And then, like a reflection, space-time settled back into itself.
Eloise breathed a sigh of relief. There was now only one of each of them, all huddled together like sheep, with the cohesiveness of water molecules in an ordinary drop of water, instead of a steam cloud.
Thomas Kelly’s hand inched out of his pocket, reaching for something he’d never seen before (he only wanted a closer look). The fourth Doctor slapped his wrist.
Eloise breathed another sigh of relief.
“In the name of High President Rassilon, you are all under arrest!”
The eighth Doctor drew his hands down over his face. “Look,” he said. “We’ve already been through this Rassilon knows how many times. So could you just stop with the repetitive threats, and do whatever it is you’re going to do with us, because right now I need time to think!”
Something about the object on the floor was niggling at the eighth Doctor’s mind. He’d seen it somewhere before, he was pretty sure, and it was some time in this incarnation. Now, if he just had a little more time…
Lord Gallifrijan shrugged. “Very well. But first…” He beckoned to one of his guards. “Take that into safe keeping; Lord Rassilon will wish to examine it…”
Gingerly, the guard picked up the strange object. Nothing happened, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief. Continuity had finally settled down; there was now one single, consistent past.
…of course, given the way things were going, there might not be a present for much longer.
Gallifrijan gave Eloise, Fitz, and Compassion an assessing look. “And it occurs to me, given the source of our temporal ‘quick fix’, that that…” (he gestured at Compassion) “…is not a ‘musical android’… A time-sensitive entity, here, now…” He smiled to himself. “Yes…”
One of the guards raises his hand. “Err… sir, what should we do with them? We have nowhere to put them…”
Gallifrijan frowned. “Undoubtedly, Lord Rassilon will have noticed such a massive temporal disruption; I shall report to him momentarily, and explain that we have the perpetrators in custody.”
“But we’re not–”
Gallifrijan continued, as if no-one had spoken. “For the time being, however… take them to the Death Zone. Rassilon will decide their fate… in time.”
“Eureka!” cried the eighth Doctor. He’d finally remembered what that object was, what his seventh self was planning, and what the Time Lords wanted with Earth.
Unfortunately, before he could tell anyone else about it, the Death Zone’s Time Scoop was activated, and the swirling black pyramid swallowed everybody up.
As the seventh Doctor walked along the corridors of the Capitol, he paused and frowned at a sudden memory. “Oh dear… Well, that’s what you have contingency plans for, I suppose…”
He walked on, whistling ‘La Dolce Vita’. Everything was beginning to fall into place. Now for the Matrix…
You’ve fitted a Randomiser to your TARDIS. Your TARDIS also contains the Goddess of Discord. Said TARDIS and Goddess have just been swallowed up by a Time Scoop.
It’s safe to say that whatever happens next will be completely unexpected.