The Legend of Gallifrey ~ [Doctor Who]

Part 9 | Secret of the Daleks

The Last Great Time War had been taking a toll on the Doctor, if he could still call himself that. Not only had his hair recently finished transitioning to gray, but he'd also grown a beard. He'd been subconsciously trimming it and shaving around it over the last few years. It was the first time in his long, long life that he'd had a beard for any extended period of time.

Of course, time was the key thing here. This war was being fought all across it, making it seem like a literal eternity to the people of the universe. They were calling this the Last Great Time War, which seemed rather strange to the Doctor. It wasn't great at all. The Doctor had been forced to kill more people than he'd ever had to before. This war had turned him into something he never wanted to be, and he wasn't sure how he could live with this, if he ever survived.

He sat in his TARDIS, on his way back from the battle of the Hand of Omega to Arcadia, the capital of Gallifrey. Even through all this, the noise of the TARDIS still remained the same. It almost annoyed him, that the TARDIS could remain the same while he couldn't.

The noise suddenly stopped, and the TARDIS became eerily silent. The Doctor (no, not the Doctor anymore) stood up. He could still sense the Vortex outside the TARDIS walls, but they were not moving through it any more. They were simply floating.

He walked over to the console, flipping a switch and yanking a lever. The TARDIS started up again, heading for Gallifrey. Was that a simple glitch, or something worse?

He suddenly got a feeling in his gut, like he was going to be sick. Something in the TARDIS was giving off something that contradicted time. Had it stowed away during the battle? The only way to find out was to enlist the Time Lord's help.

The TARDIS materialized in the war control room, and the Doctor stepped out (Why did he keep thinking of himself as the Doctor? He wasn't anymore). The General ran over to him.

"Doctor!" he said. "I take it the battle of the Hand was successful?"

"Stop calling me the Doctor."

"What shall we call you then?"

"John Smith will do for now."

The General nodded.

"I need your help with something," said the Doctor. "Something's in my TARDIS, and I need you to find it."

The General walked over to the control station and pressed a button. Immediately, the station shorted out and began beeping loudly. The General flew backwards and landed on his back on the floor.

"Wh... what was that?" John asked.

"Whatever is inside your TARDIS is resistant to our scanners," the General told him, as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"But Time Lord scanners can detect anything," said John. "That's impossible."

The General shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you should get someone else's help. I can give you the time signature of the Time Lord who owned the TARDIS before it was in the repair shop."

It had never occurred to John that the TARDIS had had a previous owner, but now it seemed like a 'no-duh' sort of idea.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"A Time Lady by the name of Linina. She now lives a few hundred miles outside the city, and last I heard she was refusing to fight. She's an old lady on her last regeneration, so I guess it would make sense."

John opened the door to the TARDIS, then stopped and turned around towards the General.

"I'm sorry General, but I never asked your name," he said.