The Legend of Gallifrey ~ [Doctor Who]

Part 8 | Reign of the Voord

Everything was normal until the iPad bleeped.

The Doctor wasn't entirely sure what it was, exactly. It looked like an iPad, but it had either had some serious reprogramming and repainting done, or it was from some alternate future or something along those lines.

It had been given to him at the end of the universe by the mysterious M, who had promptly vanished and reappeared several times since, but seemingly never in the right order. The last time she had met the Doctor had been when his seventh form entered the paradox. The Doctor's memory ended there.

But the iPad supposedly contained an important message from M, and it had waited until now to open, even though the Doctor had had this body for quite a while. The bleep seemed to signify that it was unlocking, and the Doctor's hypothesis quickly proved to be correct.

After the bleep, a small TARDIS appeared on the screen. It was the normal color, but the rest of the screen was white. The screen stayed that way for a few seconds, then the TARDIS disappeared and a list of files appeared.

The very top one was titled 'READ FIRST- list of files and instructions for using device' so the Doctor opened it up and began to read.

I can already tell that you will be tempted to read these out of order, but it is vital to time that you follow these instructions. The second file is a set of coordinates. Go to them. After a file is used, it will be deleted. When the tablet beeps, open the next file

-M

Simple and to the point. The Doctor opened the second file and typed in the coordinates, and the TARDIS materialized.

The Doctor put the tablet in his pocket and stepped out the door into a large clearing of red grass and trees filled with red leaves. The Doctor recognized it instantly: Gallifrey.

The TARDIS had materialized in the center of the clearing. Behind it stood a tall metal structure with flames flailing off the top like hair in the wind. A man was running from the structure towards the Doctor with his arms flailing and his mouth moving, but the Doctor couldn't hear him over the wind and the crackling of the fire.

The man, while continuing to run, pointed behind the Doctor. He turned around to see someone wearing all black disappear into the woods, seemingly carrying something. He thought he recognized it, but whatever it was he didn't have enough time to identify it.

The man slowed to a stop next to the Doctor, panting profusely.

"Why did you let that monstrosity go?" the man demanded. "It stole my research! That was vital to the future of my people!"

"Sorry, I'm kind of new here," said the Doctor. "You may have seen my craft just materialize? Yeah, I don't know anything about what's going on. I'm the Doctor, by the way."

The man gave him a look. "Yes, I saw your craft appear. That is why it is all the more important that my research is retrieved. I recognized that sound, it was the sound of my experimental time machine. You're from our future, right? The future of Gallifrey? That future won't exist anymore if we can't catch that creature!"

As one would expect, this definitely caught the Doctor's attention. "What was it?" he asked.

"It called itself Voord," the man said. "It demanded all my research on time travel and cellular regeneration, then burnt down my Foundry. It must be stopped!"

Foundry... time travel... cellular regeneration... those three words had one thing in common: a name. And the Doctor did not want to run in to the owner of that name again.

The name was Rassilon.

This man in front of the Doctor was Rassilon, the alleged creator of time travel and the man who gifted himself and all other Time Lords with the gift of regeneration. He was also a psychopath who, when the Doctor had last seen him, had been left in an alternate universe with a blobby weasel creature called the Kro'ka.