The Zalaxal Infiltration--Chapter Three

"And so it begins..." she whispered, walking towards the white glow.

 "Professor?" Ace asked, running up to the Doctor on the stone block and placing herself between him and the madwoman.

 The Doctor was quiet for a moment, watching inquisitively. "Ace," he breathed quietly. "He's...I'm...regenerating...."

 MIA#11 The Zalaxal Infiltration
Chapter Three--"Two Wrongs Don't Make a Left Turn . . ."
By Joel Aarons

 They all stared at the unconscious form on the ground. Doctor number two in particular felt a kind of nausea as he watched. Watching yourself die was harrowing enough. Watching yourself regenerate was something so . . . well, personal. The Doctor frowned. He had never actually seen a regeneration occur in front of him before. Back home on Gallifrey, a regeneration was a private thing, something that could be controlled and treated with care. In his case, regeneration was forced on him several times before, as he gave up a life for the greater good. No care and privacy in that, though. Each time with a totally random result.

 His frown became a deep scowl. This shouldn't be taking this long. Ace was kneeling beside the figure, and the crazy woman with the spear was just staring agape. His other self was still in the regenerative flux. The Doctor started panicking. Something was going very wrong. Time to take charge.

 With comparative ease, he snatched the spear from the crazed woman. "That will be enough of that, thank you."

 The woman shrank back, hissing. "You demons! How dare you interfere with prophesy! The Imprexa will . . ."

 "The Imprexa, whoever that is, will have to wait. Something very wrong is going on here, and I can't have you waving weapons about trying to kill us, when I'm trying to think."

 The figure on the floor was still in a blurry regenerative state. Ace looked back at the Doctor. "Something's gone wrong, hasn't it? What's happening, Professor?"

 The Doctor knelt beside his other self. "Something is preventing the regenerative process from taking hold."

 "It must be Zalaxal," stated Ace, ignoring the hissing again from the woman next to her. "He mustn't have copied you as exactly as he thought."

 The Doctor thought furiously. "Not necessarily. There are other things that can cause this kind of problem. Other agencies at work . . ." The Doctor stood up, decisively. "Ace, I need you to keep an eye on our "guest" here, whilst I rustle up some equipment from the TARDIS. There is a stablizing unit that may help me - er, him."

 He moved towards the TARDIS, and glanced back at Tizanna who was being held at spear point from Ace. "My dear, I haven't time to explain, but its not as simple an execution as you might believe. Ace will explain. I'll be back." And with that, he disappeared into the TARDIS.

 Ace looked worryingly at the TARDIS. What if she had just let Zalaxal escape? She tensed ready to see the police box vanish, but it remained resolutely where it was. Ace turned to Tizanna. "I think you're owed some explanations, if you're up to it . . ."

 

Two minutes later, or thereabouts, the Doctor ran out of the TARDIS dragging what looked like a large ring, with all sorts of dials, switches and readouts on its outer shell, and set on a trolley with wheels. "How is he?" he asked, perhaps a little panic stricken.

 "Still the same," said Ace. The Doctor brought the unit over to the small group. "Right . . ." He positioned the unit parallel to the figure on the ground, and briefly considered the controls. "Er, this one . . ." The trolley lowered on to the floor and the Doctor positioned the figure on top of it, as the trolley raised up to meet the ring again. As Ace and Tizanna watched the Doctor's fingers danced on the keypad and then threw a switch. Light pulsated from the ring around the figure. Slowly features formed a nose, a mouth, long wavy hair. The body was still very much in flux, but a face was beginning to emerge. Suddenly the unit started beeping wildly and the Doctor raced to find out what was going wrong. The face in the mist twisted in agony.

 "Professor?" called Ace quietly.

 The Doctor ignored her, furiously working at the controls.

 "Doctor!" The incessant beeps became a whine and part of the unit blew in a shower of sparks. The Doctor yelped and was thrown on the ground. The figure screamed such an awful scream that Tizanna fell to her knees in horror. The face disappeared, the mist disappeared and lying on the trolley was smooth, featureless humanoid shape dressed in the Doctor's clothes. Ace stared and then looked towards the Doctor, who looked so shocked Ace suddenly felt very scared.

 "Doctor?" The Doctor remained silent. He just sat on the floor staring numbly at his counterpart. Ace drew a nervous breath. "Right, both of you are going in the TARDIS." The Doctor nodded weakly, and before Ace could say anything else, he disappeared inside.

 Ace turned towards Tizanna. "Well, what about it, High Priestess? Will you help us?"

 Tizanna drew herself up and stared at Ace. "The story is too fantastic to believe. But I am a fair person, and an honorable. If it is true that you are innocent of the crimes I accuse you of, then I must help and make up for my mistakes."

 Ace patted her back. "Attagirl! Now, let's push the trolley back into the TARDIS." She gripped the trolley and started moving off. She turned towards Tizanna. "Well come on, if you're coming . . . and no stupid questions about the size of the ship, because I'm just really not in the mood for it."

 

When they came in the console room, the Doctor was standing by the controls, pretending to look busy. Ace knew him only too well. The Doctor was very worried, and he could sense her concern for him. He pinched his upper nose. His head ached. It must have been a result of being thrown down like that. He didn't feel quite himself . . .

 Ace sidled up to him. "What's happened, Professor? Is he, is he . . . well . . ."

 "Is he dead?" the Doctor smiled weakly. "No, no he's not. But he can't be sustained for long. He's in an intermediate state between regenerations. There's nothing I can do for him."

 "Nothing?" Ace couldn't believe it.

 "No, not myself. The only people that could help are on Gallifrey."

 "Well let's go then!" Ace waited and noticed the Doctor made no move to the co-ordinate panel. "What?"

 The Doctor glanced at Tizanna, and moved Ace to a more distant spot. "I don't visit Gallifrey lightly. There's usually some kind of trouble on a universal scale, every time I do. They wouldn't be happy about my arrival either."

 "Doctor!" Ace looked at him straight in the eyes. "Doctor, if that's where we have to go, then that's what we've gotta do. You may not even be the real Doctor. I'm not going to take a chance that it's Zalaxal that's dying on that trolley. We have to go!"

 The Doctor rubbed his temples as if in pain, and then suddenly smiled. "Of course, my dear. Gallifrey is where we will go!" He darted back to the console and set the co-ordinates. Ace looked after him worryingly. He never called her "my dear" before . . .

 

Chancellor Rodan strode briskly through the corridors, late for a meeting with the Cardinals. She had just come from Space Traffic Control where she was telling off a young Time Lord cadet for not reporting a Kroton cruiser passing into the Gallifreyan solar system. It had just sped through, and young Haytak thought it was nothing to worry about. "You may think Krotons are a joke," she told him "But Gallifrey was once invaded by Vardans, and if that can happen, anything can."

 She passed Castellan Rufrus on her way to the Cardinal's Chamber. She nodded to him and she passed, but Rufrus trotted along after her. "Rufrus, I am late for a meeting," she said shortly.

 "I realise that," said Rufrus gruffly, "But I think there is something important that you should know."

 "Yes?" said Rodan, a little more irritated than she meant.

 "The Doctor is about to arrive in the Presidential quarter."

 Rodan stopped suddenly. She stared at Rufrus. Under her breath, Rodan swore softly.

 

Had Zalaxal had enough motor control over his host, he would have grinned. Gallifrey! Home of the Time Lords! The perfect revenge on the universe. Nowhere was safe from him anymore. No time, as well. All it would take was a little time for his persona to reassert itself....

 To be continued . . .

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