The Legend of Gallifrey ~ [Doctor Who]

Part 5 | The Paradox Effect

The TARDIS materialized in a marketplace that was filled with aliens, everything from Draconians to Tivolians. It appeared around a corner and out of sight, so the Doctor could step out of the TARDIS without getting weird looks.

He turned out into the main selling area, looking out across the crowd and recognizing every species he saw and every item on every stand. He turned towards a side alley and stepped in between the buildings, his feet on auto pilot. He'd been down this way every month since he'd left Gallifrey, but something was different. It was noisier, and the Doctor found out why in a second.

Several people clad in dark clothes ran by. One at the end stopped for a second and grabbed his arm, pulling him down the corridor towards the HQ.

HQ was a big place filled with consoles and yelling people. In the center of it all was a chair with a multitude of buttons, for the commander of the outpost, which was pointed at an incredibly tall screen, with the words 'Time Agency' written in blocky letters across the top.

The Doctor had met the Time Agents almost immediately after he and Susan had left Gallifrey. They told him that they were from Gallifrey's future, and had implored him not to ask any more questions, and he had obliged.

The person who'd grabbed his arm, a human woman with long black hair, pulled him over to one of the consoles which was manned by a Draconian male in more black attire. The Time Agency liked black.

"This is him, the one I told you about," said the woman.

"The one with the celery?" The Draconian asked. "Ah, yes, I see it is. Hello, Doctor, nice to meet you. I'm Kron, and this is Mya."

"Yes, good. Well, nice to meet you too," said the Doctor. "What was it you lot needed my help with?"

"Ah, yes," said Kron. He typed something on his console, and an image of fifteen galaxies appeared on the big screen. "These are the known galaxies, as I'm sure you're aware," he typed something else, and a large black dot appeared in the middle of them all. "We detected this about a month ago, surrounding your home planet of Gallifrey. It hasn't done anything as of yet, but about a week ago it did."

He typed something else on his console, and the dot grew larger. "It's expanding," he said. "And we have no idea what it will do to the universe. Likely destroy it. We need your help in stopping it."

The Doctor nodded. "And why here?" he asked.

"We discovered that whatever this is ought to still be dormant around Gallifrey, so after careful examination we traced whatever was amplifying it to here. Whatever it is is on this planetoid, causing the universe to be destroyed."

The screen fizzled right on cue, and a figure in a hood appeared on it. It began to talk in a strained voice.

"This message is transmitting to all points in the universe who are under threat by the force that is threatening to consume the galaxy, whoever it was said. His voice was very deep, obviously warped by software. "It is my doing. I wish for only one thing: the surrender of the creature known as the Doctor, and I will tell the force to recede."

Mya and Kron looked at him, as did everyone else in the control room. The Doctor look a shaky breath.

"Looks like you're now the universe's most wanted," said Kron.

The Doctor nodded. "I need you two's help to find this person. You said he should be on this planet?"

Kron typed something quickly. "Yes... the signal is somewhere in the market. Mya and I can help you find it, I'll send the signal to your sonic screwdriver."

The Doctor's screwdriver beeped, and Kron got up from his post. The Doctor turned and ran back down the way he'd come, and Kron and Mya followed behind him.