Doctor Who: The Boy Who Remembered (Fan Fic)

Chapter 12: The Great Chase Through Time

Benjamin French had become utterly lost while attempting to navigate the endless halls of the Tardis. There had been rooms that held Olympic sized swimming pools, others that contained strange mechanical contraptions which moved of their own accord, and doors that led to rooms filled with other doors. The most peculiar by far had been a large room which held nothing save a hundred multicolored balloons with a single string hanging from the ceiling; the boy knew better than to question its purpose. Traversing the infinite labyrinth there had been more than one occasion where Benjamin had even begun to doubt his senses. After having taken three left turns, followed by an impending forth, he had expected to arrive at the same point from which he had started. Instead he had wound up in a different hallway all together.

Hours had passed in the time it had taken Benjamin to figure out where he was going, even after arriving he had not been quite sure it had been the right place at all. He had stumbled into a vast library that dwarfed any he had seen before. Each shelf stood almost six times taller than the boy and each was filled to the point of bursting with books. Tomes now long forgotten had been pressed against histories that had yet to be written. There were poems written in invisible ink left behind by trans-dimensional bards with no hands, orchestral sheet music that sprung to life without the need for instruments or musicians, there was even a work entitled, The Book of Infinite Pages, amongst countless other such wonders. And there, in the heart of the library, surrounded by a scattered array of disorganized books, sat the Doctor.

"No, no, no! I'm getting nowhere studying neutrino based phenomena," the book in hand had fallen to the floor as the Doctor removed his glasses. "Where have you been Benjamin? I've managed to sift through every record I have about Species of Dark Matter, reread the Paradoxical History of Paradoxes, and managed to scan through the Intergalactic Encyclopedia on Non-Existent Entities four times."

Benjamin was quite sure he had not seen the Time Lord in such a frantic state, "How can there be a book on Non-Existent Entities if they don't exist?"

"Don't change the subject!" snapped the Doctor throwing the encyclopedia over his shoulder. "How long does it take a human to use the restroom?"

"Don't blame me," defended Benjamin with his hands above his head. "You gave me the wrong directions."

"I did not," he argued. "Eight lefts, three rights, a left, two more rights, straight through six intersections, three more lefts, followed by a final straightaway before you turn around at the end. How complicated is that?"

The boy had not bothered to hide his annoyance, "You told me three lefts and then a right. Nothing else about the rest of that."

There came a long pause as the Doctor contemplated such a possibility, "Perhaps...in either case, you can't blame me for having more important things on my mind. Besides, I can't even remember the correct order of my memories, let alone how to find the loo."

With that he had taken his spectacles and placed them back atop the bridge of his nose. The next book was already in hand as Benjamin found a nearby chair and conceded his loss. It was clear that the Doctor did not know where to look next. With each book he would race through a few random pages before throwing it aside. There were some pages where he would stop to inspect with a long inquisitive stare before deciding against them. On other occasions he would argue with the words upon the page in hopes that they would change their facts accordingly. In the end, there remained a final volume which he opened with a welcome smile. After reciting a few words out loud the smile quickly faded into a frown. With a final hope he removed his sonic screwdriver and scanned the pages before cursing their validity.