Doctor Who: The Thirteen Doctors and the Menagerie

Section 1: Calling all Doctors

Section 1: Calling all Doctors

The smiling young teacher unlocked the blue double doors and pushed them open to reveal the sound of an electric guitar being played within. She leaned against an interior railing, crossed her arms and smiled as she watched the gray-haired man play the vintage 1969 Fender Stratocaster. The control room was filled with the wailing sounds of mid-seventies British-American classic rock, minus the drums and bass.

"Clara! How long have you been standing there?" The well-dressed man asked.

"Since the chorus of Taking Care of Business." She replied. "It is so odd; you are nothing like your former self."

"I'm the same man, Clara, I'm still the Doctor."

"You may be the same man, but you are not the same person."

"Nonesense. I still retain all of my memories and personality; I just... adjust it somewhat." He replied, while strumming a few more chords on his Strat. "Take the Beatles for example; they were a happy-go-lucky band in 1964, then decidedly more somber in 1966. Same men, completely different sound."

She eyed him suspiciously. "That analogy was a stretch, even for you."

He stood suddenly and began moving about the console, throwing various switches and twisting different knobs. "Well then, where should we go today?"

"Again you do it; avoiding the subject." She said, approaching the six-sided central console.

"Avoid what? He replied in this incarnation's typical gruff manor. "I answered your question; you haven't answered mine."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh very well. I am hungry, shall we eat?"

"Excellent idea!" He replied, placing the priceless guitar against the amplifier. "How about dinner with Albert Einstein? He owes me from a bet we had made over his theory of relativity; I had to correct one of his calculations. He promised to make me his famous German pot-roast."

"How about something less historical and something a little more... magical?"

He glared at her. "I see... I know of a restaurant on the moon of Ranos that serves ice cream as the main dish, and deep-fried ghono-beast for dessert. Personally, I prefer the dessert."

Her face lit up. "Ice cream as a main course? That is brilliant!"

"Alright, off we go, then. Or back we go, actually; the restaurant has been closed for three thousand years." He raced around the console, setting coordinates and temporal settings, before finally slowing and throwing the de-materialization lever. "Go to the wardrobe room and grab a coat, they serve the ice cream at room temperature."

She giggled with excitement and bounded up the stairs toward the massive wardrobe room. The outfitting section was linked to the TARDIS' directional settings, so it automatically provided clothing based off of the time machine's destination. She shopped for several minutes before finding a fashionable coat that didn't seem as if it would hamper her ability to enjoy ice cream, yet still seemed warm enough to ward-off freezing temperatures. After sliding in to the silver and blue jacket with faux-fur trim, she returned to the control room.

"What do you think?" She asked, modelling the coat for the Doctor.

"It looks warm... good choice."