Part 2
The bohemian looking man walked hastily down the busy street of Paris, his companion not too far behind. He was dressed in a long light grey coloured coat, a floppy black hat, matching baggy grey trousers, a cream and brown waistcoat and an open-necked shirt. The most striking part of his eccentric outfit was a huge scarf looped around his neck several times.
"At least we helped Professor Chronotis to return the book." said the girl chasing after the man. The young looking girl was dressed in an old style sailor suit with a simple blue hat, however her age belied her looks. Romana put her hand on top of her head, holding her hat, as she chased after the man known as the Fourth Doctor.
"Yes we did and got the chance to see Oxford, so what better place to visit next than here. A second chance to see those works of art, those masterpieces." said the Fourth Doctor. "Do you remember the last time we were here? Duggan was saving humanity." He continued as he moved along the street.
"Largely thanks to us, don't forget Doctor." his companion replied catching her breath.
"Well it wasn't really us Romana, I never admitted that."
"Why did you let him take all the credit then Doctor?" asked Romana looking around trying to spot somewhere familiar.
"Why?" The Fourth Doctor stopped to ponder, "Because we were not supposed to interfere and most importantly, we were on holiday." He smiled more to himself than anyone.
"Of course you're right." Romana too had stopped looking, "Shall we have lunch?"
"Indeed, I seem to have built up quite an appetite. This way, I think." The Fourth Doctor pointed towards an alleyway, and then went off in another direction.
Having spent more than half an hour trying to satisfy the Fourth Doctor’s likes and dislikes, the two Time Lords stopped at a small bistro not far from the Louvre.
"Ah Paris. Almost one of my favorite places." The Fourth Doctor pulled out a bag of jelly babies, whilst Romana was reading a newspaper.
"Look at this Doctor, I think we've missed something." Romana was pointing to an article on one of the pages. The heading read 'New Leonardo da Vinci painting found. Grand unveiling at the Louvre today'.
"That's impossible! I was there when Leonardo painted his finest pieces, I would have known!" The Fourth Doctor was checking his waistcoat in search for something. "What time did you say the unveiling was?"
"I didn't, but it's to take place at 2.30 p.m." said Romana.
The Doctor produced a pocket watch and checked the time.
"An hour from now, I must see it, just for my own curiosity. Come on or we will be late." The Fourth Doctor stood up and headed out of the bistro and began to walk down a street leaving Romana to pay for the meal and to chase after him.
A black cat moved slowly towards a discarded bit of food. Just as it was about to pounce, a strange sound made it realise that this was not the place to stay, and rightly so, as the Tardis materialised at the back of the Louvre. The Fourth Doctor and Romana made their way towards a small crowd of people waiting to gain entry to see the new painting. The crowd moved in, allowing the Fourth Doctor unceremoniously to head to the front, whilst Romana offered polite excuses to the people behind them. The crowd stopped at a small alcove surrounded by security guards, ropes and a few selected press people. A smallish bald frenchman dressed in a dark navy suit and white shirt and black tie, nervously looked over the rim of his glasses checking his notes before clearing his voice.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, as newly appointed Director of the Louvre, may I present the new Leonardo da Vinci painting, found in the Mansion of the late Count Scarloni."
"What!" the Fourth Doctor interrupted the man. "That's impossible unless, there must have been another secret room."
The man momentarily paused, looking over the rim of his glasses directly at the Fourth Doctor.
"Err as I was saying, I am privileged to unveil Leonardo da Vinci's Lost in Time." The man pulled a cord revealing the picture allowing photographers to click frantically and the Fourth Doctor to stare wide eyed towards the image.
"Looks very familiar," said Romana examining a painting of the Fourth Doctor asleep in a huge chair.
"Why! How dare he paint me whilst I was asleep." shouted the Fourth Doctor, straining for a better look. The comment caused the Director to look first at the picture, then at the Fourth Doctor, then the picture again. The Director stared before realising that the man talking was the man in the picture, but how? Before he could regain his composure, Romana turned to the Fourth Doctor and whispered.
"I think a hasty retreat is required, Doctor."
"Em, yes, for once I agree." The Fourth Doctor smiled, doffed his hat and quickly moved away towards the doors, leaving the Director and everyone around very, very puzzled.
As the two Timelords neared the Tardis, a sound made the Fourth Doctor stop and take out his pocket watch out.
"Why is your pocket watch making that strange sound. What is it for Doctor?" Asked Romana.
"It means we must enter the Tardis through the emergency doorway around the back." The Fourth Doctor was as puzzled as Romana, and yet at the same time looked most concerned. As they entered the Tardis, the Fourth Doctor walked carefully into the control room checking around.
"What are you looking for Doctor?" Romana was starting for the main doors.
"Wait! Come away from there this instant!" shouted the Fourth Doctor.
"Why, I cannot see anything wrong here." Romana was standing her ground.
"Not unless you want to be ex, as in ex-Time Lord." The Fourth Doctor was reading a scanner at the same time operating controls on one of the panels. Just then another sound filled the control room stopping the Fourth Doctor for a second time.
"Now that is very old and very odd. I can see why. But can we actually do this? Of course we can. But where is it? Ah yes, that will do." The Fourth Doctor was talking almost to the control panel.
"Doctor, what are you talking about and where are you going to now?" Romana had begun to look over the Fourth Doctors' shoulder.
"To one room in the Tardis I never thought we would be allowed in. And no, you can't come with me, and no, I can't explain." The Fourth Doctor led Romana back towards the corridor and stopped at a doorway.
"Stay here. I'll be back after I talk to the others. The MANTA room, you know." The Fourth Doctor began to enter the darkened doorway.
"What?" Said Romana.
"MAtrix Network Temporal Access room, its in all Tardis. You should know that Romana. Don't they teach you anything these days? Back soon." The Fourth Doctor smiled like a Cheshire cat, and then almost vanished as he entered the corridor. At the end of the corridor he moved into small room to be greeted by 2 more of his other selves.
The bottom half of a body dressed in a pair of yellow and black striped trousers was sticking out of one of the Tardis's many cupboards. It appeared that someone was rummaging through, intent on finding one particular object. Standing next to him, was a woman dressed in a colourful knee length pair of shorts and tartan blouse. She had an oval face, shoulder length hair in her mid-20s, munching on an apple, waiting for an opportunity to interrupt the muttering coming from the cupboard.
"Set for what?" asks Peri, her American voice rising over the noise.
"Aha!" The Sixth incarnation of the Doctor emerged from the cupboard holding a large umbrella, fishing rod and a multi coloured fishing box, to match his brightly coloured waistcoat. "We're all set for a quiet day's relaxing."
"Boring me with a day of boring fishing." Peri took another bite of her apple.
"Boring! Boring! This happens to be one of my favourite pastimes, apart from saving the err, universe." The Sixth Doctor was now getting ready to enjoy his day to the full.
"Well, what about cricket, you used to be good at that or so you told me." Peri was desperate not to go fishing and was trying hard to put other ideas into the Sixth Doctor's mind.
"Oh is that what he err, I err, he said did he?" The Sixth Doctor was searching for yet more fishing gear.
Peri stopped for a moment allowing the last sentence to sink in, before tackling the Sixth Doctor again.
"But Doctor, he is, err was you!"
The Sixth Doctor stopped completely what he was doing and looked at his companion.
"Peri, he was a young meddler, who had no right to be me." He returned to his rummaging "Ah, found them!"
The Sixth Doctor pulled out from the cupboard a pair of bright, red waders with multi coloured question marks covering them. He dusted them down and picked up all the fishing gear.
"You're not really going to wear them!" Peri was staring aghast at the waders.
"I most certainly am." stated the Sixth Doctor.
"Well I only hope the fish are colour blind!" The hurt look on the Sixth Doctor's face told Peri that no further argument was forthcoming. Picking up all the fishing gear the Sixth Doctor turned and headed towards the console room, with Peri following closely behind. As they rounded yet another corner, a sound began to emit from the Sixth Doctor's waistcoat.
"Doctor what's that noise?" Asked Peri.
"Oh no, not now! Of all the rotten luck." A look of disappointment crossed the face of the Sixth Doctor as he dropped all of his fishing gear.
"What's happening Doctor, forget an appointment?" Peri hoped that this meant a lucky break from this fishing trip.
"I'm not sure, it does not sound very often like that. It can only mean one thing." The Sixth Doctor was holding a gold pocket watch in one hand and looking down at his gear.
"Goodbye Pandatorean conger. Come on Peri this way!"
The Sixth Doctor led Peri to a section of the Tardis, which she had not seen before. He stopped at a roundel on the wall and pressed in the centre of the roundel with his right hand. A small hum echoed from down a corridor and in the wall opposite a door flickered into existence. The Sixth Doctor moved swiftly into an old style room and began to check controls, as Peri looked around the unfamiliar surroundings. The room looked Victorian in its appearance, some what old fashioned with wooden panels all around. In the centre stood a wooden console with 6 sides. The Sixth Doctor moved to towards the console and started to check a screen.
"Right Peri, I want you to stay here for a moment. I'll be back as soon as the conference is over." Pressing more buttons, the Sixth Doctor peered at one more screen.
"Conference? With whom? Where will this take place?"
"With? Oh old friends. Of sorts, well what ever." The Sixth Doctor moved towards the door, sighed heavily and pushed it open. Peri shielded her eyes from the blue glow, which appeared to come from the room beyond. Just before the door closed, Peri thought she could hear several raised voices.
Each Tardis was much more then a time ship, for they all had a connection to the Time Lords Amplified Panatropic Computer Network. This allowed the Matrix to record all the events that happened to any Time Lord. It was well known that the Matrix was in effect a full history of time and could predict future events. Deep within the depths of each Tardis was a 13 sided room called the MANTA, that at times of galactic crises allowed a Time Lord to directly interface with the matrix and their other incarnations.
The principle of time travel for the Tardis was almost a simple equation, but add so many incarnations of the Doctor and even the Tardis felt the strain. However not all of the segments were occupied. Only five contained a Timelord, the rest appeared dark.
"Well, well, well looks like another one of us has arrived, a jester if I'm not mistaken." said the Third Doctor pointing at the Sixth Doctor's multi coloured coat.
"At least I don't look like a Gallifreyan sage bat!" retorted the Sixth mimicking the flapping action of the Third Doctor's cloak.
"I see that some of you others have made the trip down here. Hello, it must be serious if he is here." The Sixth Doctor pointed at the flippant figure at the Fifth incarnation,
"Not much room left in that time segment, I do hope you're not too uncomfortable, we could always tell you what we have found afterwards." taunted the Fifth Doctor.
The five incarnations of the Doctor slowly eyed each other.
"I believe it's in all our interests if we stop bickering and pay attention, so we may leave this place to go our separate ways." The Seventh Doctor's voice became much deeper as he spoke.
"Some of us may need to keep our body a little fitter, if we are to survive this, whatever it is." The Fifth Doctor stared directly at the Sixth Doctor.
"Well at least it's better being built for comfort, stature and power, than for running around a cricket pitch drinking, gallons of tea. On second thoughts the tea I could manage." The Sixth Doctor rose to his full height and pulled his frame in, trying to give a slightly more athletic look.
"We really haven't got time for this, dear chaps, we are limited you know!" said the Third Doctor.
"If you two have not yet focused correctly, we are a number of us missing and thats probably adding to whatever is the problem." At this point the Fifth and Sixth Doctors looked to where the Seventh’s umbrella was directed. All of the remaining time streams that should have been occupied were darkened, so not even the light of the other streams could fall into them.
"It seems that we all have to pull our weight " the Seventh Doctor spoke quietly “and our combined knowledge, to rescue them, ourselves, and anybody else who is caught up in this."
"Well since you called us all together, maybe you should explain what's been happening to us." the Third Doctor looked directly at the Seventh Doctor, while the others fidgeted almost nervously.
"It appears that the fabric of the Tardis has begun to dissolve, somewhere around the main door. It's also affecting the main chameleon circuits, not that they have ever really worked. My brief studies point to almost an infection within the main dematerialization circuit. How far has this problem spread to you others?" The Third Doctor began to write down some notes in symbolic form.
"I believe that at present the damage is only located in one area, however all the evidence points to the problem starting from Gallifrey itself." The other Doctors looked at the Third Doctor expecting some solution.
"That's why" he continued, " I had to break the First Law of Time and force theTardis to use the MANTA room."
"You do realise the chance that we're all taking by coming here. What if the Matrix itself reports this? They'll have us back in no time." said the Fourth Doctor.
"You forget that some of this has already happened. We are all at different time points and you now see what has occurred for future regeneration's." said the Seventh Doctor.
"It makes me uneasy, all of us this meeting like this. What if you said to me watch out for something." said the Sixth Doctor to the Seventh Doctor.
"But he can't that's the point" said the Third Doctor "no more than I could tell him anything" pointing now at the Fourth Doctor.
"The Matrix will block any knowledge it thinks will change our future or our history. Besides I should really not be here." said the Third Doctor looking down at his console.
"Anyway we have gone through this once before. You look a bit older." remarked the Fifth Doctor.
"Yes thank you for stating the obvious." the Third Doctor frowned "I was just taking Sarah Jane out for an anniversary trip you know."
"How is Sarah Jane, by the way" asked the Fourth Doctor
"Well I don't..." At that moment a circuit activated, sounding a soft chime from the console in front of the Third Doctor.
"It seems that things may have to be held over for a while, I or rather we" the Third Doctor was reading his screen " have been recalled by the Lord President, no less."
"How can we all go back? Surely that would cause you," the Sixth Doctor said pointing to the Third Doctor "or us to break the First Law of Time."
"Not according to this message. It seems to indicate that if you, err number 7, set co-ordinates for Gallifrey in your time stream version of the Tardis, we can use it as a beacon." The Third Doctor looked up from his screen.
"How will that help us?" asked the Fifth.
"Well, since Gallifrey is in his time" pointing to the Seventh Doctor "once landed, I will materialise first, then you number 4 and so on." The Third Doctor realised not all was clear. "Well, just set the co-ordinates for Gallifrey and let the Tardis do the rest. At least the old girl knows what to do." The rest nodded in agreement.
"Wait a minute, can we move around Gallifrey once the first of us has landed, in case of any interesting finds?" The Fourth Doctor said in between eating from a white paper bag.
"I suppose so, once on Gallifrey we are in his " again pointing to the Seventh Doctor "time stream, our future. Just don't get stuck like last time. We must all get home this time." concluded the Third Doctor.
"Well, what ever has happened, I am sure that the Master has a part in it. That black penny always appears." said the Fifth Doctor.
"For once, I tend to agree." the Sixth Doctor pointed to his bickering prior version.
"Well I will see me on Gallifrey in no time at all. Good day."
With that the Seventh Doctor turned and headed back to his Tardis as did all the other Doctors.
Another version of the Doctor entered one of the time frames in the room. He was tall, brown haired, young looking and dressed in a long flowing brown victorian coat, a brown silk looking waistcoat, brown trousers, a white high-collared shirt with a brown cravat. The Eighth Doctor studied the console for a few moments.
“Now I understand. I have to get there first else no one will be able to land. My goodness. According to my notes the breakdown of the Tardis will accelerate if I don’t land first.” The Eighth Doctor looked around realising he was alone and once more talking to himself.
“I have to be quick, the first of my selves will start to land in moments.” The Eighth Doctor started to run from the MANTA room back into the Tardis.
The sound that greeted him caused deep concern. The cloister bell was echoing from within the bowls of the Tardis. The Eighth Doctor started to throw switches on the console trying to keep ahead of his others. Suddenly the Tardis lurched throwing the Eighth Doctor to the floor. An explosion of sparks made the console room fill with smoke.
The Eighth Doctor managed to stand up looking around as the room began to break up.
“The only way to save us now is to scramble everything. If I can dematerialise 1 second ahead that will hold up everyone else. Then I can force the others to land in reverse and that might just slow down whatever this problem is.” The Eighth Doctor turned a couple of dials and held onto a brass lever.
“Now or never old girl, now or never.” The Eighth Doctor pushed the brass lever forward and the Tardis groaned against the dematerialization, shaking like it was about to break apart.
