Doctor Who_ Attack of the Cybermen - Eric Saward [10]
Although the caretakers of the Great Matrix, the possessors of all knowledge, they can also be tedious and small-minded, content to squabble and bid for parochial power in much the same way as leaders of less advanced planets.
Because of their extraordinary power and intimate knowledge of time, the Gallifreyans had espoused a doctrine of non-interference in the political or cultural activities of other planets. But it hadn’t lasted. The High Council, the most supreme body of the Time Lords, had been caught with their fingers covered in political intrigue once too often. Even their own propaganda department had lost faith in its ability to lie convincingly.
It was because of this hypocrisy, and an overall general dissatisfaction, fuelled by an itinerant nature, that one of their number stole a Type 40 TARDIS and decided to explore and learn about the Universe for himself.
Although the thief had a name, he decided, as with his planet, to leave all memory of it behind. Rather than assume a new identity, he would simply be known as the Doctor. Unfortunately the one thing he couldn’t abandon was the instability of regeneration, the event which is both a blessing and a scourge of his people.
When a Time Lord is in danger of dying, or his body grown too old to go on working properly, he is able to change his physical shape. This is brought about by a massive release of a hormone known as ‘lindos’ which first causes the cells to renew, then realign themselves.
Although much work had been done by genetic engineers, the process in some cases remained a random one.
Some Time Lords are able to process through their allotted twelve regenerations with enormous grace and dignity, growing older and more handsome with each change. Others leap about to a startling degree, finishing one regeneration a wise, noble elder, only to start the next a youthful, boastful braggart. This, needless to say, can cause enormous emotional and psychological upset; the Doctor, alas, was not exempt from these strains.
Having recently regenerated, he had remained decidedly odd. Whether this was part of his new personality, or a toxic residue from the act itself, Peri, the Doctor’s American companion, couldn’t tell. Yet whatever it was, she was very worried, especially as he had decided to undertake extensive maintenance work on the TARDIS.
Not only had many of the roundels which covered the walls of the time machine been dismantled, but also the panelling within which they were housed, causing the exposure of vast areas of electronic equipment. Endless runs of heavy cable and countless strips of printed circuits had been dismantled and were lying about in the corridors like abandoned junk.
For days the Doctor had flitted moth-like from one piece of apparatus to another, probing with a sonic lance, bonding with a crystal transreverser. Peri hoped he knew what he was doing, but until the TARDIS was once more placed under the pressures of time travel, no one could be certain.
While the Doctor had been busy, Peri had spent time catching up on her studies, since it was her intention to finish her degree in biology should she ever return to her university in the United States of America on Earth.
Outside her room Peri could hear the Doctor muttering to himself and the occasional high pitch whine of the sonic lance as he tested a component.
Suddenly there was a small explosion. Peri leapt to her feet and threw open the door of her room. ‘What is going on?’ she demanded.
A bemused Doctor blinked at the component he was holding, switched off the sonic lance and slipped it into his pocket. ‘I’m not certain.’
Peri glanced at the Doctor. ‘Explosions don’t happen by themselves. What were you trying to do?’
‘Something I should have done a very long time ago.’
The Doctor smiled broadly, the accident seemingly forgotten. ‘Repair the chameleon circuit!’ He pointed at a massive bank of microcircuitry in front of him. ‘Let me explain...’
Peri scowled. Since the Doctor’s regeneration she had often heard him declaim on the