"Act Your Age!" -- Part Three -- "Doubles" **** Nomad of Norad on Sat, 8 Aug 98 23:12:08 EDT **** **** Subject: My very much delayed story entry **** So, T4D, Qethea, and "Stasis" headed on down the corridor. They were headed for the bridge. T4D, being very suspicious of what "Stasis" was really up to, naturally wondered if the man had something more sinister in mind by taking them to the bridge. Qethea and T4D were trying to find ways of delaying their arrival there, without tipping their hands to "Stasis" about it, or better yet, were trying to find a good reason to head someplace else entirely. * * * * * * * * * Meanwhile, aboard the later-in-time pseudoTARDIS, herewhith referred to as TARDIS2, the various adventurers split up into three groups. Walt was in the sickbay, monitoring the autodoc that was now treating XeenPu'rrectas. Dia, Nathan and Timothy remained near the other transfer disc, to make sure no one else came through it. And Elowe and Nomad headed toward the console room. "Look at this place!" said Nomad. "It looks like a three-headed mongra went rampaging through it!" The corridors were scorched in several places, some of the rondels -- the backlit, removable disks that were sunk into the walls -- were broken and others were missing, and there were cables and things hanging from the ceilings and out of the broken rondels. "It's the condition Qethea found it in," stated Elowe, "when she liberated it from Walhemmerous and his bunch." "Now that you've brought it up," said Nomad, "just what were they up to, anyway? Why steal Gary's pseudoTARDIS? Or anyone else's time-machine, for that matter." "Well, Qethea said she blundered across them and discovered they were trying to interfere with history. Rather ineptly, I might add." "Ineptly, eh?" said Nomad. "I guess we got lucky, again! Why does it seem that all the bad-guys we encounter are such clumsy, hamfisted idiots?" "I dunno. Would you rather replace them with adroit, masterful, genious villains?" "Not on your life!" said Nomad, emphatically. They rounded a corner in the corridor, kicked some debris out of the way, lifted a loose rondel up off the floor and leaned it against a wall. "So, which particular events were they trying to interfere with?" said Nomad. "She didn't say." "Where were they when all this happened?" "Some planet called DataLore, second planet of the Spiner system." "It was, eh? Never been there myself. Really nice name for a planet, though." Elowe gave him a strange look. "Whattaya *mean* you've never been there! It's the same planet where they had that Star Trek convention, remember? The one where the two of us first met? A year ago?" It was now Nomad's turn to give Elowe a strange look. "Whattaya *mean* were we first met? We've never met before this day!" Elowe looked dumbfounded. "But-- but-- Over the last year, you gave me all sorts of help in refining my own pseudoTARDIS! How could we NOT have... met... earl... WAIiiit a minute...." "What year was this Star Trek con in?" said Nomad. "And what year are you from?" "The con was in early 1998, and I'm from mid 1999," said Elowe, starting to understand. "Figures!" said Nomad. "Well, I'M from 1997. And this is clearly the sort of situation that Heinlein once called an inversion." "Not familiar with *that* one." "It IS a situation they've had once or twice on `DrWho,' though." "Yeah, they HAVE, haven't they!" At that point, they arrived at the door to the main console room, and went in. "Great Guardians!" said Nomad, catching sight of the console room, or what was left of it. The console was all burnt out, and all in pieces. It looked like it had overloaded and blown itself apart. There were cables snaking out of it and going across the room, where they went inside... an old grandfather clock?!? "There's my pseudoTARDIS," said Elowe. "I parked mine aboard this TARDIS and linked control-systems together until we can repair the systems of this one." Nomad stared at the grandfather clock, that is, the other pseudoTARDIS. "It looks just like..." He looked more closely. "The TARDIS we are inside of? Yeah, the pattern in the chamelian circuit for this TARDIS was... well, rather bizzare. And for that matter, the pattern was starting to degrade, so I simply copied the pattern from my own ship's chamelian circuit until we can program another pattern." "I guess they must have deleted the old police-box pattern," said Nomad. "Well, I guess we can simply copy it from the first TARDIS before we let them steal the thing from us." "What, like this?" said Elowe, plucking a datacube from his pocket. "You're way ahead of me, aren't you," said Nomad, eyeing the datacube. "All we gotta do is replace the console here, and we're ready." "Wait a minute, what about the backup console room?" "As it happens," continued Elowe, "I have the parts on my own TARDIS to construct.... Wait a minute, did you say *backup* console room?" "Yup! We put in a second console room, a replica of that nice wooden one on the TV show, you know, the one with the stained-glass rondels." "Errr... Haven't seen it." "The one on the show, or the one aboard," said Nomad. "The one aboard. I've watched all the DrWho serials -- well, the extant serials, anyway -- so I've seen that particular set." "That's nice," said Nomad. "Well, unless the bad guys trashed it, too, it should still be aboard." He paused, smiled funny, and then said, "Well, actually, it would *still* be aboard whether they trashed it or *not*, we just wouldn't be able to *use* it!" "How very droll," said Elowe. Nomad stuck out his tongue at him. Elowe smiled wanly. "Let's go look for the backup console room," said Nomad, walking back out of the room, followed by Elowe. "So anyway," said Nomad, "you were talking about goings on on DataLore?" "By Walhemmerous and his bunch?" "Yeah." "Well, all I know about it is that they planned to blow something up. A factory, I think. I don't know anything more about it, though." "What do you know about this planet DataLore?" said Nomad. "Well, it's a recent Human colony, established about ten years ago. As it happens, they build alot of sentient computers there." "Figures." "They've also found a bunch of alien ruins there, several large cities, plus a huge machine." "Hmmmm..." said Nomad. "So, it could have been the factory that they were trying to blow up, or it could have been the alien machine." "Or both. Or neither. I guess we'll have to ask Qethea." "So, how did she deal with the guys? What did she do to stop them from further tampering with time?" "She waited until they were back aboard their perloined TARDIS, dragged them away in it, and stranded them on some other handy planet." "And what planet was that?" "Some planet called AurynGem, third planet of the Ende system." "It was, eh?" Nomad thought a moment. "Could you spell that for me?" "Capital Ay You Are Why Inn Capital Gee Ee Imm." "I thought as much, and that's Ende with an `e' on the end, right?" "Yes it is, as it happens." Nomad nodded to himself, as if confirming a suspicion. "Never heard of the planet, but I can tell SOMEone has good taste in planet-naming." "You've lost me on that one. Just where did THAT name come from?" "Uh..." He smiled. "Let's just say that `that's another story, and shall be told another time.'" He gave him a funky grin. Elowe gave him a blank look. "It's a reference to a classic children's fantasy novel." "Ah," said Elowe. "Now I wonder how many *other* planets out there have gotten their names from popular fiction." "Good question." "So," said Nomad, "what was Qethea going to do with the pseudoTARDIS once she got it away from the bad guys?" "She was trying to find out who they originally stole it from and then return it to him, or them as the case may be." "Well, she *found* him, or them, alright." Nomad smiled, rather amused at the crasy coincidences of life. "Not quite the way she expected to, though!" "So it would appear." They came upon the second console room, went inside. "Well, it looks intact," said Nomad. "So far, anyway." He approached the console. It was a six-sided dark wood thing, somewhat smaller than the gleaming white console of the other console room. The controls were all recessed behind slanted, flip-down trapezoidal wooden doors like those of a cabinet, one panel per side. There was no time-rotor atop the console, just a flat wooden surface. Nomad opened each of the doors, they folded out to form level platforms sort of like ones on writing desks, and found that the little, multicolor, square buttons and lights of the control panels were lit like normal. These buttons were arrayed in rows and columns, just like in the TV show. "Well, everything *looks* fine." He closed most of the doors again, then punched the botton that opened and activated the scanner and monitor display on one dark, polished wooden wall. Two rectangular wooden panels slid away, one upward and one downward, to reveal the view outside. The FAR STAR corridor outside was empty, except for the London police call box in the middle of it. Nomad swung the view left and right, and then all around. "Well, looks like the three have left the area. I hope they're safe." * * * * * * * * * "So, where are we going?" said the real Stasis to Clu. They were travelling down yet another intestine-like pathway. "I have detected your other self, leading some recent visitors through the ship." "My what? My other self, did you say?" "One of the shape-shifters has taken your body-pattern and is pretending to be you. He seems to be bringing two other people to the bridge, where I strongly suspect he's set up a trap. We've got to get there first, before he can spring it!" "I see." **** John on Fri, 28 Aug 1998 16:58:52 -0400 **** **** Subject: fun fun fun **** Deep in the far reaches of space, no farther than that, no no FARTHER, right, a ship manuevered through the void. The vessel was massive, and if one looked at it for a while one might think of two footballs squashed on on top of the other, or if one was into ship design and engines, one might notice it was roughly the size and shape of a Workon, and thus one of the Workon series of ships. However, as no-one was watching, at least no-one outside, neither of these poignant facts were noted. Inside however in the labyrinth of hallways tucked away in the bowels of the great ship a lanky ensign ran down the hallway at top speed, knocking aside heaps of scavenged parts and other less nimble crew memebers. As he aproached the current command deck ( Workon ships being noted for their modifiability, and to a great deal their shoddyness) he drew himself up into a respectable stance and opened the door. The command deck, like much of the rest of the ship at the moment, was a shambles of wiring and open panels as the newest upgrades were being installed. In the middle of the chaos stood the proud eye of the storm, Devastator. Though in actuality "eye of the storm" and "stood", and maybe even "proud", were a bit subjective, in actuality the rumpled captain hunched over a cavernous hole in the center of the room yelling obscenities. "Uhm... S-sir?" the ensign for the first time in his trek hesitated. "Huh? What the.. WHAT!?!" yelled the captain as he simultaniously managed to solder the wrong series of wires, drop a screwdriver into the hole and bang his head as he stood straight. "You know how you have us monitoring the frequencies of your friends trouble beacons?" Devastator's brow furrowed in contemplation, "Let me guess, Nomad is in trouble." "Well actually no sir, we got this amazingly highpitched squeal on T4D's frequency," the ensign pressed a button on a nearby, almost completed panel. The room filled with a low rumble, "Erm... it WAS a highpitched squeel!" "Probably a temporal distortion, I knew that when I next heard from him it would be about time. Alright lets get this ship fixed up and ready to move, hopefully if the distortion and luck favor us, we'll get there before the beacon was initiated." The ensign frowned ,"Is that possible sir?" "Guess we'll find out. Oh for being the first person on the new bridge, other than myself, you've earned a special duty!" "I have? Thankyou sir! I'll do my best sir!" "I'm sure you will, finish this up for me won't you." And so it was that ensign Ernest Polk first learned never to volunteer, and Devastator left the obvious trail of one KREEEEEEEE'Fghaaeeeeredragiiilkgraultanglaaauvear, wanted for 321 counts of murder, 5347 known violations of sentient rights, and one littering within system to enter the plot. **** "Mark Cristopher Boehnke" **** **** on Sun, 08 Nov 1998 16:02:31 -0700 **** **** Subject: It's Fun Fun Fun In The Sun Sun Sun! **** Elowe shook his head, "I don't have what I need with me," he looked over towards the grandfather clock. "I'll have to go get it from the TARDIS." He started towards the tall time-piece "Well come on then!" he instructed. Nomad stood up. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, they may have done the same thing to your TARDIS that they did to mine." Elowe shrugged. "Well, Let us see Hmm?" he unlocked the door and stepped in with Nomad right behind him, Elowe closed the door behind them, "Well, it would appear everything is intact." he said moving to a door on the right side. "I'll be right back." Elowe said ducking into the room. Nomad nodded, he stood there Admiring the fine carvings that adorn the ceiling and doors. Elowe then bolted out of the left hand door no longer wearing a coat. "Found it" he said as he grabbed him by the arm and opened the main door to the outside and hurried out, failing to close door. Soon thereafter Nomad wandered through the center door leading out from the console room as Elowe walked through the right hand door "You shouldn't open the door, no telling what is out there, anyway I found what I was looking for" he said walking outside with nomad in tow, then shuting the door. After that Imus Spandrell walked through the console room door "where in the hell is everyone?" he thought to himself as he went through the left door. **** Nomad of Norad on Sun, 3 Jan 99 18:25:07 EDT ** **** Subject: Bridge work ** Clu and the real Stasis arrived at the bridge, or rather just above the bridge. They were in a repair alcove, looking down through a vent into the bridge. "Well, I don't see anything," said Stasis. The bridge was empty. It had a layout more or less like that of the bridge of the ENTERPRISE in Star Trek Classic. It actually looked more like the bridge as seen in "The Cage" than any other version, only with NextGen- style control surfaces in place of the button-panels. "Well," said Clu, "I seem to sense something moving around down there, though, through the air." "Oh?" "Something... actually, several somethings, down there have an electrical field around them. I'd say they're roughly spherical and aproximately a foot across." "You can sense electrical fields?" "In machines, in air, wherever. I'm an energy construct, remember. Sensing energy inside machinery is how I can know how and where to insert myself into various computer systems, communications systems, and so forth." "I see." Stasis peered closer into the vent. "You're right, I can see something now, on the high-infrared. Spherical mechanoids of some kind, hovering in mid-air. Obviously cloaked." "Waiting to ambush whoever arrives, I guess." "Or capture, more likely." Stasis drew away from the vent again. "How many of these things do you suppose are aboard?" "Hard to say, but I suppose we could have the computer to project an energy field throughout the ship to make them visable. We tried something like that once aboard the starship ELVENFIRE when a bunch of invisable invaders tried to invade the ship." "ELVENFIRE? Never heard of it." "Pity, it's a legend where I come from." Stasis looked at him a moment. "Now that you bring it up, where *are* you from, anyway?" "United Nonhuman Space." "Never heard of that, either. Where is it? How do you get there?" "I'm not sure, I'm not even sure if I'm in the same *universe* anymore." "Oh well, we're getting sidetracked. We should be dealing with these hovering robot-things, preferably before our friends arrive in the ultra- lift." Stasis leaned back. "Yeah, but how do we deal with them? I mean, if we completely destroy them, it might set off alarms or something wherever the baddies are hanging out, at which point they might take some completely different action that we can't predict or know how to deal with." "In other words, `The Devil you know...'" began Clu. "Precisely." "You know, I could probably reprogram these mechanoids to do our bidding, or at least be less effective. Give me a moment." He thrust his hand into a wall-panel, and went glassy-eyed. Stasis looked at a display beside him. "Our friends are going to be here in about--" "Yes, I think I can do it," said Clu, who apparently couldn't hear Stasis at the moment. Suddenly he vanished entirely into the wall-panel. At that point, Bitt popped into the little repair alcove, having returned from some task Clu had sent him out on. "Hello, Bitt." >>> Yes <<< came Bitt's metalic, monotone reply. "Clu has just now transferred himself into a set of little hovering mechanoids down in the bridge, in order to reprogram them." >>> Yes <<< "Can he disable them in time for our friends arrival in the ultra-lift in..." he glanced at a display, did a double-take, "thirty seconds?" >>> No <<< "Crap!" >>> Yes <<< Stasis stifled a sudden laugh at that last response. He stared at Bitt a moment. He'd seen the movie "Tron" a number of years ago, and it struck him that this Bitt was so much like the one in the movie it was uncanny. And probably deliberate. He shrugged. Stasis gazed back down into the bridge, and did another double-take. The mechanoids had decloaked, though they were still hovering in air as before. At least their friends now wouldn't be caught by surprise! "Can he make the mechanoids avoid firing on, or taking action against our friends?" >>> Yes <<< "That's more reassuring." >>> Yes <<< Suddenly Clu reappeared in the repair alcove. "Hello Bitt, welcome back!" >>> Yes <<< "Did you disable circuits delta-117 and gamma-399b like I requested?" >>> Yes <<< "Good." He turned to Stasis. "Well, I think I've more than evened the odds for our friends, and I've also taken the liberty of having those bospers give the fake-you a powerful zap! These shapeshifters can't easily maintain their form when being subjected to strong electrical discharge or other such high-powered attack." "Hmmm... Just like the ones on Star Trek," mused Stasis. "So, what was that about disabling circuit so-and-so and such-and-such?" "Oh," Clu smiled cryptically, "just another precaution I've taken in case certain other difficulties arise." Stasis glanced at the little screen again. "Well, our friends should be arriving any second now..." **** Doctor Clu **** **** on Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 14:04:44 -0500 **** **** Subject: Story Segment March 18, 1999 (Yahhh!!!) **** [Well, I was waiting for a time when I could write my next pulitzer prize, but alas, why make this complicated? I should be setting an example by a quick turn around in response. I'll shoot for that next time. In the mean time.. how about a little fun...] Meanwhile, ten feet below, the bridge was quiet and only the auxilary lights were were on. Even the control panels were still and quiet, for the bridge was in it's off time, in a mode where only a skeleton crew would man the bridge during off hours. If such a scene would have been portrayed in any sci-fi show (which Star Trek did a few times, when Data on the bridge alone, for example) you would have seen the duldrums of the graveyard shift on the bridge. Graveyard, how appropiate, for the only hum of activity where the five hoverbots stood ready as guardians of the bridge. The hoverbots looked strikingly like "Maximillian" from the movie, the Black Hole. A centurian of the ship called into action when the crew had either vanished or had to abandon ship, they hovered there menacingly, deadly silent. Normally invisible. The bridge doors opened, and out of the well lit shaft stepped out Stasis, The Doctor^4, and Qethea. Stasis raised an eyebrow at the century robots. For a few seconds there was silence as the robots and the three adventurers stood dead in their tracks, looking over each other. Qethea hid behind The Doctor^4, not neccessarily in fear, but knowing she could count on him as a body shield. Nevertheless, to the Doctor^4, this was the normal companion/apprentice stance. The Doctor^4 looked around the bridge, and checked out his surroundings. It all looked quiet, too quiet. Much too quiet for the bridge of a mighty star ship, even in the off-hours mode. "Stand near the turbo shaft," The Doctor^4 whispered to Qethea. "I'd much rather stay behind you." "Understood, however my dear, I don't think we'll be here long. Just stand ready for a quick retreat and keep your head low." Stasis walked into the bridge, stepping away from the Doctor^4 and Qethea. "Apparently these bots have been deactivated." He stepped a little closer to the bridge consoles in the middle of the room, closer to the area where the bots were hovering. The bots moved aside, and as Stasis walked up to one of the control panels and was about to press a button on the console. "That's far enough!!!" Stasis, Qethea, and the Doctor^4 (along with the century bots) all looked over to the port side of the bridge to see a grating come flying out of the roof, and from the ceiling landed... "Stasis?" Qethea said, looking somewhat surprised. CLU with Bitt would drop in next. Clu smugly remarked, "Fine, don't say 'Hi' to me." and raised a hand as if to wave, only to hit a button on a side console, which caused a emergeny bulkhead to cover the hole Statis and CLU had fallen through. "So you got out?" StasisX said, still standing amoungst the hoverbots and near the control panel. "Yes, I did, but you won't," Stasis remarked to his mirror image. "You wanted this bridge so badly, fine! We'll give you the 'bridge', but we're taking the 'd' and 'e' with us." "Interesting way of putting it." The Doctor^4 remarked to Qethea. Like true mirror images, both Stasis and StasisX looked at each other sternly, and both activated their photon arrays which quickly arose out of their shoulder and into the "armed" position. "So Doctor," Qethea whispered to The Doctor^4, "Time to go?" **** Nomad of Norad on Tue, 07 Sep 1999 01:09am **** **** Subject: Twists, Turns, and Complications **** Okay, after a protracted delay, here's my story entry. I sat down to write my entry, having a simple idea of what I was going to do in it, something short and simple... but when I started writing it, it immediately started running off in a a completely different direction, complicating matters. Oh well, it wound up being much a more interesting piece! :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Not just yet," whispered back The Fourth Doctor, "if we duck out now, we won't know which Stasis is the real Stasis." Qethea furtively glanced around her, looking for a suitable barrier to duck behind if need be, since there was good chance they'd have a firefight on their hands RSN. The best choice, of course, would be someplace where they could see all the action, and give return fire or coverfire or whatever else was needed. Trouble is, the bridge afforded no such barriers, unless you counted the helm-and-ops station up to the front. The bridge was laid out more or less like the typical bridge seen on Star Trek. Round room with workstations all around, built into the walls. Two sets of doors at the back, one leading to the ultra-lift and the other presumably leading to a corridor. Sunken floor in the middle with the captain's chair to the back of it and the helm and ops console to the front. One big display screen in the front wall, right now displaying an undulating, garish field of torturously clashing color which was either a screensaver from hell or else a representation of the timerifts outside, Qethea wasn't sure which. "So, how do we know which of you is the real Stasis?" said The Fourth Doctor. The one standing at the panel smiled and said, "You don't!" "Funny," said the Stasis that had arrived second, "I was just about to say the same thing." 'Oh, *sure* you were," mocked the first Stasis. "Trying to make them all think *you're* the real Stasis!" "I *am* the real Stasis," said the second Stasis, advancing on him one careful step, "and I can prove it. Anyone that knows me can ask me any question." "The thing about you shapeshifters," said the first Stasis, "is that when you take on someone's form, you also absorb their memories, that's how you can mimic them so well, fit in among the copied-one's friends." "Only some of their memories," said the second Stasis, "that's one thing I've learned about you. You didn't get all of my memories, just a subset, and then you wing it with the rest, hoping they don't notice the gaps in your knowledge, or the garbled pieces here and there. But then, anyone that really knows me would recognise the discrepancies." "Just as well," said the first Stasis. "It's a pity there's no one here right now that fits that description, it would prove *I* was the real one." "*Sure* it would!" The second Stasis shook his head. "Well, we can call up someone who knows me well right now! We'll get Nomad on the comms!" He looked over at Qethea and T4D. "I'll get the comms," said Qethea, advancing quickly but cautiously to the comms station, a short ways past the other set of doors. She mashed some buttons and stuff, and then turned to the main screen. "Hello, Nomad here," said Nomad of Norad, appearing larger-than-life on the screen, standing around in the now-partly-restored console room. "My word," said the first Stasis, "someone sure beat the TAR out of that TARDIS!" "Great galaxies!" said Nomad, sounding not-quite-suprised. "TWO of him! Just when I was getting used to having *one* call me so much! Lemme guess, you want more ideas for that game of yours, right?" "Not exactly," said the first Stasis. "We're calling so you can prove that I'm the real Stasis." "No, that *I'm* the real Stasis!" "Ah," said Nomad, "so we're playing `The Liar's Club' today, eh? Pity, there need to be *three* of you to do it right, though." "`Liars Club?'?" said Qethea. "Old game show," said Nomad. "Back in the Seventies. Used to be a favorite." And in this moment of distraction, Clu quietly linked into one of the workstations and checked in with the `bots in order to determine why they hadn't fired on the fake Stasis yet, and discovered that they couldn't quite tell the difference between them. He was tempted to order them to fire on him now, but was starting to get the impression that the bots weren't all that bright, and might not follow his instructions the way he intended them to be taken. He'd likely have to to give them a more detailed set of instructions, and wasn't sure he could do so without being noticed. He was going to have to come up with some way of pushing things along here in meatspace. Maybe if he encited the fake Stasis into firing first, the bots would be forced to fire on him in order to protect the bridge from incidental damage. That was one of the other directives they'd originally been programmed with, protect the ship's systems against damage that might impare ship's function. "Okay," said Nomad, "let's get this started." He looked, arbitrarily, to the first Stasis. "So, Stasis, what was your previous name? You know, the rank-name you had when we first met." "Printer!" said both Stasis', in unison. "Okay," said Nomad, chagrined, "you both got that right." He thought a minute, trying to devise a better, more illuminating question. "Okay," he pointed to the second Stasis. "You. What was the first Intrepid Group mission you were on?" "The mission to stop the Xoonakrone from altering Earth's history." "Okay." He pointed to the first Stasis. "You. What year was that?" "It was the Galactic year 2365, or AD 1990." "No, you moron," said the other Stasis, "it was 1991." "It was definately 1990," said the first Stasis. "1991!" "1990!" "1991!" "19--" "Cut it!" said Nomad. He thought another moment. "Okay." He pointed to the second Stasis. "You. What was the second Intrepid Group mission you were on." "It was the time where we visited the near future, and discovered that the Earth had been fried by solar flares." Nomad pointed to the first Stasis. "You. What was the first action you did after we arrived back in the present." "Stepped out of the TARDIS," said the first Stasis. "No-no-no... I mean, what was the first action you took after we sat down and discussed what we had to do." "Got up and walked back out of the room with the rest---" "No-no-no-no-no...! What did you do once we got back outside!" "Closed the front door again." "Smeg!" said Nomad. "This is getting frigging *nowhere*! Listen to me, what was the rather specialised action you took before we returned to the future again? The thing we had to wait around for awhile about?" "Oh yes! I time-jumped three days into the future to check on things, did a day-long search, and then time-jumped back three days." "Alright." Nomad pointed to the second Stasis. "You. What was it that we ultimately did to stop the catastr.... No, wait a minute. That one's too open-ended. Uh.... What was it that had caused the catastrophe?" "Dinosaurs from space." "No, I mean, technologically, what caused it?" "A space-probe dropped into the Sun." "And what was unusu... Uh..." He stopped a second, noticing that he had been about to skip a step. He pointed to the first Stasis. "You. What was unusual about that probe?" "That it was designed to survive inside the sun without burning up in the heat." "No-no-no. I mean, what had been *done* to it that wasn't supposed... er... that is, what was done to it that... uh... wasn't exactly according to design specs?" "Are you referring to the fact that the Grahlhoong splinter-group yanked out the componants and inserted their own devices, or are you refering to their having rigged it so it would always show green lights on the board while in flight? "Both, actually." He pointed to the second Stasis. "You. What was the *second* action the Grahlhoong group did after we thwarted their plans?" "Disappeared for a year." Nomad started looking exasperated. "No, I mean, what actions did they *next* take against Earth?" "Starting chucking asteroids at it." "And missing," added the first Stasis. "They were very bad shots." "They were getting better aim, though," said the second. The first Stasis turned to Nomad and said, "You know, of course, that we both have the same memories. These questions aren't going to get us anywhere." "Well, more generalised ones like these, anyway," said the second Stasis. Nomad shook his head. "This is getting monumentally tedious. There has GOT to be a better, faster way than this!" "Why not," said the second Stasis, "just go ahead and let me shoot him!" He was pointing at the other Stasis. "Why not," said the first Stasis, "just go ahead and let me do *this*!" And suddenly he mashed the button. And suddenly everyone on the bridge, except for the first Stasis, was enveloped in force-fields. They consisted of force-curtains that surrounded each of the people in a cone-shaped shell and were coming from the ceiling. The first Stasis started laughing, an evil boy-did-I-ever-getcha type laugh. He turned and pulled up a display on the console now, as if preparing to issue some command or other to the ship's systems. "There! THAT settles it!" said Clu. He turned to address the bots, pointing at the first Stasis. "HE'S the fake! SHOOT HIM!" And suddenly all the bots opened fire on that particular Stasis, totally catching him off guard. He went down onto the floor, writhing, and started to loose his assumed form. The bots kept firing and firing and firing, as the fake Stasis started going translucent, gelatinous, and reverting to his original form. "Computer," said Clu, "deactivate all the force-fields on the bridge, authorisation Clu, one-nine-eight-two." All the force-fields cut out. By this point, the imposter had stopped moving, even though the bots were still firing on him. T4D brought out his multiscanner, probed the shape-shifter's body from where he was standing. "I think that's more than enough!" Clu addressed the bots again. "Cease fire!" The bots ceased fire, all at once. "Is he dead?" said Nomad, on the big screen. "No, but he's in pretty bad shape." T4D came up closer with it, scanned more thoroughly. "I think we'd better put him into one of the other autodocs back there in the pseudoTARDIS." "You mean, along with whatsername, the one he blasted," said Nomad. "Not necessarily," said Qethea. "Come to think of it," said the real Stasis, "how DID he blast her! He only LOOKED like me, he couldn't have produced working cyber-emplants with his shape-shifting ability!" "Here's your answer," said T4D, picking up a tiny cylindrical object that seemed to have been expelled out of the alien's shoulder. "It appears to be a tiny blaster, probably inserted it into his body and then formed the fake cyber-implants around it so it would look like he had your built-in weapons." "Any other such inserted-stuff?" said Nomad. T4D scanned him again. "Don't seem to be." "Good," said Nomad. "Get him to the autodoc." And so they took him to the autodoc, back in the first pseudoTARDIS, and left him in its capable hands. If an autodoc had hands, that is. And then they transfered Dia, Nathan and Timothy over to the second pseudoTARDIS, and went to check on Walt, at the autodoc over there in the second pseudoTARDIS. "Uh-oh!" said Nomad. Walt was missing, and the autodoc was open and empty. Nomad stared into the autodoc. "Looks like Zeen-par-ectus, or whatever, must have recovered, left, and taken Walt with her." "Back to the console room, everyone!" said T4D. Qethea said, "You sure she's not hiding out somewhere else here in the TARDIS?" "That's what we're about to find out!" said T4D, heading out of the room. The others all filed out after him. They arrived at the console room. The back-up console room, that is. T4D quickly scanned the interior, from the console. "No sign of her. No sign of anyone in fact, except us." "How did he get past Nomad?" said Qethea. "He was here in the console room" "She must have gone out through the other console room," said Nomad, "but then again, I wasn't here the whole time, so who knows." "She's probably placed Walt down in that goofy prison-corridor over in enginearing," said Clu. T4D did a sensor sweep of the FAR STAR. "You're right, there he is." "Well," said Nomad, "I guess that takes him out of the picture for now." "Can you find the other baddies with that thing?" said Nathan. T4D twiddled with the controls a bit. "Nope, can't scan the whole ship, just that section." Suddenly Stasis staggered, standing there. He grabbbed the edge of the console to stay upright. "What's wrong?" said Clu. "The time-distortions seem to be taxing my ship's systems too much," said Stasis. "I'm linked-up with them, you know, and it's---" He suddenly staggered again, like he was dizzy. He shook his head as if to clear it. "I need to beam back to my ship in order to stabilize it." He quickly went out the TARDIS doors. T4D brought up the outside view on the TARDIS display screen, just in time to see him disappear in a Star Trek-like beaming effect. T4D now switched to a veiw from outside the FAR STAR, by patching in one of the FAR STAR's outside cameras via the starship's comms system and through the TARDIS systems. They found themselves looking at a thoroughly eye-mangling distortion of the space outside, with Stasis' cube-ship in the middle of it. The cube ship tried to move out of the distortion, going this way and then that, but the distortion suddenly grew larger, twisting and twirling around the ship like an octopus wrapping itself around a submarine. And then the distortion grew even more twisted, and seemed to shrink in on itself in a rapid motion, with the cube-ship right in the middle of it. "Uh-oh!" said Nomad. And then suddenly the cube-ship vanished, along with quite alot of the distortion. They all stared at the screen, stunned. T4D checked the sensors. "His ship seems to have been ejected out of the time rift." "Is it intact?" said Nomad. "Seems to be." T4D then noticed a light flickering on the comms station of the console. Apparently it had BEEN flickering for a little while before he noticed it. He now went over to that panel and punched the answer-button. "Hello? Fourth Doctor here." "Oh, *there* you are," came Stasis' voice. "I've been trying to get back into the time rift for an hour, and finally gave it up. Looks like you guys will have to go on without me. Pity." "An hour?!" said T4D. "You've only been gone a few *seconds*!" "I have?" said Stasis. "Guess I must have been flung a bit into the past, as well. Figures." "Now that's wierd," said Nomad, "I wonder why he can't get back in. Has something about the time-rift changed?" "Checking the scanners," said T4D. He brought up a graphical display of the time-rift onto the main screen, showing the position of the FAR STAR as a tiny blip, and the SHADOWSPEAR as a not-so-tiny double-football shape, slowly approaching the FAR STAR. "Will you look at that," said Nomad, staring at the display, "looks like Devastator has arrived on the scene. Now I wonder what brought /him/ here!" "Guess we'll find out in a few moments," said T4D. At that point, suddenly the room shook, and there came a dull rumble from outside. Everyone grabbed onto something to avoid being flung to the floor. "The starship is shaking!" said T4D, looking at a readout on one of the panels. The room shook again. "What's causing it?" said Nathan. T4D punched some buttons, looked at the readout again, and then at the main screen. "I can't tell from here." "Guess we'd better get back to the bridge," said Nomad. He started for the door. "That's a long way to travel, with all this going on," said Clu. "Stay aboard," said T4D and the others, "I'll take us directly there in the TARDIS." He gestured Elowe to join him at the console. Elowe punched up the coordinates for the bridge, and T4D threw the demat lever. A moment later, they materialised at the back of the bridge. "Stay here, everyone," said T4D. He motioned Elowe, Qethea and Nomad over with him to the door. They stepped out onto the bridge and headed toward the science station. The ship shook again. They grabbed the rail that encircled the sunken level in the middle of the bridge, waiting until the shaking let up, then they continued to the science station. "I suspect our baddies may decide to abandon ship," said Elowe. "Good thing we moved our TARDIS up here," said Nomad, "that ensures that if they try to get away in a TARDIS, they'll take the other one." "All according to the flow of time, eh?" said Nomad. "Ensuring that the events we know are supposed to happen, happen the way they were supposed to happen." "Meaning the bad-guy aliens," said Elowe. "Precisely." Nomad punched up status-displays at the science station. He and T4D studied them top to bottom. "Doesn't seem to be the time-rift doing it," said T4D. He started for one of the other stations. "Must be something the ship itself is doing." He got to the enginearing station. "Hey, look at this," said Qethea, pointing to the station where the fake Stasis had been standing. The display that he'd last been looking at was still up, some kind of command menu. Nomad joined her there. "Looks like he was starting some process, but didn't finish out whatever he was up to." "Well, whatever it was he did," said T4D, at the enginearing station, "it seems to have unbalanced the guidance systems and the inertial dampers." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * At another location on the FAR STAR, another Nomad and another Elowe were running down one of the ship's corridors. "Darnit!" said Nomad. "I forgot all about that stinking Stasis-stand-in and his aborted warp-field stunt." "His what?" said Elowe, as they arrived back at his pseudoTARDIS, now parked in a corridor instead of aboard TARDIS 2. "He was preparing to build up a big energy burst that was going to be shunted out through the warp field, but got interrupted before he could get very far along with it. Unfortunately, it's gonna complicate our mission." Elowe unlocked the door to his pseudoTARDIS, and the two of them now ducked inside and locked the door again. As it happens, this was a later-in-time Nomad, and the earlier-in-time Elowe. A later-in-time Elowe and Nomad had come back to this point in time to perform some critical mission, and had somehow swapped Nomad's and Elowe's without noticing. Okay, they noticed it a little bit later, but not before they could do anything about it. "So what was he trying to accomplish by doing that?" said Elowe, heading for the console. "Trying to drop the FAR STAR out of the timerift." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Can we undo whatever it was he was trying to do?" said Qethea, now joining T4D at the enginearing station. "What *was* he trying to do?" said Nomad, still at the security station, with the command menu still being displayed. "Looks like he was intending to build up a massive energy burst," said T4D, "and shunt it through the warp field. Trouble is, he didn't get as far as bringing up the warp field." "So, the energy has started leaking out into other systems," said Elowe, "disrupting them." "Can we disperse the energy?" said Qethea. "Clear it out of the ship's system?" "I suspect we're gonna have to complete what Fake Stasis was doing," said T4D. "What *was* he trying to accomplish with it, anyway?" said Nomad. "Drop the FAR STAR out of the timerift," said Elowe, speaking as if he already knew the details. "That stunt wouldn't have worked, though." "How do you know?" said Nomad. Elowe just smiled at him. "Okay, we'd better do it now," said T4D, staring at another readout at enginearing. He looked toward Elowe. "It sounds like you know all about it, Elowe, you'd better do it." The ship shook again, even more chaotically. Elowe hurried toward the security station, where Nomad was. As he did, he wondered what "his" Nomad was doing, now that he was with the "wrong" Elowe. Probably was fulfilling the mission that he and the later Nomad had come back here to perform. "Alright, I'm ready," Elowe said as he reached the station.