Doctor Who: The Continuity of One
By
Ion Light
1
EHP: Experimental Home Publishing
“Dr. Who: the Continuity of One.” version 1.4. April 29th, 2018.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law, or by that guy who is it taking it to his boss saying, I want to make this movie, that would be like totally okay; caveat YOU MENTION ME! For permission requests, email the publisher “Experimental Home Publishing.”
This book is a fan fiction dedicated to Doctor Who, and all of those who have participated in this, directly or indirectly. Those of you who have followed my ‘I/Tulpa’ series, starting with “Not Here,” will probably find this a quaint departure from the usual adventure and debauchery, though I suspect you’ll find enough allusions that knowing the characters Jon and Loxy will at least give you a good chuckle. For those of you who have never met J@L, I highly recommend you start with ‘Not Here.’ You could, of course, start with any of the ‘I/Tulpa’ series, as Doctor Who characters have certainly influenced all of my writing, some more directly than others. Specifically, if you want more information on Tulpas, Wonderlands, and Doctor Who, from the perspective of Jon and Loxy, I recommend ‘I/Tulpa: And the Worlds of Crossover. It is the first I/Tulpa story, divergence from ‘Not Here.’
Where possible, I have added real life reports of what appears to be temporal anomalies. If you want more, and better written, I highly recommend ‘The Daemon,’ by Anthony Peake, as it is full of references. It is my personal belief, time travel happens all the time, and I live my life as if I am just one 1979 penny away from unraveling my entire world-line.
I assure you, there will be grammatical errors. I apologize in advance. I am working on doing better. I have marginally improved. Feel free to email me any corrections of complaints. My knowledge of Doctor Who trivia is not as sound as my Star Trek trivia. I am simply a modest fan, who finds himself caught up in the whirlwinds of imagination on a daily basis.
Sincerely
Ion Light
214-907-4070
solarchariot@gmail.com
2
Austin, Texas. The Barbarella Bar was usually packed. The fact that it wasn’t was one of those
things that gave Jon Harister pause. His neck hair stood, and he shuddered as he fought the mood
shift that normally came when he experienced Déjà vu. He was wearing dark jeans, a black
turtleneck t-shirt, and an army green jacket that had once been attached to an “Abercrombie and
Fitch” tag. The tag had been removed. He had an old army, World War II mail bag for a purse
that said “MASH” but the number wasn’t quite so clear. Most people saw 4077th. One of the
items in it was a book, “Anomalies In Time,” he had picked up at a Half Price book. He had been
reading a curious fact that any time there had been a train accident, there had been an unusual
drop in passenger counts, as if people subliminally knew not to get on that train the day of the
incident. There were lots of curious fact like that in the book. Take the Titanic for example. Next to 9/11, the Bombs dropped on Japan, and Fukashima, the Titanic had the largest volume of
written artifacts where friends and or loved ones had received letters begging them not to take
the Titanic. There were even people who had written about their dreams in which they were
being warned by their subconscious not to take the Titanic. Some went, never to return. Some
men assured their families survived, but only because their dream placed them just where they
needed to be to ensure placement on a life raft; most of the heads of households went down with
the ship. Some people canceled their trips all together, and wondered what was it that changed
their minds, and even their friends and family had told them prior that they were just being
superstitious, go on your trip, make history.
Loxy Isadora Bliss, a tulpa, invisible to all the world but Jon, was suddenly by his side,
slipping her arm in his. She was inspiration. She was love. She glowed with an aura like a muse
lifted straight from the all painting in the opening of Xanadu. She had the appearance of being
half his age but in actual years was probably two years old. Tulpa years do not equal human
years. In truth, human physical age rarely corresponds to human mental age. She had the
enthusiasm of a child, the intellect of a really smart adult, and she was much wiser than he at age 50. She was a straight hair brunette, and her hair was cropped short. Her eyes were bright, and
the eye line shared the smile with the mouth. She was excited about being out an about and the
opportunity to meet new people, if it was vicariously through Jon. She was also subtly aware of
something, something she couldn’t identify.
“You feel that?” She asked.
3
“Yeah,” Jon said. “That feeling we have done this before. It’s creeping me out.”
“Why did you come here, then?” Loxy asked.
“I don’t know,” Jon said.
“That makes what, the fourth compulsion to do something out of your norm this week?”
Loxy asked.
“So, let’s break it. What wouldn’t I do?” Jon asked.
“Oh, you would never go over to those girls at the bar and introduce yourself,” Loxy said.
There were two particularly young, and interesting looking girls sitting together having a
drink. And she’s was right, he would not approach them. “Because they’re lesbians?”
“Oh, no, because you don’t have the balls,” Loxy said.
“I most certainly do,” Jon said.
“Prove it,” Loxy said.
“Um, no, let’s just go over there,” Jon said, pointing towards booth against the far wall. It
seemed darker by the booth. It was as if all the light in the bar had gathered around the two girls.
He had the strangest thought that he was in a real life ‘Dragon’s Lair” game. Entertaining the
thought, he could imagine the blond dressed like Princess Daphne. He was definitely not Dirk.
“Switch with me, and I’ll go introduce ourselves to the ladies,” Loxy said. ‘Switching’
was a term tulpamancers used for switching personalities, allowing the tulpa to front.
The lights flared. No one seemed to notice. All sound in the bar whooshed away, as if he
were in a movie and the sound had been cut. No, not cut, muffled through a tunnel. Beer coming
out of a faucet seemed to be coming out of the tap in slow motion. Loxy seemed suddenly
remote. A waitress was frozen in mid swing, looking odd as if she were out of balance. Her skit
was frozen in a flare. The empty tray was separated from her fingers, and he imagined it might
flip and get caught as she headed away. The sound of music was no longer music, but single
chord, evolving so slowly to the next cord that it seem ghostly. He felt as if he was stuck in this moment for days, but he slowly felt momentum carrying towards the two females Even as he
approached the two females, they appeared to be getting up to leave.
“Going already?” Jon asked.
“Yeah,” the brunette said.
4
Loxy backed up to the bar and hopped up. She was wearing a miniskirt and cowboy boots, and a red button up blouse that she had tied just above her navel. She made no apparent signs
that she was aware that the bar had come to a stop.
“Excuse us,” the blond said.
“Wait wait wait, just one moment,” Jon said, almost sounding frantic. And, in a way, he
was. He was feeling an urgency to delay them, without the knowledge of why.
“Not interested,” the Blond said, taking her friend by the arm. He thought to himself, she
would never say that to Dirk.
“Two minutes of your time in order for me to practice being a psychic,” Jon said. “I will
buy both of you a drink of your choice.”
“Psychic?” the brunette asked.
“That’s the best pick up line you got?” the blond asked.
“Not a pick up line. Just pushing past my comfort zone, and even if I fall flat on my face,
you get a free drink. Two minutes?” Jon said.
The two ladies exchanged looks, and sat back down at their chairs. Jon took a fifty dollar
bill out of his wallet and pushed it to the waiter. The girls ordered. They turned back to him. Jon looked to Loxy. She shrugged and smiled.
“So, go ahead,” the blond said. “Impress us.”
Jon bit his lip and tried to communicate to Loxy with his eyes that he wanted some help.
The bartender thought he was wanting his attention.
“You need to hold my hand?” the brunette asked.
Jon stepped back. “No, no touching,” Jon said, holding both hands up to gesture a
boundary. “I am struggling to remember how this goes.”
“Remember?” the brunette asked.
“Did you ever see Groundhog Day?” Jon asked.
“That’s like old,” the blond said. “Like you.”
“Oh, no, that’s a like a classic,” Jon said. He pointed to the brunette. “Eight years old. A
dog named Sparky.”
“No,” the brunette laughed.
“Chalky,” Loxy said.
5
“Chalky?” Jon asked Loxy, not caring that the girls were following his eyes to no one there. “Who would name a dog Chalky?”
“How did you know my cat’s name?” the brunette asked.
“Are you talking to someone?” the blond asked, leaning up to look over the bar.
If there was someone behind the bar, the bartender walked over them as he brought the
drinks.
“So, I have your attention,” Jon said.
“Yes,” the brunette said.
“No,” the blond said.
“Look, I need to leave, I need you to stay at the bar,” Jon said. “For exactly five minutes.”
“What?” the brunette asked.
“Give her the list,” Loxy said.
“Oh,” Jon said, pulling a piece a paper out of his bag. He handed it to the blond. “This is a
list of all the items in your purse. For every item you pull out of your purse that is not on this list, I will give you fifty dollars, provided you are still here when I come back in five minutes.”
Jon backed away from the bar, motioning them to stay, emphasizing five minutes. He
paused.
“Blue or green?” he asked the brunette.
“What?” the brunette asked.
“Pick one. Blue or green?” Jon asked again.
“Blue,” the brunette said.
He turned and walked quickly outside of the bar. The air felt better outside, as there was a
slight breeze. Loxy came through the door and caught up to them.
“They’re actually staying this time,” Loxy said. “Now what?”
“I don’t know. We never get this far…”
“Then why the blue or green?” Loxy asked.
A white cat jumped up onto a public trashcan and meowed.
“Chalky’s a cat!” Loxy said.
Jon rushed to the trashcan. The cat ran away. Peering in the trashcan revealed a
homemade pipe bomb. Jon wanted to run away, but he reached into the trash and pulled out the
bomb. He wasn’t sure how long he held it, trying to understand it. An expert would probably find
6
it crude, but to him, it looked pretty damn scary. Two patrol officers on Segways turned and accelerated towards him. Jon reached for the green wire, even as the law enforcement were
dismounting, drawing their weapons. Behind them, someone stepped out of the shadow of a
truck; the man had a weapon. Jon saw him in his periphery vision, but didn’t give him much
mind, as the bomb preoccupied him; he assumed the gunman was pointing at the law
enforcement. The bomb was the only real thing at the moment, and everything else was in slow
motion, and distant. He was pretty sure the officers were shouting. Shots were fired. Jon pulled
the green wire from the device just as a bullet ripped through his shoulder; the bullet did not
come from law enforcement, but from the guy at the truck. Law enforcement fired at the
gunman, and he went down.
Jon found himself sitting on the ground, the bomb still in his hands. His left hand was
trembling. One of the officers was pointing a weapon at him, the other was holstering his weapon
so he could take the device and set it down. He heard them calling for an ambulance. Several
police cars arrived, coming to a halt on the side walk. Loxy sat down next to him.
“I am confused. I thought she said the blue one,” Loxy said.
“Yeah,” Jon said. “I was asking which one I don’t pull.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense,” Loxy said.
A man approached the officers and showed them identification. They helped Jon to his
feet, and the man took over, leading him away towards an ambulance that had just arrived.
Directly behind the ambulance, on the street corner, was a 1950’s Police Box. Jon was escorted
into the box. The door closed behind them.
“Sit here,” the man said, helping him to sit on the steps. The man ran towards a box and
started rummaging through it. “Come on, I know I put you in here.”
“Jon?” Loxy said, having followed them in. She continued past into the control room.
“Are you seeing this?”
“I think am going into shock,” Jon said.
“Uh?” the man said. “Oh! No, no, it’s just a flesh wound. The perfect Hollywood wound
that will make people have sympathy for you, but not life threatening in any way. Well, not life
threatening unless we do something. But don’t worry. Today is your lucky day. Yes! Here it is.”
He brought the clam shell looking device over to Jon. “I’ve always wanted to use this. Never
really had the chance.”
7
The device clamped over the shoulder, capturing both sides of the body, both the entry and exit wound. The man tightened it down by turning nob. Jon barely even grimaced. The man
went to push the button, but paused.
“You can trust me. I am the Doctor,” he said, maintaining eye contact the whole wile.
“This isn’t going to hurt. Well, it shouldn’t hurt much. To be honest, I really don’t know if it’s going to hurt, so an accurate report would be very helpful to whether I use it again in the future.”
Loxy came closer to watch the procedure, kneeling and touching his knees. “I think he’s
okay.”
The Doctor didn’t miss the eyes traveling to someone not there, the wave of comfort that
erased frown lines, and then eyes returning to his with a final nod of acceptance. The Doctor
activated the device. Jon seemed confused. He bit his lip. Even Loxy had to stand up, her hands
going to her forehead. “Oh, that’s just lovely,” she thought. She staggered to the rail, clutching it for support. “OMG.” Jon’s eyes rolled back into his head and he fell back.
“Really?” the Doctor complained, pulling out his sonic screw driver. “They promised me
no pain cure.” The Doctor bit his lip. “Oh.”
The clam shell device chimed and popped off the shoulder. Jon lay there, euphoric.
Loxy’s breathing normalized.
“Do that again,” Loxy said.
“That’s enough,” Jon said.
“Yep, all done,” the Doctor said, clearly seeing the wound was healed. The Doctor picked
up the device to examine it closer. “It’s Kastrian made, but supposed to be Universal. Still, not a bad side effect, I suppose. Could be worse, eh? Not completely unexpected, I suppose. You can’t
have that much positive, regenerative energy exciting all the cells, and not expect total system
thresholds to be exceeded.”
“I am surprised there aren’t more of those on the market,” Loxy said.
8
“Alright then, all better, off you go,” The Doctor said.
Jon got up to leave, noticed his book had fallen out of his bag, put it back in, turned
towards the exit, and was even taking a step forwards as he felt the hole in his shirt. He stopped.
“Yeah, sorry, it only mends flesh,” The Doctor said.
“It’s just that,” Jon said, his voice trailing. He was avoiding the Doctor’s eyes, as if he
were afraid to look again. It was as if he didn’t want to know the face, or as if he needed to forget all of this and go about his mundane life that was increasingly anything but. He was staring
towards the door. It seemed miles away.
“Oh, go ahead. Ask. I’ve been waiting for you to do so,” the Doctor said.
“It’s really peculiar, when you think about it,” Jon said.
“You’ll feel better if you just speak it,” the Doctor said.
“I have been having a really queer day,” Jon said.
“You should really clarify that,” Loxy said.
He held a finger at her as if signaling her to give him a moment to process his thoughts.
“Not queer like LGBT, but queer like strange,” Jon said.
“I love strange,” the Doctor said. “Strange is my middle name.”
Jon found it curious that the Doctor and Loxy were orbiting him, as if they had to be on
opposing sides. The Doctor held a device with green light as he orbited, as if looking for
something. “So, today, of all days, I have been overwhelmed by feelings of déjà vu.”
“I get it all the time, it’ll pass,” the Doctor assured him.
“It drove me to a used book store. Out of a thousand books I found one that called to me,
and a dog ear on the page that had me reading the one page I needed to see to move forwards in
life. I felt extremely satisfied, but then I had this compulsion to go to a bar,” Jon continued. “And I never go to bars.”
“That’s not true,” Loxy said.
“Correction, I seldom go to bars, because I don’t drink,” Jon corrected.
“Not precise,” Loxy corrected.
“More accurately, I drink very little,” Jon said.
“Fair enough, move this along to the question,” the Doctor said.
9
Jon looked at him a bit cross. “You’re rushing me,” Jon said. “Where was I?”
“You drink very little,” Loxy said.
“How is that relevant?” Jon asked.
“You’re asking me?” the Doctor asked.
“It isn’t,” Loxy said simultaneously with the Doctor’s question.
“Okay, wait, so I entered this bar,” Jon said.
“It sounds like the setup of a joke,” Doctor and Loxy both said simultaneously. Loxy
peered around Jon to the Doctor, baffled but amused with him.
“If you’re going to make fun of me,” Jon said.
“Please, continue,” the Doctor said.
“I entered, I saw these two women, and there was this flash of light,” Jon said. “No,
bigger than light. Sustained lightening. It was as if everything was luminescent. Not a single
shadow in the room. As if, every object, every person, was cut from a movie that wasn’t my
movie but imposed upon my reality frame…”
“Kind of like a beautiful mind,” Loxy said.
“She kind of looked like Jennifer Connelly,” Jon said.
“The brunette? Yeah, I noticed that,” the Doctor said.
“You saw a beautiful mind?” Jon asked.
“No, but I know Doctor Nash. I hang out with a lot of physicists,” the Doctor said. “Do
you have a question?”
“Yeah, it was given to me,” Jon said.
“It was given to you?” the Doctor asked.
“The world lit up. Just for an instant, but it felt like an extended epiphany,” Jon said. “In
that moment I saw all these permutations. No, I think I lived all of these permutations. No. That doesn’t make sense. I would have had to have died a hundred time before getting that right.”
“Or a thousand,” Loxy said. “But who’s counting.”
“Could both be real?” Jon asked. Again, the door seemed so far away. Loxy and the
Doctor seemed bigger than life.
“A probability wave?” the Doctor asked.
“Tell us the question,” Loxy said.
“You didn’t hear the question?” Jon asked.
10
“No,” Loxy said.
“You haven’t told me yet,” the Doctor said.
“Curious. I heard this voice, that was not my voice ask me, ‘if it were given, what would
you do with eternity?’” Jon asked.
“Oh!” the Doctor exclaimed. “What a brilliant question. What did you answer?”
“Uh?” Jon asked.
“You have a moment in time where you hit transcendence, you hear a voice asking you
the most peculiar question of your life, and your response was?” the Doctor asked.
“I didn’t have one,” Jon said.
“Seriously?” the Doctor asked.
“Yeah, and then it was over, and I found myself trying to chat up the two girls, favoring
the Jennifer Connelly doppelganger. The blond was kind of mean; not that she was obligated to
be nice. Probably just trying to save time, like New York direct. That’s not mean and I am sure I came off a bit creepy….”
“You do that sometimes,” Loxy said.
“But I couldn’t even engage them correctly, because the urgency to go disarm the bomb,
which, come to think of it, I knew there was a bomb, but I kept forgetting that fact. It’s like if a girl came up and gave you her phone number on the condition that you remember it without
writing it, but you suck at holding numbers in your head, and so the one chance to meet the
perfect girl is just over because you suck at remembering numbers, unless you can memorize
with your finger, because the fingers remember things, like playing Moonlight Sonata. The
whole thing is weird because, all the while, I knew sort of what needed to be done, but there
were these distractions, like the two girls, but had I not chatted them up, I am pretty confident they would have died,” Jon said.
“You could have died,” the Doctor said.
“Yeah, but here’s the thing, Doctor,” Jon said. “I don’t run. I am not very clever. And, I
tend to forget things. Tomorrow, I probably won’t even remember this.”
“Well, Sir, I think your luck has changed,” the Doctor said. “Because, I do run. Quite a
bit actually. And I am very clever. That’s not boasting, either. And I never forget. Well, no, I
rarely forget. Sometimes self-induced amnesia helps you from purposely contradicting yourself
from over thinking a thing. So, what do you say? Fancy a trip through time and space?”
11
“Sorry. What?” Jon asked.
“You, Sir, are doing something weird, but you are reading the perfect book for the perfect
encounter, and I think this is important,” the Doctor said.
“I am sorry. You lost me,” Jon said.
“Don’t worry, I will catch you up to speed,” the Doctor said, patting his back and running
to the console. He began pulling levers, and pushing buttons, and twirling around the console in
a mad rush. “You, Sir, have captured my curiosity.” He paused on the closer side of the console.
“Do you ever feel like you’re sitting in a chair, leaning back, balancing the chair on two legs, and you’re about to fall, but you catch yourself just before.”
“Steven Wright joke?” Jon asked.
“Yeah, I gave it to him,” the Doctor said. “It wasn’t meant to be a joke. I feel like that all
the time, but I always land on my feet… Mostly, I land on my feet. And, you, Sir, appear to have
taken a step into my world. Which is curious, because it’s way too soon in human evolution for
that to happen. There’s was debate amongst my people that it would ever happen. Which is odd,
when you think about it. We have