Doctor Who and The Goddess of Evolution

Chapter 4: Technical Difficulty

The man that the Doctor had seen appeared back on his own "ship", if one could really call it that. It was a replica of one of his physical form's favorite spaceships. And it had all the working buttons, gadgets and fidgets to keep things going. Still, it wasn't even his ship. It was his friend's ship.

He opened the communication network on the pilot console. "Porevit," he spoke into the microphone.

A young man with wild brown hair, piercing blue eyes and a perfectly trimmed beard appeared on the screen. "It's about time, old man!" Porevit chuckled. "What took you so long?"

"I ran into some obstacles," the pilot replied with a sigh. "I tried to scan the place, but the defenses keep upgrading. What I was able to get were signatures of the energy everywhere, but it's highly displaced so it keeps phasing in and out of existence."

"Oh great," Porevit replied sarcastically. "Can't we stabilize it?"

"We can try, but every time we do the counter measures activate. These assholes really knows what they're doing," the pilot replied with a groan.

"You're just figuring that out now? We've been at this for almost a hundred years."

"Yes," the pilot said with a frown. "I'm sorry it's taken this long, old friend."

"It is what it is, man," Porevit said with a sigh. "Just as long as they don't find out we're poking around and we do what we came to do, I'm happy. What's the next step?"

"We just need to find out where they're keeping her. I thought she was in the aquarium. I could hear her singing through a fish. Not gonna lie, it brought tears to my eyes."

Porevit's eyes went wide. "Oh please tell me you recorded it. I haven't heard her voice in so long."

The pilot smirked and tapped his temple. "All in here. I'll send you a data dump. I want you to analyze it as soon as possible." A circular, blue chip appeared in his hand and he inserted it into a slot on his console. "Feel free to hear her sing first, that's near the very end. I want you to start analyzing the guy who looks like the Eleventh Doctor."

Porevit's eyes got even bigger. "Was it a figment?"

"No, unfortunately."

"Dammit," Porevit said as he started going through the data. "But it was her voice, right? You're sure?"

The pilot chuckled and shook his head. "A voice like hers is hard to forget. You know that better than most."

The images poured onto Porevit's screen and he fast forwarded to the near end. He blinked a few times. "Well, it's not our Eleven, I can tell you that much. Totally different energy signature. And...hold the hell on! No way!"

"What is it?"

"Ash! Get over here! Hang on, Stone," Porevit yelled.

A blonde woman with green eyes wearing a baggy t-shirt and jeans came rushing over. "Yeah yeah, what's up?"

"An I reading this right?" he asked as he pointed at the energy readings in the screen.

Ash's jaw dropped as she leaned on the computer console. "Holy shit. Stone, that's a living physical being!"

Stone blinked and narrowed his eyes. "Say that again?"

"And not just that, he's from an alternate reality!" Ash started clicking away on the keyboard, gathering information. "Jesus...that's...there's an actual Doctor in the flesh?!"

All three of them paused. That was impossible. Only spirits and supernatural beings roamed the spiritual realm. It was physically impossible, but as Ash was sending the data and Stone was reading it, the numbers weren't lying. It was a man with four heart beats. And he looked exactly like the Eleventh Doctor.

Stone was ecstatic.

"TIME LORDS ARE REAL!!!" he barked out before laughing.

"Well of course they're real somewhere," a voice called out, sounding very much like the Eleventh Doctor himself.

Which it was. Sort of.

He was in his signature tweed suit and bowtie and had a wooden necklace on with the word "Eleven" on it. The Doctor made his way over to the screen and chuckled. "Even after all these years, the impossible still revolves around her."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"What's this all about, Raggedy Man?" Amy asked as she and Rory followed the Doctor out of the aquarium.

"That singing was not from a real Yaddlefish," the Doctor replied as he rushed through the hallway, looking for signs that would lead him to the rest of the Nexus.  "Yaddlefish do not sing that well."  As he turned the corner in the blue and white filled corridor, he saw a map on the wall.  "Ah, here we go," he said as he began examining it.

Rory and Amy started reading it as well.  "Museum, amusement park, gardens one through fifty four..." Rory began to read off before pointing at the index on the map.  "Information center, maybe we should start there?'

A hologram of a blonde woman in Greek yoga attire appeared to the side of them.  "Welcome to Mr. Gabriel's Nexus," it said.  "My name is Sarah.  Do you require assistance?"

The Doctor grinned as he walked in front of the hologram, his hands in his pockets as he studied the being.  "Yes, we're very curious about this place.  What information do you have about it?"

Screens appeared in front of the hologram, showing articles of information on the Nexus.  "Mr. Gabriel founded the Nexus almost a century ago and has been expanding it ever since.  Beings from alternate realities and the spiritual realm from all over come to visit the Nexus, and as time passed, the property expanded into a hub where anything and everything can be made, used, or put on display as a tool of education, a place of fun...essentially whatever one wants, it is considered to be part of the Nexus."

"So it literally has everything in the known universes?" the Doctor asked.  "How is it maintained?"

"The Nexus goes through constant scrubbing for cleansing of unwanted energy, constant surveillance to find malfunctions and constant security to keep out unwanted guests."

"And are we unwanted guests?"

"Scanning for possibility," Sarah replied as a blue light appeared from her eyes.  "Possibility neglected.  You are wanted here."

"And who decides the guest list?"

"Mr. Gabriel and-"

The hologram flickered for a few moments before a redheaded woman in old Celtic armor appeared.  She rubbed her head and squinted her eyes before grumbling and growling.  "Hello?" the Doctor asked with a surprised look.  "Who are you?"

"Um..." the redhead said, looking around.  "Not...sure..."

The hologram flickered again and Sarah came back.  "I apologize for the technical difficulty.  Please fill out this questionnaire to report any problems or inconsistencies you have noticed.  We rely on guest's input to keep broken things maintained."

Both the humans and the Time Lord tilted their heads as they looked at Sarah in confusion.  "Is she an AI?" Amy asked.

"I am aware, I will shut down for countermeasures," is all Sarah said with a blank stare before disappearing.

The Doctor frowned.  This place was not properly working, or at least the information interfaces were not working properly.  Something felt odd about the place, the Doctor realized.

Something was off...and he was going to find out what it was.

He zoomed back over to the map and pointed to where an information kiosk was.  "Looks like we'll be walking," he said as he made his way down the hallway with windows.  He looked through one as the Ponds followed.  "Would you look at that?  That is a wonderfully thriving jungle if I may say so myself."