Space,Year: 1998

Viva Forever by the Spice Girls was being played in the TARDIS. Daniella loved playing music while being on the road. She brought her old vinyl record player and a bunch of records from Brazil.She felt like home that way, always being on the road it’s a bit complicated sometimes. She never left her country before meeting the Doctor. Living 23 years in the same house and then seeing the seven wonders of the universe can make you homesick.

Mac was taking care of their new compagnons. He took care of the man’s wounds and asked him some questions which could lead to the discovery of his true identity. The man did know neither his name or birth date. There was no clue about who he was.

“I don’t understand what is happening right now.” The man was feeling sorry. It was not his fault, that was what the Doctor said, even though he knew there was a reason behind their meeting.

“How did you get a vortex manipulator?” Mac asked.

“Don’t know. For me it feels like it was always there. My last memory is me appearing in front of y’all.” He answered. You could see his pain marked on his face. His look was the one from a man who suffered. A man who had lost everything, even his hope.

“Your clothes. Quite modern,” the Doctor was very observant, “From this, I’ll say the 2000’s. But you can be a time traveler so this can be misleading.” He gasped, “Are you human or alien? We are on Earth, does it scare you?” The Doctor tried everything he could to resolve this mystery.

“I would say human. I remember Earth. At least I remember the name of the planets.” The man answered.

“Clom? Alvega? Rexel 4? Asgard? You can have wonderful picnics there. Barcelona?”

“Barcelona is on Earth, Doctor.” Daniella exclaimed.

“Not that one. This one is fantastic, there are dogs with no noses. The Doctor said with enthusiasm.

“Yes. Telos, Skaro, Gallifrey.” The man murmured.

“What did you say?” The Doctor looked shocked. Suddenly he went from happy to angry.

“Telos, Skaro, Gallifrey. These are planets, aren’t they?” The man on the contrary looked even more lost than when he arrived in the TARDIS.

“There is some strange thing with his behaviour.” The Doctor pointed to the man. “Who are you? Why those planets in particular?” The Doctor was slowly embracing his infamous nickname: the madman in a blue box.

“Doctor. Calm down. Can you trace back the coordinates of the vortex manipulator?” Daniella knew how to calm the Doctor; scientific questions.

“No, it’s completely destroyed. “ The Doctor was thinking, “Maybe,” he gasped,”No it won’t work. Nevermind” He started walking all around his console. “Why are you not bothered by the fact of being in a spaceship? Why did you name those planets? “ Why didn’t you say ‘it is bigger on the inside?’ Why appear in front of us? In 1998, the year of Saving Private Ryan. Are you Private Ryan?” Sometimes the Doctor had some far-fetched assumption, “year of the Lewinsky scandal. Year of European Union voting for the Euro. The year my heart will go on.” He stopped, “ Daniella? Why this song?” He asked her.

“I don’t know. It felt like the right one.” She replied.

“What day is it?” The Doctor was coming with a theory.

“20 july 1998.” Mac said.

“Today, the Spice Girls sent Viva Forever to the radio. Unconsciously, you played it. We are living something strange. Some kind of paradox but not really a paradox.”

“I think I need some rest.” The man said. The Doctor’s speech made him sleepy.

“Sleep, sleep.” The Doctor was too concentrated to care about what he was saying. “Mac, how many hearts does he have? Tell me 3 please. I want to be wrong.” He was crossing his fingers like a child hoping for candies.

“Let me check again.” Mac took a Stethoscope. He was listening to the man’s heart, actually his two hearts. “Can we talk in a private room?”

They left the man almost asleep and went to the library. The TARDIS had an infinite numbers of room. It was clearly bigger on the inside.

“He has two hearts. He might be a guy like you?” Mac whispered with a worried tone.

“Charismatic, handsome, intelligent?”

“No, Mister big ego. A time lord.” Mac said to the Doctor.

“Impossible they were killed 200 times.” The Time Lords have an history of inner genocide. Once, the Doctor killed them before finding another solution and then changing history somehow. Another time a very pissed off version of the Master killed them all before somehow creating a hybrid version of the Cybermen and the Time Lords. Even the Daleks didn’t die as often as them.

“In fact, other species have two hearts.” Daniella added to Mac’s theory.

“Well, why are we living a paradox-like event?” Mac told her. When she was bringing her intelligence he could kill her. “Do you know a way to get his memory back ?” He asked the Doctor.

“The Matrix, but it was partially broken. I can still try to recreate it but it will take time.” The Doctor explained it would take years to reconstruct the Time Lords’ Matrix. He wasn’t even sure that it could work. Coming back to a time when the Matrix was still working sounded like a terrible idea. The doctor was the public enemy of the Gallifreyan government. The Doctor had a rebellious mind. He didn’t like the rules or at least injustices caused by politics. Only once he was considered as a hero, unfortunately it didn’t last. Going back to Gallifrey to use freely the Matrix wasn’t an option.

“Tonight we rest and then tomorrow we work on our issue. The Doctor said, “Mac, use your abilities to discover some personal things about him. Try to enter his mind and change to whatever he wants to see.” He turned to Daniella, “Meanwhile both of us are going to look for useful books. For once your diaries will be useful.” Daniella wrote down each detail she could have about the Doctor, or generally Time Lords. She had filled 5 diaries since she started her journey with him. All of them with information about alien species, summaries about their trip or alien recipes.

The team went back to the control room. Their new compagnon was sleeping, carefree and unbothered like he knew exactly who he was.