Time Twist (a Doctor Who Adventure)

Chapter 4

"Hello," Captain Harkness said. He smiled at the man before him.

I rolled my eyes. "Stop."

"What?" he exclaimed. "Why is there such a big problem with me saying 'hello'? I tell you, you and the Doctor are both the same. Won't even let me talk to anybody," he muttered.

"Wait," I said, pulling him closer to me, "You know the Doctor?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. Why?"

I grabbed his arm and led him a few steps away from where John was standing. When we were far enough, I gestured with my head. "Cause that's him," I said in a harsh whisper.

Jack turned to glance at John. "He's regenerated."

"That's all you've got to say?"

"Why's he going by John Smith?" Jack added. "And why does he seem to not remember me?"

"I think he has used the Chameleon Arc," I explained. I didn't know if Jack even knew what that was.

"Oh," he said, furrowing his brows together tightly. "That's bad. If something wants him bad enough for him to change himself into a human, then it's really, really bad. Do you know what it is?"

"Whispermen."

When you speak of Whispermen, you'll no doubt see them soon

For when you say," the Whispermen", prepare to meet your doom

I grabbed my ears, but it didn't help. The horrible couplet resounded over and over in my head. I fell to my knees in anguish, shaking my head violently, trying in vain to make the voices stop. Now I knew what it meant to be John Smith. The terrible sounds all day long and the whispers of his reality always filtering into his mind, it was not a feeling to envy. I was dimly aware of being taken a hold of at my shoulders and shaken.

"Dan!" Jack yelled, his face only inches from mine. "Stop! Get a grip on yourself!"

"Ah!" I released my hands from my ears slowly, reluctant to do so. The voices had stopped. I glanced around. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black-clad figure dart behind a rock to my left. My glance shot to where I had seen him. "What was that?" I asked Jack suspiciously.

"What?" Jack looked to where I was staring. "What did you see?"

"Someone wearing all black just ran behind the rock over there." I pointed to where I had seen him. Then I saw another one to my right. "There's another  one." I was starting to get a little freaked out at what was happening.

"They've found you." Jack said, his voice filled with terror.

"Who? Who has found us?" I demanded.

"The Whispermen. They're here." He looked back at me, his eyes filled with fear. "We need to get out of here. Now!"

"John!" I shouted. "Get to the TARDIS now!"

John looked over at us. Upon hearing the words, he turned on his heel and ran towards where I had parked my TARDIS.

"Run!" I shouted again. We all moved swiftly to the space-time ship. As I sprinted behind John and Jack, I saw John stumble briefly, then fall face first into the searing hot sand. I did not know what was wrong with him, but now was not the time to find out. I glanced behind me as I reached to lift him up. I saw about four or five of the black tuxedo-wearing Whispermen following us. They had a strange way of moving. They would walk a few steps in one spot and disappear completely. Then they would reappear  somewhere else and keep walking. They could pass through solid objects such as rocks littering the landscape rather easily. I made a mental note of this and filed it away for not-so-future use. I grabbed John by the arms and lifted him out of the sand and began dragging him toward the awaiting TARDIS. Jack ran back to help me. Together, we pulled him into the open door of the TARDIS, and just in time. I ran to the monitor to see how close the Whispermen were. They had been right behind us.

Jack leaned against a rail and wiped his forehead. He sighed heavily. "Now that the Whispermen have found us, there's no need for the Doctor to go on being John Smith. It's obvious that the Whispermen can still track him even without his Time Lord biology."

I turned to John, who was still breathing heavily, trying to slow his heart rate down. After a couple minutes, he stood to his fee slowly and ran a hand through his hair, making it stand practically on end. Then, he turned to look at Jack and I, who were staring at him. "What?"

"You don't by any chance have a watch in you pocket, do you?" I asked.

He reached down and fished around in his pockets for a bit. "Yeah, actually," he fished around some more. "I do." He found what he was looking for and handed it to me, placing it in my outstretched hand.

I looked at the watch. It looked like an old-fashioned fob watch. This one was a little bit more valuable than that. As I studied the casing, I could see intricate circles and lines carved into the tarnished metal. "How long have you had this?"

John shrugged. "I dunno. As long as I can remember."

"And you've never opened it?"

"Why should I?" he asked. "It's broken. Doesn't work."

"But if you've never opened it, how do you know it doesn't work?" Jack insisted.

John stood there, leaning against the console, dumbfounded. "I-I-I don't know," he stuttered. He took the watch from my hand and ran his fingers over the casing. Thoughts began to fill his mind, whispers of reality, of a previous life. Slowly and carefully, handling the watch as if it was a priceless gem, he opened it.

Jack and I watched in awe as golden wisps of energy filled the console room, emanating from the pocket watch. They swirled around John, changing his biological structure to turn him once again into his true species: Time Lord. All the history and knowledge of his 900 years of life filling his mind, spreading through the dark recesses of his memory, helping him to remember his true self. The sparkling swirls gave one final twist and then the glittering fragments slowly faded from sight as they dropped down toward the grated floor. John Smith no longer existed. In his place stood a familiar being. He was fire, and ice, and the rage of hundreds of years of hurt and happiness crammed into the body of one Time Lord. He was a dreamer of far flung hopes and dreams. He was the traveler without a home. He was the last of his kind -- the Last  of the Time Lords. He had lost so much, yet was willing to keep fighting so that others wouldn't have to experience what he had. He looked at us and gave a big, wide smile.

Jack and I exchanged glances.

The Doctor was back!