Note- To the memory of Kate O'Mara. The characters described here are only inspired by those owned by BBC Corporation.
xxx
"Excellent landing, right on the money."
The Doctor looked on proudly as she looked at the blue box that stood in the corner of UNIT HQ laboratory. The time and space machine, or TARDIS, had materialised in precisely the same spot where it had remained from 1970 until 1974.
This had been during the third persona of the renegade Time Lord when he had been exiled to Earth as a punishment by the Gallifreyan bureaucracy.
"Hah! It still smells the same!"
The newly regenerated female persona sniffed the air and detected the smell of scorched and burnt circuitry. A reminder of the futile attempts trying to fix the defunct dematerialisation circuit.
Now in 1975 The same green lights lit the room and the one window let in the afternoon sun.
"And just who the blazes are you woman!"
"My dear chap, so nice to see you, the one and only Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart."
He looked stunned as the blonde flung her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"So you know who I am. And who might you be madam?"
"Why it's me! You sent me an urgent request for assistance. I'm here to help in my role as scientific advisor."
"I called for my advisor yes. The Doctor. And if I am not mistaken that blue box belongs to him."
"Belongs to me, my dear chap. I am the Doctor!"
"I don't believe it!"
"It's quite true. I regenerated into a woman, and about time too."
The Brig made gaping shapes with his mouth like a goldfish as he looked at the strange female.
She spread her arms and did a complete twirl in front of him.
"Here we go again." Sighed the commander of UNIT. "How can it be possible to change gender?"
"Twelfth time lucky?" She shrugged.
"TWELVE TIMES! Surely you jest."
"And still not ginger." She pouted.
"And still no dress sense."
The Brigadier pointed at the odd attire the platinum blonde was wearing.
A floor length woollen coat over a striped navy sweater and ankle length culottes held up by two braces from the high waist to shoulders.
"Maybe you'd rather I wear military green?"
The Doctor looked into the face of the straight backed man with her sparkling green eyes and put her hands on her hips.
Dark haired with a trim moustache and that predictable frown he always seemed to have.
"You know you have a nice smile when you choose to use it."
She sat at her old desk and put her big boots up on the top, much to the Brigadier's annoyance.
"Quite. Comfortable?"
The woman nodded, stretched out looked around the small laboratory.
"What memories eh? How is Miss Grant these days?"
"Still in the Amazon jungle I presume. Now Doctor."
The still sceptical man raised an eyebrow as he paused in speech. Was this really the man who once had a Beatles haircut, blonde bouffant and later all brown curls and teeth?
"You may remember five years ago when we had that scare with the Silurians attempting to wake from their hibernation in their caves in Wenley Moor. Their purpose to take their rightful place as Earth's prime inhabitants, yes?"
"Yes I do Brigadier, and I also remember you sneakily sealed up their base with explosives so that they could never return. Gosh, five years, more five hundred and five."
They both referred to the race of prehistoric sentient reptiles that had existed before the human race and had chosen to hide underground in suspended animation until a close approaching planet had passed the Earth.
Unaware this had become the Moon the Silurians had never been woken, allowing the evolution of man.
"Well, reports are coming in of unusual activity near the sealed site. I have reason to suspect someone is attempting to revive them again."
"Good lord. Any idea who? The Master?"
"Possibly, who knows with that one. Anyway, I thought who else could help but that splendid chap, the Doctor."
"Or even splendid lass."
"Very good. And by the way, how do you happen to have a Yorkshire accent?"
"It is quite thick isn't it. Still, better than Scottish."
x
The Doctor arrived in the TARDIS right at the cave entrance at the Wenley Moor nuclear research plant next to a curiously shaped rock of about six feet in height.
Her UNIT identification card had been lost long ago and she showed her psychic paper to the stationed guards at the roped off area.
The men would never equate her to being the curly haired man with the ridiculous scarf they were familiar with anyway.
"Doctor Jane Smith, scientific advisor to UNIT. Feel free to pass, madam."
The young soldier saluted and the Doctor began a thorough search of the earth and rocks.
As she moved her sonic screwdriver in the air she made a ninety degree sweep and suddenly stopped when she noticed someone over by the sealed cave entrance.
"Hello, hello? I say, are you with UNIT?"
There was a person in a full length Monk's habit that brushed the ground.
The Doctor was basically ignored until she saw an imperceptive move of the head.
The hunched figure rose to full height, with back turned to the Doctor, the brown robes obscuring any vision of the person underneath.
"Just who are you?" Asked the Doctor directly. The man seemed more likely to be at home in a Monastery.
The large hood was lowered by two slender hands and revealed a mass of titian style ringlets in a cascade of copper hair.
Slowly turning the person opened her habit and stood erect.
It was surprisingly a woman, a quite attractive one too.
The female was adorned in a simple white woollen shirt underneath and was the epitome of famed artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti's favourite model Elizabeth Siddal.
"It is I Doctor, you may remember me as the Meddling Monk. Time Meddler is my preferred moniker."
The Doctor looked stunned as she realised who it was. The Time Meddler indeed.
And he was now a she! And ginger!
With an alabaster skin tone, heavily lidded eyes of golden brown and ruby lips she was a striking woman.
She held herself with grace and elegance as she looked into the Doctor's stunned gaze.
"Doctor Jane Smith! Even in your new regeneration you still have old loyalties."
"What the devil are you up too now? Trying to alter history no doubt."
The Doctor stood with hands on hips as she looked at her old adversary.
In her past encounters he had constantly tried to change history, mainly for his own amusement.
Both were Time Lords from the original home world Gallifrey, located in the constellation of Kasterborous, and both were capable of renewing old or damaged bodies.
Their world had seemingly been destroyed in the last great time war with the merciless Daleks, but the Doctor had learned it was actually now situated several billion years in the future.
"How did you escape the war?" Wondered the Doctor. "Hey!"
The beautiful woman moved to the large rock next to the blue box and her jaw dropped when a door opened in the front.
It was another TARDIS. Presumably belonging to the Meddler.
The unique time and space machine waa designed to blend into their surroundings in order to escape detection.
Although the Doctor's older type 40 model had developed faults along the way and her TARDIS was stuck in the form of an English police box.
"Come Doctor, come inside."
Cautiously she followed the redhead into the main control room and was greeted by the sight of another renegade Time Lord who stood proudly at the controls.
"The Rani!" Gulped the Doctor. "So it's your TARDIS."
"In the flesh, Doctor. Like your regeneration. Hah, both of you now? Must be something in the Gallifrey water."
"Just what are the pair of you doing here on Earth. And why now?"
The Rani busied herself with studying her controls and making big shakes of her head.
Without raising her head she continued speaking.
On the run from the Time Lords she had a wicked interest in gene splicing and biology.
"Back again on this miserable little planet. I never saw the fascination that you have for this race of humans. Can't bear them myself.
Better the Silurians take their rightful place in the world. Am I right monk?"
The Doctor listened as she looked around the all black interior of the impressive TARDIS, a later model than her own.
Circular indentations, roundels, lined the walls and a large scanner showed the immediate outside scene.
The Rani had not changed her looks since the last time they had met.
No regeneration? Or did she just keep the same features?
Slightly shorter than the Meddler she still had those smouldering, almost feline green eyes, fulsome lips and tumbling auburn hair.
Her latest outlandish costume seemed to be a black romper with a high collar, long sleeves and a scooped out front that showed off a deep cleavage.
A green splash on the front of the outfit matched her purple thigh high boots with the four inch rise.
The Meddler had shed her brown habit and stood bare foot beside the other in just her thigh length white shirt.
"It's thanks to the Rani that I got out of a small problem with the Sontarans. Now we're going to tackle the problem of awakening the Silurians together. What fun!"
"But not before the Doctor and I have a little personal fun together." Said the Rani with a sly look at the blonde.
