Time's Champion


 * For the name given to the Seventh Doctor, see Time's Champion.

Time's Champion is an un-authorized novel based upon a story by the late author Craig Hinton and completed by his friend Chris McKeon. The story is a thematic sequel to Hinton's earlier Millennial Rites and The Quantum Archangel, and to The Trial of a Time Lord. Published as an unauthorised publication with all profits going to the British Heart Foundation (a charity chosen by Hinton's family).

Cover blurb
''IT SEEMS THAT WE HAVE FINALLY FOUND EACH OTHER, DOCTOR. A PITY. I HAD HOPED TO AVOID THIS REUNION; I'VE BEEN DISAPPOINTED ENOUGH ALREADY.''

2008: John Benton is celebrating his birthday by having a few friends round to his house at Hilsley Halt. But the monsters are lurking.

1908: Writer George Mackenzie-Trench is suffering from writer’s block unable to foresee the ending of his novel, Time’s Champion, nor the consequences of its completion.

9908: The planet Caliban is under attack from Cyber-forces, and governor George Mackenzie-Trench intends to save their world by unleashing Abaddon, a powerful computer virus. But Abaddon has other instructions.

Meanwhile Gallifrey is under attack and the Keeper is seeking answers within the Matrix. President Romana is helpless: no-one is who they seem and the conspiracy goes even deeper than she can imagine. She needs the Doctor...

But the Doctor is on Earth in 2008, fighting to save the life of a child who must survive at all costs.

As Gallifrey is attacked by ghosts from the past, the Doctor, Mel and Benton find themselves in the middle of an epic and final battle as the ancient Gods choose their Champions and allow chaos to reign across all of time and space.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Melanie Bush
 * John Benton
 * Romana
 * The Valeyard
 * Spandrell
 * K9 Mark I
 * Vansell
 * Time
 * Death
 * Keeper of the Matrix
 * Kronos
 * Paul Kairos
 * Arlene Kairos
 * The Chaplain of Spite
 * Madame Clacice Beauvier
 * Maxil
 * Celestial Toymaker/Crystal Guardian
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Mike Yates
 * Sarah Jane Smith
 * Jo Grant
 * Stuart Hyde
 * Cybermen
 * Jorvic Chen
 * Abbadon
 * Christina Melanie Kairos
 * Morbius
 * Lady Peinforte

Individuals

 * Leela
 * Rassilon
 * Omega
 * The Other
 * The Master
 * The Rani
 * The Monk
 * Borusa
 * Susan
 * Ace
 * Jack the Ripper

Organisations

 * Faction Paradox

Races and species

 * Daleks
 * Ice Warriors
 * Silurians
 * Autons
 * Sea Devils
 * Chronovores
 * Quarks

Transcendental Beings

 * Transcendental Beings
 * Great Old Ones
 * Fenric
 * Gods of Ragnarok and Armageddon
 * Eternals
 * Pain
 * Fate
 * Life
 * Hope
 * Black Guardian
 * White Guardian
 * Great Intelligence

Publication history
In 2000 an American writer and fan of Doctor Who Chris McKeon submitted a story to Big Finish Productions, known as 'The Seventh Door' exploring elements of Remembrance of the Daleks and featured revelations concerning the Valeyard and the Seventh Doctor, this story was rejected by Big Finish. Undeterred McKeon continued to work on another story featuring the Valeyard and began to investigate other authors who had successfully written stories featuring the Valeyard.

While investigating previous authors' efforts to feature the Valeyard, McKeon discovered Hinton's novels and the two met online in Doctor Who forums to discuss the Valeyard. This correspondence led to McKeon learning of Hinton's intent to write a novel Time's Champion for the BBC Past Doctor Adventures, which was to feature both the Sixth Doctor's regeneration and the origins of the Valeyard.

However in 2004 the novel was rejected by the BBC.

The decision to reject Hinton's novel led McKeon to return to his earlier (rejected) Valeyard story concepts in the hope of eventual publication, but when he told Hinton of this, Hinton instead gave McKeon permission to complete Time's Champion itself, with the goal of working together to finish the draft for an unofficial online presentation. Before, during and after this period, Hinton and McKeon developed a strong friendship over discussing their ideas (and met personally at the 2005 GallifreyOne convention in Los Angeles), and when Hinton died on 3rd December 2006, McKeon progressed by himself, determined to complete the novel in his friend's memory.

Upon Craig Hinton's death, McKeon announced his position as the co-author of Time's Champion (Hinton had previously mentioned online that he was working with another, anonymous author). Within days, McKeon was contacted by Simon Guerrier, editor of the Bernice Summerfield audio adventures at Big Finish, who expressed his interest in attempting to publish the book through the company's Short Trips anthologies. Guerrier, however, informed McKeon that the chances of clearing the book's publication with the BBC were slim, and indeed this did not materialise. However, almost immediately after, McKeon was also contacted by David Howe, owner of Telos Publishing, a publishing company which had, until 2004, produced Doctor Who novellas and later the spin-off series Time Hunter. Howe offered McKeon the chance to publish Time's Champion as an unofficial work, using Telos' printing facilities to produce the novel (though not as a Telos Publishing book), whose profits would go to the British Heart Foundation (a charity chosen by Hinton's family, as the author had died of a heart attack). Howe himself offered to serve as the book's editor. McKeon accepted the opportunity and continued to complete the novel. In February 2007, Howe and McKeon met at the GallifreyOne convention to discuss preliminary publication details. On August 27, 2007, McKeon completed the text's first draft, which came out at 170,477 words. This, when examined by Howe, proved to be too large and very shortly thereafter McKeon went to work on the second draft with the goal to cut the word count to 90,000 words. This second attempt he completed on December 27, 2007, albeit with approximately 115,000 words. Howe began to edit this draft over in early 2008, and on February 10, 2008, McKeon received the edited third draft of Time's Champion, coming in at about 103,000 words. This text he subsequently re-read (at Howe's suggestion during their meeting at the 2008 GallifreyOne convention), to which he made some final revisions. This fourth draft was returned to Howe for final editing. Howe then submitted this draft to an independent reader for further alterations. By late March, this draft had been completed and turned over to another reader for a final read-through and opinion. On July 6th, 2008, the completed text and a cover drawn by renowned Doctor Who artist Alister Pearson were turned in for final publication, and the novel was released on July 21, 2008.

An early draft of the novel would have featured The Monk as a primary antagonist, and depicted his television incarnation’s (DW: The Time Meddler) regeneration into the "Death’s Champion version" (from the novel NA: No Future). As the novel stands currently, the sixth Doctor and Mel have just tangled with the Monk.

Plot
''The Master enters the Matrix via Space Station Xenobia’s remote access coronet. Recruited by Vansell of the CIA, the Master is to gather so-called evidence of the temporal crimes against the Doctor in preparation for the renegade’s imminent trial, in which the Master will act as the court’s learned prosecutor. Once inside the Matrix, the Master discovers the Doctor’s memory bank, which exists in the shape of an ancient tree. There the Master finds a mirror, through which he can see all of the Doctor’s past and present memories, including his current visit to the planet Ravalox. Then the mirror cracks, and the Master peers through to see what lies on the other side. The mirror shatters. The Master screams as he sees…''

On January 6th, 2008, recently widowed John Benton lives in his new house, Hilsey Halt. He wants to celebrate his 70th birthday and he invites to his party several old friends. Unable to attend due to work commitments, Sir Stuart Hyde sends his friends Paul and Arlene Kairos to Benton's home. Arlene needs the rest as she is pregnant. She worries for her unborn child's safety given that her husband, Paul, is the human aspect of the deceased Kronos. Benton tries to assure her that all is well as they wait for the Doctor, who is also on the guest list, to arrive.

In the TARDIS, Mel worries about the Doctor; although he knows about Benton's party via space-time telegraph, he still spends his days morose and dejected. Fed up with his attitude, she discovers that the Doctor has been deliberately avoiding the space-time location of the celebration; Mel sets the co-ordinates and she seeks to set the Doctor straight. With a little help from the TARDIS she finds him in an art gallery. After passing through portraits of former companions, Time Lord enemies such as Morbius, the Monk, the Rani and the Master (which reveals that he was indeed the War Chief), and various monstrous alien races, Mel finds the Doctor viewing thirteen portraits – five show his previous incarnations, the other eight are blank. The Doctor, aware of Mel altering the coordinates, is suddenly animated, and shouts that he is finally "ready" to face his future. He races to the Console Room...

On January 24, 1908, a young writer named George McKenzie-Trench is staying at Hilsey Halt, which in this era is an out of the way hotel. George is trying to finish his magnum opus, Time's Champion, but he can't seem to find the right words. His hostess, the alluring Madame Clacice Beauvier, visits him and invites him to an evening costume party. Reluctantly, George agrees...

In early 9908, on the planet Caliban, Governor George McKenzie-Trench of the Izarus Intent (The Crystal Bucephalus) is struggling to finish Abbadon, a computer virus which will thwart the invasion of plans of Jorvic Chen and his Cybermen allies, who have plunged the galaxy into war. George's mentor and spiritual guide, Cardinal Leofrique Grandier, visits and offers him a datacube which he says contains vital information to complete the virus. Grandier then assigns McKenzie-Trench to speak at a mass requiem for the Calibanites. George begins his final preparations...

The Doctor and Mel land in Benton's barn. Before the Doctor leaves he gives Mel a prototype TARDIS homing device, just in case she manages to get lost at Hilsey Halt. The travelers are received warmly by their host. As Mel catches up with Paul and Arlene, the Doctor and Benton discuss the potential difficulties of the unborn Kairos child. The Doctor, however, feels that there is nothing to worry about.

However, unbeknownst to the Doctor, the Keeper of the Matrix is watching him on Earth. He then detects temporal distortions both in 2008 and 1908. With so many distractions, he realizes he must consult the Matrix if he is to know how to proceed.

The 1908 McKenzie-Trench arrives late at Clacice's soiree, but she welcomes him happily to her Pastel Room. Alone, the two discuss her art collection from now dead artists who lived pain-filled lives. Clacice proceeds to tell her life-story: How she and her mother fled their home during a great conflict against her parents, and how their enemies damaged their ship, stranding them. Clacice details how she learned her mother's arts, but fled home and visited the world and charmed its people with her own abilities. Eventually she returned home but found her mother gone, driven away and injured by a man from their home territory, a man who had stolen her mother's secrets. Because of this, Clacice has vowed vengeance on the man and his people. Listening to the tale, George cannot help but be repulsed by Clacice's masochistic tendencies, such as licking her own blood from a cut on her hand. Clacice later requests an exclusive reading of Time's Champion for the costume party. Although shocked and feeling ill-prepared, George agrees, knowing he will have to force himself to write. Before he leaves, George asks Clacice if her party guests are already at the Halt. She answers that they have been delayed in the storm, but not for long... The 9908 McKenzie-Trench enters the Intent Compound's Auditorium of Rest to address the Calibanites- a race of sea-dwelling liquid geysers- one last time. He is overcome with emotion, knowing the same force which will destroy the planet's attackers will also destroy its natives, but Cardinal Grandier arrives and consoles him, saying that he has been a force of good in his life. Grandier asks if his datacube helped complete Abbadon, but George says he never had time to use the cube. Suddenly enraged, Grandier assaults George, demanding that he forget the mass and return and integrate the cube's programming into Abbadon. Terrified, McKenzie-Trench obeys, and leaves Grandier to monitor the progress of the incoming Cyber-fleet. Grandier knows now he has less than an hour to ensure his plans are successful...

Benton's birthday dinner has gone well, and the Doctor offers a toast to his old friend, not knowing that in 1908, George McKenzie-Trench finally manages to conceive of a plot twist to carry his story forward: the premature birth of an important child. At this coincident moment, Arlene goes into premature and exceptionally painful labor. The Doctor, Paul, and Mel help Arlene to her room and prepare for a potential delivery. Benton attempts to call UNIT but his phone line has inexplicably died. The Doctor realizes UNIT cannot help them as light erupts from Arlene's stomach and time shatters. On Gallifrey, the Keeper sees something in the Matrix, something he seems to remember from long ago. He hears six beings speaking: Time, Life, Hope, Pain, Fate and Death. They discuss a long foreseen conflict, the Breakdown, which has now begun. Seeing the intruding Keeper, they instruct their Disciple to close the connection and the Keeper falls senseless...

At that "moment," the 9908 George McKenzie-Trench reaches his room just as the Cybermen attack. He uses Grandier's datacube and programs Abbadon, which suddenly transforms into a physical entity resembling a globular mass of chains. Abbadon then dematerializes leaving Caliban defenseless. Devastated, George retrieves a gun from his desk and raises the weapon to his head...

In 2008, the Doctor knows he must remove this part of the Universe from space-time to save the rest. Paul refuses to leave his wife so the Doctor takes Mel and Benton to the TARDIS for the operation. Once there, the Doctor re-wires the console for the reality shift, and uses the transmitter from his space-time telegraph to generate the needed frequencies. The first attempt burns out the transmitter, but Benton suggests they use one from his own telegraph. Mel opts to return to the house to find the transmitter. Inside the house, Paul attempts to comfort his wife but finds his hands pass right through her, a phenomenon Mel also experiences as enters the house and her hands pass through solid objects, just before she herself disappears. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor and Benton experience temporary weightlessness as the local reality shifts completely and a hole rips open in the fabric of reality. One hope emerges: the TARDIS can still detect the Kairos child's life signs, although its time co-ordinates are uncertain. With no more options, the Doctor sets course for Gallifrey...

Mel wakes to find herself in the same place as she left: Benton's home. She's greeted by Madame Clacice, who introduces herself. Clacice seems not at all surprised by the means of Mel's arrival and informs her that two other people have just arrived by similar means. Mel quickly deduces by the Clacice’s information that the two others are Paul and Arlene. Clacice roughly orders her young servant, Annie, to take Mel to see them. Mel befriends the frightened girl moments later and discovers that she and her friends have slipped back to 1908. Mel then hears a man crying in his room, and Annie tells her about their guest, the author George McKenzie-Trench...

The Doctor manages to slip the TARDIS through Gallifrey's transduction barrier and lands in the Panopticon, where he finds the High Council in emergency session, led by his old companion, President Romana. The Time Lords have sensed the reality embolism on Gallifrey, but it is Vansell of the CIA who informs them of its true extent: the tear has penetrated the Six-Fold realm, the home of the cosmos' higher beings such as the Chronovores, Eternals, and Guardians. Romana activates a monitor window into the Six-Fold realm, which reveals a scene of total war. Romana deactivates the window and the Doctor announces that the Kairos child is understood by the Transcendental Beings as a breach of their Ancient Covenant, which decrees that the different races of the Six-Fold Realm shall never cross-breed. As the unborn child’s father is a construct of Kronos, a Chronovore/Eternal hybrid, its impending birth has sparked this war in the Six-Fold Ream and started the Breakdown. The Doctor proposes that the High Council permit him full access to the Matrix to retrieve the needed quantum mnemonics located there to stabilize the child. The Council reacts in shock, and one, Niroc, the Lord President and CIA puppet during the Doctor's Trial, openly opposes the action, citing the Doctor's known renegade history, especially the existence of the Valeyard, the Doctor's dark, evil, future self who was his prosecutor at the Trial. Romana silences Niroc, and the Doctor defends himself before the Time Lords,' condemning their ruthlessness and hypocrisy, but also commending their recent reforms under Romana’s leadership. Eventually, the High Council approves his request. Romana also agrees and hopes the Keeper of the Matrix will also oblige. The Doctor and Benton go off to find him...

The servant Annie brings Mel to where Paul and Arlene are, which their same room from 2008 is. Although the time disturbances have subsided for now, Arlene is unconscious and weak, while Paul is emotionally stricken and despondent. Mel tries to rally his spirits, but Clacice arrives and, with charm, dismisses Mel to tour the house while Paul and Arlene rest. Mel leaves, but promises to return quickly. Clacice then advances on Paul and attempts to seduce him with lures of power- not her power, but memories of his own, the power he once had. Paul lashes out and pushes Clacice away; she hits her head against the wall, but instead of collapsing, she seems to draw pleasure from the pain. She promises Paul he will join her and then she leaves him and his wife locked in their room. In the vortex, the virus, Abbadon, revels in its freedom and performs its true duty: to seek out a planet called Gallifrey...

The Doctor and Benton reach the Prime Mover, the physical heart of the Matrix: vast spaces with almost no physical matter at all, save for the main Matrix terminals. While the Doctor ventures to access these, Benton explores his surroundings and encounters the Keeper, who calls him a "Sergeant." The Doctor arrives and the Keeper, not pleased to see him, tries to deliver the quantum codes to the Doctor as quickly as possible, but the Doctor wishes to discuss the changes the Keeper has made to the Matrix: it now boasts as a power source a portion of the Apocalypse Element, the mineral the Daleks used during their invasion of Gallifrey. The Keeper has no qualms of using such a malevolent energy; it made the Six-Fold Realm window possible. The Keeper then demonstrates his power by drawing the Doctor and Benton into the Matrix. He then takes the Doctor alone on a trip through his own memories (including a warm Gallifreyian night during a meteor storm of purple, green and brilliant yellow and his reunion with the Master on the War Games planet), and then to the repository of those memories, which appears as the hollow interior of an ancient tree. The Keeper accesses the needed codes and places them inside a hexagonal container, but refuses to deliver them unless the Doctor promises to depart from Gallifrey immediately. The Doctor reluctantly agrees but, after leaving the Matrix, promises to bring the matter to attention when the current crisis is at an end. The Keeper scoffs at this, believing himself to be untouchable, just as he collapses in agony as the Matrix senses an imminent cataclysm. Romana communicates via hologram to the Doctor, revealing that something is coming, and then Abbadon arrives within the Prime Mover and invades the Matrix. As the room destabilizes, the Doctor orders Benton to leave while he rescues the Keeper. The Doctor finds the Keeper mourning his dying Matrix, and although he tries to console him the Keeper repulses any sympathy, crying out that he was not expecting this to happen, not when he was finally ready. The Doctor notes the Keeper's odd behavior, but manages to convince him to escape with him, just as Abbadon burns the Matrix from within...

Back in 1908, Mel decides to tour the rose gardens at night-time and encounters George McKenzie-Trench, who has been drowning his writer's sorrows in alcohol. George reveals his difficulties and wishes he had someone to help him, which inspires him to ask Mel to read Time's Champion and advise him on how to proceed. Mel agrees, and the two return to the home, unaware that Madame Clacice is monitoring their actions...

Abbadon ravages the Matrix, and reaches The Tapestry, the Matrix's energy network connection to the Eye of Harmony. Abbadon infests the Tapestry and gains access to Gallifrey's precognition, which allows the virus to foresee Romana's offense, and to plan the perfect defense...

Inside the Watchtower's on Gallifrey, Romana can only watch in impotence as the Matrix Entrance Doors One through Six open and the planet begins to flood with reflected memories from various periods in the Time Lords' history, including unrecorded religious uprisings, which threaten the Watchtower in the present. Before the recent memories of the Daleks' invasion can emerge, Romana decides on a new course of action, and, taking her old TARDIS key from her travels with the Doctor, prepares a strategic departure with Vansell and as many of the High Council as possible...

Fleeing from the Prime Mover, the Doctor, Benton, and the Keeper come up against shields blocking their escape. The Doctor manages to open the barriers thanks to his newly reconstructed Sonic Screwdriver, and a young man (named Magnus, whom the Doctor indicates is in fact the Master) rushes past them, pursued by Chancellory Guards of a previous era. The Keeper reveals that Matrix-Time is flowing on Gallifrey, and the history disruptions will destroy them. Benton hopes to reach the TARDIS, but the Doctor laments that the way is blocked by the Matrix-Time. The Keeper smugly suggests they use his own TARDIS, and veers off to his personal chambers. Although Benton feels they cannot trust the Keeper, the Doctor reminds him that the Keeper still has the quantum mnemonics they require. Also, the Doctor somehow knows that he must follow the Keeper; his future depends on it. Inside the Keeper's chamber, they discover a room filled with columns of parchment. They also find a desk covered with similar papers covered in Old High Gallifreyian. The Doctor chances upon a crumpled white bag, filled with jelly-babies whose heads have been chopped off. They then spy the Keeper's TARDIS, a white box whose surface appears to have been melted by fire. The Keeper appears and ushers Benton and the Doctor inside, and the three depart the living and the dead of Gallifrey, even as Abbadon continues its work...

Meanwhile, Arlene awakens, but Paul watches in horror as she cries out that Abbadon is coming, waking up the monsters. Then the child within her begins to shine once more. At the same time, Mel sits in George's room to read his book, and is struck with fear as she finds the book in written in the language of quantum mnemonics. Just then, the book bursts into light, as images of many great and terrible creatures appear in Mel and George's mind, the same creatures which materialize around Arlene, trying to reach her child. Helpless, Paul begins to pray to whomever might listen, begging for the safety of his family. Amazingly, a voice comes to him, and asks if he truly wishes to help his wife and child. Paul agrees, and he regains the power of Kronos. With these abilities, he drives the monsters away, and his wife and child relax into unconsciousness. However, the voice speaks once more, re-calling Paul, and he feels himself being pulled from the Earth and its time zones. Elsewhere in the house, Mel and George hear the voices of six entities speaking of a great war before the light within Time's Champion dies, and George collapses. Mel helps him to bed and urges him to destroy the book, but he says doing so will destroy him. As he mumbles of a reformed angel rising to its heaven, Mel decides she has to get away from the house immediately. But as she leaves the room, a strong hand clamps over her mouth...

The Keeper traces Abbadon back to Caliban in 9908, and lands his TARDIS on the planet in George Mackenzie-Trench's room just as the man himself is about to commit suicide. The Doctor thwarts the suicide attempt, just as a Cyberbomb nearly razes the compound, gravely injuring McKenzie-Trench. The Doctor and Benton, unharmed, haul George from the rubble, and as the Keeper uses his TARDIS to clear the air of dust, George directs the Doctor to the remains of his light-harp, where the Time Lord discovers the Cardinal's datacube. Cardinal Grandier himself enters the room and suavely demands that he accompany the travels in their escape. The five, including the unconscious McKenzie-Trench, leave the dying world of Caliban...

Back on 1908 Earth, Mel finds her captor is in fact Annie, who fearfully informs Mel that something evil is on the house with them. She directs Mel to the cellar, where a green light flickers in the darkness beneath. Mel descends alone, and discovers in a side room to the cellar a chamber filled with statures matching the monsters she saw in her vision: the Great Old Ones, including the Animus, the Great Intelligence, the Nestene Consciousness, the Dark, Fenric, the Primeval Beings, Chthulu, Nyartholatep, and the Gods of Ragnarok and Armageddon. Kneeling before the statues and offering her blood in sacrifice is Madame Clacice, her skin covered in metal piercings. She prays that the book be completed. Clacice suddenly rises and welcomes Mel to her party. Mel tries to escape, but Annie, acting under hypnosis, blocks and bolts the door, leaving Mel trapped as Clacice seizes her...

The Keeper cannot land his TARDIS on Gallifrey due to the planet's fracturing local timeline. Forced to hover near the world, the Doctor takes the opportunity to confront the Keeper on how much he actually knows about the circumstances facing them. The Keeper admits he has discovered prophecies in Rassilon's Black Scrolls -The Arcanities of Rassilon- which predict a great time war -The Breakdown- and note three distinct events which must occur at the advent of the war: the writing of a book, the release of a contagion, and the birth of a child. The Doctor knows about the child and the virus, but wonders as to the significance of the book. Meanwhile, Cardinal Grandier thinks to himself that the time is right to make his move, and hopes his sister is successfully making hers. He pulls out a book from his robes, which the Keeper notices, just as the still-delirious McKenzie-Trench stirs and whispers something to Benton, who alerts the Doctor. The Doctor confronts Grandier with this information: that it was he who gave George the datacube, the datacube which activated Abbadon. Grandier nonchalantly accepts the accusation, even the fact that the datacube in Gallifreyian in origin. Grandier reveals that his real name is Leofrique DeSable and he is the Chaplain of Spite, a Time Lord and the son of Morbius; and he and his sister will reclaim their family's lost glory. Holding the others at bay with a stazer, he, seemingly through random commands, manages to land the TARDIS on Gallifrey. The Keeper attacks the Chaplain, whose stazer accidentally discharges. In the confusion, the Chaplain escapes, leaving the Doctor and Benton standing over the burnt corpse of the Keeper. The Doctor keeps Benton from pursuing the Chaplain, due to the chaotic conditions outside the Ship, but he vows to stop his plan. He then laments the Keeper's death, admitting how similar they were to each other. In sudden reaction, the Keeper rises, and removes the burnt remains of his face to reveal the awful truth: The Keeper of the Matrix is in fact the Valeyard...

Far away, the being known as Saraquazel (Millennial Rites) hovers over a region of storming space near a derelict space station. Ignoring a blue box, which approaches the station, Saraquazel prepares to return to his own universe; he has finally found a means to do so thanks to the Guardians. He remains somewhat unsettled to have learned that his home is not in fact the next universe after the Doctor's own, but simply an attached pocket dimension at the end of his universe, yet the Guardians have assured him that as long as the Doctor's cosmos exists then so will Saraquazel's. Saraquazel enters the passageway to his home...and finds nothing, nothing but the grey. He fades away into the emptiness...

The Doctor and Valeyard are not pleased to meet again, and the Valeyard refuses any help from the Doctor at first. However, due to the Chaplain's interference, the TARDIS begins to destabilize and the Valeyard reluctantly accepts the Doctor's assistance, although he insists nothing has changed between them. With Benton enlisted to monitor the TARDIS' condition, the Doctor and the Valeyard set out on repairs...

Meanwhile, Paul Kairos awakens in the Six-Fold Realm, and finds it in chaos. The Chronovore feeding grounds are deserted; the Eternal City is in ruins. Paul traces the two races to a cosmic battlefield, where both sides collide in fierce combat, watched over by the Guardians themselves. Paul has a brief encounter with the Celestial Toymaker, who revels in the great game afoot. The Toymaker asks Paul to send the Doctor his worst regards before joining the fray. Paul tries to find the Doctor for help, but another's mind catches his attention...

In 1908, Arlene wakes alone in the dark, and horrified to find her stomach covered in blood. At that instant, Annie enters her room and prepares to take the exhausted Arlene to the mistress of the house...

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor attempts conversation with the Valeyard, to little success; he manages to discover, however, that the Valeyard became Keeper of the Matrix when, after the Doctor had escaped the malfunctioning particle disseminator in the Fantasy Factory, the true Keeper had arrived and the Valeyard possessed his form. Outraged, the Doctor condemns the Valeyard's callous disregard of life; the Valeyard responds that he had believed the Keeper was the Doctor. Benton then notices an alarm and the Doctor and the Valeyard investigate: on a monitor screen, an image of Abbadon infecting the Matrix appears. For some reason, the virus appears to be constructing a space/time tunnel from the Matrix to Earth in 1908...

In Clacice's cellar, Mel sits within an energy field. She resolves not to wait for rescue. She remembers the TARDIS telepathic homing device that Doctor gave her and she sends a distress signal to him...

...this passes through the Six-Fold Realm within Paul’s reach. He catches the telepathic message, listens, and locates its recipient...

…and in the TARDIS, the telepathic circuits flare and Paul speaks to the Doctor about Mel. The Doctor understands Paul's current transformation, but asks to be able to send a reply via Paul. Paul decides to do even better and opens a visual link between the TARDIS and Mel's prison. The Doctor and Mel exchange information, and he learns of the 1908 McKenzie-Trench, his book of quantum mnemonics, and Madame Clacice. Clacice herself suddenly overpowers the connection, casting Paul back to the Six-Fold Realm, and speaks to the Doctor. She informs him of her family's pursuits, and the Doctor realizes that the mother of Clacice and the Chaplain as a renegade member of the Sisterhood of Karn, and an old enemy (Lady Peinforte). Unworried, the Doctor promises to rescue Mel and thwart both Claice and her brother and cuts off the communication. The Valeyard is furious that the Doctor terminated a potentially valuable conversation; the Doctor replies that they know all they need to rescue Mel and attack their enemies. The Valeyard, disenchanted with his counterpart's attachment to his companions, refuses to assist the Doctor anymore and goes off into the Ship to spend his last moments alone, free from the Doctor. Benton offers to go after the Valeyard to appeal to anything left of the Doctor within him. Meanwhile, the Doctor has the inspiration to build a time corridor between the TARDIS and Earth, 1908. Yet, even as he begins, across time and space both McKenzie-Trenches mumble to themselves that the final fate of the Breakdown and the twin Doctors is inevitable...

Even as Mel promises Clacice that the Doctor will make good on his certainty to rescue her, Paul flails back to the Six-Fold Realm, only to find that he has attracted the attention of the Chronovores. Meanwhile, the Valeyard wanders the crumbling halls of his TARDIS, cursing his relationship to the Doctor. Benton arrives and tries to persuade the Valeyard to return, but the Valeyard refuses to listen, and ventures into a dis-used and burnt room, which the Valeyard recognizes with disgust as a version of the Doctor's wardrobe room. Benton follows him there, and in further arguing the Valeyard looks at a mirror and sees himself for the first time without the Keeper's face. Suddenly, the image in the mirror dissolves and the mirror itself disappears, revealing a hidden alcove, in which the Valeyard discovers an off-white three-piece Edwardian suit and cane. The Valeyard then finds himself dressed in the suit and the mirror restored. The TARDIS begins to shudder and the Valeyard realizes the Doctor's plan and rushes back to the console room, leaving Benton to mourn the Valeyard's lost soul. As he departs, another shadowy figure follows after him...

On Gallifrey, the Chaplain of Spite revels in the destruction he has unleashed, and remembers his childhood with his sister and their parents, Morbius and his Lady. He recalls their final moments together on Karn, and how his Mother revealed a future War far greater than Morbius's battle, in which he and his sister would play an important role. Leaving both her children with an amulet as a gift, the Mother took the Chaplain's sister to safety from the Time Lords, leaving DeSable with Morbius. However, the Chaplain fled at the first opportunity, and searched the Universe over for clues to his future destiny, finally discovering his role as Fate's Champion. Arriving at Caliban, he attempted to use their computer resources to construct Abbadon, but found he could not handle the quantum mnemonics alone, but then he remembered the power of his mother's amulet, and opened its powers. In the present day, the Chaplain enters the ruined Panopticon, confident of his victory...

The Doctor completes the time corridor, but finds it is too unstable to travel. Nevertheless, he decides to cross anyway, but just before he can, the Valeyard, with Benton close behind, returns, and offers to go in his place, citing his far stronger constitution. The Doctor is very skeptical, but agrees, knowing that he ultimately would never survive the trip. The Valeyard locks down his Ship's systems and departs to 1908, leaving the Doctor to discuss his feelings with Benton. Benton asks if the Doctor knows what the Valeyard is, but what the Doctor knows is what the Master told him at the Trial. However, the Doctor makes the connection that the Valeyard is much like the Watcher from his earlier regenerations, albeit much more individual and malignant. The Doctor wonders what power could have twisted any part of him so fundamentally, just as he discovers on the TARDIS time scanner that the Valeyard's timeline is in fact a time loop...

Back in 1908, George wakes up and call out to Mel, remembering the books' awakening. He sees the book glowing with power and tries to throw it from his room, but the power of the book enters him, overpowering his mind and covering his skin in mnemonic symbols. Annie arrives and summons George to the cellar...

In the Six-Fold Realm, as he sees the Multiverse beginning to collapse, Paul tries to escape the Divine Host, but they force him into the Lux Aeterna itself...

In 1908, the Valeyard emerges from the time corridor not far from Hilsey Halt. He keys the corridor's energy signature into a wrist bracelet to ensure a speedy departure, but nearly collapses in agony as he feels the Breakdown's effects on local space-time...

In the Valeyard's TARDIS, the Doctor and Benton examine the datacube found on Caliban, and find that the program version of Abbadon is different than the one which attacked Gallifrey. McKenzie-Trench wakes and confirms they are the same virus, and the Doctor and Benton are surprised to find the George covered in quantum mnemonics. George reveals that he is in fact constructed from the mnemonics themselves, formed by Morbius and his consort to help in their conquests. To protect their children, and aid in their future destiny in the Breakdown, Morbius' wife spilt the mnemonic construct into two parts, both of which were eventually activated by the Chaplain and Clacice as their respective Georges. At that moment, the George in the TARDIS reacts to what is happening to his other self in 1908; he sees the Book, and monsters rising in a storm...

The Valeyard arrives at Hilsey Halt, and finds the entire house enveloped within a powerful force field, surrounded by what appears to be angels or monsters falling through its light...

Inside the house, Clacice prepares to sacrifice Arlene upon an altar, while Mel watches from within her prison. She briefly gains hope as her George enters the cellar, but quickly loses her rising spirits when she sees her friend covered in mnemonic writing and obeying Clacice's commands. Clacice orders George to start the ceremony...

The Doctor decides he must act, but must know if he can trust his George, given the condition of his other self, which the 9908 counterpart can sense. George reveals that while separate, the two halves of his persona are more susceptible to suggestion (and due to an oversight of their creators, unable to function properly - hence their respective mental blocks), but since the Chaplain has betrayed and abandoned him, this George is completely determined to help the Doctor and defeat their enemies. The Doctor understands, but still cannot grasp why the Chaplain would wish to destroy the Matrix, until George reveals Abbadon is not a destroyer but a container, which removes all living and non-living matter in its grasp and places such into a pocket universe - an eternal living death. The Doctor finally realizes that Abbadon is not destroying the Matrix, but storing it within its personal dimension, but for what purpose? Benton hazards the guess that there is a connection between the Book, the Child and the Virus after all, that perhaps DeSable and Clacice want to build their own Matrix. The Doctor agrees and concludes that the Virus is not only packaging the Matrix but is sending to 1908 to download into the Book Time's Champion. Benton adds the final piece by realizing that Arlene's baby will be the power source to this portable Matrix, and forever a slave to the machine. Just as the Doctor wonders how the day can get any worse, the TARDIS informs him that the Matrix is about to collapse into Abbadon...

Just as Abbadon is about to swallow the true heart of the Matrix, its Soul, it finds itself under some form of attack...

The Doctor knows the Matrix will not give up without a final fight, but he also concludes he must take action or all is lost, for George can sense that the Chaplain - located within the Panopticon - is adding his power to Abbadon, and together they will consume the Matrix at last. The Doctor resolves to confront the Chaplain directly, even while knowing the conditions outside will probably kill him, but he still chooses to act, for why else is he the Doctor? Instructing George and Benton to keep a watch for the Valeyard, the Doctor exits the Ship...

In 1908, the Valeyard advances and starts to push forward through the energy surrounding Hilsey Halt...

On Gallifrey, the Doctor advances through the streets of the Capitol towards the Panopticon, surrounded by the dead of his race. He trips and falls, and seeing himself as the last his kind, he begins to buckle under the pressures of time crushing upon him... Through great pain, the Valeyard weakens and curses his wasted life spent in shadows, but thoughts of beating the Doctor drives him on, past the force field, and into the house. He finds the cellar door, opens it, and decides to descend; all the while knowing he is probably making a grave mistake... The Doctor ignores his fears and rises up, races to the Panopticon and enters. He finds the Chaplain aiding Abbadon via a dimensional portal, and pushes him off the Presidential pedestal. The Doctor prepares to use his Sonic Screwdriver to summon the Presidential Coronet and isolate the Matrix. Through the Chaplain’s dimensional portal he sees and speaks to Abbadon itself, who laughs at the Doctor's efforts and reveals that its actions are authorized by the highest authority. Abbadon decides to show the Doctor someone who agrees on this point. Abbadon shows the Doctor the cellar of Hilsey Halt...

...where George begins to read from Time's Champion, summoning all of the most terrible monsters from before Time began. Suddenly, the Valeyard emerges from the shadows and brandishes at Clacice a weapon - his version of the Sonic Screwdriver, the Harmonic Disseminator- but instead of rescuing Mel, he wants Time's Champion for himself...

The Doctor knows true betrayal, even as the Chaplain attacks him from behind with his powers, stopping the Doctor's hearts. DeSable takes the Screwdriver and prepares to summon the Coronet, not to isolate the Matrix, but to embrace it, and fulfill his family's destiny. Helpless on the ground, makes a final desperate plea, and blacks out...

The Doctor hears a voice urging him not to give up. The voice shows the Doctor a vision of the basement of 1908 Hilsey Halt, where a shadow emerges and interrupts the ceremony: George is rendered unconscious and Time’s Champion bursts into flame, which causes Arlene to relax and the monsters to depart. The shadow accosts the Valeyard and sends him back through the time corridor. As the vision clears, the voice tells the Doctor his injuries are purely psychosomatic, and he must still stand and fight. The voice departs and the Doctor gets up, takes back his Sonic Screwdriver from the Chaplain, and pushes the villain from the pedestal once more. He then finally destroys the Matrix Coronet and isolates the Matrix from outside interference. The Valeyard’s TARDIS arrives and Benton emerges, urging the Doctor to come inside. Benton is about to explain something odd, but the Doctor already knows how a strange shadow had piloted the ship to the Panopticon. The Valeyard is also in the TARDIS, and the Doctor coldly promises to speak with him later. The Doctor decides to re-group and knows there is only one place they can go, they place where it all began…

Paul falls into the Lux Aeterna, but finds himself inside a protective cocoon. There he discovers Kronos, like Paul, was also restored to life by the Doctor’s deal with Sadok and Lilith after destroying the Mad Mind of Bophemeral. Kronos was weak after his revival, and fled to the Lux Aeterna for strength. There he has remembered his true, purpose, to be Life’s Champion, the reason his parents defied all the covenants to create him. Kronos is too weak to take his role, however, and asks Paul to rejoin him. Paul considers his family, and accepts. The two merge and Kronos is reborn. He leaves the Six-Fold Realm to find the one person who can help him, the Doctor…

Back in 1908, Clacice is furious to find that the final pages of Time’s Champion have been wiped clean. George awakens and she coaxes him to re-write the final words, but his mind has been cleared and he refuses to help anymore. Clacice drops the niceties and threatens to kill Mel with the point of an arrow. George pleads for Mel’s life and says Mel can help him write the book as she knows the mnemonics. Clacice agrees, but kills Annie instead to prove her seriousness. George and Mel are re-sealed in the energy barrier, but Mel is not shaken – she has already seen so much death. George wonders what their next move is, and Mel says they should keep writing, but a new story, a story of a Great Kingdom and the woman who ruled there…

In the Panopticon, the Chaplain stirs and discovers the Matrix is out of reach. He knows of one alternative and rushes out of the chamber…

The Doctor has piloted the Valeyard’s TARDIS to Space Station Xenobia, the location of his Trial and where he first met the Valeyard. The station has fallen into disuse and disrepair. The Doctor and the Valeyard, plus Benton and George survey the derelict station and notice the Seventh Door, still in its incongruous place. Suddenly, the Doctor and Valeyard notice footmarks in the dust and as the Trial room doors open, K-9 Mark I appears. For once, the Valeyard is happy to see an old friend of the Doctor, but the metal dog reacts as if he is an intruder and uses his laser ineffectively against the Valeyard. Before a battle can commence, the Doctor calms his former companion. A question arises over who brought K-9 as Leela is not present, having gone to rally the Shobogan Outsiders from Abbadon’s attack. Then Romana steps forward and welcomes the Doctor. All gather within the room, which the Doctor notices is under repairs directed by Vansell and his technicians. Also present are the High Council, Castellan Spandrell,, Commander Maxil, and the Chancellery Guard. Romana takes the Doctor to the opposite alcove, where is he reunited with his TARDIS, which Romana used to get to the Station. The Valeyard also enters the room to use the Station’s remote Matrix access connection. Romana protests the aberrant Doctor’s presence, but the Doctor assures her of how much he needs his alternate close by. At that moment the Valeyard warns them of something trying to break into the Matrix. Romana orders Vansell to activate the restored Matrix screen, upon which appears the Chaplain. Romana orders him to cease all hostility, but the Chaplain mocks and denies her authority, and to bar her from further interference he summons his army from within the Matrix, the corrupted minds of the Time Lord dead…

The Chaplain cuts off all communication to Gallifrey. While the Doctor considers the bleakness of the situation, Kronos arrives and rallies the Time Lords not to give up. Kronos also notices the Valeyard and studies him intently. Romana agrees they must act, but is unsure as to how. Of course, the Doctor has a plan… Meanwhile, Arlene hears Clacice in her mind, urging her to give up her child, which both know is a girl. Arlene refuses, and Clacice, who announces herself as Pain’s Champion, promises to show Arlene her true power until she accepts…

Back at the Station, the Doctor has revealed his plan: construct his own version of Abbadon using the Chaplain’s datacube, which he will send into the Matrix. The two identical viruses will cancel each other out in a tremendous release of energy, which Benton realizes is much like what happened once to the Brigadier, and the threat will be neutralized. The Valeyard understands that the plan could work and rushes back to the Matrix ante-chamber. Romana and Spandrell know the Chaplain will detect the Doctor’s attack. They vow to re-take Gallifrey to stop him and his army and shall travel through the Matrix to the Prime Mover via the Seventh Door. Kronos agrees to form a hyper-real corridor to allow them safe passage. Once finished, he departs to 1908 Hilsey Halt to rescue Arlene and her child. Before he leaves, Kronos whispers to the Doctor a secret about the Valeyard.

Armed with this new information and fighting determination, the Doctor organizes the final plan of attack: while Romana and Spandrell head to Gallifrey and Kronos deals with Clacice, Benton and George will also travel to 1908 via the Station’s Time Tractor to rescue Mel. Vansell refuses to let non-Time Lords use CIA equipment, so the Doctor suggests Vansell accompany them. As George leads Vansell away, Romana asks the Doctor how he intends to deliver the anti-Abbadon into the Matrix. The Doctor volunteers himself. Romana objects – the mission is a suicide. The Doctor knows the risks, but says the stakes are too high to worry about his survival. He intends to pilot his TARDIS into the heart of the Matrix and destroy Abbadon. But Romana finds one flaw in the Doctor’s plan: two people must be present, one to attack Abbadon, and another to destroy its domain, the Matrix. Romana wishes to help, but the Doctor says her place is with her people and he already has another to assist him, his other, the Valeyard. Romana further objects: the Doctor’s plan requires that she transfer her Presidential control of the Matrix to the Valeyard, which she refuses to do. The Doctor counters that she then transfer the authority to himself instead. Without an exit, and appalled that the Doctor must seek the help of his murderous alternate, Romana accepts, but goes to the ante-chamber to confront the Valeyard. She thinks he would kill the Doctor once again were he given the opportunity and the Valeyard does not deny it. At this point the Doctor enters the chamber, coldly furious at his other self. Romana departs, ready to help the Doctor, but she promises, should they all survive this crisis, that the Valeyard shall face trial for his crimes against the Doctor and Gallifrey. Romana departs and leaves the Doctor and the Valeyard alone.

The Doctor and the Valeyard have their long-awaited verbal showdown. The Doctor condemns the Valeyard’s moral hypocrisy; the Valeyard mocks the Doctor’s moral cowardice. The Valeyard says the Doctor if he fears him; the Doctor says knowing the Valeyard has made him stronger. The Valeyard tells the Doctor they will never be the same; the Doctor exhorts the Valeyard to at least explain his motivations. The Valeyard reveals there are beings overseeing the Breakdown, creatures higher than even the Guardians. They are the Gods, the gods of the Time Lords: Time, Life, Hope, Pain, Fate, and Death. To help control the effects of the Breakdown, each will choose their Champions to protect the cosmos from the cataclysmic change. The Valeyard has searched the Matrix for the identities of these champions, and they now know the identities for all the Champions except for Time and Death. But now the Valeyard believes he knows who Time’s Champion is: himself. Suddenly the Valeyard fires his Harmonic Disseminator’s Apocalypse energy upon the Doctor. The Doctor collapses in agony, but begs his other self to stop. The Valeyard refuses – he is the true champion! The Doctor scoffs and reveals what he and Kronos have discovered: the Valeyard is nothing more than lindos, or pure regenerative energy, trapped in a closed time loop. This news shakes the Valeyard, but he is relentless and flees to his TARDIS. The Doctor recovers enough to check what the Valeyard programming into the Matrix access terminal, and he chases after the Valeyard. The Doctor finds him entering his TARDIS. He tries to enter but the doors are locked. Hoping against hope, the Doctor tries his own TARDIS key. Inside his TARDIS, the Valeyard locks onto to Abbadon’s coordinates, not to destroy the virus, but to use it as a conduit to reach the Gods. The Doctor rushes into the Console Room and orders him to stop, but the Valeyard dematerializes. Without warning, the ship begins to self-destruct – Abbadon is attacking! The Valeyard attempts telepathic communication but the virus rejects him and the Valeyard collapses. The TARDIS is breaking apart. The Doctor wants to escape, but first he attempts to rescue his other self. Then he hears the voice of Abbadon, which tells him the Gods are waiting…

The Gods bring the Doctor in their realm, and there he encounters their servant, the Disciple, whom the Doctor finds eerily familiar. One of the Gods, Time – an elfish woman with blue hair and dress with eyes the color of the Time Vortex - then greets the Doctor, and explains to him that the Breakdown is part of the natural progression of the mutliverse. She also congratulates him for being worthy to become her champion. Surprised, the Doctor asks why he has been chosen. Time says there is no one else who she favors. Suddenly, another God, Death, manifests as a pillar black smoke and fire, and chides Time for keeping her greatest secret: that the Valeyard is also a candidate. Death then reveals that when the Breakdown was foreseen, the Gods chose their champions, but when Time chose the Doctor the Gods disagreed. There was a stalemate of opinions as Time would not change her choice and the Gods had to be unanimous. But Death offered an alternative: to create their own Doctor. The Doctor then recognizes why the Disciple is so familiar: he is the Valeyard, or he will be. Death announces the Valeyard’s true identity: he is the stolen energy of the Doctor’s final regeneration, which has been removed and altered by the Gods to serve their purpose and will. The Doctor is mortified by the Gods’ violation of his regeneration cycle, but he forgives Time for her helplessness. The Disciple, however, sees the Doctor has not accepted his championship, and begs Time to take him as her champion. Time refuses, as the real Doctor has always been her only choice. Enraged, the Disciple offers himself to Death, but Death also spurns him; for she also only wants the real Doctor. Furious, the Disciple attacks the Doctor, but Time removes the Doctor from her realm and tells him the final choice is his. The Doctor finds himself back in the Valeyard’s dying TARDIS. He picks up the still-unconscious Valeyard and uses the remains of the console to shift them to the same location in his own TARDIS Console Room. Once safe, the Doctor places the Valeyard upon a chaise lounge to recover and laments the Valeyard’s mock-existence as a discarded simulacrum. The Doctor exits the TARDIS and tells Romana to go – practically no time has passed for her – and she leads her forces through the Seventh Door…

Back in 1908, Benton, George, and Vansell arrive at Hilsey Halt, but cannot get past the powerful forcefield surrounding the building. Then Kronos arrives but even he, in his still weakened condition, cannot breach the barrier. Meanwhile, Benton, George, and Vansell are attacked by several zombies, hybrids of the animals and humans Clacice has slaughtered in her magical rites. Within the house, Clacice demands the 1908 George and Mel finish their writing, and Mel indeed completes her task, but instead of writing Time’s Champion, George has written the story of the Great Kingdom, the alternate London accidentally created by Ashley Chapel in 1999, as Mel once again transforms into Melaphyre the Majestrix, a woman more than a match for Clacice’s powers. As the two sorceresses fight, Melaphyre urges George to escape. He does, but leaves Time’s Champion in the basement. George rushes upstairs and exits Hilsey Halt, and discovers the zombie attack outside. There he sees his other self; the two Georges touch hands across the barrier, and the ‘real’ George McKenzie-Trench is born, the Mnemonic, a being of pure quantum mnemonic energy. The Mnemonic easily dissolves both the barrier and the zombies, thus rescuing Benton and Vansell. Benton wants to rescue Mel, but the Mnemonic warns them of the unborn Kairos child’s growing power and instead sends them back to 2008. The Mnemonic then confronts Kronos, whose increasing attacks on the barrier have awakened the consciousness of his child and re-started the massive temporal distortions. The Mnemonic asks Kronos what he feels is the best way to save Arlene and the child, and Kronos concludes there is only one person that can save the Kairos family…

Inside Hilsey Halt, Melaphyre is beating back Clacice, but the Time Lady is drawing power from his wounds while Melaphyre is slowing weakening. She decides a new strategy and blocks Clacice’s pain receptors, rendering the woman unable to pain at all. Clacice is stunned, but at that moment the Kairos child’s temporal distortions resume and Melaphyre feels herself being pulled away from 1908. Before she dematerializes, Melaphyre grabs hold of Time’s Champion and the books leaves with her. Clacice quickly takes Arlene and rushes to the central idol of her sanctum. The idol is in fact her mother’s TARDIS, and Clacice follows after her prize…

Inside the Matrix, Abbadon detects Romana’s forces and destroys the Matrix bridge, but not before Romana pulls her troops through to the Prime Mover. There the Chaplain and army are waiting. They surround Romana and Spandrell’s army, and the Chaplain decides to remove Romana’s hearts to provide him the necessary Presidential biomass to command the Matrix. Suddenly, K9 arrives (whom Romana had sent through the Seventh Door earlier) and distracts the Chaplain long enough until the Shobogans, armed with looted CIA weaponry, reach the Prime Mover and launch a surprise attack on the Chaplin and his shadow army. Romana and Spandrell’s forces then join the fray. The battle is fierce with both sides evenly matched. Eventually Romana makes her way to the main Matrix access terminal, but the Chaplain attacks her and prepares to remove her hearts. But Romana has already acquired the Matrix’s telepathic command circuits, and with them she uses her emergency powers to elect the Doctor as President of the Time Lords…

Inside an empty void, the Valeyard sees Death, who tells him of how the Doctor has stolen his championship, and what he must do to gain his revenge…

Inside the TARDIS, the Valeyard wakens. The Doctor welcomes the Valeyard as he makes the final preparations for his plan, which is in fact not to create a copy Abbadon, but to absorb the heart of Matrix into himself and lure Abbadon to consume his TARDIS. At that moment, he will unlock the space-time coordinates of the ship and detonate it and Abbadon outside of the multiverse. The Valeyard admires the sheer scope of the Doctor’s plan, but notes the Doctor needs special control over the Matrix to absorb its power so completely. At that moment Romana’s telepathic transfer completes and the Doctor regains the Presidency and total Matrix control. The Doctor sets the coordinates for Abbadon and the TARDIS passes through the Seventh Door and enters the Matrix. As the ship reaches its final destination, the Valeyard asks the Doctor how he can help, and the Doctor asks for the quantum mnemonic codes the Valeyard, as Keeper, had promised him – they are the best way to keep the Doctor alive long enough once he absorbs the Matrix’s Soul. The Valeyard freely offers the codes, but the Doctor knows the agreement is just too easy. The Valeyard agrees and releases the codes, blinding the Doctor. In the confusion, the Valeyard attacks the Doctor and proclaims himself to be Death’s Champion, and with her power he will destroy the other Gods and re-shape the multiverse in his likeness. The Doctor tries to reason with his copy, but the Valeyard refuses to listen and invokes quantum mnemonics to force the Doctor into a premature regeneration. Dying, the Doctor tries to use the ship’s telepathic circuits to battle the Valeyard, but the Valeyard has used the regeneration to absorb the Doctor’s essence. The Doctor feels himself slip away…

The Doctor wakes up inside an ancient tree and meets the shadowy figure who has been following him. The figure looks like the Valeyard, and is in fact an echo of the final Doctor, released from his place in the Doctor’s regenerative cycle by the Valeyard’s creation. The other Doctor tells the Sixth Doctor that he has diverted his mind here to the Matrix to save him from the Valeyard’s take-over of his bio/timeline. The two Doctors know they must stop the Valeyard before he absorbs the Doctor’s final lifetime, and the other Doctor posits that since the Doctor’s body is still regenerating in the TARDIS, then a second, counter regeneration would undo the process. The Sixth Doctor does not know where he can access more regenerative energy, but the other Doctor volunteers himself. The Sixth Doctor objects; such a sacrifice would destroy the other Doctor. The other Doctor is willing to give up his life, since he should never have been ‘alive’ in the first place. The other Doctor assures the Sixth that his sacrifice will also restore the gap in the Doctor’s regenerative cycle emptied by the Valeyard’s creation. The Sixth Doctor laments that the other Doctor will be totally erased – whatever form the final Doctor eventually takes will be totally different. The other Doctor accepts the price, and commends his Sixth incarnation for being the strongest link of them all. Just as the Valeyard moves between the Doctor’s twelfth and final regenerations, the two Doctors shake hands and the unregeneration begins…

The Doctor’s mind returns to the TARDIS and rejects the Valeyard. At that moment Abbadon swallows the TARDIS, but the Doctor’s super-control of the Matrix withstands the assault and protects the ship. The Valeyard tries to re-take the Doctor but he finds he can no longer enter his mind – the Valeyard is separated from the Doctor forever. The Valeyard tries to murder the Doctor but the Doctor uses his powers to draw them both into the Matrix, in fact the same beach where he and the Valeyard confronted each other before. The Doctor accuses the Valeyard of attempted murder-suicide in the first degree and multiversal genocide. The Doctor vows to stop the Valeyard once and for all. The Valeyard vows to destroy the Doctor and he takes his true, dark-Watcher form. The Valeyard and the Doctor do battle across the Matrix and finally reach the remains of the Fantasy Factory. There, the Valeyard opens a chasm into a deep abyss, into which the Doctor nearly falls. But then, in a totally unpredicted act, the Doctor chooses to let go. The Valeyard tries to stop him and fall in as well. As both fall into the chasm, the Doctor summons his TARDIS, onto which he falls for safety. He tries to reach the Valeyard but he misses and the Valeyard falls…

…lands inside an ancient tree, the repository of the Doctor’s memories. There he sees a mirror, in which he sees himself. He smashes the mirror and touches the other side, but has forgotten how the Disciple, fleeing his Gods, also once discovered a mirror, in which he saw himself. The Disciple also smashed the mirror and touched the other side…

And the Valeyard creates and destroys himself.

The resulting explosion of temporal power engulfs the Matrix and floods the TARDIS, which creates a copy TARDIS. The copy TARDIS falls backwards in time… ''The Master is thrown out of the Matrix by the thrust of the conflating time zones. In returning to the normal universe he finds he has brought with him what came through the mirror: a false TARDIS, and a false Doctor. The Master wonders at how the High Council and the CIA will react to this development, but he feels secure he shall have his day in court with the Doctor. After all, who else could be the Doctor’s Valeyard?''

With the Valeyard undone, the real TARDIS bursts through Abbadon and the Doctor uses his Presidential powers to expel the virus from the Matrix. Withered and decimated, Abbadon returns to its point of origin: Caliban, 9908. The virus’s fall destroys Jorvic Chen and his Cybermen allies. Back on Gallifrey, the expulsion of Abbadon recalls all of the minds and Matrix-Time released by the Chaplain. The backwash also restores all of Gallifrey to its proper condition. As the Time Lords celebrate, Romana gives K9 Mark I leave to return to Leela. As a parting statement, K9 offers to help Romana’s version re-acclimatize to N-Space conditions, should the other unit ever feel inadequate. Spandrell informs Romana that the Chaplain has disappeared, and a type 97 TARDIS is missing. Romana knows there is only one place DeSable can be headed…

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor detects DeSable’s flight path back to Earth, 2008. He sets off to follow, but the TARDIS lands instead over a frozen lake. Death greets the Doctor and congratulates him for defeating the Valeyard. She confirms the earlier Valeyard and his TARDIS will be discovered by the Master, who will use their existence to his own advantage during the Doctor’s trial. The Doctor cares nothing for what Death has to say, but is shocked when Death announces her true champion: Mel. The Doctor demands an explanation, and Death happily says she can choose whomever she wishes to serve her; she cannot help if the Doctor’s friend has become so accustomed to death. Death offers the Doctor three options. First, he can accept the power of Time’s Champion and try to save Mel, but if he does that Death will kill both him and Mel. Second, the Doctor does nothing and watches Mel spread Death wherever she travels. Third, Mel is freed on one condition: that the Doctor becomes Death’s Champion. The Doctor knows he must save Mel and accepts Death’s championship. Death welcomes the Doctor to her side and disappears. The Doctor considers his future and journeys on to Hilsey Halt…

Mel awakens in the basement. She remembers being Melaphyre, but that life has passed away once more. Then Clacice emerges from her TARDIS and holds Arlene at arrow-point. She demands to have Time’s Champion, but is attacked by an unseen assailant. The newcomer is Paul Kairos, whom Kronos has re-created him to help save his wife and child. Mel and Paul only have the upper hand for a moment before the Chaplain emerges from the shadows, armed with his stazer pistol. But the balance of power shifts once again when Benton, armed with a Cyber-rifle, and Vansell, armed with a Dalek gun (both taken from Benton’s UNIT storage), also jump out of hiding. The stand-off breaks when the Doctor comes down the stairs and takes Time’s Champion from Mel. The Chaplain and Clacice try to lure the Doctor to join them, but he condemns the Chaplain and Clacice as the Children of Contempt. He then proclaims himself to be Time’s Champion and writes his own ending to the story. Time’s Champion ceases to exist in a flash of blinding light. When the light clears, the Chaplain and Clacice – plus their TARDISes – are gone. Arlene, moribund, starts to wilt, but then both Kronos and the Mnemonic appear. They say the child is Hope’s Champion and must survive, but still needs the anchor to exist in this reality. The Mnemonic offers to sacrifice himself to provide that anchor. He does so, and as Kronos and the Doctor, Life and Time’s Champions, assist, the Kairos child, a girl, forms in her parents’ arms. Kronos bids his ‘brother’ Paul and his family a final farewell and warns the Doctor of the dark future ahead of him before returning to the Six-Fold Realm, but not before sending Vansell back to Gallifrey. Outside the house, a UNIT helicopter arrives, and with it are General ‘the Brigadier’ Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and Mike Yates, ready for Benton’s birthday party.

In time many more birthday guests arrive and they spend three memorable days together. Paul and Arlene travel to a nearby hospital. To Mel’s delight they name their daughter Christina Melanie Kairos. At the end of the reunion, Benton decides to use Bessie, which he cares for these days, to take Yates and the Brigadier back to UNIT HQ. He thanks the Doctor for all his help, and confides to him that he is the first in the Benton family to reach seventy. The Doctor wishes his friends all a long life. As Benton leaves, he realizes the Doctor has not said he will see him again…

On Gallifrey, Romana previews her current assignments, including dealing with Professor Rigen’s TARDIS pilot program and motioning the High Council to abolish the position of Keeper of the Matrix. the Doctor telepathically restores Romana’s presidential authority, but she glimpses his thoughts and is shocked by what he is about to do…

Mel is furious when the Doctor locks her out of TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor knows what he must do, but cannot bring himself to involve Mel. At the same time, he cannot bear to face his future alone. He hears a voice – Hope’s Champion – who tells him he can have it both ways, at least for a little while. The Doctor opens the doors and Mel is struck by her friend’s clear anguish. The Doctor agrees to tell her what happened to him, but first he shows her a room she has never seen before, a room or unimaginable beauty. The Doctor says this is Gallifrey, how and when is unimportant. He says he sometimes comes here when he needs strength, a time like now. The Doctor tells Mel everything and she races out of the room, leaving him alone in the beauty of memory.

Sometime later Mel leaves her room, dressed in a pink and white outfit. She finds the Doctor in the Console Room, back on the exerciser. She thanks the Doctor for he has ever done for her and then cheerfully starts to skip rope. The Doctor asks her to stop. He then tells her a story one where there was no Breakdown, no trip to Gallifrey, no Gods, and no Champions. Their old story is ending but a new one takes its place, one where Mel still will travel with the Doctor, just not the same one. Mel feel herself slip away and she starts skipping again. The Doctor sets the TARDIS into flight one final time but the ship slams to a sudden halt and he bangs his head on the console. The Doctor hopes Mel remembers something other than that, but she is already sleeping. Death then appears, furious. The Doctor says he has saved Mel as Time’s Champion. Death tries to kill Mel but she is outside of time in a newly-forming overwritten timeline, the timeline which she will remember when she awakens. Death tries to attack the Doctor but he wards her off with his own symbol, the mark the Valeyard would have used to destroy the other Gods. Death still claims the Doctor’s life for his betrayal, which he agrees is forfeit. But he can still regenerate. As the Doctor activates the telepathic circuits and prepares to regenerate himself, Death vows to hunt down his next life until destruction. The Doctor promises to defy her each and every step of the way. The TARDIS re-starts and expels Death once and for all. Then the Doctor’s sixth regeneration begins…

The Doctor speaks to the five who came before. All offer their thoughts on his upcoming burden, but the first declares an agreement. Then a new, white being emerges. The Doctor goes to meet him…

The Doctor finds himself within a white room with no doors where Time is waiting. She congratulates him, and shows him a vision of his next life’s challenges, including a young girl lost on an ice world. Time says when the Doctor meets this girl he will know his time as a Champion has truly begun. The Doctor wonders as to the purpose of the windowless room, which Time indicates is a refuge for his sixth life’s memory in case Death should attack him – she has been cast out of the Gods’ presence and is hunting him. Nevertheless, the Doctor has earned the Gods thanks for saving them, and Life may want the Doctor as a future Champion. As the Doctor grows faint, Time whispers to him one last secret, the real reason she chose him. The reason shocks the Sixth Doctor so deeply he awakens and speaks his final words:

“You want me to become a god?”

The Sixth Doctor falls as the TARDIS crash lands upon a planet already chosen, a place ideal to hide the true circumstances of his regeneration. He hears the TARDIS doors open and a woman’s familiar voice call out: “Leave the girl; it’s the man I want. Take him to my laboratory.” And then, with a final, happy smile, the Sixth Doctor regenerates…

…and Time’s Champion, the Seventh Doctor, is born.

Elsewhere, in the forgotten darkness of the Matrix, in a burnt out shell of a time ship, voices whisper and shadows collect dust. The faint echo of a mind is plucked from the dead core of the time ship and planted into the dust. The dust forms a body. The body becomes a man. The man remembers, everything. The Valeyard is dead but the Ripper will never rest. Madness claims him and he laughs in despair as his tearful eyes search for a way out of the darkness…

Continuity
Laying the issue of canon and continuity to one side, the authors of this story use the Valeyard, who had first appeared in DW: The Trial of a Time Lord. An alternate version of the Valeyard appeared in DWU: He Jests at Scars.... The authorial intent is the Valeyard of this story is the version from the television story.

The sixth Doctor’s vision of his future includes a fleeting glimpse of Cybermen in a graveyard, (DW: The Next Doctor).

Timeline
Although this is a non-canonical work published without the permission of the BBC, the authorial intent was that it occurred after BFA: The Wishing Beast before/concurrent to: PDA: Spiral Scratch