop it from happening, no matter what
the Admiral had said about not changing the big things.

	"I'll explain as we walk," she said.  "I'll show you around a bit
and then show you where you'll be staying whil you're here."  Peri followed
Verbena out the door.  "Most of the Project is controlled from these
rooms," she told Peri as she led her into the Control Room.  "What is
that?" she asked before she could start explaining about the time travel
experiment that had gone wrong and what they were trying to stop Sam from
doing.
	Verbena looked at the TARDIS which now stood right next to Ziggy's
main control panel.  She looked around the room for Al or the Doctor and
saw neither of them.  "Al!" she called out, still looking at the police
box.  "That's strange," she said after waiting for an answer to her call
that never came.  "I assumed that he was bringing the Doctor here."

	Peri noticed that the door to the TARDIS had been left ajar.  "He
probably did," she told Verbena.  "They're in the TARDIS."  Verbena looked
at the younger woman skeptically.  "Honest," Peri answered the look.  "Come
on, I'll show you."  She opened the door a little wider and gestured for
Verbena to enter.  The older woman gave her a look that said she was just
humoring Peri.  After Verbena entered, Peri started to chuckle, remembering
how shocked she had been the first time she had realized the difference
between the outside appearance of the TARDIS and the actual size inside.

	Verbena stood in the control room of the TARDIS looking around in
sheer disbelief.  "This isn't possible," she whispered.  "She circled the
contorl counsel, looking but not touching anything.  If nothing else, she
had learned to be extrememly careful around strange equipment since Sam had
brought her into the Project.  Peri left her looking at the controls and
went through the inner door, looking for the Doctor and Al.

	Verbena had just gotten up the courage to head for the inner door
when Al, followed by a smiling Peri and Doctor, literally burst into the
room.  "'Bena, you are not going to believe this place."  Al was
practically bubbling and for a minute reminded her of Sam when he had
solved a problem that had been bothering him.  "There are more room back
there than at the Pentagon.  The Doctor also thinks he may have figured out
a way to get Sam back, but he's going to have to talk to Sam."
	"Al, you remember what happend the _last_ time Sam had to hear
someone talk.  I don't think we need to have the govenor on our case
again."  Verbena was referring to the statewide power outage that had
occured whe Sam had Leaped into a rape victim and he had needed to hear her
for the trial.

	"I don't need to use your equipment for htis," the Doctor cut into
the conversation.  "I'll go in my TARDIS."

	"Doctor, are you sure you'll be able to go where you want?" Peri
asked him.

	"Of course, Peri."  The Doctor looked hurt at the look of disbelief
he saw on the face of his young companion.  "When it's important, the
TARDIS always knows where she' going."  Peri's expression was one of total
disbelief but she quickly masked it so that Verbena na d Al couldn't see
it.  It would be no use if they had any doubts in the Doctor's abilities.

	"Come along, Admiral," the Doctor said, turning back to the main
problem.  "Show me when and where Dr. Beckett is and I'll see what Ican do
about getting him back."

	"I'll have to show you who he is as well, Doctor," Al was sayng as
he an dthe Doctor left the TARDIS.  Peri just shrugged her shoulders and
moved to follow them out.

	"The Doctor can control this thing, can't he?" Verbena asked Peri
and the two of them left the TARDIS.

	"It seems to go where he wants it to, but Turlough told me it
sometimes goes where it shouldn't.  We weren't supposed to be here, for
example."  Peri looked thoughtful for a minute.  "Don't worry, I'm sure the
Doctor knows what he's doing."  Verbena didn't look convinced, but let it
pass.

	"Who is Turlough?" She asked, trying to change the subject to
something a little less frightening.

	"He travelled with the Doctor before I did."  The two were walking
towads the complex's guest quarters while Peri told Verbena about her first
trip in the TARDIS.


to be continued......


  
-- 
             Beth Hlabse    eah4@po.CWRU.Edu     Assistant Sysop
                The Science Fiction and Fantasy Sig (GO SCIFI)
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