The Lexan Quandary

The Grandfather Paradox

The Doctor glanced at the changing coordinates on the vortex-manipulator. "If my calculations are correct (which they usually are), I left my TARDIS a bit further down this way. We need to get to it before Skagh alters history."

They rushed further round the corridor and the blue police box came into view. Between it and them, rows of guards stood in a tight formation of shields and tridents. Krill dropped his Sontaran blaster and raised his arms into the air, surrendering. "Doctor, run. Skagh must be stopped. The galaxy depends on it!" Krill shouted.

The Doctor picked up the blaster and teleported behind the guards with the manipulator. With her free hand she began knocking desperately on the wooden doors of the time machine. "Skagh, this isn't going to go the way you think!" But it was too late. The ghost monument began to fade away. In a split-second decision the Doctor held onto the doors tightly. By the time the guards realised what was happening, they were gone. Their tridents clanked on the floor where the Doctor and the TARDIS stood just moments ago. They looked at Krill in confusion. "I can explain... I think." Krill said .

Meanwhile, the TARDIS was spinning around erratically through the spiralled light show that is the time-vortex. The Doctor continued to cling on desperately but her grip was weakening. Suddenly she was tossed off of the machine and she fell through the vortex. She looked around in awe at the beauty around her. It was like a collideascope. But her emotion quickly turned to panic. Her throat tightened; she couldn't breathe! She had to act fast and so, she did. With her sonic screwdriver she tinkered away at the vortex manipulator, setting the search parameters for traces of Artron energy. It dinged. Result, the Doctor thought. She pressed a button and was rather abruptly transported backwards in time.

She arrived on a beach. To her left, a tranquil landscape of green sloping hills stretched out to the horizon. Just infront of her was a clear blue sea- painted with an array of colourful fish and corals. Beneath the waves, the Doctor could make out the silhouette of an ancient but still-flourishing civilisation. It was magnificent. This was Lexania, homeworld of the Lexans. A dark realisation that this planet would later be destroyed in the Time War spoilt the otherwise pleasant atmosphere. A few feet away from her, the TARDIS materialised. The Doctor was alert and ready. She quickly crept behind the box so that she wouldn't be visible in the exterior scanners.

Inside, Skagh readied himself for the genesis of a new empire. He placed the Lexan crown upon his head, and held a ceremonial trident in his hand. He checked the scanners. With the coast seemingly clear, Skagh exited the police box only to be greeted by a mark delta 6 Sontaran blaster rifle. "We meet at last, Doctor." he snarled, roughly.

"Is this it then, your big plan?" she asked mockingly.

"I have worked tirelessly to get here. And you will not stop me now!" he hissed.

"So I've heard. Bribing the council to support your regime, framing me for the King's murder that you ordered and now you're trying to change history."

"Change for the better, Doctor."

"You can't control time! It's one thing to become part of history but quite another to change it. What's your plan? Hop back in time, give yourself a TARDIS and take over the universe, is that it? It won't work!"

"With this machine, my past self will be able to achieve great things. It will accelerate our empire's development so that we can defend ourselves... so that this planet is never destroyed. I will be seen as a hero. And I will lead our people into battle to claim our rightful place in the universe.

"What rightful place, isn't seeing the universe a great enough gift already? Besides, don't you see? If you crossover your own timeline and change your past, then this present, this future, never happens! You cease to exist. The Grandfather paradox. Google it!"

"You are only delaying the inevitable, Doctor, your words can't stop me!"

"I know, but this can!" she pointed at the Sontaran blaster in her hand that she continued to point at Skagh.

Skagh tried to run back into the TARDIS but the Doctor clicked her fingers and the doors creaked shut.

"Nice try. Check mate."

"Your reputation proceeds you. The famous Doctor of Gallifrey. You have disobeyed the laws of time more than any other."

"I have learnt from my mistakes, I tried to control time. But you can't! It will always find a way to stop you!"

"You liar! Your talk of paradoxes is fictional" Skagh shouted back at her.

"Oi, the grandfather paradox is real. In fact, I think I coined the term. I used to be a grandfather, actually. Grandmother now I suppose. Anyway, if you go back in time to change something and you succeed, then you wouldn't have a reason to travel back in time in the first place, creating a time-loop. The paradox could rip a hole in the spacetime continum!"

"The laws of time are mine, Doctor, and they will obey me!" Skagh yelled.

"I've heard that one before."

"You have taken lives billions of times. And yet the fact remains: you choose never to carry a gun.

"What do you suppose this is?" she gestured at her Sontaran blaster.

"Your blaster is out of charge. You mistake me for a fool!" He stepped closer to the Doctor and smacked the weapon from her hands. The Doctor was petrified, what could she do? She tried to run for the TARDIS but Skagh was too quick. With his bare hands he grabbed the Doctor and lifted her into the air. She struggled to break freee from his grip but it was hopeless, he was too strong.

"I thank you, Doctor. I thank you for providing the means to build the foundations for a New, or rather the Original, Lexan Empire. He threw the Doctor to the ground forcefully. She slowly dragged herself back up to her feet only to be hit back down . Her head smashed against the sand. "Don't do this." she pleaded quietly, blood dripping from her lip.

Skagh retrieved his trident and stood over the Doctor. He stabbed the three-pronged spear through her left heart, killing her. He stepped away from her body. Within a minute the Doctor's body began to shine, to regenerate. Her hands burst into orange flames and her face glowed. Then, Skagh stabbed her again, this time into her right heart. The regeneration energy faded away and the body of the Doctor's last incarnation lay motionless in the sand. The Doctor was dead. Waves splased softly against her pale cheeks. Meanwhile, a pool of crimson blood stained the sand around her.
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