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#39
- Time and Again |
"We are the masters at the moment, and not only at the moment, but for a very long time to come ."
- Sir Hartley Shawcross
The faceless lady answered the ringing telephone.
“Time Variance Authority, how may I direct your call? I’m sorry, Mobius M Mobius is currently on vacation. Yes of course, one moment please.”
Mr Escher was wandering the Hall of Chronometry, keeping an eye on the many, many Chronomonitors of the TVA. The Time Variance Authority had been through a lot in it’s recent history. First had been Alioth, set upon them by Kang the Conqueror before he had been erased by the Forever Crystal. That in itself has taken quite a bit to fix up and just when they had thought they had everything under control, Earth 616 had started playing up again. It wasn’t enough that they kept going back and forward in time and making messes all over the place, they had to actively attempt to rewrite history. Necrom had been the worst offender, trying to combine all timelines in to one, and so many Chronomonitors had been made redundant because of that, while the others had to rewrite things and now there was the impending Time War.
That had been when Mobius M Mobius had had his nervous breakdown and had been crying like a baby under the desk of Chronomonitor DC-39 and calling for his mother. Mr Alternity had come down to the office and had to coax him out from under the desk before sending him on vacation to Hawaii, though it had taken several attempts to get him there, as they needed a Hawaii that wasn’t invaded being by aliens, ravaged by hurricanes or attacked by Godzilla. Mr Paradox, Mr Orobourous and Mr Tesseract were all busy dealing with their respective areas so Mr Escher had been brought in to replace Mobius while he was getting better and he had been finding his feet ever since.
The paperwork said that there were certain temporal strands of the Earth 616 timeline that were no longer registered with the TVA and no charges could be brought against denizens of the timeline and the one where the current troubles were occurring was one of them, which made it very frustrating. Add to things, the damage to Time, the destruction of Limbo and many temporal anomalies, Mr Escher was being certainly kept busy.
“Paging Mr Escher,” came the voice on the tannoy. “Paging Mr Escher. You have a call on line 74. You have a call on line 74.” Escher sighed. The only time they ever received calls was when there was a problem, and he stopped by the desk of one of the Chronomonitors and pressed the buttons for line 74.
“Mr Escher speaking, how may I assist you?”
“ESCHER!!” the voice blared down the telephone.
“Yes, Mr Alternity? How nice to hear from you. Aren’t you supposed to be at Woodstock?”
“I am at Woodstock!” Alternity growled. “My vacation just got cancelled and I’m blaming you.”
“Me?” Escher was confused. “I haven’t done anything, sir. Have I?”
“That’s the problem, you haven’t!” Escher gulped, wondering what he hadn’t done, or specifically what he’d missed, but Alternity heard his gulp of bewilderment. “Otherworld! Otherworld! Otherworld!”
“Otherworld?” he tentatively asked, looking down Hall to Chronomonitor DI-00
“OTHERWORLD!! There’s class twelve temporal rip in the heart of Otherworld and it’s causing timequake ripples across the continuum.”
“It’s not registering here, sir,” Mr Escher started. “Are you sure…”
“Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were supposed to be on now. Instead I’m watching the Plastic Ono Band. The Plastic Ono Band!!”
“But it is John Lennon,” Escher suggested helpfully.
“They were told to get lost!” Alternity bellowed. “So I checked up and the situation on Otherworld is the cause. FIX IT!” The phone went dead and Escher sighed. Nobody appreciated the Plastic Ono Band. It wasn’t easy being a Junior Time Zone Manager. He put the telephone down and went to find out what was happening, what they could do about it and if he could get Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young back on stage at Woodstock…
The great warning of the Cloister Bell sounded out across Gallifrey, alerting the Time Lords that there was a problem with Time.
In truth it has started to sound at the advent of the Time War but now after discussions and debates and contemplation of what was needed to be done, the Lord President Romanadvoratrelundar had made her decision. She had conferred with the wisest and most powerful heads of the chapters of the Time Lord academic schools, and she knew that while there would be some opposition to what she was to propose, there would not be unanimous opposition which would allow them to revoke her decision, and the High Council had gathered in an emergency session. Romana, along with the Chancellor and Castellan, sat at the head of the Council, which was made up of Cardinals of the academic schools and other Councillors, and the Lord President, dressed in her full Presidential regalia, addressed the Council.
“My friends,” she began, “we face the greatest crisis in the history of Time. For millennia the Time Lords have had mastery of Time, thanks to the power and wisdom of Rassilon, and while his later deeds may live in infamy, his legacy lives on through us. Throughout the ages, the Time Lord society have watched, observed and protected Time to the best of our ability, but many conflicts have left us incapable of maintaining order without breaking our policy of direct intervention. It is with this in mind that I am revoking the policy of non-intervention. As we are all aware, we have used outside agents through the Celestial Intervention Agency to covertly alter and maintain order, however this can no longer be something that is done from the sidelines. The Time Lords will make a stand and we will be using our powers to take back control of Time and restore things to the order that they are supposed to be. Too many lesser beings have abused Time and we have not acted and the consequences of our inaction are evident. We are Time Lords and we have been guilty of using our powers unwisely throughout our history. In the early days we abused our powers, and now we do not use them at all. This will change and the Celestial Intervention Agency will be reworked to become the Frontline Bureau of Intervention for make no mistake in this matter – we are at war with any who would prevent us from reassuring our mastery of Time.”
“What of the Doctor?” came a call.
“What of the Doctor?” the Castellan answered. “He has maintained that we do not use our powers enough for the betterment of the universe, this is precisely what he has been calling for! He will not be able to oppose us in any case, for the Doctor has taken on the Time Lords many times and he has failed each time. If he interferes, he too will be dealt with.”
“The first thing that must be done is to get to Otherworld and put an end to the event that is causing ripples through time,” the President said. “I will personally attend the current incident and ensure that those who rule in Otherworld are made aware that we will not brook their interference. Their alleged guardianship of the Omniverse has been flawed from beginning to end, and I will insist that they enter in to negotiations to hand over the responsibilities to the Time Lords.”
Outside the place where New Camelot had been, Kylun and Elsa looked at the empty space, having seen the city fade and vanish and they knew it was on the way and the plan to save New Camelot was underway. They would know it had been successful when Merlyn, Roma and Elisabeth and Kate returned from Null Point.
“That seemed almost too easy,” said Elsa, looking at her new friend. “What are we missing?”
“Why is the storm still here?” Kylun wondered out loud. “Why isn’t it dissipating, New Camelot is gone.”
Realisation dawned on Elsa. “Because it wasn’t directed at New Camelot, rather the temporal anomaly, and Pen is still here.” They looked up at the leader of Dragon’s Claws, suspended in the air being assaulted by the temporal storm.
“MEGGAN!” shouted Kylun running over to the elemental and former queen of Otherworld. “Can you dispel the storm, like you did the temporal portal in London?” Meggan had used her abilities to bring the gash in time to a close, and had saved London from an ever bigger crisis, but the team had been unable to prevent this event
“No,” said Meggan, looking anxious. “It’s too big, and I don’t have the powers here I did back home.” They all looked up at him, being assaulted again and again by the full fury of the storm. “He’s trapped, and the storm won’t let him go until he’s dead…”
“That wasn’t part of the plan,” shouted Elsa, trying to make herself heard above the storm, which was growing in intensity. “He never said he’d trade himself for New Camelot!”
“He’s counting on us saving him before it’s too late,” Meggan said as she touched Pen Dragon with her empathy. “I can sense the urgency in him.”
“But how can we save him?” Elsa asked. “You don’t have the power.”
Kylun had an even more worrying thought. “The others could only save New Camelot by using Pen as diversion and transporting it out of here, we can’t do the same thing again. If Betsy and the Merlyn and the rest couldn’t stop it before, how can they do it now?”
“Yes, it’s quite a pickle isn’t it?” said a voice and they all turned to see a man standing there, staring up at the man in the sky. “I don’t think we’ve seen a level seventeen storm in absolutely ages.”
“Who the hell are you?” Elsa demanded and he showed her his identification.
“Escher E Escher, Time Variance Authority. Wee don’t normally send a manager down to the shop floor, but I have to oversee this on personally, as this event is creating multiversal anomalies. I’m here to shut it down and it would unfortunately appear that the only way to do it is to kill Pen Dragon. That, as I understand, would solve a lot of problems.”
“Except you’re a man in a suit, and I don’t think you’re much of a killer, Mr Escher,” Kylun said.
“That’s true,” Escher admitted. “However…” he clicked his fingers and about a dozen armoured figures appeared “…they are.”
“The Time Variance Authority has no jurisdiction on Otherworld,” Meggan answered, drawing herself up in front of them.
“Then Queen Elisabeth can file a complaint with the Senior Managers. Minutemen, you have your orders. Kill him!”
“I don’t think so,” said Grey Poldark as he arrived with a contingent of the Captain Britain Corps. “As Lord Protector of Otherworld, I speak for the Queen in her absence and you really don’t want to try us.” Poldark and Escher stood facing off against each other, the Minutemen and Corps glowering at each other.
“Well,” said Escher, “this is interesting.” He took off his glasses, breathed on them and wiped them with a handkerchief. “You know, I’m not sure we’ve discussed if the might of Otherworld can take on the forces of the TVA. I suspect this will be one for the books, because there are many things you are, Mr Poldark, but you are not the King, and you only have limited power, whereas I can call on the full range of the TVA’s forces.”
“But he’s not alone,” said Meggan as she, Kylun and Elsa stood at Gray’s side. “You’ll not have Pen Dragon’s death.”
“Yes,” Escher said. “We will. The authority of the Time Variance Authority is…”
“Meaningless,” said another voice and they turned so see Romana standing there if front of what appeared to be a standing stone, but was undoubtedly her TARDIS. “The Time Variance Authority are a bunch of mindless bureaucrats, who have proved as ineffectual as they are multiple.”
“Madam President,” said Gray, showing the Lord President of the Time Lords the due reverence. “What interest have the Time Lords in this matter?”
“Your actions have disrupted the flow of time, and as such they have endangered everything that we have all worked for. Too long have the Time Lords watched while you lesser beings have tried to manage every crisis, however we will be taking charge of this Time War. It is not the first Time War we have fought and it will undoubtedly not be the last, but we will put an end to it one way or another.”
“How dare you, madam?” said Escher. “The Time Lords have been content to lord it over us all, no pun intended, sat in your ivory towers, isolated from the rest of the universe. When was the last time you took direct action? Without the use of your CIA operatives? I believe it was with the Minyans and we all know how well that ended!”
“Times have changed, and the Time Lords as well. Consider us all now a race who act as the Doctor…” Escher’s eyes went wide at this. If all of them acted like the renegade Time Lord, they’d never be able to keep track of it all. “Under my authority, steps are being taken and we will be taking control.”
“Control of what?” asked Kylun.
“The TVA, the Null Point, Otherworld…”
“Now wait a minute,” said Gray. “Otherworld is a sovereign body and the treaties between ourselves an Gallifrey…”
“Are no longer in effect.” Romana’s glare was icy cold. “New treaties will be discussed and if necessary, Otherworld be taken by force, or at the very least isolated from the multiple time lines. Remember we can control the dimensional corridors between time and…”
Kylun then let out the scream of the dying Elegeon Bird of ZZ’ria,a noise that sounded like a chord of music played at an impossibly loud sound and everyone stopped their arguing and looked at him. “Thank you,” he said. “Now that we have your attention, someone do something about this temporal storm.”
Gray shrugged, Escher gestured to the Minutemen and Romana sighed and went back inside her TARDIS. The ship groaned and the top of the stone seemed to light up as it dematerialised from where it was and appeared at the heart of the storm, forming around Pen Dragon and hung there a while as it absorbed the temporal storm, before vanishing and reappearing where it had first gone from. The door opened and both she and Pen Dragon exited.
“Thank you,” he was saying. “Glad someone did something, was pretty bad up there.” He looked around at what was going on, seeing the group Captain Britains, the swarm of Minutemen, Gray, Mr Escher and members of Dragon’s Claws all in a very defensive manner. “This isn’t good, is it? What did I miss?”
“They wanted to kill you to get rid of the storm,” said Elsa, pointing at Escher.
“They wouldn’t let him,” said Kylun, pointing at Grey.
“She wants to take over Otherworld,” said Meggan pointing at Romana.
“Oh,” said Pen. “Anyone got a cigarette?”
“Is that all you have to say?” asked Gray, incredulously.
“Well, when your missus gets her and kicks the crap out of her…” he pointed at Romana “and when Roma sets Saturnyne and Ministry for Crosstime Transport Regulation Monitor and Control, on the TVA…” He smiled at Escher. “You haven’t lived until you’ve had a meeting with the Ministry for Crosstime Transport Regulation Monitor and Control – they’re going to keep you so wrapped up in red tape.”
“The Ministry can never compete with our legions of Chronomonitors,” sniffed Escher, haughtily
“Where do you think all those you made redundant went?” said Dragon with a wicked grin and Escher’s face fell. “That’s karma for trying to have me killed, remember that. Now where was I?”
“Cigarette,” said Kylun and Elsa.
“Oh yes, when that kicks off, I’ll want a ciggy to watch the show. Maybe some deckchairs. Hey Captain… whoever, you in the red, white and blue. No not you, the ginger one. Yes, you. Get us some deckchairs would you? Champion thanks.” Pen sighed as the Captain looked about then flew off to find deckchairs. “He looked a lot like Chris Evans.” Everyone was staring at him. “No, please, start arguing again, that’ll solve everything.”
“There will be no arguments,” said Romana. “We will take Otherworld, by force if needed. I can have legions of war TARDISes arrive on my command. We have been preparing for the Time War a very long time, even if Otherworld was not supposed to be the enemy.”
“Then maybe you should prepare for that war,” said Elisabeth as she, Merlyn, Roma and Kate Pryde-Rasputin appeared.
“Here we go,” said Pen and she gave him a look of annoyance and he shook his head.
“This Time War could have been prevented if the Time Lords had stepped in, if the TVA had done it’s job, if this had happened, if that had happened – the point is it is happening and instead of arguing about who should be in charge, we should be working together to put things right. We are the major players on our side of the field, but there are others as well. If we do not work as a team we will not be able to stop this from destroying all we have worked for.” The Queen of Otherworld looked at those who sought to override her opinions and shook her head. “I do not debate I cannot do this alone, but there are things we can all bring to the table.”
“A council,” Romana said. “A new alliance formed to fight the Time War. The Time Lords bring the technological and temporal advantage, the TVA brings the bueracratic knowledge of time and Otherworld brings…”
“The ability to fight a war,” said Dragon. “None of you have directly fought a war in years and Otherworld has done nothing but.”
“Thank you, Pen,” said Elisabeth, “but your dealings in this matter is finished, for now. If I need you or your team further, I’ll summon you. This type of discussion is frankly out of your league.” She waved her hand as Pen reacted angrily
“Now wait one damn min…” Before he could finish speaking the Dragon’s Claws were back home, in the Dorneywood Mansion. “You bitch…” His voice was barely a whisper but it conveyed his anger at what had just happened. “You absolute fucking bitch.”
“That was rude,” said Elsa. “They can’t just use us like that.”
Kylun sighed. “She can, she’s the Queen.” Meggan remained silent, keeping her own counsel on what Betsy had just done. “What do we do now?”
“We’re going to find Adam Crown,” Pen said. “I’m not having this, and Adam’s going to find me a way of getting to Otherworld, then Betsy and I are going to have it out, once and for all.”
