[oncoming_storms] - Air
Title: Time-crossed
Part: 3/3
Prompt: Air (oncoming_storms)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3867
Other parts: Part 1 / Part 2
Everyone was thrown off their feet and into various walls and sections of floor. C’rizz hit his head--they all must have, as hard as they landed--but being exoskeletal came in handy in situations like this. The wind--whatever it was--didn’t stop, but C’rizz fought against it to pull himself up, sliding across the floor toward one of the doors. He grabbed the side of it, pushing it in an attempt to force it closed.
The wind was too strong --he needed his footing so he could put his weight into it. Charley, the Doctors, and Lucie were all yelling in the background, but he ignored them for now, focusing on getting a strong grip on the knob and side of the door so he could pull himself up properly despite the resistance.
It took a moment, but finally C’rizz was able to force the door shut. The wind stopped the second he did, all the doors suddenly shutting.
“Done with your games yet?” called one of the Doctors as the others began to pick themselves up off the floor.
“Or at least ready to take credit for them?” the other Doctor added.
Everyone covered their ears as a piercing scream filled the room in response.
“Ohhh, I don’t think it liked that,” one Doctor said.
“No, it didn’t, did it? I’ll have to keep that in mind for future wind assaults.”
“Yes, it does seem rather likely to bring out an answer. Right about now, I would guess.”
Even as the Doctor spoke, the deadlocked door came open and the scream--with the wind--came blasting through it, knocking them all right back off their feet.
This time, however, it stopped as suddenly as it had begun, and the deadlocked door slammed shut.
“So much for that,” Charley muttered as she picked herself up again, dusting off her clothing.
“And here I was thinking you had a plan,” Lucie added to the Doctors, groaning as she got up. Her wig slid off in the process. She swore. “Why can’t anything go right today?”
“It’s all right, Lucie. I doubt it will make much of a difference now.”
Lucie raised an eyebrow at the Doctor who had spoken. “Why not?”
All three companions knew better than to expect an answer. There was a gleam in that Doctor’s eyes now that they knew all too well. “Look at the door.”
The three turned their heads to find that the deadlocked door was open again--but only a crack this time.
“Perhaps if we tried this in a civilized manner?” that Doctor said...to the doorway? “I’m the Doctor. This is also the Doctor. And here we have Charley, Lucie, and C’rizz. Nice to make your acquaintance. Assuming you’re done manipulating timelines, that is.”
In response, wind again came blasting through the door, but it was lighter this time, shrill and faintly shrieking...with words?
You should not be here.
“No, we shouldn’t be, should we?” said the other Doctor. “But since you were so insistent on bringing us here--insistent enough to throw off my timeline, I might add--I think the least you could do is to tell us why we’re here.”
The voice on the wind was more insistent this time. You should not be here.
“Why does it keep saying that if it’s the one who brought us here?” Charley asked softly.
As if in response, the door on the other side of the room blew open. C’rizz raised an eyebrow, the sight giving him an idea. “Perhaps that’s not what it means,” he suggested. “What if it means that we shouldn’t be in this room, with it?”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s what it’s getting at,” said one Doctor, rather grimly. The ball of string identified him as Lucie’s--not to mention his cravat was skewed from the fall, making them easier to tell apart. “But we’ve found you now, so even if you force us out, we’ll just come back in. And you already know it.”
A scream came through the door, accompanied by a gust of wind that knocked everyone but C’rizz off their feet.
“Is there any way we could have this conversation without upsetting the whatever-it-is that’s creating the wind?” Lucie asked grumpily as the gust died down. She pulled herself up, dusting off again.
“Agreed,” Charley added. She and Lucie seemed to be bonding over mutual complaints as well now.
“But we’re finally making some progress!” the proper Doctor protested as he got up, adjusting his cravat.
“And what do we know that we didn’t before it started knocking us over?” Lucie shot back.
“A great deal, actually,” interrupted Lucie’s Doctor, that gleam still in his eyes. “Except not what this creature would be able to do with us if we hadn’t made it to this room.”
“Which is, incidentally, what it must have brought us here for,” the proper Doctor added. “Care to enlighten us at all?” he called to the doorway.
The companions braced themselves for another attack, but the wind that came through the door was gentle again.
Leave this place, and you will understand.
“Before or after you use some unpleasant method of ending our lives? Or making us your slaves? Or whatever it is you might have in mind. If you really expect us to listen and go back into that maze, you’ll have to give us a better reason than that.” The Doctor’s gaze was stony now.
No response came from the doorway.
Everyone was quiet for a moment, waiting. Charley and Lucie both headed toward the walls, bracing themselves just in case.
Meanwhile, the Doctors turned to each other.
“Which do you think it is? I’m leaning toward our deaths for some nefarious purpose known only to this being,” the proper Doctor said.
Lucie’s Doctor nodded thoughtfully. “I imagine it must be something like that. But are our deaths really the aim, or is death just a byproduct of something else it wishes to accomplish?”
“You mean you don’t think it’s manipulating our timeline as a way of getting rid of us?”
“If it really had that in mind, choosing two of the same me from such close times isn’t really a very effective way of doing it. But you could be right. It could lack the skills to do anything but a short-term change.”
“And yet the change has still allowed both of us to exist in this place.”
“You noticed that, did you?”
“Well, I rather think I would’ve noticed if you’d suddenly disappeared.”
“But time is in flux now, which could allow two conflicting timelines to coexist until they resolve themselves.”
“Or there could simply still be a way for me to get out of here and back on track, and if that happened, there would be nothing to prevent you from-”
The proper Doctor was cut off by a scream so loud and shrill that they all had to cover their ears. Another burst of wind howled through the room, only strong enough to slam the door in the back shut again.
“Looks like it gave up on coaxing us back into the maze,” Lucie’s Doctor said, smiling faintly.
You must stop. You must stop NOW!
“Why, exactly?” asked the proper Doctor. “Getting too close to the truth, are we?”
The howling wind abruptly turned into a roar, sending them sprawling on the ground yet again.
“Doctor, I thought you were supposed to be good at reasoning with these things!” Lucie yelled in protest from where she was now lying on her stomach by the wall. The wind refused to let up this time, and she obviously didn’t think it was worth trying to pull herself up against it.
“Yes, well, sometimes other tactics produce better results,” the Doctor replied airily.
It was at almost exactly that instant that the wind began to carry words again.
I will CONSUME you all!
“Like that. Now we know its goal!”
“But what does it mean?” Charley protested. “What is it?”
All those thoughts, that power--that limitless energy! You think it is a joke, a toy to be played with. You waste it and squander it, but not any more! You will leave this room. You will be consumed!
“If that’s what you’re planning for us, then no, we bloody well won’t!” Lucie yelled at the voice. “Other than the obvious plans to kill us, have you two worked this out yet?”
The two Doctors were busy sharing a glance as they clung to the floor, trying to keep the wind from sliding them across the room.
“Just about,” the proper Doctor said, yelling over the noise of the gusts.
“Limitless energy,” the other called to him.
“It was talking about us.”
“Or the TARDIS.”
“Both, most likely.”
“And if it’s manipulating timelines, I can guess what kind of energy it’s looking for.” The gleam had returned to the eyes of Lucie’s Doctor.
This time, the proper Doctor shared it. “A creature that feeds off chronon energy.”
“Yes. And it manages to pull two TARDISes to its doorstep, complete with Time Lords inside. What a feast!”
“Chronon energy?” Charley repeated. “You mean...time energy? Like those mirrors?”
The Doctors both turned to her with a grin. “Exactly.”
“So what can we do to stop it?” C’rizz broke in.
Lucie’s Doctor looked back up at the door that was still spewing out a torrent of wind. “Normally I’m all about doing the explanations myself, but it’s a bit hard to hear over all that howling. Would you like to tell him instead?” he yelled.
The wind stopped immediately. For a moment, everything was deadly silent. The five travelers didn’t even bother to get up, expecting another attack at any instant.
Instead, the voice came again, low and cold.
You cannot stop me.
The proper Doctor smiled placidly. “Oh, I very much doubt that.”
The door gave no response. After a moment of waiting, the Doctors began pulling themselves back up, and their companions took this as their cue.
“So what do we do now?” C’rizz asked.
“Finish working out the details ourselves, for a start.” The proper Doctor shared a glance with the other again.
“How about telling us what that wind...thing...is?” Lucie broke in. “That’d make a good start.”
“I’ve never actually encountered this race before,” her Doctor admitted. “But clearly it’s some sort of energy being--a chronon energy being. Something like this should only exist in the Vortex.”
“But we’re on Earth,” C’rizz pointed out. “Aren’t we? And just what is ‘chronon energy.’”
“It’s a sort of time energy, C’rizz,” Charley explained. “It fuels time travel. Isn’t that right?”
“Very good, Charley,” the Doctor said with a nod. “There are many creatures that feed off that type of energy. But to do that, they need to live in the Vortex. Even if this isn’t Earth, it must be outside of the Vortex. Which means...”
“Which means,” Lucie’s Doctor started, “The creature would have to bring things from the Vortex to it.”
“Which would require huge amounts of chronon energy--still, it would be a good bargain if you think you’re getting two TARDISes and two Time Lords in return,” the Doctor added.
“And then you find out what you’ve really gotten is two of the same Time Lord,” Lucie’s Doctor commented.
“Meaning you’ve got a paradox on your hands.”
“A paradox that would draw attention to you from other beings--especially the type of beings that feed on chronon energy.”
“Leaving you with only one option.”
“One option being what?” Lucie interrupted--to C’rizz’s relief. He was starting to get the impression that the two Doctors could go on like this forever. And listening to them finish each other’s thoughts was getting a little eerie.
Her Doctor’s expression was grim, however, when he answered her. “Gather them all together, work out which is which, and then start a slow energy drain of the later one--slow enough that no one will notice until it’s too late.”
Lucie’s eyes widened. “You mean it’s been killing you?”
“It was killing him--me,” the proper Doctor interjected. “Until we got to the heart of the creature itself.”
“The heart of the creature? But we haven’t even seen the creature,” C’rizz pointed out.
His Doctor raised an eyebrow at him. “Haven’t we?” He gestured at the room around them. “It’s all we’ve been seeing the entire time we’ve been here.”
The companions gasped.
“You mean...the building is the creature?” Charley breathed.
“Exactly,” the Doctors replied in unison.
“And now we’re in the heart of it--the only part that it can’t sap chronon energy from.”
“And we know what it is and what it needs.”
“And how to stop it?” Lucie asked hopefully.
The Doctors shared a glance again.
“It’s risky,” one commented.
“But we have an idea,” the other finished with a mischievous grin.
“Oi,” Lucie protested. “Don’t give us that look.”
“Lucie Miller,” her Doctor said, “How would you like to be part of creating a paradox?”
“Creating a paradox?” Charley repeated.
“Creating a paradox,” the proper Doctor confirmed with a smile. “C’rizz, would you care to get in front of us? Before-”
He was cut off by a sudden onslaught of howling wind that sent them all sprawling again.
“Get to the door!” the Doctor yelled from where he’d been thrown to the floor. “C’rizz!”
C’rizz couldn’t say he really understood what the Doctor had in mind--hadn’t they been trying to avoid a paradox this entire time?--but he obeyed all the same, grabbing at the wall in an attempt to pull himself back to his feet.
Once he’d gotten there, he continued to grasp at the plain wall as best he could, inching along it and toward the door. He was so focused on his destination that he hardly noticed the two Doctors starting to slide themselves across the ground, heading toward the wall behind him. When he did realize what they were doing, however, he understood. He was their shield!
Pushing off from the wall, he tried to get between the wind and the others, bracing himself as best he could. If they could get close behind him, they should all be able to stand and, hopefully, move forward together.
“Lucie! Charley! Get behind C’rizz!”
He could barely hear the Doctor’s yell--the wind easily carried the sound away--but he got enough to know the gist. As he’d suspected, they were all needed. He stayed firmly where he was, glancing behind him to watch the progress of the others. The Doctors got behind him first, their movements speeding up greatly as soon as his body began to partially shield them from the fierce wind. Very soon, they were both standing right behind him, each putting a hand on one of his arms.
“As soon as we have Charley and Lucie, we’re going to go toward the door!” his Doctor yelled into his ear. “Just get us as close as you can without the wind knocking us over. That’s all we need.”
C’rizz nodded in acknowledgement and waited.
With the help of the Doctors, both Charley and Lucie were able to get to their feet behind him. When the Doctors were holding securely onto C’rizz and Charley and Lucie were holding onto the Doctors, C’rizz took that as his cue to start forward.
He moved slowly, step-by-step, both because he was fighting against the wind and because he didn’t want to jar anyone else. For some reason, the Doctors needed all of them to get close to that door, and C’rizz was going to get them there no matter what.
Suddenly, the howling wind began to carry voices again.
Stop! Stop there!
C’rizz ignored the orders, his face set in grim determination.
You will destroy everything! You will destroy Earth!
He hesitated at that, more out of surprise than anything. The voice had sounded rather desperate with its previous orders, but that time, it hadn’t. It had been more like a promise.
“Doctor?” C’rizz called, hoping he could be heard even as the wind whipped his voice back at him.
“We won’t!”
Those two words were enough of a promise for him. C’rizz started forward again. They were almost to the door now, but the wind was strong enough that even he could barely hold out against it. Even so, he had to, so he would. The Doctor needed him--both of them did--and C’rizz was never going to let the Doctor down.
When he hit the point where he knew he was on the verge of toppling backwards onto his friends, C’rizz stopped. “Close enough!?” he called to the Doctors.
They didn’t need to respond. The wind changed, its howling now joined by a familiar shrill scream.
“We won’t stop!” one of the Doctors yelled in response.
“You’ll have to first,” the other added.
The Doctor’s tone was dark when he said, “Or something else will come to stop you.”
It seemed those words were all that was needed. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the wind stopped, and the door from which it had come threw itself fully open.
The Doctors let go of C’rizz. “Good choice,” one of them commented.
“You can let go now, if you’d like,” the other said, turning to Lucie, who was still clutching his arm, seemingly for dear life.
Charley let go of her Doctor as well. “So would you mind explaining what exactly just happened?”
The Doctors glanced at each other. C’rizz was guessing by now that those looks meant something along the lines of, “Should I answer, or will you?”
“By using Lucie’s full name and gathering close together, we were on the verge of forming a very dangerous paradox,” Lucie’s Doctor started.
“Which explains the blowing up the Earth threat,” Lucie said, looking rather pointedly at the Doctors. “Which I’m guessing we actually could’ve done.”
Her Doctor looked rather sheepish. “Well, yes. Technically.”
“But we’re probably not actually on Earth, and chances were that the creature would give in first,” the proper Doctor quickly added.
Lucie raised an eyebrow. “Chances were.” She shook her head.
“But a paradox creates a very large disturbance in the Web of Time,” Lucie’s Doctor continued.
Charley’s eyes widened. “The type that has coordinates?”
Her Doctor smiled. “Exactly that type.”
“Meaning what?” C’rizz asked. “That it would have attracted attention?”
“And exposed a creature that should have only existed in the Vortex playing very dangerous games with time.”
“Or exposed us playing them,” Lucie muttered.
The Doctors chose not to respond to that. Instead, the proper Doctor seemed to take that as the end of the conversation. “So, are we ready to go now?” he said brightly.
“Uh...Doctor? Aren’t you forgetting something?” Charley asked.
“I don’t believe so,” the Doctor replied with a smile.
“We still haven’t found the TARDIS,” C’rizz pointed out.
“Really?” the Doctor asked. He gestured at the open door. “Are you sure?”
“But why would it give us the TARDIS back?” C’rizz insisted.
“C’rizz, I’m disappointed in you!” Lucie’s Doctor broke in. “To get rid of us, of course.”
“But what about the creature, then?” Charley added. “We can’t just leave a creature like this consuming people, can we?”
“We won’t,” Lucie’s Doctor replied flatly. They could all see the glint in his eyes, and no one decided to question him further.
Lucie was the one who finally broke the silence. “So...I’m betting our TARDIS isn’t behind that door,” she said. “Where’d that ball of string end up, anyway?”
“Oh...” Her Doctor turned, looking around the room. “Somewhere over...oh.”
“What?”
“It must’ve blown through the open back door.”
Lucie sighed. “Why am I not surprised.”
“Well, I suppose this is good-bye, then,” Lucie’s Doctor said, turning back to Charley, C’rizz, and the other Doctor. “It was good to see you all again.” There was a hint of sadness in his eyes.
“Thank you for the help,” the proper Doctor replied, smiling. “And nice to meet you, Lucie--even if I won’t remember you.”
“Why wouldn’t you remember her?” Charley asked.
The Doctor just shook his head.
“All right, then,” Lucie said, clearly curious, but she didn’t press the matter--although she gave her Doctor a glance that said she was planning to later. “See you when I meet you, I guess. And um...thanks for helping us out. C’rizz. Charley.”
“Hope to see you again someday,” Charley said with a smile.
“Good luck,” C’rizz replied simply.
Lucie snorted. “We’ll need it! So, Doctor. Off to find that string?”
“Unless you have a better idea.”
“Right. String searching, then. Bye everyone!”
The Doctor pulled the door open, and Lucie waved as she left.
When the door had closed behind them, the Doctor gave a nod, as if confirming something. “So, Charley, C’rizz. Shall we?”
“You are going to explain what you meant, aren’t you?” Charley pressed.
The Doctor smiled and shook his head, gesturing at the open door. “After you.”
C’rizz and Charley both gave him curious looks, but they obediently headed through the door...
***
C’rizz awoke to find himself on the TARDIS floor, the victim of a splitting headache. He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head.
He was surprised to find that Charley was doing much the same. The Doctor appeared to be in a similar state, but he, at least, was in a chair.
“What just happened?” Charley asked. “Did we crash?”
“It certainly felt like it,” C’rizz agreed.
The Doctor was already pulling himself to his feet and stumbling to the console, immediately beginning to push buttons. “Hm. That’s odd.”
“That’s not very reassuring,” Charley commented.
C’rizz focused on getting himself back to his feet, holding out a hand for Charley when he was there.
“Thank you, C’rizz.”
The Doctor remained huddled over the console, not saying a word. Finally he appeared to give up, leaning back. “Very odd.”
“What is?” C’rizz asked dubiously.
“There’s no record. The TARDIS has no idea where we just were.”
“You mean it’s forgotten that last planet?” Charley asked. “Even after those people tried to-”
The Doctor shook his head. “No, it remembers that. And it remembers taking off. But then...there’s a blank.”
“A blank? But weren’t we just traveling in the Vortex?”
“No...”
C’rizz raised an eyebrow. “You mean we landed somewhere and the TARDIS doesn’t remember it?”
“Yes.” The Doctor put a hand to his head. “And, come to think of it, neither do I.”
Charley frowned. “I feel like we must’ve been somewhere,” she admitted. “But I don’t know what happened there. C’rizz?”
C’rizz shook his head, eyeing the TARDIS suspiciously. “What does that mean?”
The Doctor gave the console a thoughtful look, but then he turned to them with a smile. “Onto the next destination, I suppose!” And he focused back in on the console, beginning to type in coordinates.
Charley and C’rizz glanced at each other, but then Charley smiled, shaking her head, and C’rizz couldn’t help sharing the expression. It was a strange life, but they wouldn’t have it any other way. An unexpected sight, however, caught C’rizz’s eye then.
“Doctor? Is that string coming out of your shoe?”
Part: 3/3
Prompt: Air (oncoming_storms)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3867
Other parts: Part 1 / Part 2
Everyone was thrown off their feet and into various walls and sections of floor. C’rizz hit his head--they all must have, as hard as they landed--but being exoskeletal came in handy in situations like this. The wind--whatever it was--didn’t stop, but C’rizz fought against it to pull himself up, sliding across the floor toward one of the doors. He grabbed the side of it, pushing it in an attempt to force it closed.
The wind was too strong --he needed his footing so he could put his weight into it. Charley, the Doctors, and Lucie were all yelling in the background, but he ignored them for now, focusing on getting a strong grip on the knob and side of the door so he could pull himself up properly despite the resistance.
It took a moment, but finally C’rizz was able to force the door shut. The wind stopped the second he did, all the doors suddenly shutting.
“Done with your games yet?” called one of the Doctors as the others began to pick themselves up off the floor.
“Or at least ready to take credit for them?” the other Doctor added.
Everyone covered their ears as a piercing scream filled the room in response.
“Ohhh, I don’t think it liked that,” one Doctor said.
“No, it didn’t, did it? I’ll have to keep that in mind for future wind assaults.”
“Yes, it does seem rather likely to bring out an answer. Right about now, I would guess.”
Even as the Doctor spoke, the deadlocked door came open and the scream--with the wind--came blasting through it, knocking them all right back off their feet.
This time, however, it stopped as suddenly as it had begun, and the deadlocked door slammed shut.
“So much for that,” Charley muttered as she picked herself up again, dusting off her clothing.
“And here I was thinking you had a plan,” Lucie added to the Doctors, groaning as she got up. Her wig slid off in the process. She swore. “Why can’t anything go right today?”
“It’s all right, Lucie. I doubt it will make much of a difference now.”
Lucie raised an eyebrow at the Doctor who had spoken. “Why not?”
All three companions knew better than to expect an answer. There was a gleam in that Doctor’s eyes now that they knew all too well. “Look at the door.”
The three turned their heads to find that the deadlocked door was open again--but only a crack this time.
“Perhaps if we tried this in a civilized manner?” that Doctor said...to the doorway? “I’m the Doctor. This is also the Doctor. And here we have Charley, Lucie, and C’rizz. Nice to make your acquaintance. Assuming you’re done manipulating timelines, that is.”
In response, wind again came blasting through the door, but it was lighter this time, shrill and faintly shrieking...with words?
You should not be here.
“No, we shouldn’t be, should we?” said the other Doctor. “But since you were so insistent on bringing us here--insistent enough to throw off my timeline, I might add--I think the least you could do is to tell us why we’re here.”
The voice on the wind was more insistent this time. You should not be here.
“Why does it keep saying that if it’s the one who brought us here?” Charley asked softly.
As if in response, the door on the other side of the room blew open. C’rizz raised an eyebrow, the sight giving him an idea. “Perhaps that’s not what it means,” he suggested. “What if it means that we shouldn’t be in this room, with it?”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s what it’s getting at,” said one Doctor, rather grimly. The ball of string identified him as Lucie’s--not to mention his cravat was skewed from the fall, making them easier to tell apart. “But we’ve found you now, so even if you force us out, we’ll just come back in. And you already know it.”
A scream came through the door, accompanied by a gust of wind that knocked everyone but C’rizz off their feet.
“Is there any way we could have this conversation without upsetting the whatever-it-is that’s creating the wind?” Lucie asked grumpily as the gust died down. She pulled herself up, dusting off again.
“Agreed,” Charley added. She and Lucie seemed to be bonding over mutual complaints as well now.
“But we’re finally making some progress!” the proper Doctor protested as he got up, adjusting his cravat.
“And what do we know that we didn’t before it started knocking us over?” Lucie shot back.
“A great deal, actually,” interrupted Lucie’s Doctor, that gleam still in his eyes. “Except not what this creature would be able to do with us if we hadn’t made it to this room.”
“Which is, incidentally, what it must have brought us here for,” the proper Doctor added. “Care to enlighten us at all?” he called to the doorway.
The companions braced themselves for another attack, but the wind that came through the door was gentle again.
Leave this place, and you will understand.
“Before or after you use some unpleasant method of ending our lives? Or making us your slaves? Or whatever it is you might have in mind. If you really expect us to listen and go back into that maze, you’ll have to give us a better reason than that.” The Doctor’s gaze was stony now.
No response came from the doorway.
Everyone was quiet for a moment, waiting. Charley and Lucie both headed toward the walls, bracing themselves just in case.
Meanwhile, the Doctors turned to each other.
“Which do you think it is? I’m leaning toward our deaths for some nefarious purpose known only to this being,” the proper Doctor said.
Lucie’s Doctor nodded thoughtfully. “I imagine it must be something like that. But are our deaths really the aim, or is death just a byproduct of something else it wishes to accomplish?”
“You mean you don’t think it’s manipulating our timeline as a way of getting rid of us?”
“If it really had that in mind, choosing two of the same me from such close times isn’t really a very effective way of doing it. But you could be right. It could lack the skills to do anything but a short-term change.”
“And yet the change has still allowed both of us to exist in this place.”
“You noticed that, did you?”
“Well, I rather think I would’ve noticed if you’d suddenly disappeared.”
“But time is in flux now, which could allow two conflicting timelines to coexist until they resolve themselves.”
“Or there could simply still be a way for me to get out of here and back on track, and if that happened, there would be nothing to prevent you from-”
The proper Doctor was cut off by a scream so loud and shrill that they all had to cover their ears. Another burst of wind howled through the room, only strong enough to slam the door in the back shut again.
“Looks like it gave up on coaxing us back into the maze,” Lucie’s Doctor said, smiling faintly.
You must stop. You must stop NOW!
“Why, exactly?” asked the proper Doctor. “Getting too close to the truth, are we?”
The howling wind abruptly turned into a roar, sending them sprawling on the ground yet again.
“Doctor, I thought you were supposed to be good at reasoning with these things!” Lucie yelled in protest from where she was now lying on her stomach by the wall. The wind refused to let up this time, and she obviously didn’t think it was worth trying to pull herself up against it.
“Yes, well, sometimes other tactics produce better results,” the Doctor replied airily.
It was at almost exactly that instant that the wind began to carry words again.
I will CONSUME you all!
“Like that. Now we know its goal!”
“But what does it mean?” Charley protested. “What is it?”
All those thoughts, that power--that limitless energy! You think it is a joke, a toy to be played with. You waste it and squander it, but not any more! You will leave this room. You will be consumed!
“If that’s what you’re planning for us, then no, we bloody well won’t!” Lucie yelled at the voice. “Other than the obvious plans to kill us, have you two worked this out yet?”
The two Doctors were busy sharing a glance as they clung to the floor, trying to keep the wind from sliding them across the room.
“Just about,” the proper Doctor said, yelling over the noise of the gusts.
“Limitless energy,” the other called to him.
“It was talking about us.”
“Or the TARDIS.”
“Both, most likely.”
“And if it’s manipulating timelines, I can guess what kind of energy it’s looking for.” The gleam had returned to the eyes of Lucie’s Doctor.
This time, the proper Doctor shared it. “A creature that feeds off chronon energy.”
“Yes. And it manages to pull two TARDISes to its doorstep, complete with Time Lords inside. What a feast!”
“Chronon energy?” Charley repeated. “You mean...time energy? Like those mirrors?”
The Doctors both turned to her with a grin. “Exactly.”
“So what can we do to stop it?” C’rizz broke in.
Lucie’s Doctor looked back up at the door that was still spewing out a torrent of wind. “Normally I’m all about doing the explanations myself, but it’s a bit hard to hear over all that howling. Would you like to tell him instead?” he yelled.
The wind stopped immediately. For a moment, everything was deadly silent. The five travelers didn’t even bother to get up, expecting another attack at any instant.
Instead, the voice came again, low and cold.
You cannot stop me.
The proper Doctor smiled placidly. “Oh, I very much doubt that.”
The door gave no response. After a moment of waiting, the Doctors began pulling themselves back up, and their companions took this as their cue.
“So what do we do now?” C’rizz asked.
“Finish working out the details ourselves, for a start.” The proper Doctor shared a glance with the other again.
“How about telling us what that wind...thing...is?” Lucie broke in. “That’d make a good start.”
“I’ve never actually encountered this race before,” her Doctor admitted. “But clearly it’s some sort of energy being--a chronon energy being. Something like this should only exist in the Vortex.”
“But we’re on Earth,” C’rizz pointed out. “Aren’t we? And just what is ‘chronon energy.’”
“It’s a sort of time energy, C’rizz,” Charley explained. “It fuels time travel. Isn’t that right?”
“Very good, Charley,” the Doctor said with a nod. “There are many creatures that feed off that type of energy. But to do that, they need to live in the Vortex. Even if this isn’t Earth, it must be outside of the Vortex. Which means...”
“Which means,” Lucie’s Doctor started, “The creature would have to bring things from the Vortex to it.”
“Which would require huge amounts of chronon energy--still, it would be a good bargain if you think you’re getting two TARDISes and two Time Lords in return,” the Doctor added.
“And then you find out what you’ve really gotten is two of the same Time Lord,” Lucie’s Doctor commented.
“Meaning you’ve got a paradox on your hands.”
“A paradox that would draw attention to you from other beings--especially the type of beings that feed on chronon energy.”
“Leaving you with only one option.”
“One option being what?” Lucie interrupted--to C’rizz’s relief. He was starting to get the impression that the two Doctors could go on like this forever. And listening to them finish each other’s thoughts was getting a little eerie.
Her Doctor’s expression was grim, however, when he answered her. “Gather them all together, work out which is which, and then start a slow energy drain of the later one--slow enough that no one will notice until it’s too late.”
Lucie’s eyes widened. “You mean it’s been killing you?”
“It was killing him--me,” the proper Doctor interjected. “Until we got to the heart of the creature itself.”
“The heart of the creature? But we haven’t even seen the creature,” C’rizz pointed out.
His Doctor raised an eyebrow at him. “Haven’t we?” He gestured at the room around them. “It’s all we’ve been seeing the entire time we’ve been here.”
The companions gasped.
“You mean...the building is the creature?” Charley breathed.
“Exactly,” the Doctors replied in unison.
“And now we’re in the heart of it--the only part that it can’t sap chronon energy from.”
“And we know what it is and what it needs.”
“And how to stop it?” Lucie asked hopefully.
The Doctors shared a glance again.
“It’s risky,” one commented.
“But we have an idea,” the other finished with a mischievous grin.
“Oi,” Lucie protested. “Don’t give us that look.”
“Lucie Miller,” her Doctor said, “How would you like to be part of creating a paradox?”
“Creating a paradox?” Charley repeated.
“Creating a paradox,” the proper Doctor confirmed with a smile. “C’rizz, would you care to get in front of us? Before-”
He was cut off by a sudden onslaught of howling wind that sent them all sprawling again.
“Get to the door!” the Doctor yelled from where he’d been thrown to the floor. “C’rizz!”
C’rizz couldn’t say he really understood what the Doctor had in mind--hadn’t they been trying to avoid a paradox this entire time?--but he obeyed all the same, grabbing at the wall in an attempt to pull himself back to his feet.
Once he’d gotten there, he continued to grasp at the plain wall as best he could, inching along it and toward the door. He was so focused on his destination that he hardly noticed the two Doctors starting to slide themselves across the ground, heading toward the wall behind him. When he did realize what they were doing, however, he understood. He was their shield!
Pushing off from the wall, he tried to get between the wind and the others, bracing himself as best he could. If they could get close behind him, they should all be able to stand and, hopefully, move forward together.
“Lucie! Charley! Get behind C’rizz!”
He could barely hear the Doctor’s yell--the wind easily carried the sound away--but he got enough to know the gist. As he’d suspected, they were all needed. He stayed firmly where he was, glancing behind him to watch the progress of the others. The Doctors got behind him first, their movements speeding up greatly as soon as his body began to partially shield them from the fierce wind. Very soon, they were both standing right behind him, each putting a hand on one of his arms.
“As soon as we have Charley and Lucie, we’re going to go toward the door!” his Doctor yelled into his ear. “Just get us as close as you can without the wind knocking us over. That’s all we need.”
C’rizz nodded in acknowledgement and waited.
With the help of the Doctors, both Charley and Lucie were able to get to their feet behind him. When the Doctors were holding securely onto C’rizz and Charley and Lucie were holding onto the Doctors, C’rizz took that as his cue to start forward.
He moved slowly, step-by-step, both because he was fighting against the wind and because he didn’t want to jar anyone else. For some reason, the Doctors needed all of them to get close to that door, and C’rizz was going to get them there no matter what.
Suddenly, the howling wind began to carry voices again.
Stop! Stop there!
C’rizz ignored the orders, his face set in grim determination.
You will destroy everything! You will destroy Earth!
He hesitated at that, more out of surprise than anything. The voice had sounded rather desperate with its previous orders, but that time, it hadn’t. It had been more like a promise.
“Doctor?” C’rizz called, hoping he could be heard even as the wind whipped his voice back at him.
“We won’t!”
Those two words were enough of a promise for him. C’rizz started forward again. They were almost to the door now, but the wind was strong enough that even he could barely hold out against it. Even so, he had to, so he would. The Doctor needed him--both of them did--and C’rizz was never going to let the Doctor down.
When he hit the point where he knew he was on the verge of toppling backwards onto his friends, C’rizz stopped. “Close enough!?” he called to the Doctors.
They didn’t need to respond. The wind changed, its howling now joined by a familiar shrill scream.
“We won’t stop!” one of the Doctors yelled in response.
“You’ll have to first,” the other added.
The Doctor’s tone was dark when he said, “Or something else will come to stop you.”
It seemed those words were all that was needed. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the wind stopped, and the door from which it had come threw itself fully open.
The Doctors let go of C’rizz. “Good choice,” one of them commented.
“You can let go now, if you’d like,” the other said, turning to Lucie, who was still clutching his arm, seemingly for dear life.
Charley let go of her Doctor as well. “So would you mind explaining what exactly just happened?”
The Doctors glanced at each other. C’rizz was guessing by now that those looks meant something along the lines of, “Should I answer, or will you?”
“By using Lucie’s full name and gathering close together, we were on the verge of forming a very dangerous paradox,” Lucie’s Doctor started.
“Which explains the blowing up the Earth threat,” Lucie said, looking rather pointedly at the Doctors. “Which I’m guessing we actually could’ve done.”
Her Doctor looked rather sheepish. “Well, yes. Technically.”
“But we’re probably not actually on Earth, and chances were that the creature would give in first,” the proper Doctor quickly added.
Lucie raised an eyebrow. “Chances were.” She shook her head.
“But a paradox creates a very large disturbance in the Web of Time,” Lucie’s Doctor continued.
Charley’s eyes widened. “The type that has coordinates?”
Her Doctor smiled. “Exactly that type.”
“Meaning what?” C’rizz asked. “That it would have attracted attention?”
“And exposed a creature that should have only existed in the Vortex playing very dangerous games with time.”
“Or exposed us playing them,” Lucie muttered.
The Doctors chose not to respond to that. Instead, the proper Doctor seemed to take that as the end of the conversation. “So, are we ready to go now?” he said brightly.
“Uh...Doctor? Aren’t you forgetting something?” Charley asked.
“I don’t believe so,” the Doctor replied with a smile.
“We still haven’t found the TARDIS,” C’rizz pointed out.
“Really?” the Doctor asked. He gestured at the open door. “Are you sure?”
“But why would it give us the TARDIS back?” C’rizz insisted.
“C’rizz, I’m disappointed in you!” Lucie’s Doctor broke in. “To get rid of us, of course.”
“But what about the creature, then?” Charley added. “We can’t just leave a creature like this consuming people, can we?”
“We won’t,” Lucie’s Doctor replied flatly. They could all see the glint in his eyes, and no one decided to question him further.
Lucie was the one who finally broke the silence. “So...I’m betting our TARDIS isn’t behind that door,” she said. “Where’d that ball of string end up, anyway?”
“Oh...” Her Doctor turned, looking around the room. “Somewhere over...oh.”
“What?”
“It must’ve blown through the open back door.”
Lucie sighed. “Why am I not surprised.”
“Well, I suppose this is good-bye, then,” Lucie’s Doctor said, turning back to Charley, C’rizz, and the other Doctor. “It was good to see you all again.” There was a hint of sadness in his eyes.
“Thank you for the help,” the proper Doctor replied, smiling. “And nice to meet you, Lucie--even if I won’t remember you.”
“Why wouldn’t you remember her?” Charley asked.
The Doctor just shook his head.
“All right, then,” Lucie said, clearly curious, but she didn’t press the matter--although she gave her Doctor a glance that said she was planning to later. “See you when I meet you, I guess. And um...thanks for helping us out. C’rizz. Charley.”
“Hope to see you again someday,” Charley said with a smile.
“Good luck,” C’rizz replied simply.
Lucie snorted. “We’ll need it! So, Doctor. Off to find that string?”
“Unless you have a better idea.”
“Right. String searching, then. Bye everyone!”
The Doctor pulled the door open, and Lucie waved as she left.
When the door had closed behind them, the Doctor gave a nod, as if confirming something. “So, Charley, C’rizz. Shall we?”
“You are going to explain what you meant, aren’t you?” Charley pressed.
The Doctor smiled and shook his head, gesturing at the open door. “After you.”
C’rizz and Charley both gave him curious looks, but they obediently headed through the door...
***
C’rizz awoke to find himself on the TARDIS floor, the victim of a splitting headache. He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head.
He was surprised to find that Charley was doing much the same. The Doctor appeared to be in a similar state, but he, at least, was in a chair.
“What just happened?” Charley asked. “Did we crash?”
“It certainly felt like it,” C’rizz agreed.
The Doctor was already pulling himself to his feet and stumbling to the console, immediately beginning to push buttons. “Hm. That’s odd.”
“That’s not very reassuring,” Charley commented.
C’rizz focused on getting himself back to his feet, holding out a hand for Charley when he was there.
“Thank you, C’rizz.”
The Doctor remained huddled over the console, not saying a word. Finally he appeared to give up, leaning back. “Very odd.”
“What is?” C’rizz asked dubiously.
“There’s no record. The TARDIS has no idea where we just were.”
“You mean it’s forgotten that last planet?” Charley asked. “Even after those people tried to-”
The Doctor shook his head. “No, it remembers that. And it remembers taking off. But then...there’s a blank.”
“A blank? But weren’t we just traveling in the Vortex?”
“No...”
C’rizz raised an eyebrow. “You mean we landed somewhere and the TARDIS doesn’t remember it?”
“Yes.” The Doctor put a hand to his head. “And, come to think of it, neither do I.”
Charley frowned. “I feel like we must’ve been somewhere,” she admitted. “But I don’t know what happened there. C’rizz?”
C’rizz shook his head, eyeing the TARDIS suspiciously. “What does that mean?”
The Doctor gave the console a thoughtful look, but then he turned to them with a smile. “Onto the next destination, I suppose!” And he focused back in on the console, beginning to type in coordinates.
Charley and C’rizz glanced at each other, but then Charley smiled, shaking her head, and C’rizz couldn’t help sharing the expression. It was a strange life, but they wouldn’t have it any other way. An unexpected sight, however, caught C’rizz’s eye then.
“Doctor? Is that string coming out of your shoe?”