NLoT: The Three Amigos (11,Master,Archivist,River)

[Koschei]

The Master blinked in surprise at the Guardsman's words. "Doctor?" he echoed, his voice a mixture of shock and outrage. "Me?"

Clearly, he wasn't the only one offended.

"Oh piss off you blimey stogey!" She snarled at him. "I'm the Archivist, and Ive spent years running from my past. But despite all that, do you think I'd hand over the one man I love more then the earth and stars, to someone that claims to be from that hellhole of a planet."

She cracked open one of the TARDIS control panels and went to work, sonic screwdriver humming. "If you know who we are, then you know who my parents are. As well as what I was taught to do!"

The Guardsman didn't look impressed. "You are a pale imitation of my Lady the Archivist," he stated. "And you are knowingly acting in defense of the..." he glared at the Master, "creature that exterminated the Time Lords."

"I am not the Doctor!" the Master exploded, slamming his fists into the console in frustration and then jerking away in pain as electricity arced into his hands. He fixed the man on the screen with a hard, level stare. "I am known - universally - as the Master." He paused. "And if you do not know enough to do so now, then you will learn to fear my name."

Before the Guardsman could respond, the Master cut the communications channel (earning himself another jagged bolt of electricity in the process).

She looked at the Master for a moment. "Master, when I give the mark, throttle her at full speed, back towards... these coordinates." She said that and then rattled off the coordinates of where her stealth covered TARDIS was.

"Right," the Master muttered, glaring at the console. As the two women went to work, the Master leaned in close to the console. Tiny pops of electricity discharged in his direction.

"I hate you too," he snarled to the panel. "You're a worthless antique, and I should have lobotomized you when I stole you from the Doctor on Malcassairo."

Snap. Pop. Lightning arced from the panel.

"But if you want to escape from these alien TARDISes, you will need my help. So cooperate, and I will be gone from you as swiftly as possible."

Of course, the TARDIS did not respond. But the electricity died down.

With a sigh, the Master waited for the Archivist's mark.

[Deleted]

"But if you want to escape from these alien TARDISes, you will need my help. So cooperate, and I will be gone from you as swiftly as possible."

Of course, the TARDIS did not respond. But the electricity died down.

With a sigh, the Master waited for the Archivist's mark.

"This...this is wrong." came a voice from behind them. A fazed and slightly hazy Doctor pushed past the Master, a worried expression plastered across his face. He began stabbing at buttons and flipping switches in a mad race around the TARDIS' console. A full minute of trying later, he surrendered, turning to the Master. His bowtie was ajar from his fall, and his fez hung comically into his face. A face which was twisted with anger.

"You broke it. You broke my TARDIS. The most wondrous, beautiful thing in the universe...10 thousand centuries it's existed, through wars, explosions, even the end of the universe itself, and you broke it."

A split second after The Doctor finished his speech, the electricity whirred back on.

"Or not." finished the Doctor.

He did a quick about-face to the TARDIS console and gazed into the monitor. Data read out on the screen before him, and the Doctor's face fell.

"It can't be."

The Doctor abruptly launched into a high-speed rant while flying around the TARDIS, flicking switches, pressing, buttons and turning several screwdrivers randomly jammed into the TARDIS console.

"The beams are made of energy unlike anything I've ever seen before. Whatever it is, it defies the very laws of our universe. There shouldn't be anything like it in existence. Though...it bears some semblance to the highly irradiated Quantum energy waves of Jaf'd O'gnell. Actually, no, it is absolutely nothing like that. But what if we were able to reverse the delta wave particles, causing them to.."

The Doctor continued flying around the TARDIS, stopping only to yell a word of instruction to his allies.

"Master, turn that rod!" yelled The Doctor, indicating a hunk of misshapen metal near The Master's position.

[Deleted]

The Archivist frowned as she raced against the clock. Her hands flying around the Panel. "Doctor, you haven't done anything to take care of her! She could have used a diagnostics scan nearly 300 years ago! What're you doing to this poor thing!" The Archivist whined. She was moved to tears at the state of the TARDIS, she had been raised around them, knew how to work with them. She had the collective of all of her parents knowledge all inside of her mind.

"River, keep on what you are doing, and Master... do turn that rod, and then we need to push forward! MARK!" She cried as she worked her hands as fast as she could. Four people working at the controls of a TARDIS< it was a thing of beauty. She bet that this TARDIS hadn't had that in a long time. "Keep trying, keep pushing! WE will NOT let them win." She cried out as her eyes burned with an inner fire. She wanted so badly to use her burst of left over regeneration energy - to power this machine all the more. Do something to get them away from all this.

[River Song]

River knelt at the console, feverishly working on rewiring in order to reverse the polarity on this particular system in order to help enable their escape from these Time Lords who sought to arrest them all. River had a feeling that if they were to be caught, that they would all find themselves in a very dire situation, indeed. And, she would do anything she could to prevent that from happening.

As River was just about finishing up what she was working on - or, she thought she was about finished, that is - a little shower of sparks and smoke cascaded from underneath the console, causing River to drop the wires and fall back a bit, using her arms to shield her face.

With a look of strong concern on her face, River leaned forward again and investigated the wiring situation after the little bit of smoke had cleared.

Everything looked fine, and River smiled. Perhaps the TARDIS was just telling her that she'd got it all sorted out, and the sparks had been her way of saying so, since the beautiful old girl couldn't actually speak to them.

"I think I did it..." River reported as she picked herself up off the floor and met the eyes of the others around the console.

[Koschei]

"You broke it. You broke my TARDIS. The most wondrous, beautiful thing in the universe...10 thousand centuries it's existed, through wars, explosions, even the end of the universe itself, and you broke it."

The Master met the Doctor's anger with his own. "Broke it? How would you even be able to tell with this antiquated hunk of junk?"

The Archivist frowned as she raced against the clock. Her hands flying around the Panel. "Doctor, you haven't done anything to take care of her! She could have used a diagnostics scan nearly 300 years ago! What're you doing to this poor thing!"

There was a sudden spray of sparks from the base of the console. "I think I did it..." River reported as she picked herself up off the floor.

The power whined back on. "Master, turn that rod!" yelled The Doctor, indicating a hunk of misshapen metal near The Master's position. The Archivist yelled the same, and the Master gripped the rod and spun in.

The electrical discharge hurled him backwards to slam into the guard railing. "That is it!" he snarled at the console, clawing in his jacket for his MAT. "I'll teach you to..."

Exactly what he was going to teach the Doctor's TARDIS was lost as the ship rocked and lurched again. "Tractors are still locked on, aren't they?"

"Keep trying, keep pushing!" the Archivist shouted. "WE will NOT let them win."

"The beams are made of energy unlike anything I've ever seen before," observed the Doctor. "Whatever it is, it defies the very laws of our universe. There shouldn't be anything like it in existence. Though...it bears some semblance to the highly irradiated Quantum energy waves of Jaf'd O'gnell. Actually, no, it is absolutely nothing like that. But what if we were able to reverse the delta wave particles, causing them to.."

The Master peered over the Doctor's shoulder, careful not to touch that accursed console again. "The signature looks similar to a type 337-j twistor field, though. I think that if we can risk taking one of the Pillars of Eternity offline, we could use that to set up negative current loop on that delta wave you spotted..." He frowned. "That would take us down to what, though? 90% operational power in this ship?"

(OOC: The Doctor's TARDIS hates the Master. What can I say?)

[Deleted]

IT looked like no matter what they did, the result would be the same. Her eyes narrowed as the fear pounded in her chest. She released a long sigh as she slammed her hands on the console. "I can't reroute it, we are trying but their tractor beams are too strong." She cursed as she slammed her hands on the console again. Her hands covering her face as she released a scream of frustration. "I dont' think we are going to make it, gents and Lady." She said as she frowned hard.

(( Sorry bit of writers block, but finally gave you something. ))

[River Song]

It had crossed River's mind to simply grab hold of everyone and use her Vortex Manipulator to get them all the heck out of there, but... she couldn't bring the TARDIS with them if she tried that, and letting these people get a hold of her without having anyone left to defend the TARDIS... Well, that would be quite unforgivable. The Vortex Manipulator was simply not an option.

Besides, that little piece of technology was up in her bedroom. River hadn't taken time to change out of her pajamas and was still wearing them, along with a robe that she thought must have belonged to Amy and been left behind.

"I can't reroute it, we are trying but their tractor beams are too strong." She cursed as she slammed her hands on the console again. Her hands covering her face as she released a scream of frustration. "I don't think we are going to make it, gents and Lady."

River couldn't help but notice the Archivist's little temper tantrum. She wanly eyed the ginger and silently wondered what the TARDIS would do - if anything - in response to having her console getting beaten on.

Despite River's disapproval of the Archivist's reaction, the weight and meaning of her frustrated cry was not lost on the archaeologist: she said that she didn't think they were going to be able to escape.

"Calm down," River said dryly, without emotion - she had gotten quite good at suppressing her feelings over the years. "Beating on the TARDIS and screaming isn't going to do anyone any good."

The Master peered over the Doctor's shoulder, careful not to touch that accursed console again. "The signature looks similar to a type 337-j twistor field, though. I think that if we can risk taking one of the Pillars of Eternity offline, we could use that to set up negative current loop on that delta wave you spotted..." He frowned. "That would take us down to what, though? 90% operational power in this ship?"

River turned to the Master and the Doctor and hopefully asked, "Do you think that might work?" Honestly, River wasn't quite sure. Yes, she knew an awful lot about the TARDIS - but not everything...

[Deleted]

The Master peered over the Doctor's shoulder, careful not to touch that accursed console again. "The signature looks similar to a type 337-j twistor field, though. I think that if we can risk taking one of the Pillars of Eternity offline, we could use that to set up negative current loop on that delta wave you spotted..." He frowned. "That would take us down to what, though? 90% operational power in this ship?"

River turned to the Master and the Doctor and hopefully asked, "Do you think that might work?" Honestly, River wasn't quite sure. Yes, she knew an awful lot about the TARDIS - but not everything...

Eleven spun around to face River.

"Might. Might work. Well of course it might work! It's brilliant! If i boosted the auxillary backup engines, haven't used those in foreve-oh. I sold them to the people of Tehollty 7 in exchange for the lives of the human race. Oooh. well..." The Doctor trailed off sadly, unable to find a solution.

"Ah! It's possible!"

The Doctor ran around the console to where the Master was standing, then looked down at the controls, thinking deeply, his eyes drilling holes in the complicated instruments of the TARDIS. Finally, his eyes lit up, and he reached past the Master and pressed down a device that resembled a cross between a lightbulb and a screwdriver, then flipped a switch that stood directly in front of him, and stood back as the TARDIS controls began to glow. The TARDIS rumbled slightly, and the TARDIS began to shift, almost as if the enemy TARDIS's were pushing them away, instead of pulling them along.

"Two positives force one another away! Brilliant!"

"I reversed the TARDIS"s core energy matrix flow. They were using their TARDIS' positive-energy flow to pull in our alternate, and therefore reverse, negative-energy flow. By reversing our energy flow, I broke the attraction! The bloody geniuses! It's so simple, one of the most basic laws of science, they figured we'd overlook it!! GERONIMO!"

The Doctor barreled to the console and began tapping at the buttons and switches once more.

"Problem is, the TARDIS, poor girl, isn't meant to run on a negative energy flow. It's like feeding a Parrot plants. Wait, are Parrots carnivores? Ah, well-If I can't get us away from here in time, then correct the Energy flow, she'll collapse, all her systems blown to Rassilon by the reverse-energy flow.

The Doctor whirled around in desperation at the TARDIS lights began to flicker. The energy dipped, fell, then rose again.

"No, no, no!! We aren't far enough away for me to reverse the flow to it proper wavelegnth!"

The Doctor glanced in the screen, which was currently monitoring the multiple TARDIS's.

"OK, we can still fix this. Libby-um..."Eleven floundered slightly, tripping over his words. "Uh..Archivist, get me that Ralsphodion quantum energy pool. Then came help me steer the TARDIS." Eleven pointed to a dusty trapezoid-shaped object that hummed faintly with red-purple energy resting in the midst of a pile of alien junk.

"Master, stare at that blue dot in front of you on the console. If it ever goes off, tell me, because then we are all going to die. Badly. And River, I need you to help me steer us away from the other TARDISes and keep this one from dying out on us."

Without waiting for a response, Eleven started flicking switches. Around him, the energy in the TARDIS whirred on and off.

[Koschei]

"Might. Might work. Well of course it might work! It's brilliant!" The Doctor was laughing now, reveling in the chaos, and the Master found himself grinning in response.

"Of course it's brilliant. It was, after all, my idea."

"If i boosted the auxillary backup engines, haven't used those in foreve-oh. I sold them to the people of Tehollty 7 in exchange for the lives of the human race. Oooh. well..." The Doctor trailed off sadly, unable to find a solution.

"You did what?" He sounded scandalized. "The human race isn't worth that much!"

The Doctor didn't seem to rise to the bait. Instead, he bustled about, shouting orders and talking a mile a minute, outlining a plan to utilize negative energy to escape the tractor beams. The torrent of words culminated with "Master, stare at that blue dot in front of you on the console. If it ever goes off, tell me, because then we are all going to die. Badly. And River, I need you to help me steer us away from the other TARDISes and keep this one from dying out on us."

The Master shot the Doctor a venomous glare. "I do know what a Vortex Integrity Indicator is."

Without waiting for a response, Eleven started flicking switches. Around him, the energy in the TARDIS whirred on and off.

The ship lurched and bucked, the familiar grinding roar of the Time Rotor becoming a hollow, drawn-out moan. Internal lights flickered and went off as the TARDIS rerouted power in a desperate effort to comply with the demands the four (three and a half?) Time Lords were placing on its systems.

In the Vortex, a deadly-serious game of tug of war played out. Slowly, the Doctor's old Type 40 began to open a gap between itself and its captors, meter-seconds expanding to kilometer-hours as eleven-dimensional space-time took on a negative curvature and the Vortex itself began to distort.

A shower of sparks and droplets of molten coral erupted from the console, and black fire engulfed the quantum energy pool. The Master lept towards the scanners, ducked back as more sparks shot out, then lunged forward. The TARDIS, too occupied by the struggle, didn't try to electrocute him. "They're compensating," he growled. "Rod and Eye, they're compensating." With a grim face, he began flipping switches. As he did, the shuddering motion of the ship and the mournful howl of the Time Rotor began to return to normal.

"The Archivist is right - we're not going to make it. Not like this."

---

An hour passed. An hour of the pinging and creaking of the wounded TARDIS as it slowly worked to repair the structrual damage inflicted in the tug of war with the alien TARDISes. An hour of the Master pacing like a caged animal, glaring at the displays and bickering pointlessly with the Doctor. Finally, the pitch of the engines changed as the ship began to slow.

The Master, whose pacing had taken him past the navigational station. He slowed, staring at the display, then stopped. "That..." he said, carefully, "That can't be right." He looked up, bickering and frustration forgotten. "Look at this.'

On the display, the coordinates read "10-0-11-00 x 02 from galactic zero center".

Stunned, he glanced at the Doctor and the Archivist. "Gallifrey," he whispered.

[Deleted]

An hour passed. An hour of the pinging and creaking of the wounded TARDIS as it slowly worked to repair the structrual damage inflicted in the tug of war with the alien TARDISes. An hour of the Master pacing like a caged animal, glaring at the displays and bickering pointlessly with the Doctor. Finally, the pitch of the engines changed as the ship began to slow.

The Master, whose pacing had taken him past the navigational station. He slowed, staring at the display, then stopped. "That..." he said, carefully, "That can't be right." He looked up, bickering and frustration forgotten. "Look at this.'

On the display, the coordinates read "10-0-11-00 x 02 from galactic zero center".

Stunned, he glanced at the Doctor and the Archivist. "Gallifrey," he whispered.



The Doctor's eyes seemed to drain of their ever-present childlike light. his face became gaunt and solemn.

"That's impossible. Gallifrey is...dead." He spat out the last word like it was a thorn.

"It died in the Time Lock, I made it die.

Yet he rushed around the console to examine the screen, muttering under his breath. His eyes grew wide as he read the coordinates. The Doctor glanced at the console, flicked a lever and pressed three or four buttons, then looked back up at the screen.

As he did this, the TARDIS hummed sickly, then the coordinates flickered slightly, becoming a random string of useless numbers, then reset to the Gallifrey coordinates.

Looking down at the console as if whatever he was about to do was the worst thing he'd ever done., eleven sucked in a deep breath, then spoke, pressing a somehow ominous green button at the same time.

"Visual."

The TARDIS hummed, it's lights flickered for a too-long second, then it hummed to life again, and the coordinates vanished, to be replaced by a live video of a planet. A planet that shined like the sun, and burned red like the greatest fire the Universe had ever seen.

"No.." murmured The Doctor, but his voice faded away as he gazed at the visual on the screen.

It was the Shining World, Gallifrey, reborn again. Yet there was something...different. It tingled in the very air.

"No." Said The Doctor, regaining his voice. "This is not Gallifrey. Not the Gallifrey we were born on." He stopped, glancing at the Archivist and The Master. He blinked, then continued.

"This is not the Gallifrey with the burning red skies and fiery red grass. Not even the Gallifrey of the Time War, ravaged from years of death. This is not our home. THIS IS NOT GALLIFREY."

The Doctor fixed the world on the screen with a piercing gaze. Around him, the TARDIS lights flickered on and off.

"It's an abomination."

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

(OOC: Feel free to react to the appearance of Gallifrey here. And then, in honor of the new Eleventh Doctor, we will continue this thread in You Can't Go Home Again.)