From: v116r8ac@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Chris Nasipak)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho,alt.startrek.creative
Subject: Visit to a Strange Universe Revisited (REPOST)
Date: 12 Sep 92 17:24:00 GMT
Organization: United Nations Intelligence Taskforce
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


Hi there.  This is a repost of the opening of my long-delayed sequel to
"The Doctor and the Enterprise", whose author's name I've forgotten but
is availaible for anonymous ftp from procyon.cis.ksu.edu as
/pub/Startrek/stories/TheDoctorAndTheEnterprise.Z.

And now, on with the story...

The Multiversal Science Fiction Anti-Parody
Chapter 1 - Visitors

     The Admiral looked at the ship with pride.  She was the latest in
a long line to carry the name 'Enterprise', a line reaching back
hundreds of years.  Now, returned from a four-year exploration
mission, she looked beautiful.
     This was the third _Enterprise_ he'd seen pass through the
spacedock doors.  The first had been lost in conflict with the
Klingons, the second was in 'mothballs' at Memory Alpha.  This ship,
built from the plans of the _Excelsior_, was the third in StarFleet. 
And the only one James Kirk had not commanded.
     He was looking forward to a chance to get onboard, look around,
chat with old friends.  But most of the old friends were gone now. 
Sulu was off on an exploration mission of his own, with the
_Excelsior_.  Uhura and Spock had both retired.  Even Bones had left,
to go into medical research.  He was now on inactive reserve.  Of all
of them, only three had stayed with the fleet, and only one with the
ship.  
     He and Scotty had been transferred into a special research
team.  Jim was its administrative head, and Scotty was in charge of
perfecting the transwarp design.  Nogura had managed to persuade him
to stay only by promising him command of the test ship for three
year exploration mission.  The first Excelsior-class vessel to come in,
once the new engines were ready, would be that ship.  
     Now, though, the new engines were ready.  The Excelsiors would come
into full use now, if they worked, transformed from the slow, somewhat
sluggish beasts that standard warp engines made them, into the graceful,
fast, and highly maneuverable vessels they were meant to be.  
     Only one of the old comrades had been allowed to remain on the
ship.  Now, Captain Pavel Chekov brought the new _Enterprise_ into
spacedock.


     Meanwhile, on the far side of another universe, a large blue box
sped through spacetime.  Inside - an inside far larger than would be
expected from the dimensions of the outside - a young woman in a
badge-covered silk jacket was sitting in a chemistry lab, brewing up a
particularly nasty form of high explosive.  She knew she was perfectly
safe, though - she'd been refining this formula for years.  In fact,
it had only blown up in her face once.  That time of course, she'd
recovered to find herself somewhere very much _else_...
     The consequences of Ace's finding herself on Iceworld, and later
meeting with the strange little man who called himself the Doctor, had
become one of the high points of her life.  Especially the adventures
they'd shared since then.  Oh, they'd been frightening, of course, but
but that was part of their appeal.  The fact was, she believed, that
if it was all perfectly safe and all that, it would also quickly
become incredibly boring.  
     They'd just finished recovering from the search for the Timewyrm
when the Doctor had declared that he was taking her to see an old
friend of his.  The trip had seemed to be taking quite a long time,
and so the Doctor had continued to tutor her in the scientific
education she'd missed out on.  Eventually, he had said, she would
learn something of how to control the ship, in case of emergencies.
     Just as she was contemplating this, there was a slight jar.  It
was of the type she'd come to associate with the TARDIS' landings. 
She secured the lab - the reaction was done - and hurried to the
control room.


     The traffic controller was worried.  The blue box had simply
materiealized out of nowhere, right on the landing pad.  This wasn't
what frightened her - she'd seen TARDIS's before.  The problem was
that it had materialized directly in the path of a landing VIP
courier.

     "Time capsule on landing pad SV-7, please respond."
     A moment's wait brought no response.
     "Time capsule on pad SV-7, please respond.  You are in the path
of an approaching vessel.  Please relocate IMMEDIATELY."
     Just before it was too late, the time capsule vanished, to
reappear off to the side a bit.  The courier ship landed safely, its
farings only inches away from the TARDIS.

Visit to a Strange Universe Revisited, or
The TARDIS and the Enterprise-B.

Chapter 2 - Old Friends


     On a small, insignificant blue planet in the unfashionable arm of the
spiral galaxy, a young woman was photographing a dead body.  She was of average
height and dark haired.  Next to her was something that looked like a robotic
dog.  The body was covered in blue burn marks.
     "What killed him, K-9?  Any ideas?"  Sarah Jane Smith asked her companion.
     "80 percent probability of massive electrical shock, mistress."  came the
robot's tinny voice.
     "Hmmm...  Something about it looks familiar.  I can't remember where I've
seen it, though.  I *think* it was when I was with the Doctor.  Maybe Harry
will remember.  He's supposed to be in town somewhere, isn't he?"
     "Affirmative, mistress.  Doctor Sullivan is attending a conference at the
State University of New York at Buffalo."
     "Good, we'll get him to take a look at it.  And I'll send a set of these 
pictures to the Brig. Maybe he can find the Doctor.  Who knows where the old
fellow is now, eh?"

     Evil brooded.  It waited, trapped on this one insignificant planet.
Blocked from returning to its home beyond the void.  For three hundred cycles
of this planet and more, it had waited.  Now, power had awakened it.  It
would absorb that power.  It would absorb the people of this insignificant
little world.  It would have its revenge on the one who had humiliated it.


     At that very moment, the Doctor was emerging from his TARDIS onto the 
landing field.  A rather surprised spacecraft pilot was climbing down from the
ship which had barely missed hitting the TARDIS.  The Doctor looked at him,
recognizing an old friend, then turned to the TARDIS and called out, "What 
perfect timing, Ace.  This is who we were coming here to meet!  Good Morning,
Turlough."
    "Doctor?  Is that you?"
    "Of course, young man, of course.  I've simply regenerated since we last
met."  With that, the Doctor looked over the ship Turlough had came in.  "And
you certainly seem to be dong all right for yourself."
    "Indeed, Doctor.  I'm just back from a little archeaological research on
some of the planets in the area."
    "Archaeology, is it now?  Interesting thing for you to get interested in."
    Turlough considered this for a moment, then shook his head.  "Well, Doctor,
would you like to come have something to drink?  My home isn't that far."
    "Of course, of course.  Just a moment, though."  He turned and looked into
the TARDIS.  "Ace?  Are you coming?"
    A voice came from inside the blue box.  "Coming, Professor!"


    "USS Enterprise, now entering docking bay." came the computerized voice.
Admiral Kirk and the research team were already in a travel pod, on their way
to the ship.
    "Good to see her again, isn't it, Scotty?"
    "Aye, sair.  Thot it is.  And she'll be e'en more beautiful once we get tha
new engines on-line."
    "And how long will that take?"
    "Ach, depends on how good the lad's got the engineering crew trained.  Na
more'n a week, though."
    "Good, Starfleet is anxious to hear the results of our trials.  It'll be 
good to get out into space again."

    Captain Pavel Chekov of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-B, called the crewmen
in the docking bay to attention as a very recognizable face came on board the 
ship.
    "Permission to come aboard, Captain?"
    "Permission granted, Admiral.  Good to see you again."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you really feel like   |         Not Croaker           |Somewhere else, the
arguing with a can of     |                               |tea is getting cold.
deoderant that registers  | v116r8ac@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu |Come on - we've got
nine on the Richter Scale?|   nasipak@acsu.buffalo.edu    | work to do.
        --- Ace           |                               |  --- Doctor Who
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"I wasn't expecting the ReichsInspektor General."  -- General Strasser
"No One expects the Reichsinspektor General." -- Doctor Who, TimeWyrm:Exodus
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