Chapter One written by Greg Miller

Just like the old days, thought Nick.

When he and the Doctor had first arrived here, in Senate Square, on Alpha Centauri, they had moved into this building and set up shop – Honest Doc’s Second Hand Curios. Back then they had spent a lot of time talking, getting to know each other.

This kitchen had seen some happy times.

Of course, they had had Falex with them then, before the little guy had gone home to Taureas II. He had grown up fast and had not turned out quite the way Nick had expected. Then again, in many ways, Nick had grown up fast as well. He had not turned out quite the way he had expected either.

Back in the old days, the imposing blue shape of the TARDIS would not have been parked in the corner. That was certainly a great improvement.

Then there was Alf. Another great improvement, and certainly a big part of Nick’s own growing up. Of course, now she wanted to grow up even more, to get married. To him. Man, that was a big step. He had been surprised and sorely tempted to say yes on Gidi and Alf had graciously allowed him time to think about it. Now Nick was not so sure he was ready for it.

But if not now, then when? Nick wondered. Back to that later. Alf was out to lunch, catching up with a friend. This time was for him and the Doctor, no one else.

He looked up to where the big man was busying himself on the other side of the kitchen. The Doctor had taken to wearing back slacks and a blazer over a frilly shirt; around his neck he also wore a black loosely tied bow. Nick flashed the Doctor a smile as the Time Lord clone continued to slice up exotic vegetables for a salad.

‘Almost ready, Nick,’ he grinned through his big, bushy beard. ‘I hope you don’t mind a multicultural mélange – we’ve got Draconian vreskraasha, Centaurian lubloodal, some of the first kravxzan from Mars – I can’t believe how quickly they’ve got their hydroponics gardens back in production, but I’m glad Izlyr has got his priorities right because the flavour is just to die for – and, my pièce de résistance, some lovely fresh tomatoes from Earth.’

‘Sounds great! Anything I can do? I’m feeling about as useful as tits on a bull at the moment,’ the younger man replied.

The Doctor turned back to his work, shaking his head and smiling, just as Nick knew he would. It probably would not surprise anyone seeing the Doctor’s physique to realise that the man loved to eat and knew how to prepare food to match his appetite.

Casting around for something to amuse him while the Doctor finalised his culinary masterpiece, Nick’s eye lighted on a dull bronze gleam on a shelf. He stood up and retrieved the time amulets from where they had been left. They had been an interesting way to travel, but certainly could not hold a candle to the TARDIS.

Despite having been untouched for weeks, they still felt oddly warm. Nick turned them over in his hands and – yes, that one. It’s mine, he thought. That connection was still there.

Laying the other two aside, Nick brought his amulet near to his face to examine it closely. It certainly did not look like something that could breach the barriers of time and space. It was oddly beautiful; somehow just exactly the right size and with corners of precisely aesthetically-pleasing angles. He should have thought to show it to Oscar, he would have really appreciated the way it looked.

Something happened. Something odd.

The amulet began to soften in his fingers, as though his body heat was melting it. Before he could call out to the Doctor, it had suddenly liquefied and ran between his fingers, falling onto the amulets on the table below.

‘Doctor…’ Nick called, uncertain exactly what this transformation meant.

‘Just a moment, almost ready,’ replied his friend.

Nick looked down at the other amulets on the table and saw that they, too, were melting. ‘Doctor, quickly!’

Hearing the tone in Nick’s voice, the big man placed the large salad bowl down and quickly crossed to the table. ‘What’s happened?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Hello, where’s this puddle come form?’

‘The amulets, Doctor – they’ve melted!’ Nick suppressed a nervous giggle, Daliesque images of melting clocks flashing through his mind.

‘What? The time amulets?’ He looked down at the puddle. It was an odd, silvery-grey colour but at the edges the bronze gleam from the amulet form was visible. The Doctor leaned in closer, looking at the puddle. He suddenly stepped back, as the puddle began to coruscate with bright colours below the surface, glowing with such intensity that light in the colours in the fluid were projected on to the walls and ceiling, and on the Doctor and Nick.

‘Bleedin’ hell,’ said Nick. ‘That’s a better light show than you get in most night clubs!’

‘Nick, a little bit of seriousness here – I’m not sure what’s happened.’

‘Sorry.’

‘Look there, what’s happening… it’s an image of some kind.’

Near the middle of the puddle, they saw an exact replica of the very room they were standing in; they, too, were both replicated in that copy of the room. Nick had entered the room looking serious, and distracted the Doctor from a tray of bric-a-brac he was sorting through. As Nick spoke, the Doctor looked troubled. He answered, and it was Nick’s turn to look disturbed. As the real Doctor and Nick watched, the discussion grew more heated and before too long the replica Doctor and Nick were having a blazing argument.

Then the image faded away, with the light show taking its place.

The two friends looked at each other sheepishly. They had not expected to see the lowest point of their friendship on display in a strange puddle.

‘Any idea what this is about, Doctor?’

‘Well, since the amulets were able to pass through time, maybe whatever they’ve transformed into have retained some of that property. And of course they are genetically linked to us…’ He frowned. ‘Ah.’

‘What?’

‘Genetically linked. Maybe this collapse is because of my DNA. The cloning process.’

‘The amulets weren’t stable because your DNA wasn’t?’ asked Nick. ‘Wait a sec. They could have fallen apart at any time – even when we were travelling though the vortex?’

‘Surely not. Well, hopefully not. Doesn’t matter now. Of course, it could just as easily be because of you.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Well, you look human but that isn’t your real form is it? Maybe your DNA isn’t that stable. Look what Seth did to you on Yahanis. And then there’s Alf.’

‘Alf?’

‘She’s not really from this time line. Maybe she’s the unstable element in all this.’

‘Or all three of us. Or whatever. But why now? Hang on!’ A serious expression crossed Nick’s face. ‘What if something has happened to Alf? Could that make them melt?’

‘No, of course not!’ The big man smiled indulgently.

‘How do you know? You didn’t even know they’d melt! I’m calling her.’ He reached into his holdall and pulled out the datacom.