Chapter Four: The Four Doctors

After visiting with the unicorns, OckDoc returned to the TARDIS to continue repairs on the chameleon circuit, a device that would allow the time machine to blend in with its surroundings. The TARDIS, when working properly, was capable of many surprising things.

Unfortunately, the TARDIS hasn’t worked properly since the Doctor rescued it, literally, from the scrap heap. He had, in fact, tried not once, but twice to repair the faulty wiring, and had also failed not once, but twice. Why he thought putting three – or, in the case of OckDoc’s assistance, four (or eight, if you count OckDoc’s tentacles) – heads together to repair it didn’t really make sense, but, then again, neither did the Doctor, and having three different facets of the same personality didn’t help matters any.

“All right,” said the Fifth Doctor, who was, at the moment, buried underneath a mass of, thankfully insulated, wires that were tumbling down from one of the round panels on the wall. “Try upping the power flow a few points.”

“Are you mad?!” asked the Eighth Doctor, who’d been hunched over the center console for the past fifteen minutes. “The casing won’t hold that kind of a charge!”

For one thing, they never could seem to agree on anything.

The Ninth Doctor, who was lying on the floor with his head and arms inside a panel underneath the console, broke in, “Yes, it will. I updated it after I regenerated. Can’t go past…er, can’t remember, exactly. I guess we’ll find out.”

“Or blow the entire system,” commented Doc8 darkly. Doc9 frowned at him from beneath the console.

Jules was tapped into the TARDIS’ power supply with his attachment. He was confused by the constant bickering. Father, he communicated to OckDoc, what shall I do?

“Go ahead,” he replied. OckDoc himself was on the opposite end of the console as Doc8, while his tentacles were busying themselves helping whomever they could. “Do as he says, but do it slowly.”

Jules started the power flow increase. Doc8 and OckDoc kept their eyes on the readouts in front of them while Doc5 was rearranging wires and Doc9 was tweaking the circuitry with his sonic screwdriver.

“Could one of you hand me the neutron ram?” Doc9 asked of the tentacles, and described what it looked like. Verne obliged and retrieved the requested item. Doc9 made more adjustments as the flow got a little higher.

“Ganymede driver,” said Doc9. “No, wait…Zeus plug.”

“Slow the output,” reported Doc8. “We’re dipping into the red zone.”

A blip appeared on OckDoc’s screen. “Hang on, stop,” he said. “There’s an outage. Section C.”

“What?” complained Doc9, picking up the sonic screwdriver. “Impossible. All right, I’ll check, but…oh.” He apparently found the fault. “Check those wires, will you?” he asked of his fifth incarnation.

“What exactly am I…ow!” Doc5 threw the wires off him and rubbed his hand. “Cut the power. Bare wires…no wonder nothing works.”

“Are you all right?” asked OckDoc as Jules shut the power flow down.

“I’ll survive,” he replied. “Do we have any spare wires?”

Doc9 peeked out from under the console. “Er…try that box over there.” He pointed with the end of the sonic screwdriver. “It has a lot of old junk in it.”

Doc5 went to the box and began digging through it, pulling out some whole – though not entirely new – wires. He took them the roundel and, together with help from the others, began replacing the stripped ones.

AL came in about an hour and a half after they’d started the rewiring process. She leaned over Doc5 and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “How’s it going, boys?”

“I found some stripped wires in the circuitry,” said Doc5, squeezing her hands.

OckDoc, at that moment, connected the final wire. “We’ve replaced them and rewired the system,” he said.

“Sounds fun,” said AL. “Is that why she never works right?”

“Who knows?” said Doc8. “But it’s likely part of it.”

“Shall we try again?” asked Doc9.

Everyone took up their positions, though this time Doc5 was careful not to bury himself in the wiring. Jules reconnected himself to the power supply and started the increase a few points at a time.

“Holding steady,” said Doc8. He punched a few controls and, on the scanner, an image of the TARDIS in its police box shape appeared. “Lisa, be a love and go outside and watch the TARDIS.”

AL raised an eyebrow, but went outside anyway.

“Leave the door open,” called Doc8 behind her. He pushed more buttons and the image of the police box on the scanner changed to that of an old grandfather clock. “And…” he pressed another button.

Nothing happened.

Doc8 frowned. “All right…let’s try this…” He moved along the console and pressed more buttons. “Increase the power by five.”

“Are you sure about that?” asked Doc5. “These wires aren’t that new…”

“Trust me.”

Jules did ask requested at OckDoc’s nod, and Doc8 pressed the button again.

Nothing happened, then…

“Hey!” called AL from outside. “She’s…kind of blurry.”

There was an odd grinding noise from the TARDIS, then it stopped.

“I hate to say this, guys, but she’s still a police box.”

All four of them sighed.

“All right,” said Doc8. “Let’s try something else…”

End chapter four.

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