Picking Up the Pieces

"I am not surprised," said Rassilon, in his thin, skeletal voice. "After all, the multiverse was just reset, and the pocket dimension you were trapped in was just destroyed. One of the Rules appeared to me and explained what happened. One of the other Champions must have drunk of the River of Time, defeating the chaos entity."

"Are the other Champions alive?" said the Doctor.

"I do not know," said Rasslion. "I--" At that moment, the air shimmered as if on a hot day and the First Doctor appeared, falling to the floor. "Grandfather!" exulted Susan, hugging him. "You're alive!"

"Why I suppose I am, my child," said the Doctor. "But the others who were with me, from what I can tell , were not as lucky." And then the First Doctor and Susan breathlessly related to each other what had happened, with the Eternal Champion Doctor sometimes interrupting to make corrections.

"It's a shame that the other Champions and their allies died," said the Doctor. "It sounds like they were very brave and resourceful. I would have liked to meet them."

"We don't know that they are dead," said the First Doctor. "Perhaps the River washed them up somewhere and they found a way to survive."

"Perhaps they did," said the Third Doctor. "If I know anything about Freds and Astras, it's that they have a considerable capacity to surprise you. By the way, what happened to Minestus? That wasn't quite clear from your story."

"Agent Strange killed him," said Susan. "I'm sorry, it was all so intense..."

"I understand very well, my child," said the First Doctor. "Now I think we ought to be going."

"Very well then," said Rassilon. He waved his hand, and their TARDIS materialized in the room. They walked into it, waving goodbye, and the TARDIS left.

"What about me?" said Josh. "I've been dumped into another universe and turned into some kind of man-fox. What am I going to do?"

"I think I will be able to restore you to your original form and your original world," said Rassilon. He waved his hand, and Josh felt himself tingling...

Josh sat in front of his computer screen, rubbing his eyes. He was briefly surprised at how hairy his hands were, but then realized they were normal after all. What was that all about, he thought. Did I just hallucinate? Clearly I've been staring at the computer for too long...

I need some fresh air, he thought. He got up and walked out to his front yard, enjoying the crisp fall day. Then he heard a weird humming noise, and a large flying saucer landed in his yard. It never ends, does it...

"And what about me?" said Mike after Josh disappeared. "After all, Bone-Daddy, I did just help save save the whole bloody multiverse, including your life. Don't I deserve some kind of reward?"

"I will let you live," said Rassilon, curtly. "I will even allow you to retan your... son, even though you will be undoubtedly a bad influence on him. Now go." He waved his hand and Mike and Little Mikey vanished just as Mike began to curse vigorously at him. How could this happen? he wondered to himself. I spend all my life trying to find something, I save the entire multiverse, and what do I get? Nothing. He looked down at Little Mikey, in his arms. Well, maybe not nothing...

"What are you going to do with Agent Strange?" said Inquirer.

"Who knows," said Rassilon. "Maybe I'll use him as a power source to replace that annoying black hole which Omega tries to invade the universe from all the time. Or maybe he'd make a nice decoration over there by that catacomb."

"I think I liked the lame overacting version better," whispered Betty.

"Still, that was more interesting than the TV version," whispered Ragan.

"Boy am I glad that's finally over," said Betty. "I think it's about time that we get back to our vacation."

"I quite agree," said the Doctor. For a moment, he felt as if there was something important he was forgetting that he couldn't quite pin down. Then he realized he was just being silly. The four Champions returned to the TARDIS, and it dematerialized.

As the Champions left, Agent Strange felt a weird presence appear before him, one that was all too familiar. Rassilon, of course, didn't see her. She had appeared to him before [15464], but only when it had suited her. Agent Strange, on the other hand, she apparently did want to see her. Which was bad.

you failed she said to him. the doctor is alive

Come on now, Ashtaroth baby, he thought at her, don't be so hasty. Didn't I force them to reset the Multiverse, so you and your buddies can come back now rather than waiting years? Didn't I alter history so that some of the Champions never became Champions, and kill two others? Didn't I--

The Dark God spoke the words to him that he had most feared: not enough

There was a flash of darkness.

Then, there was nothing.

The rest of the vacation at Cambridge passed mostly without event, though there were brief problems with a book from the future that ended up in an used book store causing a minor time paradox, and a fifth-dimensional imp that tried to vandalize reality by causing people to spout incoherent nonsense about nipples.

However, after a few days, the Doctor decided it was time to return to Terra and see how things were going there. After all, the multiverse had just been reset, and though there didn't seem to have been any drastic effects, there might have been some small problems.

"You know," said Ragan to Inquirer as the TARDIS dematerialized (Betty was putting some books she'd bought away in her room), "while I love this job, I could use some more vacation time. I wonder if we're even going to get any rest between now and when we arrive on Terra. I think something is going to happen right about--"

As she said this, a glowing hole appeared in the air, disgorging another Fred and Astra! "I told you," whispered Ragan. The Doctor walked over to them, keeping any anxiety he had locked up, and said,

1. "Hullo, I'm the Doctor, and these are my friends Inquirer and Ragan. Nice to meet you..."

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree