THE ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S AMAZING HAND

Chapter Forty Six

"Here it is," the Doctor said as they entered a large room.

In the center of it was the aging machine. He noticed that a panel on the side of it was hanging open. He looked around at the walls and found the light switches. He turned them on, knowing that no one from the outside could see the light since there were no windows. Rose followed him as he walked to the open panel. Behind the machine was another book with a drawing of the machine and some notes. The Doctor turned off his torch and put it back in his pocket before he grabbed the book. Rose set John down and they walked around the machine while the Doctor took the book over to a nearby metal table and began to peruse the notes.

"This can age you?" Rose said, touching the side of the machine.

"Yup," the Doctor said as he read. "Lazarus tried it and it went pear shaped when he aged back to his twenties. Activated a dormant strand of DNA and turned him into a monster."

"And you want to get inside?" Rose said. "What if that happens to you?"

"I don't think so. I'm Time Lord, not human. Right now, I'd rather be a scorpion creature than a feeble old man."

"Scorpion, it turned him into a scorpion?" Rose said to John.

John nodded and Rose made a face. She looked at the Doctor when he said, "Aha!" He turned to her triumphantly waving a schematic.

"They have a diagram that explains the wiring nestled inside this book. Now I don't have to guess. Don't you love it when humans leave things for me to find?" he said.

He walked towards her as he studied the diagram. Rose came around to the open panel and the Doctor stood with her, glancing at the diagram and then cross referencing it with the wiring in front of him. He looked from one to the other a few times before he took his screwdriver and began to repair the machine. Rose put her book down on the floor, took the schematic from him and held it up so he could glance at it while he repaired. It took about a half hour before he connected all the wiring back in their original places. He looked from the schematic to the wiring and back again, making sure there were no mistakes before he nodded. Rose lowered the schematic while the Doctor closed the panel. He then walked over to the table, grabbed the book and walked over to the control console by the door. He flipped through the book until he found an entry that talked about what the different buttons on the console did. He pushed one button and the machine came to life, slowly spinning around before it started to speed up. The Doctor pushed the button again and it slowed down and stopped. The Doctor leaned against the console and flipped through the pages of the book, speed reading the information about the machine while Rose walked around and looked at the room with John. When the Doctor called her back, she turned and came back to his side.

"Think I know what to do now," he said to her before he instructed her on what to do.

John stood on the top of the console, watching while the Doctor moved a dial that controlled the age of the subject. The Doc tor used the screwdriver to open up a panel at the front of the console. He pulled out his torch and checked the wiring, making sure everything was hooked up and nothing looked out of place. Satisfied that everything was in working order, he shut the panel and stood up.

"Well, here goes nothing," he said to Rose.

"Doctor, be careful. I don't want you turning into a scorpion monster."

The Doctor kissed her and she wished him luck.

"Once I'm inside, hit the button," he said to her. "It should stop when I reached my proper age. If not…well…I hope you're good at changing nappies, Rose Tyler."

He picked John up.

"Wish me luck," he said to John.

Good luck, Daddy.

"Daddy? Yeah, I guess so," he said while Rose and John laughed.

He put him down and Rose watched with trepidation while he walked over, opened the door in the front and climbed inside.

"Here goes nothing," Rose muttered when the door shut and she pushed the button.

The machine slowly spun around and then speeded up. Rose shielded her eyes when a bright light enveloped the outside. John stood beside her on the console, hoping his friend would be alright while the machine spun around and around. Then the machine slowed and came to a stop as the light faded. Rose took her hand away from her eyes and watched anxiously with John. The door opened and Rose felt her eyes mist over when the Doctor emerged, his old self again. The Doctor looked at his hands, felt his face and her grinned from ear to ear. He caught Rose when she ran into his arms and held her tightly as he spun her around.

"Oh, God," Rose said, wiping a tear of joy away, "I can't believe it worked."

"I can because I repaired it," the Doctor said smugly.

Rose gave him a playful swat on the chest before the Doctor held her tightly. She laid her head against his chest, giving silent thanks to God that he was back to normal. Once they were through hugging, the Doctor let go of her and bent down when John walked up to him.

"One problem solved, my friend, now we have to sort you out," he said, patting his back.

Rose picked up the book from the lab and smiled when the Doctor gave her a loving look. He beckoned for her to follow him and he walked over to the table. Rose set the book down and the Doctor began at the beginning, speed reading through it, trying to learn what he could about the clone in the cage and what they'd done to clone him.

"What?"

Rose glanced at the Doctor when he muttered and saw the disbelieving look on his face.

"What is it?" she said.

"When I was the Master's captive, he told me that he wanted to make Earth into a new Gallifrey," he said to her. "This clone is the first of a race of new Time Lords but they would be obedient to the Master. He wanted to use them to try to repopulate Earth with Time Lords and they have an entry here where they considered mating Time Lords and humans to create a hybrid since if they clone me, all they're gonna get is males. The brain surgery was both a vivisection to examine his brain and they're also hoping to fix the clones so they'll be obedient," he said, turning the page. "They could only make one at the moment since they only took one sample from my hand and it says that the hand wasn't available at the moment so they couldn't make more clones. Poor John, if you hadn't escaped when you did, you'd have been torn apart piece by piece for your cells," he said, patting John before turning the page.

"Does it say how they cloned him?" Rose said.

"Yes. And the machine is here apparently but there's still the problem of transferring his consciousness to it. It would be far easier to make the clone from the hand and grow the rest of the body. That way there wouldn't have to be a transfer. Perhaps…"

The Doctor read on. Then he had an idea. He told Rose and John to follow him while he folded down the top of the page he'd been reading and closed it. Rose put John on her shoulder and followed him as he left the room.

"I wanna try an experiement if I can find the cloning device," he said to Rose while they walked. "The prototype is dead and I don't think the machine could revive him so I think it's safe to do the experiment with him."

"What sort of experiment?" Rose said.

"I'm going to cut off the clone's right hand, put it in the machine when we find it and then see if it'll grow the rest of the body back. If it does, we can just put John in the machine and make the rest of him. If it works, my handy little friend, you'll be hand no more."

John could hardly contain his excitement as he rode on Rose's shoulder. He'd just witnessed the miraculous de-aging of the Doctor, he now hoped a similar miracle was in store for him.

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