The TARDIS ground slowly but noisily into existence in the grey, dimly lit metal corridor. As the sound of its arrival faded, a small, scruffy man with dark hair stepped out. He wore a baggy black jacket, with a green spotted handkerchief poking out of the top pocket, and checked trousers.
As he looked around with keen interest, he was followed from the TARDIS by two younger people. The woman was petite, with dark hair cut into a bob. She wore a silver jacket, white blouse and dark pants. The man was solid without being overweight. He had dark hair and wore a white shirt, a rough tan jacket and a kilt.
"So, where are we, Doctor?" asked the girl.
"That's a very good question, Zoe," the Doctor said, beaming. "A very good question indeed."
"Och, he disna know," the young man said.
The Doctor looked hurt. "Well, Jamie, I must admit, we did land earlier than I was expecting. It seems to be a space ship or station of some kind."
"What makes you say that?" Jamie asked, interested in his surroundings.
The Doctor jumped up and down a couple of times. "Artificial gravity," he said with a smile.
"It doesn't look very well maintained," Zoe commented. "There are a couple of lighting panels not working and it's not very clean either."
"Maybe we should take a look around," the Doctor suggested, setting off down the corridor before either of his companions could argue.
"We'd better follow him," Jamie said. "You know how he attracts trouble."
They caught up with the Doctor at a door at the end of the corridor. It was firmly shut.
Fumbling in his pockets, the Doctor produced a slim silver rod and flourished it triumphantly.
"The sonic screwdriver," he announced. "It should make short work of this access panel."
Before he could set to work on the small panel beside the door, it opened from the other side. A man dashed through.
He was tall and thin, with a couple of day's growth of stubble on his chin. His clothes were ragged and his eyes were wide and staring. He grasped the Doctor by the shoulders.
"We're all doomed!" he declared. "We're all going to die!"
"Well, I suppose that's true, eventually," the Doctor replied gently, disengaging himself from the man's grip. "Are you alright?"
The man laughed, a short, harsh laugh. "They can't save us, you know," he said, ignoring the Doctor's question. "Nobody can save us now!"
The Doctor frowned. "You should never give up hope. Without hope, we are nothing."
The man looked at him, hard. "You're mad!" he decided. Then he gave another short laugh and ran off down the corridor.
"We're all doomed," could be heard long after he disappeared from sight.
The Doctor shook his head sadly. "Poor man."
Zoe shivered. "I hope he wasn't in charge round here."
The Doctor smiled at his friends, gesturing towards the now open door. "Come on, let's explore."
***
The TARDIS shrieked in protest as it was forced from its natural environment of the space/time vortex and into the real world. It solidified with a sulky thump.
The doors creaked open and two people emerged, a man and a woman.
He was tall, with collar length straight blond hair and a pleasant, boyish face. He wore a fawn frock coat over a white cricketing jumper and mustard, red and black striped trousers.
The young woman was an almost complete contrast. Shorter, she had shoulder length brown curls and a pretty face, more used to smiling than frowning. She wore a red velvet tailored jacket and matching pants.
"I don't see any crystal clear lakes or spectacular views, Doctor," she commented.
The Doctor looked around with keen interest. "That's because this isn't the planet Florana, Nyssa," he replied.
"You don't say," she muttered. She knew only too well that if they reached their intended destination, it was more luck than judgement on the Doctor's part.
Nyssa took in their landing site. It appeared to be a cargo area, stacked with boxes of varying sizes. Around the walls were arranged a large number of upright cylinders, about eight feet tall.
"So, where are we?" she asked.
"A spaceship, or a space station," the Doctor replied.
She nodded, "Artificial gravity," she concluded.
"Exactly," he said, jumping up and down a couple of times to demonstrate.
"It doesn't look very interesting," Nyssa commented.
"Nonsense," the Doctor protested. "You just need to look a little harder." He strode over to one of the upright cylinders and started to examine it.
Nyssa joined him. He was peering at a control panel set into the cylinder through half moon spectacles. He turned to his companion, removing the spectacles and placing them in an inner pocket.
"This is fascinating," he said, rapping the cylinder with his knuckles. "Cryogenic suspension." He gazed around the cargo area. "There must be close to a thousand of them. I wonder if there are more areas like this?" He headed towards the door, Nyssa trailing in his wake.
"I don't suppose any crew will be pleased to see us," she said. "They're not usually."
"That's a very pessimistic attitude," he said, patting the pockets of his frock coat. He sighed. "I really will have to construct a new sonic screwdriver sometime."
"Why not try this?" Nyssa asked, waving her hand in front of an electronic lock plate. The door sprang open.
The Doctor frowned. "Beginners luck," he declared.
They stepped out into the corridor and were nearly knocked flying by a man, running down the corridor waving his arms.
"We're all doomed!" the man cried, disappearing from sight.
***
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe had made it to the bridge of the spaceship, an area that looked as poorly maintained as the other parts they had seen.
There seemed to be nobody about, which the Doctor thought was odd. He decided to call out.
"Er, hello?"
"What's wrong now, can't a bloke get any kip round here?" drifted a voice from the central chair, which was facing away from them. It turned.
In it was a thin man in a badly crumpled uniform. Like the man they had encountered in the corridor, he hadn't bothered to shave for a while. And from the smell that suddenly assailed their nostrils, that wasn't his only personal hygiene issue.
"Hey, who defrosted you lot?" he exclaimed. "Mind you, we're close enough to almost roast them now," he added with a morbid chuckle.
"We've just arrived," the Doctor explained. "Is there a problem?"
"Problem?" the man echoed. "PROBLEM? This ship, its crew and entire compliment are about to plunge into the sun!"
***
Down in the cargo area, the Doctor and Nyssa were following the running man.
"Should we be doing this?" Nyssa asked. "He could be dangerous."
"I doubt he's a threat," the Doctor replied. "He seemed more frightened than anything."
They found the man huddled in a corner of a storage compartment. He was trembling with fear and flinched when the Doctor tried to approach him.
"We mean you no harm," the Doctor said, squatting in front of the frightened man. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"
"We're all doomed," the man whispered.
The Doctor nodded slowly. "So you said. Why? What's the problem?"
"The sun," the man said, some sanity returning to his mad eyes. "We're falling into the sun."
"Can't you pull the ship away?"
He shook his head fiercely. "Jumped out of hyperspace too close. Couldn't escape the gravity well. All my fault. All my fault." The man started to sob.
"That's terrible," Nyssa said, standing quietly behind the Doctor. "Is there anything we can do?"
"It depends how long they have. We can always evacuate them." He leant forward. "How long does the ship have left?" he asked.
The man looked up, his eyes red rimmed. The crazy gleam had returned.
"Who are you? I don't know you. Has somebody been defrosting colonists?"
"Defrosting?" the Doctor repeated. "Those cylinders, are there people inside them? Colonists?"
"Colonists," the man said. "For the fourth planet of the system."
"How many?" the Doctor asked urgently.
The man gaped at him. "Ten thousand, of course. All doomed. We're all doomed!"
***
"So this is a colony ship," Zoe said after the man on the bridge, who had introduced himself as First Mate Joseph Andrews, had explained the situation.
"That's right, Miss," he replied. "I just assumed you were colonists. Thought one of the crew had defrosted you for a laugh."
"Some sense of humour," Jamie commented.
"How long have you been here?" the Doctor asked.
"Nearly three months. We've been in a steadily decaying orbit since we jumped into the system and got caught in the pull of the sun. Now, we're entering the final phase."
"Final phase?" Zoe inquired.
Andrews nodded sadly. "In three days time we will enter the outer corona and burn up. It's only a matter of time."
***
"Can we fit ten thousand people into the TARDIS?" Nyssa asked.
"Depends how long we have," the Doctor said. "Also on how long it will take to thaw them out, how many crew are on board and how long it will take to convince them we want to help."
"That's a lot of variables," Nyssa commented.
"Too many. I think it's time we got some answers."
"Time," muttered the crewman. "Running out of time."
The Doctor turned to him. "Do you know how long before the ship burns up?"
He nodded. "Three days. That's all we have. Three days to doomsday."
The Doctor frowned. "Well, that gives us a time limit."
"Can we help them in that time?"
The Time Lord shook his head sadly. "No, I don't think we can. We can't evacuate all of them in three days."
***
"But the TARDIS is huge!" Zoe protested when the Doctor told her they couldn't save all the colonists in time.
The Doctor sighed. "That may be true, Zoe. We can fit ten thousand people in. But not in that time limit. If we had another day, maybe..."
He put a consoling hand on Zoe's shoulder, seeing she was upset.
***
The Doctor and Nyssa were heading for the bridge. They had decided they should contact the crew and offer their services to save as many people as they could.
***
"Well, we should make a start, if we're going to save anybody," the Doctor said. "Which way to the cargo bays, Mister Andrews?"
"I'll show you," Andrews replied. "There's nothing I can do here now."
The Doctor turned to leave the bridge and collided with a tall man in a fawn frock coat who had just entered.
"Sorry," said the tall man.
"Excuse me," said the Doctor. Then he really looked at the newcomer. Their eyes locked.
"You!" they exclaimed together.
"What are you doing here?" asked the blond haired Doctor.
"It's a free Universe, I can go where I like," said the small, scruffy Doctor.
"You mean wherever the TARDIS takes you."
"Aye, he's got a point there," Jamie commented. "Who is he, by the way?"
"He's me," Jamie's Doctor replied. "An older version, obviously."
"Obviously," Jamie echoed, looking at the younger man and feeling more confused.
"Older AND wiser," stressed the other Doctor.
"That remains to be seen," said the dark-haired version.
Nyssa stepped forward. "Look, these people need our help. Why not work together, then maybe we can save them all."
Her Doctor nodded. "Yes, of course."
His counterpart agreed. "It should work out."
"You know the situation, I assume?"
"Most of it. You?"
"Partly. Conference?"
The shorter Doctor nodded. "Good idea, old chap."
They both closed their eyes. "Contact," said the blond one.
"Contact," said the dark one.
Neither Nyssa, Zoe nor Jamie could accurately describe what happened next. The air seemed to crackle with mental energy. Time seemed to stretch, though this was probably an illusion.
"What's going on?" asked Andrews, who was feeling left out of things since the two new strangers had arrived.
"I'll let you know when I find out," Zoe promised.
Both Doctors opened their eyes. "Do you think we can do it?" asked the blond one.
"I think so," said the dark-haired one, grinning. "But we don't have any time to lose."
"Of course." The tall Doctor turned to address his companions, old and new, and First Mate Andrews.
"Now there are two of us here, we should be able to accommodate all the colonists and crew in time. Maybe even some of the supplies. Mister Andrews, we'll need the full co-operation of the crew."
"If you can save us, you've got it!"
"Good. Now, we'll need to work quickly and as a team. Nyssa, Zoe and Jamie can help me, us, to begin reviving the colonists. We'll need the crew to help with this as well. It's our top priority. Once we have some of them awake, they can help with their colleagues and loading supplies. Jamie can help with that too. Nyssa and Zoe can then start directing the revived colonists to the TARDIS'. Any questions? No? Good."
The Doctor turned to go, waiting for his other self to lead the way.
The smaller Doctor shook his head. "Age before beauty," he said with a smile.
Scowling, the blond Doctor led them from the bridge.
As they headed for the cargo bays, Zoe had a question for Andrews.
"What happened to the Captain of this ship?"
"It's very sad," Andrews told her. "Captain Mortimore calculated the jump point from hyperspace that put us here. Blamed himself for our predicament. Turned his mind it did. Now he just wanders the corridors, telling us we're doomed."
***
The evacuation went relatively smoothly. The defrosting process was simple and quick and the cargo bays were soon filling with revived colonists. Once they got their bearings, the people were put to work, the stronger ones shifting supplies, the others working on more cylinders.
The fifth Doctor's TARDIS was already located in Cargo Bay 3, while the second Doctor's craft was in the access corridor to Cargo Bay 8. This helped speed the loading of passengers and cargo, with Zoe and Nyssa acting as guides for the colonists, making sure they didn't get lost in the time ships.
The Doctors' themselves co-ordinated with the crew, solving problems that came up and making sure everything went without incident. The fifth Doctor even found Captain Mortimore, hiding in the mess hall, and convinced him to join the exodus.
Early on the third day, Andrews approached the second Doctor with a problem.
"The heat shields are coming under increasing pressure. Because we thought there was no hope, we didn't keep up with maintenance. Now I'm not sure they'll hold."
After a quick conversation, both Doctors followed him to the bridge. They studied the readouts together.
The second Doctor frowned. "I don't like the look of that at all. Where is the access hatch?"
Andrews removed a panel. Behind it was a mass of tangled wires.
The second Doctor tutted, shaking his head. "I can't do anything with that. And we still have over a hundred people to revive."
The fifth Doctor moved past him, peering at the wiring. He turned to his other self.
"May I borrow your sonic screwdriver?" He took the device and set to work, swapping connectors and re-routing systems. After a few minutes he replaced the panel.
"Try it now," he told Andrews.
The First Mate rebooted the system. A smile spread slowly over his face. "It's working! Shields are strengthening."
The fifth Doctor beamed, slipping the sonic screwdriver into the top pocket of his fawn frock coat.
"Where did you learn to bypass systems like that?" asked his former incarnation.
He thought back briefly to his third incarnation and all the hours he had spent trying to bypass the Time Lord's blocks on the TARDIS during his exile.
"You don't want to know," he told his younger self.
The second Doctor frowned. "There is something I do want."
"What's that?"
"My sonic screwdriver back, please." He held out his hand. Reluctantly, the fifth Doctor handed over the device.
***
They completed the evacuation with hours to spare. Then it was time to work out the next step. The second Doctor was worried he wouldn't be able to steer his TARDIS to the fourth planet of the system. It was decided he should lock onto the time trace of the fifth Doctor's TARDIS. He was confident he could reach the planet without incident.
They synchronised pocket watches (the same watch, it seemed) and returned to their craft.
Now, the second Doctor was standing poised over the console, Zoe counting down the seconds.
"Three, two, one, zero," she called.
The Doctor pushed home the dematerialisation lever and crossed his fingers.
***
The two Doctors stood together outside their TARDIS', gazing at the magnificent sunset. Nearby. Nyssa, Zoe and Jamie were chatting.
"To think, that nearly destroyed over ten thousand lives," the fifth Doctor said, indicating the sun.
His earlier self nodded. "One of us wouldn't have saved them all," he replied quietly.
They stood for a while in silent contemplation. The fifth Doctor broke the silence.
"I didn't think you were going to join us," he said, referring to the late arrival of his other self.
"Well, it took the TARDIS a little while to pick up your time trace. The old girl likes to take her time, you know."
"I do know, only too well."
"Do you remember all this now?"
The Doctor nodded his blond head. "Once all the colonists were settled, I experienced total recall. Funny how that always happens."
"So long as they don't find out," said his shorter self.
"I won't tell the Time Lords if you don't!"
"Come along, Jamie, Zoe. Time we were going."
Their companions approached, saying their goodbyes to each other as they did.
The tall Doctor shook hands with Jamie. "It's been nice seeing you again, old friend," he said.
Jamie nodded. "You too, Doctor. Though I am still a bit confused by it all."
Zoe sighed. "I'll explain later," she told her friend. She hugged the fifth Doctor. "It's been a pleasure meeting you," she told him.
"And seeing you again," he replied. "Look after me, won't you?"
"We will," Zoe promised. She and Jamie waved and entered the TARDIS.
The second Doctor beamed. "Goodbye, Nyssa," he said. "I look forward to our first meeting."
"Goodbye, Doctor," she said, smiling.
The two Doctors shook hands. "Well, it's been a pleasure working with me, old chap," said the shorter Doctor.
"Likewise, young fellow," said the taller.
The second Doctor waved before the shutting the doors. Moments later the TARDIS disappeared noisily.
"Do you remember meeting me when you were him?" asked Nyssa.
"Well, I do now. Not before." He smiled, tapping the side of his head. "All part of temporal physics."
Together they entered the TARDIS and left the colonists to their new world.
