From: eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse) Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: The Three Doctors, Part 9 Message-ID: <1jf85uINN4o6@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> Date: 18 Jan 93 21:41:18 GMT Reply-To: eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse) Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Lines: 165 NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu Sam entered the TARDIS, looking around for the Doctor's tools and saw them on the control counsel sitting right next to the lever that controlled the door. As he reached up for the tools, he hit the lever and the doors closed behind him. Sam was startled, but not worried. He had done that any number of times while helping the Doctor and knew that there wasn't a problem getting the doors open again. But when he reached for the lever, one of the tools dropped out of the bag and it landed on the take-off switch of the TARDIS. Sam watched, fascinated, as the column in the middle of the counsel began to slowly move in and upa dn down motion, the rods lighting up in an almost recognizable pattern. It was then that Sam realized what had happened. "Oh boy," he whispered. "Al's going to kill me this time for sure." Sam watched the comumn, mesmerized by the action there and wondered where and when he was going to land. The Doctor hadn't told him if the controls were set for a specific time and place or if they were on a random setting. He thought he knew how to program the TARDIS; he was pretty sure he had picked up that much from watching the Doctor work, he had just hoped that he would never have to test his theories. Sam decided right away that he wasn't going to attempt it while the TARDIS was in flight, but as soon as it landed, he would attempt to program it for Earth in the correct time. Maybe if he was lucky he would get back before anyone realized he was gone. Then again, maybe he would be trapped traveling through space and time and the Doctor and Peri would be trapped on Earth. ********** Al pulled into the parking lot, a large grin on his face and a matching one on Peri's. Al got out of the car almost before he turned the motor off and gallantly iopened the door for Peri and helped her out of the car. "Coming, my little lucky charm?" he said with a smile, kissing her hand before he released it. "But of course, big spender," Peri answered with a smile of her own. She was now dressed in a blue dress that showed off her figure to perfection, just as Al had known it would. Both had had an extremely satisfying weekend. Al had won big time at the tables, especially when Peri had been at his side. It was because of his large winnings that Peri had literaly stuffed the trunk of his car full of new cloths. She was just glad that the TARDIS was so big, because she was going to need a lot of room for her new wardrobe. They walked arm in arm into the complex, heading towards the lab where they knew the Doctor and Sam would be hard at work on the TARDIS. They had just rounded a corner when Al noticed that the door to the Accerlerator Chamber was wide open and he could hear noices coming from inside. His heart in his throat, he let go of Peri and dached for the room, expecting to see Sam in a permasuit getting ready to Leap. Much to his relief, all he saw was teh Doctor poking around in one of the side panels. He looked around, expecting to see Sam somewhere in the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Sam, Doctor?" Al asked, the worry coming back into his voice. Perhaps Sam had already Leaped. "Hhmmm? Oh, hello, Admiral. Hi, Peri," he said to the young girl who had just entered teh chamber. "He just went down to the TARDIS to get some tools that I need. I think this will do for a temporary replacement for the vacuum tube." "None of the tubes you had worked?" Peri asked, getting her first really close look at the Accelerator. "Afraid not, Peri. Did you have a good time in Vegas?" the Doctor asked absently, his attention going back to what he had been working on. "Fantastic!" Peri answered, but then noticed that the Doctor wasn't paying any attention to her. "I'll go see if I can help Dr. Beckett." Peri left the chamber and walked down the hall and was rather surprised to find out that the TARDIS had been removed from the main computer room. 'Well, he could have at least told me where he moved the TARDIS to before I came here,' Peri thought as she headed back to the Accelerator. "Doctor, where's the TARDIS?" she asked as she re-entered the room. "In the Control Room down the hall, Peri, where it's been ever since we got here," the Doctor answered, turning to look at her. "You've only been gone a few days, Peri. You couldn't have forgotten." "It's not there, Doctor." Peri noticed the worried look that had suddenly appeared on Al's face. "And neither is Dr. Beckett." The two men in front of her looked at each other suddenly and then made a mad dash for the Control Room. When they got there, they stopped dead, looking at the place where the TARDIS had stood only minutes before. They turned and looked at each other again, identical expressions on their faces and then, in unison, they said, "Oh, boy!" ********** "I just knew it!" Al's yelling had brought more than half the staff that had arrived for work to the Control Room to find out what the problem was. "I should never have left him here with you and that damned machine of yours. At least when he was Leaping there was a way to get in contact with hi, but how do we make contact with a machine that could be anywhere and anywhen?!" The Doctor watched calmly as Al paced up and down, waving his hands and generally making a spectacle of himself. "Admiral, there is nothing we can do right now. What I would like to know is how he managed to get the TARDIS to leave." The Doctor had started to pace, unthinkingly mimicking Al's movements. "He shouldn't have been able to do that, no matter what he might have accidentally hit." "You wre showing him how the damn thing worked so it's your fault, not mine." Al was bristling. "My fault, Admiral? How could it possibly be my fault?" The Doctor was getting uncharicteristically angry. Peri was backing up, frightened of the anger that was flowing between the two men. She had never seen the Doctor so upset and she realized that he was scaring her. "You allowed Sam to help you and I bet you even explained every damn thing you were doing as you did so." The Doctor nodded slowly, not understanding what the Admiral was getting at. "Sam has a photographic memory, Doctor, and he's been more than a little interested in that damned TARDIS of your ever since you got him back. Hell, it's probably like a dream come true for him." Al dropped into a chair, hands buried in his hands. Peri came over and wrapped her arms around Al from behind, offering what comfort she could. Al leaned back until his head lay against Peri's chest, his hands holding hers as tears began to form in his eyes. He had just gotten his friend back and to lose him now was hurting more than he wanted to admit to himself, or anyone else. Peri lay a soft kiss on Al's head as she watched the Doctor pace. She wanted to help the Admiral and the Doctor, but she didn't even know where to start. "Is tehre anything you can do, Doctor?" Peri asked, feeling Al's pain and missing Sam. She hadn't realized how much she liked Dr. Beckett and had gotten used to hearing him and the Doctor talking about the TARDIS and time travel. She felt Al's grip on her hands tighten slightly and held on to him a little more firmly, hoping to pass some of her strength on to him. The Doctor shook his head. "If I had teh homing beacon, I may be able to locate him, but that still wouldn't enable me to contact him and tell him how to get back here." Al looked up, emotion barely held in check behind his dark eyes. "What about the neuro-link he and I have? Ziggy?" he called out to the computer. YES, ADMIRAL CALAVICCI, came the computer's calm voice. "Would you be able to center me on Dr. Beckett in the Imaging Chamber?" Al didn't hold out much hope, but any port in a storm. NO, ADMIRAL. THE LINK ONLY WORKS IF DR. BECKETT IS TRAVELING USING HIS THEORIES. THE QUANTUM ENERGY IS A VITAL PART OF THE LINK. Ziggy sounded sad. 'Missing daddy,' Al thought. "Isn't there anything we can do?" Peri asked, he own voice choking. She hated seeing the hurt expressions of the faces of both Al and the Doctor. It was now that she realized how much the TARDIS mean to the Doctor. Only silence answered her from the Doctor and Al's ragged breath as he fought to control the emotion he was feeling. to be continued..... -- Beth Hlabse eah4@po.CWRU.Edu Assistant Sysop The Science Fiction and Fantasy Sig (GO SCIFI) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If all the beasts were gone man would die from a great lonliness of the spirit.