DISCOVERY AT SEVENTEEN

Max Headroom/Doctor Who Discovery at Seventeen

by Axel Ingleson

Disclaimer: Max Headroom and Doctor Who belong to their respective owners and creators. I am merely borrowing them and their friends for the duration of this fanfic. Thank you.

-Chapter One: The Gift-

Bryce Lynch's seventeenth birthday had been a very quiet one. He'd had a small celebration courtesy of Blank Reg and Dominique at Big Time which Edison and Theora had taken him to. Reg had long since forgiven the trouble Bryce had gotten him into during the zipping incident. To show there were no hard feelings,
he'd given Bryce a rare old book. Bryce, who understood how important such things were to Reg, smiled..

"Thanks, Reg," he told the old Blank as he accepted it graciously.

"Reg," Dominique coughed around a freshly lit cigarette. "Don't forget the other gift."

"Right," Reg said, reaching for the top of the small refrigerator and taking down a small cylindrical package.

Bryce opened it in curiosity. It had to be some kind of tool judging by the weight and shape.

"What is it?" Edison asked as Bryce finished removing the wrapping paper.

It was silver with a small blue light on one end which was currently unlit. There seemed to be some kind of chamber just below the light, but Edison couldn't see it clearly enough to guess what it might be used to hold.

"A man I met a few days ago asked me to deliver it to Bryce on his seventeenth birthday," Reg told him. "He said Bryce would understand how it works."

"I've never seen anything like it," Bryce admitted. "But it seems simple enough to understand."

"Bryce, the universe is simple to you," Theora pointed out.

"True," Bryce agreed, cheerfully.

"Except woomen, perhaps?" Edison suggested.

"Oh, I don't usually spend much time with women," Bryce admitted.

"I'm sure we could fix you up with..." Theora began, but Dominique cut her off.

"I think he's got somebody else in mind," the Blank woman told Theora, casting a glance in Edison's direction.

"Edison's too old," Theora whispered, concernedly. "Should we really let Bryce get his heart broken when Edison tells him so?"

"Yes." Dominique told her. "It'll be good for him. Best that it happen amongst friends. It's all part of growing up."

In time, Edison decided it was getting late.

"It's almost ten thirty," he said. "Bryce has work in the morning as do Theora and myself."

"Thanks, again, Reg. Dom," Bryce told them. "I'd stay a bit longer, but these two won't be able to function if they don't get some sleep."

Reg gave a chuckle and saw the trio to the door of the pink bus.

Edison hadn't been driving more than two blocks when the car's engine sputtered and ground to a halt.

"You have got to be kidding me," he said, kicking the car as soon as he saw what was under the hood. Gritting his teeth, he began to work furiously on the broken part of the engine.

Bryce got out of the car and joined Edison.

"Get back in the car, Bryce," Edison scolded. "It's not safe out here. I'm not going to have the last hour of your seventeenth birthday be the last moment of your life."

Bryce took out the object Reg had given him. Or rather, that a mysterious stranger had asked Reg to give him. He pointed it at the bit of engine that Edison had been struggling with and slid the switch that was imbedded in the handle.

Edison rolled his eyes. There was no way that was going to do the trick. Bryce hadn't even touched anything with whatever it was he was waving about.

"Should work now," Bryce said, re-pocketing the device and getting back into the car."

As it was still Bryce's birthday, Edison decided to humor him. He got into the car and turned the key. To his amazement, the car started, the motor purring even more smoothly than it had before.

He drove back to Network 23 while Bryce sat silently in the back, looking out the window and wondering where the man was who had given him the remarkable gift.

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