#distorted dash cameo

[flightlessspitfire]

Wenches and Mead Yes I took inspo from CaptHors aka the dude who does sunjackers im obsessed okay? yes its flightless spitfire but bwoops i gave her both wings cuz the wrong wing is missing oh well this is just for fun anyways.

can pretend its before the accident. even tho she dont drink.. so its non alcoholic mead :P @askthesunjackers credit to you for the original idea XD I was bored. sue me

[mysterylover123]

My Top 10 Halloween Episodes

mysterylover123

Happy Halloween Everyone! 

I’ve been rewatching my favorite shows’ Halloween episodes as a means to prepare for the holiday (and get ideas for things to do!) and I’ve decided to compile a list of my Top 10 favorites. These are the episodes I consider the best, the most packed with spooky goodness and Halloween surprises, of all the shows I’ve seen. Let me know if there’s one I should check out!

#10. The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror V”

“NO TV AND NO BEER MAKE HOMER SOMETHING SOMETHING.” “GO CRAZY?” “DON’T MIND IF I DO!”

While I do wish Simpsons had stopped at Season 10 like most, I can still acknowledge its absolute mastery of the Halloween episode with this annual anthology. And like most, I can also concede that the best of the best, the creme-de-la-creme, is the 5th one: The Shinning parody of course, first and foremost, is absolutely classic and deservedly so. Having recently endured a week without power, and thus NO TV AND NO...NOT BEER BUT COFFEE...I totally get where  Homer is coming from. The other two segments, and other Halloween eps, are also strong as well. But you can’t have a proper TOP 10 HALLOWEEN EPS list without a Treehouse of Horror. So here it is!

#9. Spectacular Spider-Man The Uncertainty Principle”

“Twas the night before Halloween, and no folks were stirring, not even Green Gob...lan.”

Spidey is one of the few superheroes with both the whimsical roster of characters and the appropriately spooky rogues gallery to make for great Halloween episodes. While Spider-Man and his amazing friends in 1981 started out with it’s own Goblin Halloween ep, my nod has to go to Spectacular’s ‘Uncertainty Principle’, a suitably creepy episode featuring all the stuff you want around this holiday. The cast in whacky costumes, spooky decor, and creepy plotlines about the Green Goblin and the arrival of the Symbiote. It’s even more horrifying in hindsight when you find out what’s really going on in the series finale...but for itself, it’s a suitably spooky time. Also, Spider-Man dressed as Spider-Man for Halloween.

#8. Angel “Life of the Party”

“Some are saying it’s an even better ritual sacrifice than the one last year.”

The absolute master of the Halloween episode is uncontrovertibly the Buffy-verse. I have 3 entries on this list alone, and it was hard to resist including a forth. But for now, let’s start out with Angel’s sole incursion into the Halloween genre, an Office Party ep from their 5th season. Spoiler alert: Season 5 is about Team Angel taking over Wolfram and Hart and trying to use it for good. The Halloween party there is a big deal and Lorne is going nuts from planning it. Consequently, we get a wild ride of demon guests, LorneHulk, Team Angel doing crazy things, and whacky Halloween decor. Spike smiling and partying out like a loon is definitely worth htetheprice of admission.

#7. Friends “The One w/ the Halloween Party”

“I am a woman who spent a ton of money on this dress and wants to wear it until she is too big to fit into it.”

I had actually never seen the Friends Halloween episode until this year. I definitely enjoyed it; the cast’s costumes are funny, the various Halloween antics are adorable - especially Rachel being pushed around by candy-randy kids - and the Halloween-y atmosphere is quite convivial. Though as a comic book nerd, I must point out how completely absurd Joey’s suggestion of ‘who would win, Catwoman or Supergirl’ being Catwoman. Like, seriously? A nonpowered thief vs a freaking Kryptonian? Even people who don’t read comic books should know the answer to that one! Were people in the year 2001 really that clueless? But anyway, on a more somber note, this was apparently the first one they shot after 9/11, and ended up Lisa Kudrow’s favorite, because a stranger thanked her for making them laugh. Aw!

#6. South Park “A Nightmare on Face Time”

“Oh, and Kenny? Stay gold.”

SP has a number of Halloween episodes, but my favorite has to be this one from 2014. There’s two main plotlines and they’re both Peak Halloweeny goodness. First, there’s Randy reenacting The Shining as his new Blockbuster  video goes under due to Netflix stealing business, which is absolutely hilarious. Then there’s the boys as The Avengers, hoping to win a costume contest despite Stan having to FaceTime. This part is full of trick-or-treating goodness, with each of the costumes being perfect for the kid (WE HEAR KENNY’S VOICE! ALBEIT DISTORTED!) and the comedy of how seriously everyone takes Stan’s ipod battery dying being absolutely killer. Certainly wins the prize for Funniest Halloween Ep Ever. (Also, Kyle’s thor costume. Thor would obviously look so much cooler with that hat.)

#5. Buffy “Halloween”

“It’s come as you aren’t night!”

The second of the Buffyverse Halloween entries on the list. Not just a great Halloween ep but a great Buffy ep too, this one is absolutely rolling in seasonal riches. Pumpkin patch vamp fight! Halloween decorated Bronze! Ethan Rayne turning everyone into their costumes is such a clever gimmick, and as usual with a Buffy ep they do more with it than just that. Noblewoman!Buffy, Military!Xander and Ghost! Willow are each a treat to watch as they try something new with their lives. I’m a little annoyed by the “not like other girls” sappy Bangel ending, but otherwise, this one is just golden. (My shipper heart rejoices in the Cangel Bronze Date and Buffy being awfully flirty with Willow as well, for the record). 

#4. Parks and Rec “Halloween Surprise”

“You can’t plan your future, Leslie. You just gotta let it happen.”

Parks and Rec is another one with a plethora of great Halloween eps to  choose from (something about blonde female leads I guess). This one takes the spot for being the most substantial, plot-wise, of all four, including lots of changes in the story and a great lesson at the end - though also for having the best costumes (Rosie the  riveter Leslie! Princess Diane), the best celebration (Screening of Death canoe 4 Murder at blood Lake sounds like an absolutely delightful way to spend a Halloween) and the best ending (BEN PROPOSES TO LESILE OMG). The only thing it’s missing is April, who only cameos at the start. But she gets plenty to do in the other Halloween eps, so I’ll forgive it.

#3. Frasier “Halloween”

“I’m  Waldo. From Where’s Waldo. You know, the guy you  can’t find because he blends into the crowd.” “I don’t know, but I’d love a demonstration.”

Frasier is absolute peak sitcom comedy, especially with the Farce plotline. This one is a great, sophisticated classic, with Niles throwing a Library association ball - which means everyone must dress as a character from literature. Niles is Cyrano, Martin is Holmes, Frasier and Daphne are from the Canterbury tales, and Roz is O from the Story of O. The real conflict of the ep is “Is Roz Pregnant” and everyone mistaking who’s pregnant by whom. The  climax is Niles proposing to Daphne who he thinks is the one pregnant from an imaginary fling with Frasier. It’s funny, glib, and absolutely whacky, with some extra Halloween shenanigans to keep you occupied, like Niles’ weird old-timey theme and the parade of trick-or-treaters constantly interrupting the skits demanding candy. Definitely don’t miss this one!

#2. Gravity Falls “Summerween”

“We’re getting older, there’s not that many Halloweens left!’

There’s definitely something about supernatural shows and Halloween episodes that just creates that extra level of quality. GF is a great show all around, and this little gem of a Halloween ep is one of the best of the whole series. It’s got everything: The Summerween Trickster, the trick-or-treating, the try-hard scares and the mad dash for candy. My favorite thing about it, though, would have to be the conflict between Dipper and Mabel about what to do for Halloween. They were always debating whether it were better to grow up too soon or try to stay a kid, and this one uses Halloween to illustrate that: Dipper torn between the Grown Up party and the Kid Trick-or-Treating, and the poignant way that rings true for all of us here in the US - that day when you finally realize you’re ‘too old’ for trick-or-treating - really makes this one strong. 

Hon Mentions: The other Parks and Rec episodes; Buffy All the Way; the camptastic Smallville episode “Thirst”, the How I met Your Mother Halloweens

#1. Buffy “Fear Itself”

“Don’t taunt the fear demon!” “Why, can he hurt me?” “No, it’s just tacky.”

Like I said before, no one does Halloween like Buffy does Halloween. And this one is the best of the best, of the best. Everything you could want from a Halloween ep is right here. Pumpkin carving, check. Crazy party, check. Whacky costumes, check. Spooky real scares, check. The Gang’s costumes are a parade of awesome (ANYA AS BUNNY!) and the concept of exploring each member’s Greatest Fear is an absolute winner. I love every time a TV show tries to do a Greatest Fears episode, because it’s just a concept I get a kick out of - such a great way to explore our characters’ most primal needs! - and this is b y far the best. The atmosphere, the subject matter, the costumes, and  the writing, which is seriously killer in this episode (”Prepare to have your spines tingled and your gooses bumped by the terrifying...Fantasia.” “Maybe it’s because of all the horrificthings we’ve seen, but hippos wearing tutus just don’t unnerve me the way they used to”) all make this, in my opinion the best Halloween ep of all time.

[manedblackwolf]

I had a bumblebee dream!

Yang tells the group she needs to go ahead and do something, so she's dashing with her bike forward. I wonder why, she's at her destination, which is a moving vehicle. So while still driving, she jumps on the street, runs along her bike and jumps into the other vehicle.

I wonder why tf she's there, and she only wanted to grab Blake's beanie that she has forgotten there. Nsbddvs

Then suddenly the whole vehicle moves unexpected and is pulled back to the group.

Blake has done that. Also while was using using her semblance (don't ask me, she apparently has more powers in my dream) her face was distorted and then returned to normal, when she stopped and yang was there.

Next scene they're fighting at night time near their tents. And sudde my yang yells "because I'm in love with you!" Blake looks shocked. I am hyped. Then yang keeps talking and says "probably more than Maned." wtf I had a cameo in my own dream.

Yang climbs into Blake's tent and they lie side by side, looking lovingly into each other eyes, slowly falling asleep and holding hands.

Then the team was in a mall. And yang apparently has a boyfriend?? They holding hands and stuff, but glances back to Blake from time to time and Blake keeps glancing to her. I dunno.

Then yang and her bf go into some kind of mini class to learn drawing, Blake was watching them.

And then the next scene is the bf driving the car, Blake drawing yang and yang being fucking pregnant and about to give birth.

And the bf wasn't driving very good and quite dangerous. So Blake fucking snapped at him and told him that he's a shit driver and that she should drive.

And basically telling him she cares way more about her (yang) than he does.

And that's where the dream ended. Crazy.

[101flavoursofweird]

Dear, @one-groovy-rose - ‘tis I, your PL Secret Santa! I’m very sorry this is late, but please have some LayClaire angst, with a dash of Anton/Sophia and a surprise cameo. You asked for crying scenes - while this doesn’t contain much crying from Layton himself (because he’s Layton), it contains a lot of sadness. You can choose to see the PL2 portion of this fic as an AU... or is it? I’ll leave that for you to decide! I hope you had a very happy Christmas and enjoy the rest of your holidays.  

Title: Untie the Knot

Description: Hershel sees her in the ballroom of Herzen Castle.

Pairing: Layton/Claire

“Grrr! Unnngh!”

“Claire?” Hershel tapped on the white panel door of their en-suite. “Is everything alright in there?”  

“I’m fine…!” This was followed by crash and a curse, one Claire would deem inappropriate for a lady.

“Are you quite sure about that…?”

There was a pause – Hershel glanced at the watch Clark had picked out for him – before he received a grudging reply. “Okay.”

“May I come in?”

He heard shuffling, a bang against the door and a grunt as the lock was undone. Slowly, he slid back the door. He was met with Claire’s vexed expression.

On no account should a gentleman chuckle at a lady’s expense. Not even if she had somehow gotten tangled in her bridesmaid dress.

The frilly yellow dresses Brenda had chosen came with a plethora of bows, ensnaring the upper arms and the waist. Poor Claire looked like she could hardly breathe; her stomach was sucked right in and her arms were pinned to her sides. Had she unlocked the door with her shoulder?

Claire ran a hand through her curls, beautiful even in their disarray. “Ready?” she wheezed, waddling out of the bathroom.

Hershel glanced down at his black suit (thank goodness Clark had selected it) and back up to her. “Of course, but are you–?”

“No time to fuss.” She crossed their hotel room as if she was marching through custard. “The horse and carriage will be here soon.”

“I’m sure the horses can wait.” Clark could always reassure them. “Please, let me help you.”

“You can try.” She turned her back on him, giving him access to the bow around her waist and hiding her embarrassment. Hershel hummed. This was by the far the biggest bow— perhaps if they loosened it…

As he did so, Claire unleashed a sigh. “I can breathe again!”

“That’s one part solved.” She faced him and he untied the bows restricting her arms. Claire rolled her shoulders. He tried not to stare as the bodice slipped down her chest slightly.  

“E-evidently, these four straps need to be tied into one bow across the back.” Fumbling, he fixed the back of the dress.

She approached the mirror, moving easily now, and admired his handiwork. “Perfect – thank you, Hershel!”

The dress really was perfect on her. Now the bodice was higher, more modest. She would look lovely next to Brenda without taking the attention off her. 

Claire giggled. “A true gentleman shouldn’t stare, Hershel.”

He glanced away, flushing. “R-right.”

“I suppose I can forgive you, after you saved me.” She came in for cuddle and probably would have kissed him if someone hadn’t knocked on the door. 

“The horse and carriage is outside,” Dr. Schrader called, as if he were rounding up a class of distracted students. “Come along, you two.” 

“Coming!” they chorused. 

 “What?”

The dancers swirled around them, a blur of faces and colors and splendor.

Distantly, Hershel wondered if his memory was playing up again, or if his eyesight was going. Then a figure emerged from the crowd. Her gait was not hurried or awkward as she drifted towards him. She was wearing a familiar yellow dress – but it couldn’t be the same one, could it? 

“Professor… Is that…?”

“Claire?” he breathed. The air felt thick around him. It was making his eyes water.

She cocked her head at him in that curious way of hers. “Hershel? Is it really you?”

Every joint in his body was locked in place. He couldn’t so much as nod. 

As she came closer, he was mesmerized by the scent of her perfume. Gone was the stench of metal and singed hair from the last time he had seen her.  

She reached out and took his hand. Her grip was firm.

This can’t be real, some part of him protested.

“It is,” she insisted, guiding his hand to her waist. She felt warm… alive. Was it really her or an impersonator?

“The resemblance is striking,” he found himself saying. He had to test her. “How did you get here – in Anton’s castle?” 

“What are they doing together?” he heard Luke ask.

How could he forget Luke? Hershel looked around for Luke, but Claire put a hand on his cheek, turning his head back to her. She was smiling. The ballroom darkened around them, separating them from the other partners. 

“I miss you,” she whispered. She rested her head on his chest. “I never want to leave you again.” 

That’s right– she had left him that day to go to the lab. She had never returned– 

Claire’s hold tightened. “I’m here, with you.” 

His eyes swam with tears, distorting her appearance. She was nothing more than an illusion– 

“Believe me.” She kissed him, but her lips were too forceful. 

He tried to step back, letting go of her hands. “I- I want to believe it— more than anything. That’s why I can’t trust my own intuition.” He wiped his eyes. “There’s something very wrong with this castle... with this entire town.”

His Claire would have offered a solution or rushed off to find one. The Claire before him sighed and seized his hands. “Really, Hershel. You’re making a scene...” 

At the very least, she was being honest about that. 

The rest of the dancers had stopped to leer at them from the shadows. Hershel felt like they were closing in on him, Claire included. 

“Fear not, my dear. They’re just the main course for this evening...”

A golden-haired man (Anton?) was stalking towards him. Claire didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. She was still smiling, sickly sweet, and squeezing his hands. He reeled away from her. 

“And my, don’t they look fresh.”

“Where is Luke?” Hershel demanded.

“Luke—?” 

“Clark and Brenda’s son! Surely you remember him.” Claire had only known young Luke for a short time, but she had loved him like her own. 

Frantic, he searched the room. All he could see were shadowy strangers and searing red eyes. 

Claire laughed along with them. Hershel glanced back at her and instantly regretted it. Her eyes were filled with fire. Her face was peeling away, like paper held to a flame. 

Suddenly, she let out weak sob. “Help me, Hershel...” 

“Wha—?”

That was Luke’s voice! 

“I’m sorry,” Hershel choked out. He tore his gaze away from her. “I must find Luke.” 

“You won’t forget me, will you? 

It was a struggle to shut out her voice as he shuffled through the crowd. “Luke?” he shouted. 

A masked man moved out of his path, cape billowing behind him. “He always forgets,” the man hissed. 

Not Luke, Hershel thought. Luke was real and he truly was alive –

Then Luke’s scream shattered the nightmare and Hershel awoke in a cold sweat. 

Anton Herzen, claiming to be vampire, had stolen them from their beds and tied them up in a storage room. Luke was unharmed, but scared out of his wits. Hershel reminded Luke, and himself, to take a deep breath. (That’s what a gentleman does.) 

He shifted his arms, demonstrating how flimsy the knots in their ropes. Why had Anton tied up them so feebly…?

The answer become clear later, when Katia revealed that Anton was her grandfather – a seventy-something elderly man. His strength had deteriorated with age, but Anton was unaware of this as he was suffering from the effects of hallucinogenic gas. After they had escaped from the castle and the illusion had lifted, Anton’s true colors were brought to light. His young visage melted away, but he was met with the love of his granddaughter and he was able to let go of Sophia. 

As they made their way into the derelict town, Anton apologized for accusing Hershel of stealing Sophia. 

“No, ‘steal’ isn’t the right word. I had no claim over Sophia’s life or her choices. If she fell in love with another after she left, I can’t blame her.” 

“I understand,” Hershel told him, touching his hat. “I... Luke and I were only exposed to the gas for a short time, but the illusions we experienced felt dreadfully real.” He shuddered at the memory of Claire’s smile, her touch and her sobbing. 

If he had remained in the castle for much longer, would he have decided to stay with her? After all these years, he would do anything to see her again... but not like that. 

He couldn’t wait to get on the train, reunite with Flora and return home. Hair-raising adventures rarely found him in London.

[circular-time]

D a l e k   F r e e   S p i r i t   ☼   t e a s e r

-Characters: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Turlough cameo -Rating: T for character death and going to dark places -Summary: The Doctor learns that when he and Nyssa escaped from the Daleks by the skin of their teeth, skin wasn’t all they’d left behind.

OPENING SCENES BELOW THE CUT

❝He could not change the past, nor could he alter her future. He’d be damned before he let the Daleks destroy the middle of her life, too.❞

{SPOILER ALERT: Prisoners of Fate, Entropy Plague, DALEK SOUL}

“A week! I thought you said this was a hospital ship, not some frontier apothecary’s hut!” Turlough’s brows bristled like backfires. His pale eyes were even more startling than usual, picking up the periwinkle blue of his hospital gown.

The Doctor patted the young man’s arm in awkward sympathy. “Bone regrowth in the foot is a delicate process. There’s so many ligaments and small bones that could fuse incorrectly. But don’t worry.  You’ll be as good as new with Dr. Kadowaki overseeing the process.” He flashed a wry smile. “I do wish my companions’ ankles were more durable.”

“Durable? I’m lucky the brute didn’t break every bone in my body while it was chasing me. A fine epitaph that would look on my funeral urn: Trampled to death by a pygmy mammoth. Although how anyone could name something that size pygmy I’ll never know. Humans!”

“Well, relatively speaking, it was a very small mammoth,” the Doctor pointed out. “Island populations tend towards dwarfism.”

“And your ‘perfect spots for painting’ tend towards hazard of life and limb. When you said you were taking me to the wellspring of California Impressionism, I was expecting sun, palm trees and beaches, not the Ice Age.”

The Doctor did not trouble to correct him. He had not expected to find a lonely mammoth on Catalina as late as 8000 BC, but then, the Wrangel Island herd had survived off the coast of Siberia right into the Minoan period. Even in the 21st century, there had still been enough frozen carcasses lying about for well-meaning scientists with confused priorities to clone and release them into the wild just after the Arctic Circle thawed.

So much for paradise. They would have to try again after Turlough’s ankle had healed. The Canary Islands, perhaps?

Setting aside the remains of a mediocre tea, the Doctor pushed back his chair. “Well, if you’re settled in, I’d better go check on the time rotor. It was scraping when we landed. Collision with a panicky pachyderm may have jarred it out of alignment.”

“I know the feeling.”

“Would you like me to bring you anything?”

“Some peace and quiet,” Turlough grumbled, “which is not to be found aboard the TARDIS.”

Humming to himself, the Doctor was taking the ship out for a quick spin to see whether he’d eliminated the squeak in the rotor’s downward motion. A light on the communications panel began to flash. Probably just a glitch to add to the ever-growing repairs list. Even so, any signal strong enough to maintain coherence in the temporal vortex was worthy of attention. Especially when it was a choice between scientific investigation, proceeding to the next item on the repairs checklist, or returning to a hospital that served no tea but Tetley. He hurried around to the communications panel and flipped a switch.

A shrill voice made him reel back from the console in shock, not so much from its volume as from its wrenching familiarity. “LEFT POCKET!” came the cryptic cry.

“Nyssa?!” He had never expected to hear her voice again. Although considering the way their timelines kept crossing and tangling with one another like vintage phone flexes, he should hardly have been surprised.

“Get in!” Her rising note of panic was difficult to block out. He felt a mad impulse to throw open the doors in case she was stranded outside.

Instead, he reached for the switch to respond. “Who is this? If this is some kind of joke, it’s in remarkably poor taste.”

“LEFT POCKET!”

The random outburst would have seemed like mere nonsense, did he not know its context. Nightmare memories flicked past: Nyssa’s wrist bleeding from the bite of the manacles where she had wriggled her hand free, the crack! of the straps springing back from his chest, the desperate dash back to the TARDIS, the frantic scramble for a misplaced key, and the howl of Dalek guns erupting on all sides as he threw her bodily through the doors.

“Get in!”

He gritted his teeth. The recording was repeating itself. To amplify its obscurity, someone had erased all traces of the Daleks and his replies, transforming a moment of terror into banal absurdity. Whatever it meant, it was intolerable. He stretched out his hand to kill the signal. Just then, the looping audio stopped, to be replaced by the gruff tones of an old man.

“Wait— don’t speak yet.” The voice was a stranger’s. “Hear me out. Our mutual acquaintances may be listening. So first, if you wouldn’t mind, tell me what was in your left pocket.”

Seething, the Doctor hesitated with his thumb over the “End” button. The caller sounded human, but that was hardly a bona fide. How could anyone but a Dalek agent have access to that security footage? How had the stranger managed to reach out to a specific TARDIS in the time vortex and establish two-way communications in relative realtime? Only a limited number of spacefaring races had that capability, and the Daleks were one of them. What would happen if the Doctor confirmed his identity, which was apparently the question’s intent? And how dare someone use Nyssa’s voice for a simple identity check? Too many questions. Yet the veiled warning about “mutual acquaintances” suggested that the Doctor was not the only one worried about a Dalek trap.

He needed answers. “A key.”  

“Very good. Now, listen closely. You know who that was, and you know where it happened. That was some years ago. They are gone. With her help, we drove them off. But she was the last casualty. I could do no more than keep her in cryostasis—”

“That’s less than six impossible things, but I’ve already had breakfast,” the Doctor broke in.

“Quiet. I am an old man now, and I fear what will happen to her when I’m gone. I had hoped to rehabilitate her without troubling you, but we lack her expertise. You are her only hope. For her sake, I must ask you to come.”

The indicator light blinked out before he could reply. The Doctor slammed his fist on the console beside it.

Deep breaths. Nyssa— Nyssa, whose distorted parting words had crackled from that same communications panel— was almost certainly dead. Yet death, like time, was relative. Once upon a time, she had said goodbye to her traveling companions and stayed behind on Terminus. By chance they had found her again, fifty years later in her own relative timeline, out on the galactic frontier searching for clues to cure another plague. There she had made the fatal mistake of accepting a lift home. Best not to dwell on how she had left them. The point was, before their reunion on Helheim, her career as an epidemiologist could have taken her almost anywhere, including… what was it the Daleks had called it? Mojox. It was not as if she would recognise the place, since the Daleks had transported their prisoners there while unconscious.

Unless—

He had not actually seen the moment of Nyssa’s death. So long as he did not know for certain, he refused to rule out her dogged stubbornness. Had she beaten the odds, then found her way back into normal space like Romana? There was always a chance, albeit an astronomically slim one.

Either way, his choice was clear. He must act upon the message just as if it were genuine. For her sake, he must confront the hateful possibility that he had mistaken a Dalek base in deep space for a Dalek outpost on an occupied planet. If that were true, and Nyssa had somehow found her way back there, no army of Daleks would stop her from trying to help the natives throw off their enslavement. That was the devil of it: the story was perfectly crafted to arouse his protectiveness and his guilt.

“Very well,” he said, addressing the mute walls of his ship. “Let’s get to work. We may as well know the worst at once.” He began to key in a Fourier analysis.

Twenty minutes later, he had his answer. As expected, the message had arrived via Dalek carrier wave. The signal’s exact source was impossible to pinpoint, but standard deviation placed it well within the neighborhood of Mojox, whose location he retrieved from the archives of the TARDIS flight log.

Mindful of other duties of care, he opened a channel to the hospital ship.

“Doctor, are you mad? You said it yourself: Mojox is a Dalek installation. Of course it’s a trap!”

The Doctor was pacing beside the console. “Be that as it may, I owe it to Nyssa to—”

“Nyssa’s dead, Doctor!”

“Thank you, Turlough.” He frowned at the speaker grill. “I’ll program the TARDIS to return to you via the Fast Return Switch. If all goes well, I’ll contact you, and you can bring her back to me in the same way. If you don’t hear from me within two weeks, transmit a message to Gallifrey that I may be compromised. They’ll see to it that you’re settled in a time and place of your choosing.”

“Doctor, wait!” Turlough’s voice subsided to a grudging mutter. “You’ll need backup.”

The Doctor hesitated, although there was no question of bringing a companion with him this time. Beneath his cynical, selfish exterior, Turlough was a fundamentally decent person overwhelmed by fears, indicative of some deep trauma that the Doctor had never pressed him about. Despite his handicap, the boy usually managed to master his cowardice when it mattered, which in itself was a special form of courage. The Doctor’s voice softened. “I appreciate the offer, but this is my responsibility. Rest. Heal. Try not to worry. Remember, I’ve been battling Daleks for centuries.”

“But never alone,” Turlough insisted, voice cracking. “You’re leaving me behind because you still don’t trust me like you did Tegan.”

“I wouldn’t take her into a Dalek base either, not after what happened last time.” At least Tegan had survived, but her tearful farewell had forced the Doctor to reexamine how much horror his companions could take. Whence the recent string of resort towns and artistically inspiring landscapes.

“But Doctor, I’m not Tegan. I understand the necessities of war. And I know something about infiltration.” That last was a bleak admission, a clue to whatever past Turlough was fleeing.

“If I didn’t trust you, Turlough, I wouldn’t be sending you my ship.”

It was not quite the truth, or at least not the whole truth. The Doctor could never forget Turlough’s part in trapping Nyssa in yet another time loop, this one walling her off from her own family. It was not Turlough’s fault that an enemy had diverted the TARDIS to a place and time where Nyssa’s son was working twenty-five years after she had set out for Helheim on a routine scouting mission. But Turlough had ensured that mother and son met face to face. After that, history was sealed. Once Nyssa had learned that she never returned home, then she could not return, not without creating a paradox. Possibly the time loop had been irrevocable from the moment the TARDIS touched down. But Nyssa would not have gone on her last journey burdened by fresh heartbreak, if not for Turlough’s indiscretion.

Time loops and crossed timelines: such tragedies were why Time Lords were required to steer clear of them. If the Nyssa in this transmission was Nyssa in the fifty-year gap between Terminus and Helheim, then the Doctor would have to act with the utmost discretion to conceal what he knew of her future. Turlough had already proved untrustworthy with just that kind of secret. Anyway, this was Time Lords’ work. Quite apart from personal considerations, the Doctor was embarking on a de facto CIA mission, protecting the integrity of the timeline by ensuring Nyssa’s survival until her appointment with fate.

While he mulled all this over, Turlough was evidently doing the same. “If you’re that worried about being compromised,” he said, “then how can I know whether it’s safe to fly the TARDIS back to you when you call?”

“We’ll just have to trust your finely-honed skills of self-preservation. Use your judgment.”

“Wonderful.” Turlough sighed. “Good luck, Doctor.”

“Thank you. We’ll talk again soon.” He closed the link and leaned heavily on the edge of the console, staring at his hands.

Ever since he had been the Watcher, Nyssa and he had been meeting one another in the wrong chronological order. It was becoming harder to face her each time. Truth be told, it was not Turlough at the most risk of blurting out something she ought not to hear. When you encounter us on Helheim, don’t let me put off taking you home. Go straight back to your family. Cure the Richter’s plague. Save lives. For you, these things are more important than all of time and space.

He could not change the past, nor could he alter her future. He’d be damned before he let the Daleks destroy the middle of her life, too.

to be continued....