Squire Takes Knight
He'd walked out of the forest and into a mess. He still didn't know where the time distortion had come from; but from the cheerful discussion the natives were having, of the variety of ways he could be dismembered in an approved fashion, he deduced it had caused the TARDIS to land in a sacred grove. There was something wrong with the grove and they had decided he was responsible.
A woman's voice came from behind him. "Have you got transport out of here? If we free you, we're going to have very little time to get off this planet."
He tried to twist around to see who 'we' were, but was tied to the tree much too securely. "Yes, now get me out of this. They seem to have found a particularly nasty fate for me they can all agree upon."
"All right, Wren will cut you loose. I'm going to see if I can distract them. I'll catch up. You'll need me to find a way past the guards on the grove."
He wondered what had happened to the person who was supposed to free him. The elders of the tribe were headed towards him and they didn't look as if they were planning on inviting him to tea.
Suddenly there was a commotion at the other end of the compound. A woman screamed and every head turned that direction. His bonds were cut. He stood for just an instant wondering about the scream. A hand yanked on his coat and a young male voice said, "Come on, you idiot. That's Mom. Don't you know a distraction when you hear one."
He hurried around the tree and followed the fast and silent young man into the dense forest. An alarm was raised and the forest erupted with the sound of running, yelling, people. A hand grabbed his coattail and pulled him down and back into a hollow in a group of thorn bushes. He learned they were thorn bushes the hard way.
He looked at the young human sitting next to him. He was about twenty-one or two, blonde, and, what Peri might have termed, 'movie star handsome'. He moved as if the heavy pack he was wearing was part of his body. The young man turned to look at him. The pale blue eyes looked straight into his and he said, "Mom says she thinks you're worth it. I hope she's right. She usually is. Let's move out."
For the next forty minutes they dodged pursuit, circling ever closer to the sacred grove and the safety of the TARDIS. They had not seen 'Mom' yet. They had reached the edge of the grove when a scream rang out behind them. He found himself face down on the ground as a flight of javelins passed over his head. Wren had tackled him! As he scrambled to his feet, Wren said, "Come on. Mom's on the run. Lead us to that ship of yours, fast." As he led the way to the TARDIS at a run, the easily running young man beside him said, "When you hear Mother scream, duck. She doesn't waste time screaming when she's in trouble."
As he put his key in the lock, he heard pounding steps behind him. He rushed in and over to the door mechanism. A woman ran in with a spear wielding man right behind her. Wren grabbed the spear and yanked, throwing its wielder off balance. His mother(?) turned and butted her pursuer in the stomach with her head. Wren used the spear to spin him around and booted him out the door. He slapped the door mechanism. Time lapsed? About five seconds. Who WERE these people?!
He looked at the two people sitting relaxed on the floor of the TARDIS console room. The young man had gotten his good looks from his mother. She was tan and fit (She'd been running in a twenty kilo pack.), in her early forties, and her light blue eyes were alive with curiosity. She said, "Now, who are you? What are you? And why have you done something as idiotic as land in a sacred grove of the Telani tribe. This place is off-limits. I'm authorized first contact anthropologist and you're NOT supposed to be here."
"I'm the Doctor and I'm here because I was forced down here. Now, WHY don't you tell me where you want to be taken before your friends out there get ambitious?"
To his surprise, she laughed. "Doctor, from the moment you shut the doors, we were safe. It wouldn't be logical for anything like what's in here to be in danger from primitives. Now WHAT are you? I'd been communicating in a pidgin of a few words and sign language until they brought you out of the grove. Then, all of a sudden, I could understand every word they said. I want some answers, Doctor."
The Doctor was very surprised. His ability to speak to, and understand, the people he met was a Time Lord gift he shared with his traveling companions. How had she come to share it? "I'm a Time Lord. You seem to have shared one of my powers. Now, I have a question. Who are you, and WHERE do you want to go?"
"Guinevere Liberty Connell and that's my son Warren. The answer to the other half of your question is, with you. I'd have thought you'd have figured that out."
"With me? With me?! What makes you think I want you with me?"
"Doctor, I've been asking questions and looking for answers my whole life. I just gave up that life. I broke the cardinal rule of a first contact anthropologist. I interfered. I'll never work in my field again. I did it because you look like you have more answers than anyone I've ever met. Now, where can I clean up? Through those doors, obviously."
She stood and walked across the console room and through the interior doors. The Doctor stared after her as she walked deeper into his TARDIS.
He heard the young man laughing and turned to find him standing on the opposite side of the console. He said, "You impressed her. It's the first time I've ever heard her tell anyone her name was Guinevere. She goes by G. Liberty or, usually, just Liberty. She's right, Doctor. She gave up everything to save you. I wouldn't have done it; but then, I'm a coward."
"I doubt that."
"Oh, I am, Doctor. But, you see, I also know the safest place in the galaxy is with my mother. Since she told you her first name, I'll tell you mine. It's Galahad. Unlike Mom, I use mine sometimes. It can come in handy, but most of the time I go by Wren."
The Doctor looked at the smiling young man holding his hand out. He shook his hand and said, "Look, something pulled me off course. Anything that can do that is probably going to be very nasty. Now, why don't you tell me where and when you're from, and I'll take you there."
"When? Travel with you might be more interesting than I thought."
The Doctor moved around the TARDIS console. He wasn't sure he actually COULD take these two anywhere. Someone had created a time-field uniting this place with somewhere and somewhen else. The field might be too strong for the TARDIS to break free. The time-field was having a very strange effect. It seemed to be changing the flora. Almost as if this place and time was becoming another place and time.
He had never seen anything like it before. It was throwing the whole area out of sync with the rest of the universe. If it dropped completely out, it could rip a hole in the space-time continuum, and the TARDIS was sitting at the point where the rip would occur.
He realized Wren was watching him closely. He had been nearly at his elbow the entire time he'd been working. He was surprised the young man had neither distracted him nor gotten in the way. He said, "That's it. There's nothing more I can find out from here."
Liberty came through the doors toweling her short red hair. She seemed to have found both the bath and the wardrobe. She was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and safari shirt and jacket. The hand without the towel was tucking a multitude of small items into her pockets. The Doctor wondered if she had more in her pockets than he had in his.
"Mom, he asked me where and WHEN we were from."
"When? She looked at the Doctor. "North America, 58th latitude, 2142. Now the decision is obviously yours. I think you're going to find out who dropped you in that grove. We can help."
"If you're going with me, you've got to do what I tell you. Don't argue about everything."
She stuck out her hand. "I already told you I thought you knew more than I did." As the Doctor shook her hand, he felt the heavy calluses on it. They distracted him enough he didn't realize she hadn't actually told him she wouldn't argue with him. Later, he would remember.
The Doctor said, "All right. I'm going to try to track the distortion. Read
me the numbers off the screen to your immediate left."
"Nine, six, two, four, one, one, three...repeats."
"Aha, I've got it. Let's see where it's coming from. I suggest you find someplace to hold on. This ride will be very bumpy. One is not really supposed to fly up the middle of a time distortion to locate its source, but I have found it's the quickest way."
Wren grinned at him and said, "Doctor, is there a place I can hang on in a reclining position?"
The Doctor raised his hands from the console. He pointed to the interior door. "Through there. Find a HAMMOCK!"
Wren quickly found the nearest bedroom and, as the TARDIS lurched toward its destination, he drifted off to sleep. He felt very safe.
"You're right. It's not the same planet. The flora is deformed in a similar... Doctor, there's someone out there."
"Let's see who it is." He tuned the scanner to view a young woman picking berries. "Well, at least we're not in a sacred grove. I can't get any information due to the distortion. Shall we go find out where we are?"
"Wait a minute. Will Wren be able to talk to her?"
"Well, yes, I suppose."
"Good. Wren?"
"Yes, Mom?" The Doctor had not heard him come through the doors. He wondered how Liberty had known her son was there. Perhaps it was something that operated on an instinctive level like Leela's... Leela. He hadn't thought of her in a long time.
Wren was looking at the screen. He said, "Got to be easier than when they don't understand you. Open the doors."
The Doctor realized he'd missed something. "Now, wait a minute. Just what is it you're planning?"
"Let him go, Doctor. Wren can find out more from a pretty girl in five minutes than you or I ever could." The Doctor gave her a disgusted look, but reached out and opened the doors. He left them open. It was a very pretty day. He walked over to the scanner by Liberty and watched Wren.
He had plucked a single wildflower. He presented it to the girl with a flourish and a bow. She watched him, fascinated. Liberty gave a low chuckle. "That's my boy. Ten years of pounding ethics into him, and he'd still be the greatest grifter in the galaxy. Well, we know this is Earth. That was a daisy."
"All right. Don't move. I mean turn around and put your hands up, then don't move." They turned around to see a young man of about eighteen. He looked very nervous. Since he was holding a very large weapon, this was not good. Both the Doctor and Liberty raised their hands slowly and smiled.
It didn't seem to help. If anything; the young soldier, his clothing made it obvious that's what he was, became more nervous. He said, "All right. Now, who are you? What is this thing," he swung the gun barrel erratically around the TARDIS, "and what are you doing in a high security area?"
The Doctor resisted the urge to duck each time the gun barrel swung his way. "I'm the Doctor, this is Liberty, and we didn't know we were in a security area."
Both the Doctor and Liberty saw Wren step into the doorway then quickly slip back out. The young soldier said, "I'm taking you to my sergeant." Considering the way the nervous young man was motioning him toward the door with the gun barrel, the Doctor had a sudden desire to meet his sergeant.
Wren watched as the Doctor and his mother were marched off at gun point, then pulled the TARDIS doors closed. He had learned a great deal. This was a top secret, military, research establishment, set in the middle of a park. He didn't like that. Weapons didn't belong in parks. The Doctor was right. Some joker here was playing around with time. Now he had to put what he knew to use in getting his mother and the Doctor loose. Before the girl he'd talked to found out he wasn't who she thought he was.
He'd told her his name was Galahad and he'd traveled past countless stars and a vast time to bring a tribute to her beauty. She, of course, had immediately told him who he was supposed to be. He was the colonel's son. They all knew he was coming. She was Alyce Raye. Her father was one of Dr. Carvin's assistants. He did the time calculations. There was a dance Saturday. The soldiers couldn't come. They were on alert, but he wasn't a soldier. He learned his name was Eric Bern. He protested his name was Galahad and he'd come through time and space. She laughed, said she needed to get home and reminded him of Saturday's dance. "Well," he thought, "let's see if Eric Bern, the colonel's son, can figure a way to get my mother out of the mess she's gotten into."
At that moment the Doctor and Liberty were awaiting the arrival of Eric Bern's father. They were sitting in a room surrounded by an impressive array of armament. Since that armament was held in the hands of six very nervous young soldiers, they were sitting very still. Wren strolled into the room. He put up his hands and said, "Whoa, I'm Eric Bern. They told me my dad was on his way here. Say, what are you guys doing here?" He addressed the latter to his mother and the Doctor.
"We seem to have posed some questions these gentlemen feel should be answered." The Doctor watched Wren, waiting for another cue.
"I'll bet you did. Look guys, as soon as my father gets here, he'll identify the Doctor and Miss Connell. Until then, why don't we go outside. I saw a picnic table out there. These are old friends of the family and I'd like to catch up on old times before Dad shows up. The Doctor's been promising to tell me one on Dad for years when I got old enough. How 'bout it Doc? Come on, let's sit out here."
Wren turned and walked toward the door. When he reached it, he turned and waited for them. The Doctor and Liberty stood and walked toward him. The Doctor gently pushing one gun barrel aside. "Doc, indeed." he thought.
As they got close to Wren and the door, Wren's look told them to be ready. Suddenly the soldiers realized they were being left behind. As they rushed toward the door, there was a small pop and the room filled with smoke. Pink smoke. A hand grabbed the Doctor's coat. Didn't these people believe in a tap on the shoulder?
Wren pulled him out the door and behind some barrels. Liberty was half way across the open space to the forest. Wren motioned him on. As he reached the forest, he heard a shout then gunfire.
He dived for cover. He found a log over a small gully and rolled under it. He found himself face to face with Liberty. She said, "You can move fast. I wondered how you managed to stay alive dressed as the best imitation of a target I've ever seen. Shh, someone's coming." He glared at the smiling woman. Imitation of a target indeed. The entire universe seemed to be in on a conspiracy, to see that everything was timed, so that she always had the last word.
Wren found them in a bramble hollow. The Doctor was beginning to wonder if these people LIKED thorns. Liberty said, "Well, you obviously learned what we need to know."
"I know we're in trouble. I know the time man is Dr. Deric Carvin; the bird is Col. William Bern; the year is 2002; we're on Earth, the Missouri Ozarks, Mark Twain National Forest; I know this base is on alert, they can't contact anyone outside the perimeter; I know they're scared; and I know there's a dance Saturday night."
Liberty chuckled, "Maybe you can have the Doctor arrange to solve this by Saturday, so you can go to the dance."
"Why not?" Liberty and Wren stared at him. "These people are in trouble. Perhaps, I should just offer to get them out of it."
Liberty said, "Why not? Wren can arrange an introduction. Who do you want to meet?"
He blinked in surprise. He had expected some argument over what, on closer examination, seemed a rather dangerous undertaking. "I suppose Dr. Carvin will be more worried than anyone else."
"Worried or insane." The Doctor looked at Liberty. Why did she have to put her finger on the weak spot in any plan?
Wren said, "Our best bet is Dr. Raye. Alyce is a nice kid. Her dad's got to have his head on straight. Let's see if he'll believe my name is Galahad." He scrambled out of the hollow.
"Come on, Doctor. It's time we moved. They'll realize they've missed us and be headed back this way. Where DID you get that English accent? Let's go."
The Doctor followed her out
of the bushes. She'd done it again. Gotten in the last word. It was a habit he was beginning to find VERY irritating!
"I've just one question. How is Wren going to find us?" They were in another bramble hollow. Liberty had yanked him into it by his coattails. He was beginning to find that irritating too! "And," he thought, "they DO like thorns."
"I'm absolutely covered in scratches. I hate thorns. Don't worry, Doctor. Wren can always find me. It works both ways, and we always know when the other one is in trouble. Psychics run in the family. It was selected for me."
The last statement was made with such irony, the Doctor just couldn't leave it alone. "Selected?"
Liberty chuckled. "Yes, Doctor, selected. I'm a product of advanced gene selection. Pick and choose. Take what you think is the best of you both and create the perfect child. My parents were wonderful people. Good and loving and very moral people, but they really didn't know what to do with me. They gave me their looks, brains and talent; but they also gave me their ancestors. Bill Cody, Samuel Wymore, Miles Standish, William Clark. I'm a throwback. An adventurer. As a little girl, I wanted to grow up to be Genghis Kahn, but I wanted to conquer the world without getting sticky red stuff on anything. I'm very civilized. I never kill anything I don't have to. Except fish. I've got a blind spot there. If we get this cleared up, I know a place near here where the bass... Well, that's how he'll find us. Oh yes, and it began working for you the instant you landed in the sacred grove. Come on! Wren's in trouble!"
As the Doctor crawled out of the bushes, he mused, "She's gotten in the last word again." He wondered briefly about her statement, it worked for him; but had little time to think about what she'd told him. The next twenty minutes were very busy; dodging patrols, avoiding patrols, hiding from patrols...
"I think you're right. It's the only option at this point. Wren's told them everything he knows and they don't believe him."
Couldn't she argue just a little when he proposed something foolhardy? He stood up and raised his hands over his head. He stepped into the floodlights and stopped. Liberty was one pace behind him and to his right. He called out, "I am the Doctor. I am a Time Lord. This is Liberty, my companion. You have another of my companions captive. We have come to free him."
Liberty smiled. When he did it, he did it well. His voice had rung out across the square. When he'd said he was a Time Lord, the words absolutely dripped power and menace. She still didn't know where he'd gotten the English accent, but it suited him. Perfectly.
"Colonel, you've seen my ship. One of your soldiers was IN IT. The very fact you CAN'T get in it should tell you SOMETHING. Now, TAKE ME to Dr. Carvin's LABORATORY!"
"Please excuse the Doctor, Colonel Bern. He's really the only one who understands just how much danger we're in. I don't really have a clue to what's going on. But if the Doctor says he wants to go to the lab, he's got a very good reason."
The Doctor gave Wren a dirty look. He was surprised when he heard the colonel say, "You're right. Something's gone wrong with the experiment. Carvin's working himself to death. I'll take you up there. Sergeant, lay on transport."
"You've got to shut it down. It's getting worse. Every SECOND it's on increases the danger. This entire area, as well as a large area of another planet, is becoming seriously out of sync with the rest of time. I WILL NOT allow you to RIP A