TIMESLIP: The Doctor Museum [Behind the Scenes!]

[a64]

Great! I love the idea of a Doctor museum, and the Zygons were definately not expected by me!

Nor me!

I think Mr Johnson and Mr Matthews are quite creepy really, even more so that they look almost identical!

[Chandra]

I meant to say - as I missed yesterday I will be uploading Part 3 tomorrow and Part 4 on Friday instead - so double the Timeslip excitement on Friday!

What, so no parts tomorrow?

He said Part 3 tomorrow and Part 4 on Friday.

Ah, sorry, I misread it when skim-reading it.

[DoctorWhoDave]

Wow, really enjoying this!
Brilliant story backed by amazing photos!
Slitheen and Zygons?! How exciting!
Really can't wait to read more!

[Beep]

part 3?
I know you're busy but any chance of it tonight?

[Seb]

Yeah - but it's only 6:53! The night is young... Working on lots of Timeslip things tonight, but that is one of them.

[Seb]

Part 3

“This way Peter my dear chap – you can visit Rooms 8 through to... 23. Oh – better leave out 17!” Laughed Mr Johnson.

“Then don’t forget to visit the little shop at the end!” added Mr Matthews, who came running up to them. He had gone a separate route. “I’ve just removed any products you shouldn’t see – feel free to take anything you want.”

“Thank you so much – this should be really... enlightening.” Peter said – though deep down he was still worried. What would he find out? What secrets had his friend been hiding from him? Did he want to know them?...

“Anyway – we must dash, you know better than us not to keep a Timelord waiting!” Mr Johnson laughed, and they were already down the end of the corridor by the time he finished his sentence.

Peter walked into a huge, round room with a great domed roof above him. In the middle of the room, on a pedestal, was a life-size TARDIS. Peter had already worked out that it was probably the only constant in The Doctor’s life, but he was still saddened by the fact that he wasn’t there too.

All around the walls were doors with numbers above them from 1 to 30, and then the door to the shop. Peter was tempted to just forget the warning and start with door 1, or even go straight for whatever lay behind door 17, but he knew deep down that he would always regret it if he did. He walked over to door 8 instead and pushed it open.

The room was vast and full of life-size models of aliens, robots and more – creatures of all shapes and sizes. Dominating on a pedestal in the middle of the room however was the statue of an old man. He had a stick and combed back hair, but somehow the look on his face was full of superiority and strength. Peter was taken aback. The outward appearance couldn’t be more different, but it was clear from the confidence that this man held that he was The Doctor. Peter’s Doctor. How could it really be him?!



Peter walked on, he felt uneasy at how much he didn’t know about his travelling companion, but tried his best to take in the array of things on display. One of the largest exhibits was a giant robot of some sorts, with huge arms stretching out. For some reason they had surrounded it with crushed cardboard boxes. Peter eventually turned on his heels, decided he would investigate another room instead and, marching past a seemingly unimportant Viking’s helmet, he walked through the door.

--

Mr Johnson and Mr Matthews marched into the interrogation room. The Doctor was unconscious on the floor, a Zygon standing beside him.

“You idiot – we are not to kill him, you know that! You’ve blown our cover completely!” Johnson shouted at the Zygon.

“He’s not dead,” the Zygon replied, “and he knew from the start about us. He knew who I was, he knew you were Slitheen...”

“Oh - sure! How could he possibly have known?! You just wanted to take him in yourself. Well no – we do this together. I don’t care what you do afterwards but you are not going to lay a finger on him until we get our share of the cash.” Mr Matthews shouted at her.

“You could have had a lot more money if you had just trusted me you overweight twit!” the Zygon retorted, “If you had just trusted that my distress signals would call him here we wouldn’t have had to build this ridiculous museum in the first place!”

“You know as well as I do that our mutual employer didn’t want to take any chances! What if your signals hadn’t worked?! It could have tipped The Doctor off that we were onto him, ruined everything! A museum dedicated to him – it was the only way of ensuring we could grab hold of his curiosity. What kind of a fool do you think I am?! Trusting a Zygon’s technical skills is like trusting a Ragmasito’s sense of smell!!” My Johnson laughed in the face of the Zygon.



“When this is over your race will pay for those insults! I would strike you down now if it wasn’t in our contract.” The Zygon said, with more than a hint of menace in his voice.

“Believe me – the feeling is entirely mutual.” Mr Matthews hissed. “Let’s just get him loaded into the transporter, then we can take care of Peter before leaving this dump for good...”

They turned to where The Doctor had been lying. He was no longer there.

“NO! You ridiculous Splotnik – he’s escaped!” The Zygon cried in alarm.

“He’ll go to Peter before he leaves!” Mr Matthews exclaimed as they all began running towards the door...

--

Meanwhile, back in the exhibition area of the museum, Peter was admiring the length of the scarf hanging around the neck of the statue he was looking at in room 13. Old clothes, a mad scarf and the most amazing hair – and yet still his Doctor. He could see it in the eyes of all these statues – the same man, but a different body.

Peter’s mind was swimming with thoughts. How did The Doctor exist in so many bodies?! Are they alive at the same time – is he really lots of people? How could Peter turn these thoughts into a sensible list of questions to ask The Doctor?! And – even if he could work that out – would The Doctor answer any of them?

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a voice. It came from over by a weird looking Mummy. “Ah – there you are Peter! Thank goodness you’re still here!” It was Mr Matthews.

“Where else would I be?...” said Peter, already sensing that something was not right. “Why aren’t you with The Doctor?

“No time for explanations I’m afraid...” Mr Matthews said, walking closer and closer to Peter.

“...And no time for a hunt either. What a shame...” continued Mr Johnson who had also walked into the room. “I was so looking forward to wiping out one of The Doctor’s many companions.”

“You think you’re special to him don’t you?” Mr Matthews spat. “Well I can tell you that you most certainly are not. I’ve wasted years learning about The Doctor and I know that he goes from friend to friend like chucking a bone from a feasting table.” And with that he and Mr Johnson raised their hands to their foreheads in unison. A bright line of light flew from their heads as they began to peel a zip back...

Having peeled their skin suits off, two great Slitheen stood before Peter – green, smelly and with murder in their eyes.

“Oh don’t worry – we won’t kill you. Yet. Maybe chop a leg off, slice an ear perhaps, but we need you alive to bargain with the Doctor...” the Slitheen that had been Mr Matthews laughed.

“And then we’ll kill you anyway! It’s been so very long since I’ve tasted good human meat...” the Slitheen that had been Mr Johnson continued.

Peter had nowhere to run. Nowhere to go. He was about to be ripped apart by two lumbering monsters. But worst of all – the man he had thought was his friend, The Doctor, had left him as he had left so many before. Peter felt his whole world fall apart inside his head and, for the first time since meeting The Doctor, he lost all hope...

[Beep]

Oooohh!that was great!but..what is in room 17?and 1-8 as well?

[a64]

I like all the Doctor Who references - but also, it kind of reinforces the idea of the Doctor and Peter, travelling together and being part of Doctor Who history... even though it never happened that way.

[DalekSupreme08]

Wow! I'm really getting into this!
Is it "canon" in the Timeslip universe, Seb?

[Seb]

Wow! I'm really getting into this!
Is it "canon" in the Timeslip universe, Seb?

Yes it is.

As you'll see in the article, it's been a long time coming.

And Beep - well there's the future to come isn't there, and the museum would have features on that, so who knows what's behind those doors? Only time will tell...!

[DoctorWhoDave]

Wow, absolutely loving this! Just gets better and better!
And using the B&W 1st Doctor as a statue is genius!

[a64]

And using the B&W 1st Doctor as a statue is genius!

Yeah, Seb's idea. Though I only have the colour one so I desaturated it ; )

[Seb]

Part 4 (Final Part)

The tumultuous sound of some great wheezing engine filled the room as the blue policebox appeared around Peter.

“Gaaarrr!” Yelled one of the Slitheen, running to the box and hammering on the side.

“What did I say – never give up on me!” Grinned The Doctor, turning from his console to smile at Peter. Peter said nothing.

“Well come on – that was fantastic parking!”

“Doctor... I...” Peter didn’t know what to say.



“What did you see there? I’m sorry – I should have stopped you. But believe me – I knew you were safe. They wouldn’t hurt you, they needed you to bargain with me. It was all under control – we’ve dealt with Slitheen enough times before.”

“You knew they were Slitheen?!” Peter exclaimed in amazement and disbelief. “You knew they were Slitheen and you just let me wander off with them?!”

“It was safe! OK I didn’t expect the Zygon sting that’s true, but it was all under control. You trust me don’t you?!”

“The Slitheen were right. I thought we were a good team – I thought that I meant something to you as a friend. But am I just another in a long line of humans? Toys for you to put into trouble and see if you can save them?!”

“It’s nothing like that! How many times have you saved me? Where would I have been without you by my side on so many occasions?”

“How many of us have there been? How many people have travelled with you?” Peter was desperate for the truth – but worried it would hurt him.

“I dunno. Honestly – I don’t count them! But I know them all. They’re all special to me. And you know why I have to leave them behind? You know why I didn’t go back to them after all my people died? You’ve seen in this museum – you’ve seen the different people I’ve been. When I die I don’t... Well this thing happens... It’s difficult to explain. But I’m 900 years old. My lifespan is much greater than that of any human. If people stayed with me they would wither and die before my eyes. How could I stand that? That’s the curse of the Timelords.”

“I... I’m sorry... It’s just, they said... But what about me? What will happen to me?”

“That doesn’t matter does it? All that matters is right here, right now. When you are as experienced with time as I am you learn to focus on your present. What we’re doing now – that’s all that matters. OK?”

“OK... I’m sorry Doctor.” Peter felt silly, felt a fool for getting angry. Should The Doctor have told him this before though? Either way there was no use dwelling on it.

“Now what we really need to worry about though is those creatures outside the TARDIS...” The Doctor swung the scanner screen to his side of the console. “They said I was going to be taken to an employer – so they’d need some way of getting me there...”

“Teleport? Nice and quick before you woke up – the Zygon sting knocked you out ready to be taken away?” Peter suggested.

“Precisely! So - setting a local scan for a teleport... Aha! Right next to the Quarks display... The Quarks display? Oh not really? Well ok then... lock on to coordinates of the teleport and...”

With yet another whirr and groan the central column began to rise. Outside the two Slitheen and a Zygon shouted in vain at the box disappearing in front of them.

--

The TARDIS landed with the usual thump and the door flew open – The Doctor and Peter were ready to face whoever was behind the plot to kidnap The Doctor.

But if they were prepared for a squad team of soldiers they were wrong. They were just in some rundown old building – a building The Doctor immediately recognised as a teleport junction. Anyone could rent a teleport booth and have all sorts of items delivered to it, like a futuristic Post Office Box.

The Doctor and Peter rushed over to the counter, behind which sat a bored looking woman with six eyes.

The Doctor started the questions. “Morning, afternoon or evening. Now who’s renting that teleport booth – the one we just landed in?”

“Ooh – hard to say. ‘Undreds of people pick stuff up from it.”

“Well who’s it registered to?” Peter interrupted.

“A Mr... Marjeuti.” The bored woman replied.

“Damn!” The Doctor exclaimed.



“What’s up – who’s Mr Marje-watsit when he’s at home?” Peter asked – getting a little more worried.

“Who knows?! It’s like saying ‘Mr Smith’ in your day.” The Doctor sighed.

“Oh – so, we’ll probably never know who wanted to kidnap you.”

“Well – I expect we will someday, but for now let’s not hand ourselves to them on a platter eh?” The Doctor said, turning to walk back to his TARDIS.

“ ‘Ere – you going to move that box thing?” The woman asked. “You can’t go clogging up the teleports! And you people shouldn’t be coming through them anyway – you know it’s not safe. My cousin Poranda lost an arm when the molecules were positivised or somein’...”

But, before the woman could finish, the Doctor and Peter had walked into the waiting blue box and disappeared into time and space again.

--

The Rightstar Joint was well known as a place where wanted beings could hide until the heat died down, and it had seen a lot of faces over the years. But there had been few such uneasy partnerships as the one existing between the two Slitheen and a Zygon sitting at a table in the corner of the Glibkin room.

“So what now?!” One Slitheen said exasperatedly.

“We’ve no choice but to hide out until ‘our employer’ forgets about us.” The Zygon replied.

“Ha - and you call us stupid?! He never forgets – he spent all that money to get revenge on The Doctor. He’ll never stop looking for us – the ones who failed to capture the Timelord! We’re sunk for life!” the other Slitheen replied.

“It’s not exactly my ideal situation either is it?!!” The Zygon hissed back. “I had a lot of plans for what to do with my cut of the money!”

“Maybe he’ll catch up with The Doctor. If he did get his revenge he might forgive us?” The first Slitheen added hopefully.

“And what are the chances of that?” The Zygon bemoaned, “We spent years researching him for that museum. And if there’s one thing we learnt – and one thing we should have realised – it’s that no one defeats The Doctor!”

“Yet...” spat one of the Slitheen...



--

Meanwhile, in the TARDIS, The Doctor was tapping away madly at the console buttons.

“There – sealed off the museum in a time bubble. No one will be able to find it – and if they do they’ll suddenly remember something they’ve forgotten to do and turn away.”

“What – like Hogwarts?!” Peter asked incredulously.

“Exactly – now I wonder where JK got that from... So – that space observatory! You’re going to love it.”

“Hang on a moment first Doctor. Just before we leave the museum – can you set me down in the main exhibition lobby for a second?”

The Doctor looked at him – concerned for a moment. “If you’re sure...”

Peter ran for the door. “I’ll be back in a minute” he called behind him. A minute later he did indeed return.

“I just had to pick one of these up from the gift shop. Action figures! Look – here’s me! And look at yours – interchangeable heads! Isn’t that just so brilliant?...”

The End

[Chandra]

Amazing! Well done Seb. Very clever. The best.

[DoctorWhoDave]

Absolutely fantastic!
The whole thing was just so amazing!
And I loved the action figures bit at the end!
I think I know who the employer is! Are we allowed to speculate?