Preparing For The Future (Book Twelve of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Before the Flood

As much as I would have loved putting the rock theme of Doctor Who as the soundtrack for the chapter, the ending music is just too good. I'll put the rock theme somewhere else, I promise.

So . . . this'll be a doozy. Jessie's terrified, the Doctor's panicking and he wants to destroy something, and they somehow have to fight Time itself while being separated and trying to keep everyone else with them alive. I pity the companions.

Enjoy 12K words of their predicament in "Before the Flood!"

***

Then

"OK, you see, that's where you start to lose me," Pietro held up his hands, stopping Jessie mid-explanation.

She sighed. "Where did I lose you?"

He paused. "Actually, pretty far back."

Jessie snorted, searching through her bowl of trail mix for another M&M. "Am I losing you because I'm trying to explain it or because we're not on an adventure that magically explains it for you?"

"The adventure usually does help," Wanda admitted.

Jessie groaned, closing her eyes and putting her bowl to the side. "I'm out of M&Ms and now I need to think of a story."

"Didn't you say the mathematics teacher compared you to a fairy tale?" Tony asked from where he was investigating the controls. "I'd think that makes you a perfect storyteller."

"Yeah, I need to practice," Jessie admitted.

"How about I give it a go?" the Doctor hopped up the steps. "What's better, M&Ms or your favorite chocolate mousse?"

Jessie's eyes lit up. "Give."

He chuckled, handing her a bowl of it and dropping a kiss on her head. "How about a mix?" he clapped his hands and turned around. "An explanation with an adventure? So, there's this man. He has a time machine. Up and down history he goes, zip zip zip zip zip, getting into scrapes."

"So, basically you," Pietro smirked.

"You wanted a story, no interrupting the storyteller," Jessie pointed her spoon at him.

Pietro held up his hands in surrender. "Another thing he has a passion for," the Doctor looked around the second level, then held up a vinyl record. "The works of Ludwig van Beethoven. And one day he thinks, what's the point of having a time machine if you don't get to meet your heroes? So off he goes to eighteenth century Germany. But he can't find Beethoven anywhere! No one's heard of him, not even his family have any idea who the time traveler is talking about." He put the record aside and held up a bust of Beethoven. "Beethoven literally doesn't exist."

"Sorry, I have to interrupt at this point," Clara raised her hand. "Is this a true story?"

The Doctor sighed. "No, I'm telling a story. This didn't happen. We've met Beethoven. Nice chap, very intense."

"He liked to arm wrestle," Jessie nodded. "Couldn't beat the Doctor, though."

"Of course, he couldn't," Tony grumbled.

The Doctor just smirked. "No, I'm just explaining the Bootstrap Paradox. If I'm still confusing you by the end, Google it."

"Google might give us a shorter answer," Pietro muttered under his breath, making Clara snicker.

"Google's nowhere near as entertaining, though," Wanda pointed out.

"So, no Beethoven," the Doctor spun on his heel. "The time traveler panics! He can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven!" He returned to the vinyls, showing how many he had. "Luckily, he'd brought all of his Beethoven sheet music for Ludwig to sign. So he copies out all the concertos, and the symphonies, and he gets them published. He becomes Beethoven, and history continues with barely a feather ruffled." The Doctor nodded, seeing the understanding in the companions' faces as he plugged his guitar in. "But my question is this," he slung the guitar over his head. "Who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's Fifth?"