Knight Progenitor

by Sharon L Reddy

  Chapter Ten

  "Get everything you need out of the TARDIS. Stock the galley and prepare yourselves living quarters. Data has prepared a course of study for you. Do not monitor planetary communications. Do not discuss the time you have lost. It does not exist. Have your work ready when we return."

  The boys nodded and went to do as he said. Doc was pale. He felt the Doctor's scarcely controlled rage. He had not known anyone was capable of such fury. He realized he didn't want to know what had caused it.

  Data helped them prepare the ship. The Doctor stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He didn't watch them or speak to them. When they told him they were done, he said, "Good. Go." They left the TARDIS and watched it disappear. And watched it reappear.

  "All right. Let's grab some things and get going."

  "Wait a minute, Tech. I want to know what's going on."

  "Look, Diz, we're on a schedule. We really don't need to be, but Lib is in there and she's in a hurry. Grab the light blues, the tuxes, the golds, the black silks and the red leathers. We're going to her wedding first, then we've got a lot to do. You'll get to meet him as he will be. Come on. Move!"

  Doc struggled to find something to say to her. She was glad to see him. He could feel that, but his pain was still very fresh.

  "Doc, let me show you. You can feel it, but open a little to me. Let me show you how it is. How it will be."

  "I'm not sure I can, Gwen. I can feel it's been a while for you. It hasn't for me."

  "I won't read you, just show you. Tech told me you'd been through things. So have I, but mine are beautiful. Let me show you."

  He could feel her need to show him. He steeled himself and took her hand. She showed him. He smiled in delight. She showed him the joy of the present, then her happiness in the future. She slipped out of his mind and said, "Now, isn't there someone you'd like to meet?"

  "Yes. Oh, yes!"

  "I thought so. Come on, I'll introduce you." She smiled and led him deep into the TARDIS.

  Lib watched them going and grinned. One chore down. "Tech, most brides don't have quite this much to do on their wedding day."

  "You love it, Lib. We land in an hour. Why don't you get ready?"

  "Everything but the dress. I want Gwen's help for that. You guys will have to keep Dad busy. Think you can handle that?"

  "He's already waiting for us. He's been looking forward to seeing Diz and Doc again for a long time, and I remember someone else keeping him busy too."

  "Yes, she really likes this regeneration. Of course, my correcting the systems integration fault in the detection barrier didn't hurt."

  "Tech, don't you think it's time you told me what's going on? I'm walking around in the dark."

  "Sorry, Diz, but I'd really like to bring Doc in at the same time. It's how I remember doing it and I'd really rather not make any changes right now. I plan on making a couple big ones later."

  "Now, wait a minute! What do you mean changes?!"

  "Easy, Lib. I found out we can change things. All our memories change when it happens. We have a choice."

  "Don't you go changing MY future! I like it just the way it is."

  "Yeah, I know. Happily ever after. You, Saren and the kids. Happy on Gallifrey."

  "It's my kind of life. I like my adventures mental."

  "Doesn't sound much like the lady you were named after."

  "I'm not. Well, I am, but it only comes out once in a while, Diz. It'll be there when I need it. Gallifrey is going to need it and me. But that's the future, my future. My present is 'bride in need of a bath'. Just be careful, Tech."

  "Let's get dressed. Doc won't be back for awhile. He's rolling a big blue ball down a TARDIS corridor."

  "Say what?!"

  "His story, Diz. You'll hear it. Too often."

  "Hello, Diz."

  "Wow! You look a lot like him. I mean you. You know what I mean."

  "I'm taller and I don't have any problems with my waistline or my temper. I also have better taste in clothes."

  "You get along better with the High Council too."

  "Well, I'm much better at 'sweet reason' than I used to be."

  Tech grinned. "That wasn't exactly what I meant."

  "I KNOW what you meant! I was TRYING to IGNORE it!"

  "I thought you said he didn't shout, Tech."

  "I said not as loud."

  "And I thought human weddings were long. That was an absolute marathon. I like Saren."

  "You'll meet him again, but it'll be a very long time. Diz, get Doc. We have to go."

  "OK, Tech, but I want some explanations. Like; why he's letting us take the TARDIS and what we're going to do with it."

  "Just get him. He's right outside. Wink at Gwen and pull him in. I'll explain when we're on our way."

  "All right, all right. I'm coming. You don't have to push!"

  "Sure he did, Doc. His curiosity is eating him alive."

  "I can feel it. Noticed he got the doors shut quick."

  "I figured, if I didn't, you'd stand waving 'bye-bye' for hours." Diz ducked Doc's playful punch. He had healed in a way he wouldn't have believed possible. "OK, Tech, now, what's up?"

  "A minute. There. We're on our way. We've got to keep Dad from being taken and killed."

  "By who? When? What are we going to do?"

  "Diz! Give him a minute. He'll tell us. WON'T you, Tech?"

  "Yeah, let's find somewhere to relax. This is a long flight, real long. We've got some things to build and we'd better get our lessons done. We'll be very busy later."

  "How long a flight? Where are we going? And why are you scared?"

  "A week, more years than you want to know and I'm scared because I'm going to change things, big things. I don't like the future. I need you to help me change it. We have to start a long way into it and work our way back. I've got to pull one set out of the multiples. I know we can do it because, otherwise, we wouldn't exist, or at least I wouldn't."

  "Say what? I don't think Doc understood that and I KNOW I didn't."

  "Something very odd happened to my memories. Starting right after my sister's wedding I've got a mass of multiple images. Some good. Most bad. They all begin with us stealing or not stealing the TARDIS."

  "He doesn't... know... we have it."

  "Right the first time, Diz. If this works, he'll never know. If it doesn't, he'll never know. I won't exist. Doc will die of the virus. You'll die in a shuttle accident. The past will be changed because the future is changed."

  "Now I'm getting dizzy."

  "It's called free will and a non-deterministic universe. And it'll get worse before it gets better, Diz."

  "Thanks, Tech. Just what I wanted to hear."

  "Keep your fingers crossed. This is the first one. We're about to go somewhere else. Maybe. I hope you're ready, Doc. You're our communicator."

  'Tech, I barely met him. Both of them. Either of them."

  "You know Dad. It's not which persona that counts. He's him. Always changing and forever the same. You know me. And Gwen. And your own joy and wonder. Most of all you know love. Enough to make her search for it. Work for it. Please, you've got to believe you can do it. I know you can. Feel how positive I am. I'm real. You can succeed. Now, hang on to the console. It's our reality. The only one. Feel yourself hanging on, Diz. You bring us out. Remember Guinevere."

  Diz, closed his eyes. He had to concentrate on the feel of the console beneath his fingertips. Had to keep it real. The texture. The warmth. The pulse of the more than machine that was the TARDIS.

  Doc thought of his father. The gentle caring. The shouting that said, "You are loved." The love that had no limit. His absolute knowledge that love made all other things worthwhile. Small hands. Giggles and gurgles. His mother. Guinevere. Tech, Gwen and Lib. Pride and joy. And love. The overwhelming power of love that ex
isted in the being known as the Doctor. Love given to all life. Love he had felt, always felt, when he was near him.

  He felt the presence. The curiosity. The interest. He loosed the passion. The heat within him. His legacy. His inheritance. His love. The burning fire he shared with his father.

  Tech felt the touch and remembered. Warm hands. Gentle smile. His father's joy. Cautious first steps. Laughter. Loss and understanding. Mommy. Guinevere. Mommy.

  Diz felt reality. Physical presence. Texture and shape. Color and sound. Music. Warm water on cold feet. Warm fire on a cold day. The shape of the physical universe. Black and white and brown and blue. A thousand shades of blue. The shape of a leaf. The delicacy of a butterfly. The smell of rich soil. The feel of the wind in his hair. The delight of his body working hard. Hearts pumping. Muscles straining. Watching girls. Perfection in imperfection.

  Tech put his part of the inheritance together. Logic and study. Learning. Puzzles pieced. Mysteries solved. Accomplishment. Structure. Mommy.

  Doc gathered their feelings and joined them. His brothers. His passion. Tech's intellect. Diz' sensuality. Their legacy. Love of being alive.

  Sound. First there was sound. Then light. The TARDIS came into being around them. They had made it. They were back.

  "Hello, I came. I couldn't not come. I have to find him."

  Tech smiled at her. "I think we should get you to the wardrobe first. I'd like my mother dressed when I introduce her to my brothers."

  Doc grinned and Diz sat down in the floor and laughed.

  They left her on the plain where their father would find her when he tried out the H-miron drive.

  "Step one. I have a chance of being born."

  "What do you mean a chance?"

  "He has to be alive too, Diz."

  "And that's in doubt?"

  "Not in doubt. Positive. He won't be. We have to change the future of the universe."

  "Oh, good. I thought it might be something difficult. Do we perform this miracle soon?"

  "Well, I thought we'd take a little break first. We need one. At least I do."

  "Just what did you have in mind, Tech?"

  "Not much, Doc. A few days on Sybar."

  "Hold it! I know that name. Where did I hear it? The Velvet Mistress!"

  "Yes, Doc. Diz has heard of it too, but in his universe they call it Riessa."

  "Yippee! Women!"

  "You're after something there, Tech. I can feel it."

  "Right, Doc. A lady with a plan. We need it. A designer on vacation. I'm about to become a student of hers in a very informal setting. You're going to learn things too."

  "Tech, you feel very smug."

  "Yeah. Interesting isn't it? This is the part of our mission I'm most confident about."

  "That's her."

  "The one with the book?!"

  "James Joyce. Light reading. I've got the Rubaiyat and Betseger."

  "Oh boy. Omar the tentmaker and multi-dimensional mathematics. Strange combination, Tech."

  "Strange lady, Diz. Besides Khayyam was a great mathematician and astronomer."

  "Yeah, but you're carrying poetry, not a math treatise. She's gorgeous. Little thing though."

  "Celeste Yamoto. Pure east Asian."

  "Careful, Tech. You haven't even met her and you get emotional when you say her name. This is going to hurt."

  "Not until I say good-by, Doc. Four days and she goes back to work. So do we. Later."

  "Very nice. What are we supposed to do for four days?"

  "Diz, if you can't find something to do on THIS planet, it's because you're asleep in the TARDIS."

  "You're right. I'm going for a swim. Coming?"

  "No, I want to look around."

  "Suit yourself. You be careful too, Doc. You're wide open."

  "Don't worry. I don't have any raw places to be rubbed. All better."

  "Uh, huh. Well, my intuition bump says be careful. Don't make a promise you can't keep."

  "Done. Careful it is."

  "And no promises?"

  "No promises. Go swim."

  Doc walked in the warm suns. The feeling of people having a good time filled him. He began to feel a bit warm. This was Sybar and some people were having a VERY good time. He decided a good run along the forest path MIGHT be a good idea.

  Doc stumbled and nearly fell. Terror. Pain and terror. Anger. Frustration. Terror. Mean predatory hunger. A pack of animals and their prey. And all human.

  He ran for her. She needed help. There were too many for her. He burst upon them and let his fury loose. He barely caught himself in time to keep from killing.

  They weren't planning on murder. Just humiliation. Revenge for a defeat. They didn't know she would die first. Would rather die. He broke through and fought at her back. Her attackers grabbed their fallen fellows and ran.

  "Whoa. I'm on your side. Easy, easy. They're gone. Hey! I said stop! All right. That's it. Extreme measures. You're out of it." He dropped her with as gentle a punch as he could manage, then sat down beside her and waited. He couldn't leave. Her un-friends might be back. He took his shirt off and laid it over her.

  "Don't make me hit you again. Calm down, DAMMIT! Better. Here. Put this on. I'm Doc and I'm not with those creeps. I'm the guy who was keeping them off your back. Oh, brother. That's not much better. Easy now, easy. All over. OK, OK. I can't help it. I'm an empath. You're scared and my instinct is to shelter and protect. I'll just move over here and sit on my hands." He sat on his hands and smiled at her. He still wanted to pull her to him and soothe her tears, but she was obviously not ready to be touched.

  "You know the only woman I've seen as good as you are is my mother. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

  "I... I studied. Teach. Earth. On Earth."

  "Ah, a word. Several of them. Five different words. A few repeats, but nearly a complete sentence. I'm Doc. Feel like telling me the story. They were humiliated and looking for revenge. Nine of them. All damn good. Show them up?"

  "Guess I did. I'm sorry. I'm funny about being touched anyway. They sort of pushed me over the edge. You look silly sitting on your hands."

  "It worked. So, how did you show them up?"

  "I beat their school in a tourney. Bad. Well, my students and I. Took every match. They're big name. We're nobodies. You laid me out. Nobody ever did that before. You weren't in the tourney."

  "No. My brothers and I don't do tourneys. We just got here. Would you start throwing punches again if I asked your name?"

  "Carol. Carol Clark."

  "Old Earth traditional. Hmm. North American continent. Accent's a lot like Mom's. Pacific northwest?"

  "Very good. Alaska, but I've been down the coast for twelve years. Look, thanks, but I've got to get back. Good-by."

  "Huh uh. One, your friends may be around somewhere. Two, I'm fond of that shirt and I think you need it for awhile. You get my company like it or not."

  "For a kid, you're pretty cocky."

  "No, that's Diz' department. One of my brothers. I'm the strong silent type."

  She laughed. He could feel the knots loosening in her. She was still wound up, but the terror was gone. She wasn't over it yet, but she was getting there.

  "All right, strong and silent, walk me home. I'm fond of this shirt too, at least for the next ten minutes." She shook her head when he stood, bowed, and extended his hand. She let him pull her up, but dropped his hand quickly.

  "You really don't like to be touched! You would rather they'd been trying to kill you!"

  "Leave it! Now! Don't push it. I don't need some kid getting personal. I need your shirt, but I don't need you!"

  "Hey, Carol, I may be a kid to you, but I try real hard to be nice. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get personal. I'm not used to people hitting me with a blast of revulsion when th
ey touch my hand. I'm an empath, remember? I'm not going to pry. I was surprised. Lead on and I'll disappear as soon as you don't need my shirt." He didn't tell her he was planning on reappearing. This lovely, brown-haired, blue-eyed, lady in her thirties had a problem. He'd decided it needed fixing.

  "Hello, I'm Diz. You're beautiful. Both of you."

  "As a line, that's not original."

  "I don't do lines unless I've got a script in my hands. Pure truth and you both know it."

  "Does your mother know you're here?"

  "Mom's dead, but she had good taste too. Are you going to take turns putting me down or tell me your names? I should warn you, put downs just make me determined. I'm real stubborn. Cute too."

  They laughed. "I'm Jenna. She's Jeanna. We're waiting for someones."

  "That's all right. I don't mind competition. As long as they're not husbands, I don't worry. Why don't you two deck out and I'll take you out this evening?"

  "Where? The roller rink?"

  "Jeanna, I'm hurt. I'll take you anywhere you want to go. Starting with dinner, then a play, I think. A few clubs. A beautiful evening and just the three of us."

  "You're too young to get in a club."

  "Jenna, I can go anywhere I want. Wouldn't you like to see me do it?"

  "Hey, kid. Get lost."

  "Ah, the someones I presume. Really, you could do better than these muscle-bound apes, ladies. May I suggest myself?" He pulled himself out of the water and sat between them on the side of the pool. "Why don't you two gentlemen find somewhere else to stand. You're blocking the suns."

  "Look punk... "

  Diz slapped the ape's hand away. "Now, now. I'm on vacation. My brothers made me promise not to break anyone. It's a lot harder. I have to be very careful. Takes work. Just go away nicely."

  "Joss, he's not hurting anything." Jenna was worried. Joss and Berk were experts. They'd pulled top medals in the tourney heavyweight class. "He's just a kid flirting over his age limit."

  "Please, Jenna, I don't have an upper age limit on beautiful women. Just a lower one. I like little girls, but I'm more interested in their mommies." He shook the water out of his hair, all over Joss and Berk.

  "Kid, you annoy me."

  "Berk, take it easy."

  "Jeanna, I don't mind. The feeling's mutual. Berk, go away. I'm not in the mood. Oh well, if I must, I must." Diz stood up and grinned. "If you plan on getting physical, I'd appreciate it if you'd both come at once. I'd prefer to have a LITTLE challenge."

  They did. He dropped them both in the pool, then dove in and fished them out. He made sure they were both breathing. "Good. I didn't break them and they should wake up before they get sunburned. Now, ladies, about that dinner." They both reached a hand out and he lifted them from the pool.

  By the time they reached the first club, word had spread. No one tried to keep him from entering and, since he wasn't drinking, he was only bending the law. He had decided he wanted to remember the night well. He was going to have to find a way to raid his dad's stock of roses, or how and where he stashed them. Buying them at a florist's wasn't nearly as impressive as pulling them from the air, but they'd gone over well anyway, so had the tux.

  "Yes, but Betseger still treats them as imaginary. His math is good, but he lacks the imagination to envision them properly."

  "Where did you go to school, Tech?"

  "I learned at home. My dad's been a bit busy lately, so my godfather's been assigning us work."

  "Us?"

  "I have two brothers running around somewhere. Staying out of trouble, I hope. This has been great. I didn't think I'd find anyone who could carry on a reasonable conversation. Let alone a stimulating one. I hope you take pity on me and extend it. May I take you to dinner, Professor Yamato?"

  "Not if you call me professor. Actually, you're the first interesting person I've talked to here. Most of the people seem to think below the waist."

  "Well put. I find I'm a bit put off by it. I like Khayyam before Kama Sutra."

  She giggled. "Dinner then. Seven?"

  "Perfect. May I choose our evening's itinerary, or do you have something specific you would like to do?"

  "You may choose. I haven't really got anything in mind. I was planning on sitting in the lobby and finishing Joyce."

  "Joyce is worthwhile, but the lobby? No, I think not. There are much more interesting places."

  He picked her up at seven and presented her a delicate spray of pleurothallis. The miniature orchids delighted her. He pleaded her indulgence. Her oriental beauty had begged a fitting setting. He took her to the Plum Blossom, a superb restaurant renowned as a replication of a nineteenth century tea house. She was amazed when he performed the tea ceremony for her and astounded when he thanked the hostess in perfect Japanese. He took her to the Kabuki Theatre and afterward the Garden of Harmony. She hadn't known there was a Japanese enclave on Sybar.

  "The spirit of the rock delights in the pattern of the moon's shadow."

  "Tech, I've never met anyone like you. I teach people older than you are, but I don't think they're as wise."

  "Please, I'm not young by choice. I am who I am. At this point in my life, I'm young. At another point, I will not be. Wisdom grows with age, but it must be nurtured. My father taught me to cherish each day and seek to grow wise. The moonlight... Would I bore you if I read to you from the Rubaiyat?"

  "You would never bore me. Please."

  He soon put the book away. He knew it well and preferred his hands free.

  Doc did six hours of katas and got a good night's sleep. He was going out when Tech and Diz came in. They'd run into each other in a hotel lobby. "Uh huh. Meow. Lick the cream off your whiskers and get some sleep. I need you in three hours. New Stockholm hotel. Sticks, chucks, and full blacks."

  "What's with him?"

  "The memory of a woman's pain. Sleep, Diz. He needs us. So does she."

  "Tech, you see everything and he feels everything. It's a good thing I'm around to enjoy everything."

  "Sybarite."

  "When on Sybar... "

  Carol glanced out her window, then looked. Three of them! Perfect. Balance, movement, position. Perfect. She saw Doc shake his head and make them go through the Tai chi Chi'uan again. She'd seen nothing, but he had. His two brothers must have agreed. They redid it and looked at him. He nodded and they grinned. They moved into a karate kata that left her with her mouth hanging open. Nobody moved that fast! She headed for the lift. They were attracting a crowd and she wanted a front row seat.

  "Chucks. The new routine."

  "Slave driver." Diz grinned. Jenna and Jeanna were watching. The new routine was one they had designed themselves. It used tumbling, jujitsu and the chucks. The key elements were their own individual talents; Doc's strength, Tech's precision, his speed; It was a show piece. A dance to the rhythm of the chucks. He'd noticed Tech's designer. He wondered who Doc was showing off for.

  Diz started the final run. He met Tech and knew the toss was perfect. Doc was exactly where he should be. He landed, caught Tech's spinning chucks and saw him slide in. The crowd went crazy. Doc said, "Now" and he back flipped from the outstretched chucks Doc held over his head. Tech did a forward roll from between Doc's legs and they finished in line with a precision aikido kata.

  A lovely woman walked up to Doc and spoke quietly. Diz saw Tech walking toward the oriental beauty. Break time. He followed the direction Tech had taken and strolled over to Jenna and Jeanna. They were standing near the professor's chair. He decided he was developing a real 'thing' for twins. Tech said, "Diz, don't make plans for this afternoon. He DOES need us."

  "My evening my own?"

  "I doubt it. I think your lady friends have a claim on it."

  "Oh, I DO hope so." Jenna and Jeanna laughed.

  "No. You'll hurt yourself. Here. This way. You don't have to hi
t hard. Just right. Your body will provide the force. Feel it flowing behind your hand."

  Carol watched him teach her smallest student. He'd solved the problem she'd worked on for months. And he'd done it with a gentle touch here and there. His hands were beautiful. He was beautiful. He was so different. They all were. Patient and gentle. So very gentle.

  They'd been teaching a group of very small children when she'd arrived with her students. She'd watched closely for the ten minutes until her reserved time. When he walked over to say hello, he'd had a giggling, squirming, child under each arm and one on his shoulders, hanging onto his hair. Thick, curly, red-blond hair.

  "Doc, we're headed out. Catch ya' later."

  "Right, Diz. Later. That's it. Even all the way through. Slowly. Speed is only speed. Position is power. Remember, practice doesn't make perfect, but perfect practice does. Oh, sorry. Looks like next group."

  Damn he was good. Even the formality of ending the session was performed with the beauty and grace of a dance. "You teach a lot?"

  "No, Carol, we don't really get the chance often, but sometimes we help with a class of little ones. A few right words early can avoid a lot of injuries later. My mom started teaching me as soon as I could walk. She was afraid I'd hurt myself trying to copy her. Someday I'll be as good as she is; then, in a few hundred years, as good as my dad."

  "Wait a minute! You're serious! A few HUNDRED years?"

  "Yes. I'm only half human. We all are. No. That's not right. Tech's mother is... I don't know. His mother."

  "You're not triplets? I mean, your hair color's different, but I thought... "

  "No. Half brothers. Three different mothers, but they all had the same name. Do you know what a Time Lord is?"

  "I've heard the term."

  "Our father is a Time Lord. Albeit, a rather unusual one. We don't enter tourneys. Our bodies are better. It wouldn't be fair."

  "Fair is an ideal."

  "I'm an idealist. Inherited from both sides. Mom's not even practical about it. Dad doesn't need to be. Here. Feel. I've got two hearts." He lifted her hands and put them on his chest. He smiled. She didn't yank them away and he'd felt only interest, not revulsion.

  "Heartburn must really make you miserable."

  He laughed. Leaned against a wall and laughed. "Come on. Let's find out. I've been smelling those greasy sausages they sell around the corner all afternoon. I can't resist any longer. I'm starving."

  He spent the evening with her. When he left her at her door, he touched her hair, then cupped her jaw in his hand. She tensed slightly, but didn't pull away. He ran back toward the TARDIS. He was too happy to walk. She'd liked it and she was incredibly surprised. He had two more days. He hoped it would be enough.

  Carol found him. She'd seen them running out of the woods. More than a dozen of them. None of them were in good shape. Only he could have done that much damage. He was unconscious and battered. She needed help. It came as she thought it.

  "Damn. The TARDIS is too far. I don't want to treat him here."

  "You're Tech. Take him to my hotel. We'll go through the back. They beat him after he was unconscious."

  "Yeah, nice guys. You know who they are?"

  "Not individually, but yes. I should have lodged a complaint. It's my fault. He was helping me when he made un-friends with them."

  "You didn't do this. They did. If you feel guilty when he wakes up, it'll hurt him worse than the beating. I can treat that. Where's your hotel?"

  "Right there. I was looking out my window and saw them run away. Twelve, fifteen of them. This way. Do you need help?"

  "No, I've got him. Let's go. He's bleeding internally. I've got to start healing him quickly. He dies and regenerates, it'll blow the whole thing."

  "I think you're scaring me."

  "Sorry. He won't die. Well, not like you think of it. All that could happen is his appearance could change, then Dad would know we'd been doing something."

  "Bad boys, huh? Not supposed to be on Sybar."

  "No. Making sure our father has a future. Going after the ones who will kill him if we don't stop them."

  "In here. On the bed. I'll call a medic."

  "No! I have the best help he can get with me. You didn't see this."

  "What is that thing?"

  "A miracle from the future. Deep healing beam. Not too far in the future from here. They'll be around in your lifetime. There. Could have been worse. Look, I left a lovely lady with a very surprised look on her face. I need to get back before someone hands her the bill and she won't listen to an explanation. May I leave him here? Will you stay with him?"

  "Yes. What do I do?"

  "If he starts to get cold, get him warm. Do it quick. Shouldn't happen. He'll be fine. Bye."

  Carol decided not to take any chances.

  "Oh my, did I miss something?"

  "The second half of a beating. Yours. Your brother just left. He told me to keep you warm."

  "I think you should know you're succeeding admirably."

  ''Good."

  "I'm not sure about that."

  "I am."

  "Sayonara, Celeste."

  "Tech, I'll never meet anyone like you again."

  "Good. But you'll meet other unique people. You'll draw them as you did me. Moths to the lovely flame that takes care not to singe young wings."

  "Carol, I... "

  "I'm leaving today too, Doc. You changed things for me. Abused child grows up. Wounds healed. Miracle."

  "Two of us, I think. Different kinds of wounds. Fare thee well, Carol."

  "I'll sigh forever."

  "You'll forget us in a week."

  "Yes, you'll have a lady on each arm in a few days."

  "I'll admit the latter is a possibility, but I will never forget you. You are both so incredibly beautiful."

  "We have one last thing to do on this planet."

  "Name it, Tech."

  "Diz, pull the black silks and the scoots. We've got some work. Doc, not for you, for her. The Knight boys are going to teach a lesson in manners."

  "Done."

  "You have failed as a sensei. Your students have no respect and no wisdom. We have come to listen to you instruct them."

  "You three punks can't come in here and talk to me like that. Take 'em boys."

  "Yippee. Told you he wouldn't listen, Doc. Oops. Hope I didn't break him."

  "Pay attention, Diz. You break too many of them."

  "Aw, Tech. Not that many. Shucks, ran out already. Doc, talk to him or hit him. Don't just stand and look at him."

  "You have a very short time to teach them. Begin with; if one has learned humility, one can not be humiliated. We shall return. If you've taught them well, you will once again be allowed in tourneys. If not, we close this dogo."

  "Who are you?"

  "We're the Knight boys."

  "We need money. A lot of it. We have to jump forward in time and buy some very expensive pieces of equipment. Any suggestions?"

  "Whoa, you don't know what we do?"

  "No, Diz, I'm changing things. Right now I'm hanging on to the console, so I don't fall down."

  "What did you get from Celeste?"

  "The design for a dimensional warp cannon."

  "Funny. It never even occurred to me she was a weapons designer."

  "She isn't. She's an artist. She uses dimensional mathematics in the construction of her art. This is the design for a mobile that will be hung in the Cluster Trade Center. She doesn't know what she designed. Dad told me about it. No one ever realizes it's the most deadly weapon ever created. All it needs is assembly, a power source, and a trigger. It's a favorite story of his."

  "How did you find her?"

  "I hopped around in the TARDIS while you were getting lined up for the wedding. Found when she'd hung it and checked her university file for a time to fi
nd her. This seemed best."

  "Grab him, Diz!"

  "Whoa! Bed for you. What's wrong with him, Doc?"

  "He's riding a storm of change and the waves are swamping him. You get him tucked in. I'll see about coming up with money. Tech, we need a when on purchases."

  "Five... Five hundred years."

  "All right. We'll see what we can come up with."

  "That's it. All the currency from the wardrobe in the time period specified."

  "Not a lot, Diz. I'd hoped for more. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way. At least we're genetically keyed to the TARDIS. You're going to have to ask for her help. You have the power to use her telepathic circuits. Tell her what we're trying to do. We start at the other end, then come back and work our way forward at about twenty-five year intervals."

  "If I'm going to tell her the plan, I should know it."

  Doc kept it simple. One world, one city, one building. The Cluster Trading Center. He hadn't been taught to use the TARDIS the way Tech had. The TARDIS helped. She landed them in the records center at night. They looked up the information they needed, then went back to the beginning.

  They found a broker willing to let a pair of students invest their 'allowance'. He deposited their earnings and hoped they didn't go into competition with him. He'd tried to talk them out of the investments they'd chosen, small technology companies. He started following their investments. They didn't play the market, just submitted a new portfolio about every twenty-five years. The broker retired after thirty of them a very wealthy man.

  The account at the bank grew. They'd established it as a family account. They also arranged to have the bank pay the taxes on their earnings. Since all withdrawals were invested, the record keeping was simple. Every twenty-five years the account was taken to the minimum, then began to grow again. Over the five hundred years, a great many bank employees followed the Knight family investments. They retired wealthy too.

  "OK, Diz, see how Tech is. We need to know what to buy."

  "All right, but we may have to build this thing ourselves. He was in rough shape the last time I checked. Doc, get us into the net. If I know what's available, I might be able to figure out what we can adapt to our needs."

  "That's what I needed to hear. Check Tech anyway. I can't. Even with him in the zero room, I pick up occasional waves of confusion. And grief. We haven't got this worked out yet."

  "We've got to try something, Diz. The cannon's ready, but we're not. I've got an idea, but it's real iffy. Come on. Time to change Tech's memories."

  Diz was supporting Doc by the time they reached Tech. He was struggling too. Even he could feel the grief Tech radiated. It was like a cold dark fog. Palpable.

  "I don't remember it, Doc."

  "Good. We have to change your memories. Show us. We can handle it. We've got to try to bring our minds together. We might succeed. We've become very close. That's obvious from the way we're reacting to your grief. Not just me, Diz too."

  They found the way there in the zero room. They joined minds and Tech showed them the trap the daleks had laid using the telepaths of Liberty. The many ways it could have been sprung. Their presence and Data's had kept it from closing much sooner. All the paths ended with the trap being sprung, with the Doctor's capture by the daleks and his slow, but eventual, death. They followed their own efforts to save him. The attempts they made to stop it. Each one ending in at least one of their deaths. Most failing. Then things began to change. Tech showed them how to float above the images. They held on and waited for them to settle. They found one possibility, but it required they kill. They searched for a way to save the innocents. There wasn't one. Diz made a suggestion. It was risky.

  Four of the five possibilities ended in their deaths and failure to save their father. They latched on the one chance and examined it. They would have to train very hard. It depended on split second timing and a child's dry diaper.

  "We're ready. Tech, anything changed?"

  "No. Still five possibilities. One chance to succeed. I can hang on to that chance, Doc. Every right move we make strengthens it."

  "Good. You get swampy in the middle of this and we're done for. Where's the diaper, Diz?"

  "Here. I changed it a little. The fasteners are velcro."

  "What's that?"

  "Watch. See. It's real old stuff, but I found a roll of it in the wardrobe and it seemed perfect for our needs."

  "It is, Diz. Doc, my memory just dropped two death scenes."

  "Two down, two to go."

  "Get in that ship! Hurry! Don't ask questions. We're getting you out of here."

  Tech shot out the eyepiece of the dalek that opened the door to the hold and hushed the people hurrying into the TARDIS. Doc grabbed the baby from the surprised woman and changed her. Diz planted the grenade on the distressed dalek and carried the last five people through the TARDIS doors with his body. Doc and Tech shot out the eyepieces of the two daleks that appeared in the doorway and dove through the TARDIS doors. Diz hit the door lever and Tech raced for the controls. Doc grabbed the woman out of his way. The TARDIS was in motion.

  "Three down, one to go. Get them moving, Diz."

  "Right, Tech. Ladies and gents, follow me quickly. We aren't safe yet." He led them through the interior doors. "Stay here. I'll be back if we're successful." He ran back to the control room, latched the interior doors and helped Doc move the cannon into place.

  "Last scenario coming up. Diz, I'll give you a count on the doors. Tie down. We'll decompress as soon as I drop the defenses. Doors in five, four, three, two, one... NOW!"

  Doc got off one shot before the cannon was swept out the doors. Diz had already started the doors closing. Tech switched on the TARDIS defenses and slammed them into travel. They had milliseconds to get out of the area. Even the TARDIS wouldn't withstand the backlash of the cannon.

  "We did it! One set of memories! We did it!"

  "Doc, that must have been the UNIVERSE'S fastest diaper change!"

  "It had to be. If that baby had cried at the TARDIS doors, the dalek would have fired in the direction of the sound and killed half a dozen people. Including you, Diz."

  "Yeah, feels strange to owe my life to a dry diaper."

  They laughed and took the people home. They had two more stops to make before they took the TARDIS back. The first was on twentieth-century Earth. They found enough currency to make the purchase, then made the modifications en route. It would be years before their dad discovered it. He'd always wonder why he couldn't remember when he'd picked it up.

  "No change. No respect, no humility, no values. A teenage gang, not a group of students. They're waiting for us. Some are even carrying beamers. Time to shut them down. I lodged the complaint. Told them what they tried to do to Carol. Asked them to keep her out of it. Gave written testimony. He won't be able to rebuild the school without an accreditation. No one will loan him the money. I wish there was some other way."

  "I'm sorry, Doc. I told you how it would be. We'll have to do it the way I remember it."

  "I know, Tech. At least none die. They're badly misguided. Not ruthlessly evil."

  "Doc, Tech says all of them heal. We break a few, but they mend. They tried to kill you and nearly succeeded in destroying Carol's sanity. She'd have never recovered."

  "You're right, Diz. Let's get the red leathers and the bikes. Time for the Knight boys to ride."

  They dressed in the leathers, brushed their hair back, and put diamond studs in their right earlobes. They didn't speculate on how they'd gotten pierced. They just were. They donned the mirrored glasses and rolled the three red motorcycles out of the TARDIS. Doc rode the big one; Tech and Diz the smaller.

  They roared through the double doors of the dogo on their back wheels and proceeded to demolish it. And its owner and clientele. They hurried. They wanted to get Doc back to the TARDIS
before he started feeling the pain they'd inflicted. He was on his knees crying by the time they got the bikes in and the doors shut.

  "Time to go back. Let's get the bikes stored and get changed into our tuxes. Gwen will know we went somewhere, but she won't tell. These last eight weeks didn't happen. Right?"

  "Sure were interesting for something that didn't happen. I've got a question. What happened to the cannon? No one will find it, will they, Tech?"

  "No, Diz, they won't. The backwash from the blast spread it across a hundred dimensions. Just like the dalek time ship. We blew it apart before it could rendezvous with the estherans and complete the trap. Without the daleks, the estherans can't stop Dad."

  "Tech, how did you know all this? You know things you're not telling us."

  "Yeah, Doc, I do. My mom told me. Just enough. And just before she died. She told me I'd have to find the future that didn't exist and bring my brothers to find her. She didn't tell dad or my sisters. When the future changed, I knew it was time to start searching."

  "When did it change?"

  "It started when Dad didn't send me away after you tried to kill yourself. I was supposed to end up on Earth, my choice, alone until he and Gwen found me about ten years later. But the real change came after Dad saved Susan and Sara. That's when I knew the future had to be changed. It didn't exist. It ended right after Lib's wedding."

  "Then you saw all this."

  "No, Doc. I put it together piece by piece. There had to be a way to make the small loop where I existed into the true timestream. Had to be. You see, without us Dad would still have been taken. When your mother died of the disease, he'd have known and started hunting for her killers. Calla's daughters and one of Wren's sons would have survived, so would a few of the horses. He'd have allowed himself to be taken on Liberty to find why the telepaths were being taken. The daleks would have destroyed his mind, then disintegrated his body. Mother knew. She told me when we went to get her. I'm slipping! We have to destroy the unit we built to find her!"

  "Done."

  "You've got about forty minutes, Doc. You need to be changed too."

  They opened the TARDIS doors and Gwen walked in. "I'm taking you back. I don't remember where you've been." Doc took her armload.

  "Good. You don't want to know. So don't look." They pulled him out of the TARDIS. He was waving bye-bye again.