Chief James Smith took a deep breath. He’d received reports of a very particular kind of alien. Binary cardiovascular system. Respiratory bypass. Intelligence that was off the charts. And then the mention of the planet Gallifrey. He studied the alien through the one-way mirror as he adjusted the dark glasses covering his eyes. This was going to be the single most difficult interview the Chief had conducted in all of his tenure running the Time Agency. Taking another breath to calm himself, he fingered the device in his pocket and then pushed the door open.
“Hello,” he said, strain clear in his voice as the other man turned around and stared at him. “I am the Chief. The head of the Time Agency.”
“I’m the Doctor.”
“And who might ‘the Doctor’ be when he’s at home?”
“Just ‘the Doctor.’ And you? You’re Chief…” the alien trailed off.
“If you’re just ‘the Doctor,’ then I am just ‘the Chief,’” James grinned. He walked through the room and sat down across the table from the Doctor. “Now, you claim to be traveling with a Rose Tyler from Earth in the 21st century.”
“I am traveling with her.”
“And I’m the Queen of New Sheba.”
“No, honestly, I am.”
“You also told my agents you were human.”
“Okay, so I lied about that. I’m not human. I’m a Time Lord. From Gallifrey.”
“Yes. That’s what got me called in on this. Called off my vacation with my wife and parents. Called in to deal with you, Doctor.”
“I’m sorry,” the Time Lord said sarcastically.
“Yeah,” the Chief sighed. He’d heard that before. “We’ve looked into your Time Stream. Oh, don’t give me that look. We had every right to. We’re in charge of ensuring that people are returned to their proper time and that no paradoxes are created. That’s why I’m here. Your case is rather…complicated. To say the least.”
“Well, just give me a Vortex Manipulator and I’ll be on my way. Damned space hoppers,” he muttered in an undertone. The Chief looked at him oddly. For a moment, the Doctor put aside his irritation and regarded the man. The Chief had sandy blonde hair. His dark glasses covered his eyes, hiding them. But something about the other man’s face seemed so familiar to him. He sniffed and then leaned back. The Chief wasn’t entirely human. The Doctor was astounded. He couldn’t figure out what species this man was. Only that he looked and felt…familiar. Without thinking, the Doctor reached out with his telepathic senses. He was stunned to find that the Chief had shields that rivaled his own.
The Chief settled himself. “We will send you back to when you must be sent. But we are not giving you a Vortex Manipulator to just hop around through all of time and space. If you really are traveling with a Rose Tyler, the device we give you will ensure that you meet her at the proper time and in the proper order.”
“I’m a Time Lord,” the Doctor said, a hint of The Oncoming Storm in his voice. His eyes darkened with anger. How dare these lesser beings try to dictate to him? “I’ll decide what’s right.”
“If you truly are a Time Lord,” the Chief said with just enough doubt in his voice to make the Doctor angry, “then you would know that you can’t examine your own Time Lines. That you can’t examine the Time Lines of those who are close to you. Or who have learned to shield their own. However, here at the Time Agency, we’re not close to anyone. We’ve learned the hard way to avoid paradoxes.”
“All I know is that you’re sitting here wasting my time when Rose could be dying!” the Doctor shouted angrily. He’d had enough of this bureaucracy. Of these humans and their power trips. He wanted to be off to find Rose. To keep her safe. He would never forgive himself if she died. If she was hurt. As it was, he wasn’t certain he could forgive himself for leaving her on that ship, no matter the reasons for it. “Give me what I need and I’ll take care of the Time Lines.”
“Very well, then. Tell me, what do you know of Rose Marion Tyler, human being, born in 1987 Anno Domini on Sol Three?”
The Doctor gaped at the Chief. “I know that she’s blonde. Brave. Never got her A-levels. Had a bad run-in with some bloke named Jimmy Stone. She worked at Henrick’s, a shop, until I grabbed her hand, told her to run, and then blew it up. She traveled with me.”
“What was the last trip you took with her?”
“We had just finished dealing with the Krillitanes,” the Doctor shuddered. He remembered meeting up with Sarah Jane Smith. Seeing her aged. Knowing that Rose would eventually age, wither, and die in front of him. He loved Rose with every beat of his hearts but he was terrified of losing her. When Mickey asked to come with them, the Doctor had thought that a great way to get Rose to go back to her human life. To get away from her and the feelings she was stirring in him. “We landed on a space ship in the 51st century. There were these droids out to get Madame du Pompadour…”
“So you abandoned Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith? That’s the last trip you took with them?”
“Yeah,” the Doctor sighed, sounding defeated. “I managed to get back to the ship but the TARDIS was gone.”
The Chief stared at him, thinking. “Stay here. When I return, I’ll give you a Vortex Manipulator. But, be careful, Doctor. It will be protected so that you can’t take any unauthorized trips.”
“I’m a Time Lord. I refuse to be dictated to! I will decide when and where I go!”
“No, Doctor. I will decide that. It’s my job. That’s why I’m the head of the Time Agency. Argue with me and you’ll sit here in the 51st century until I decide to take you somewhere else.”
“Who are you, Chief, to tell me when and where I might go?”
“The man whose job it is to keep you from creating a paradox that would destroy the universe. Now, sit here patiently until my men can find you a place to wait longer. When I get back, I’ll see that you are taken to where and when you need to be. Argue with me further and I’ll leave you here to rot. Do you understand, Doctor?”
Before the Time Lord could argue, the Chief stormed out of the room. There was something off about him. Something both familiar and alien at the same time. The Doctor stared at the door, wondering just what it was that both grated his nerves and made him feel as if he were at home at the same time.
~*~*~*~
The Doctor was beyond irate now. He’d been left locked in a wooden cell surrounded by cement. The two things his sonic screwdriver couldn’t get through. It had been nearly sixteen hours since his interview with the Chief ended so abruptly. Did no one care that Rose could be dying? That she might be calling for him right now? Normally the Time Lord could be calm and patient but with Rose’s life on the line, he found himself feeling the exact opposite of calm.
Ten minutes later, the Chief opened the doors to the Doctor’s cell. “Right, here you go,” the man said calmly, tossing a Vortex Manipulator to him. “Keep that on you at all times. It’s deadlock sealed so don’t even bother trying to tamper with it. If you so much as point a sonic probe at it, it’ll zap you right back here and I’ll assign a babysitter to you. Understood, Time Lord?”
“You know, I’m not the one who doesn’t know what he’s doing, Chief. I have been traveling through time and space since before your distant ancestors had invented the transistor.”
“Take that and get out of here, would you? You’re dangerously close to getting on my last nerve, Doctor.”
“Oh, I’ll go,” the Doctor said, putting the Vortex Manipulator on his wrist, “I’ll go and heaven help you if I’m too late.”
“It’s not you being too late I’m worried about,” the Chief said as the Doctor pressed the button that would send him back to the pre-set coordinates. “It’s you being too damned early that’s the problem.”