CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

REWIND

The transmat booth started to hum again, bringing the Doctor out of his daze. He looked down at the controls, making several adjustments. An alarm sounded and he gave Jason an inquiring look. “Well? Shall I override the weapons safety, do you think?”

“Might as well.”

The Doctor silenced the alarm and then hit the final switch. “Here goes,” he said and looked up expectantly.

Jason turned back to the booth, a satisfied smile coming to his face when Dorian and Klaus— No, not Klaus, he told himself. He’s not your patient any more. The figure that was materializing didn’t have a bruise anywhere. He was also quite unconscious, as was Dorian, who was lying over the top of him.

Jason pulled open the door and removed his friends from the cramped interior of the transmat booth. He laid them out on the floor and then checked them over, the grin on his face widening as he verified that they had come through with flying colors. “Success, Doctor,” he said happily.

Jason heard a low moan and turned just in time to see the Major’s green eyes snapping open. He watched in fascination as the officer repeated his initial arrival at the Lubyanka. His body tensed and he looked around, getting his bearings before turning his intense gaze upward.

“Was ist los?” Klaus asked, switching back to English with his next sentence. “Is this the Lubyanka?”

“No.”

The Major sat up slowly, and hand going to his spinning head. “No?”

“You’ve been there and back again, Major,” Jason said calmly.

Before the Major could issue any kind of reply, Eroica gave a low groan and opened his eyes, a hand going to his head. “That was bloody awful,” he moaned.

“Don’t start whining,” the Major snapped impatiently as he stood up.

Eroica sat up slowly. “Don’t start with me, Major. I’m too hungover.”

“Well, they sound normal, at any rate,” the Doctor remarked. He received an astonished look from Eroica. “Bloody hell!”

The Major’s reaction was more forthright. He spun around, his gun in his hand in a blink. Jason was instantly beside him. “No!” he said sharply, grabbing the officer’s wrist with both hands and pointing the weapon at the ceiling. “He’s a friend.” It was the most powerful grip Klaus had ever encountered and he gave the Alterran a stunned look.

“Where did he come from?” the Major demanded.

“Gallifrey,” Jason replied sardonically, releasing his hold on the officer’s arm. “This is the Doctor.”

“Pull the other one,” the Earl said as he got to his feet.

“I shouldn’t’ve overridden the weapons safety,” the Doctor said aridly. “That’s the second time you’ve pointed a gun at me, Major.”

“Third, actually,” Jason corrected. “There was that time in Iceland.”

“Oh, yes. I’d forgotten that.”

The Major threw a baffled look in Eroica’s direction. “We’ve materialized in a lunatic asylum.”

The Doctor put his hand to his chin and leaned on the console. “It occurs to me, Jason, that we overlooked how we’re going to explain all this.”

Jason threw quick glance over at his bewildered friends and nodded. That they had. “I think we’d be better served to do this in the TARDIS,” he said mildly.

“Do what in the TARDIS?” the Major asked suspiciously.

Jason drew a deep breath. “Explain how the Doctor just saved your life.”

* * *

The Doctor led the way into the TARDIS console room, the others trailing behind. Turlough was in one of the chairs and cocked his head to one side as the visibly restored Major passed through the doors. “Success, I see.”

The Major’s eyes narrowed and the young man stiffened visibly. “You’re not going to hold a gun to my head again, are you, Major?” Turlough asked.

Eroica gave the Major an amused sideways glance. “Did you hold a gun on everyone, Major?” he teased.

“How the hell should I know,” Klaus growled back. “I haven’t held one on you yet, have I?”

“Not today.”

The Doctor waved a hand in his companion’s direction. “Since we’re starting from scratch,” he began calmly. “This is my traveling companion, Turlough.”

“And…we’ve already met him?” Eroica replied, giving the boy an appraising look.

“Down boy,” Jason admonished playfully. “Turlough’s still mending.”

“I think you two better have a seat,” the Doctor suggested, holding out a hand. “This may take a while.”

* * *

Taking “a while” was an understatement, as it turned out. It was several hours before everything was explained to the dumbfounded Major and Eroica. Then the theories concerning the creature were presented. The Major was, as usual, skeptical, but he could not deny that the notations on several documents were in his own handwriting.

“I don’t see why you haven’t just laid a trap at the transmat,” Eroica observed suddenly.

The Doctor turned to him in surprise. “What? Why do you say that?”

“Because it’s obviously its base of operation.”

The Major’s eyebrows went up. “Obvious to you, perhaps.”

Eroica gave him a steady look. “Unlike myself, most thieves operate in an area that they’re familiar with. So if something goes wrong, they can retreat to safety quickly.”

“A comfort zone.”

Eroica nodded, looking down at the map that was laid out on the control room floor. It was of the level of the Lubyanka that the creature had been sighted on, red X’s in the areas where it had been seen. “What’s the scale of this?” he asked, getting down on his knees.

The Doctor told him and then watched in fascination as the Earl took a ruler and made some quick measurements. Then he looked up. “Do you have a pin and a pen or pencil?”

The Doctor exchanged a bewildered look with the others. “Will a thumb tack do?”

“Lovely.” The Earl took the tack and pencil offered by the Doctor. He then fixed one end of the ruler to the floor and put the point of the pencil into a hole at one point in the ruler. In a few seconds, he had a perfect circle on the map containing all the red X’s.

The Major threw an astonished look over in Jason’s direction. He, in turn, looked over at the Doctor in amazement.

“What did you use as the center?” Turlough asked.

Eroica looked up, a brilliant smile on his face. “The transmat room.”

“My…God…” Jason breathed.

“It never goes further than this point, and it doesn’t go to different levels. So, it either can’t go any further away, or it won’t leave its comfort zone.”

The Doctor stood marveling at the Earl a moment before looking over at his companion. “What did the computer come up with?”

Turlough went to the console and touched a button, turning to the scanner as the results were displayed. The map that came up was almost identical to the one on the floor.

The Doctor and Jason exchanged a look of mutual astonishment. “I think I’m losing my touch,” the Time Lord remarked.

Jason could not help but smile at this.

“Dorian, I’m sorry I didn’t show you this before,” the Doctor said as he came to stand in front of the map. “That’s absolutely brilliant. I don’t know why none of us thought of it sooner.”

“It’s because none of us thinks like a thief,” the Major replied matter of factly.

Jason gave the officer a sideways glance. Was that an actual compliment, Major? “Okay, we know where it is…maybe,” he said mildly. “How do we trap it?”

* * *

The Lubyanka
Moscow, Soviet Union
August 1987

The TARDIS materialized back at its original position and the Doctor led the way out the door. Once again, they left the recovering Turlough in the console room.

“I’m not entirely sure what we’ll be looking for,” the Doctor said as he led the way to the prototype transmat room. “I dismantled the console.”

“When?” Jason wanted to know.

The Doctor looked back at him. “When Dorian was hurt.”

Eroica exchanged a glance with the Major, who shrugged. “I’m beginning to suspect I should be glad I don’t remember any of this.”

The Doctor pushed open the door. “Let’s just say you’re better off not knowing,” he said as he entered the room.

As soon as the group was in the room, the door slammed shut, apparently on its own.

“What the hell…?” Jason gasped.

“Perhaps I can enlighten the Earl…” a voice purred from across the room.

To the astonishment of them all, the creature was standing beside the transmat booth in its Borodin guise.

“Step into my parlor, is it?” the Doctor remarked aridly.

Borodin gave him an evil smile. “Funny you should say that, Doctor…”

Jason took a step forward. “Why?” he demanded.

“Back off, sunshine,” Borodin snarled.

The Doctor held out an arm, stopping the Alterran’s progress. “Look, what do you want?” he asked. “If it’s to get off of Earth, I can help you.”

“You want to help me?”

“Of course.”

Borodin’s eyes narrowed, a sly smile coming to his face. “Really?”

“Don’t trust him,” the Major said warningly.

“Why? Because I’m KGB, Major?”

“No, because you’re a lying son-of-a-bitch,” came the succinct reply.

The Doctor threw a long suffering look in the officer’s direction. “Major, you’re not helping.”

“Just one thing, Doctor,” Borodin said mildly.

“What’s that?”

The alien suddenly came forward, taking the Time Lord by the arm. “The Major is right.” So saying, they promptly vanished.

“Doctor!” Jason screamed. Then he cursed in several languages, slamming a fist against the wall and making a sizeable dent.

“Dammit!” the Major snarled, adding to the Alterran’s stream of expletives.

Eroica, on the other hand, had his eyes on the booth. “Jason, should that thing be glowing like that?”

Jason spun around, seeing what he meant. Then he heard the unmistakable whine of a power build up. “He’s set it to overload!” he cried.

“What does that mean?”

“It means it’s going to explode!”

Klaus was already at the door, but it would not budge. “It’s locked us in!”

The noise of the power build up grew steadily louder until it was almost deafening.

“Get down!” Jason screamed.

Klaus grabbed the Earl and thrust him against the wall. “Get down and cover your head,” he ordered.

Jason came up behind them. “Major, you get down, too. I can protect you both!” he shouted over the noise.

“How?”

“There’s no time, just do it!” Jason gave the officer a shove. His body shimmered as he transmuted, becoming a shield that surrounded his friends. A few seconds later, the room was shaken by a colossal explosion. It put a sizeable hole in the walls and ceiling, and sent debris flying everywhere.

“Don’t move, you two,” Jason instructed as the debris continued to fall. After a minute, and once he was satisfied there would not be another explosion, he returned to his human form and took a step back. He gave an amused smile as he took in his friends’ positions. Dorian was crouched against the wall, his arms over his head. The Major was on top of him, shielding him with his body. Oh yeah, you don’t care if he lives or dies, do you, Major? Who do you think you’re fooling?

“I think it’s safe to get up now,” Jason said mildly, kicking the debris at his feet. He turned back, taking in the devastation.

The Major stood up and looked around in amazement. “Mein Gott,” he said in a small voice. He gave Jason a stunned look. “How did you protect us from this?”

Jason gave a self-conscious smile. “I can change into all kinds of things, Major.”

Eroica hugged himself. “Now what do we do?” he asked helplessly. “No alien. And now, no Doctor.”

“First, we get out of here,” Jason replied. He pulled at the door, which still refused to budge.

“Brute force?” Eroica asked mildly.

Jason threw him a sideways glance. “Brute force,” he concurred. He pulled the knob off completely and then put his hand into the hole, ripping the door from its frame. “I wish I could say that made me feel better,” he said as he dropped the door to the floor among the rest of the rubble. Then he led the way out of the room.

* * *