Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The vacation ended early.

Okay, it was mostly over already, but the TARDIS... well, she did what she normally does.

Ah, but I get ahead of myself somewhat. The vacation had admittedly not been much of one. That was my fault. I was still preoccupied by what I had learned facing the Daleks. That I might be ultimately responsible for the Cracks that plagued many worlds I'd seen. That somewhere on the other end of the Cracks, someone was calling for help.

"The Doctor is dying!!"

Sweet dreams indeed.

Our vacation tour had taken us to Risa. Yes, Risa, and no, we didn't have those wooden trinkets. I'd learned that lesson well enough the last time I was here (and much to the amusement of Korra and Asami, I add). Rather I was showing my Companions what I had brought Korra and Asami to see; the majestic vistas one could find through the judicious use of a floater backpack. With the aid of the floaters, we zipped about an island chain off one of the main continents, enjoying warm sunshine and crisp ocean air from each vista.

And yet, I couldn't keep the concern from occasionally flickering to my face.

We were standing atop a rock formation and looking out over a tropical cove with warm turquoise waters stretching out below. I had put on a blue Hawaiian shirt with flower patterns and matching shorts that almost went to my knees; Liara and Katara were each in blue one-piece bathing suits. "It reminds me of Ember Island," Katara commented.

"Asami said the same thing," I noted.

A small, sad smile crossed her face. "And that stupid Fire Nation play about us." Katara giggled. "They had me crying about hope all of the time."

There was something in her voice. The way her blue eyes glistened. It was clear she wasn't actually as happy as she seemed. Liara gave me a worried look.

"And... they got Zuko's scar on the wrong eye," Katara continued. "And... and they had Toph played by some muscled up guy..." Her voice began to break. "They had a girl playing Aang and Sokka... they actually had him pretty..."

The words stopped, replaced by sobbing. Katara dropped to her knees. Liara joined her and gave her a warm embrace, letting her continue to cry. "I don't think this trip has gone as well as you thought it would," Liara remarked to me.

"I noticed," I sighed. I held up the TARDIS remote. "I suppose we'll need to find somewhere else."

"I'm not sure there is anywhere else," Liara remarked. She stopped while the TARDIS finished VWORPing in, trying to console Katara. Her eyes met mine. "And she's not the only one."

I didn't say anything. "I suppose I've been rather dour."

"The Daleks were probably lying to you," she said. "They were trying to make you doubt yourself."

"Or they were simply stating a fact."

"You can't know that," Liara insisted.

"The Daleks' reputation doesn't lend itself to lying just to make me feel bad," I remarked sullenly. I pushed open the TARDIS door and tromped in. I had my floater unslung before I got to the controls and I tossed it over the rail to the lower level. "I'll go change."




When we were all back in our usual attire, I shifted the TARDIS into the Vortex and looked at Katara's pained expression with sympathy. Helping her recover was proving vastly difficult. She had lost everyone to Xuandi's actions and had ultimately lost her world, literally; her entire timeline was erased by our success against the Dai Li. Only the TARDIS had kept her from joining her timeline in non-existence.

Sometimes I wondered if it would have been kinder to her if she had been removed, erased, or the junior partner in a quantum merging with herself after we thwarted Xuandi.

But I dismissed those thoughts. She was alive, and with that came the hope that one day she'd find peace. Real peace, I mean. I don't really count death as peace. Death is death. It's a sort of peace, but it's an inferior product compared to living peace.

Trust me on that.

"I'm sorry." Katara looked up at us with her tear-reddened eyes. "I ruined it for you."

"Not at all," I assured her. I took a seat beside her. "Truth is, I'm doing this to help you. If somewhere makes you uncomfortable, it's best to just move on."

"I'm not sure where else you could take me to feel better." Katara's brow furrowed. "Where could I go when I've lost everything?"

"Maybe somewhere that will give you a chance to have something new?", Liara proposed. "A new life."

"I don't want a new life!", Katara shouted. "I want my life. I want them back, I..." She broke down crying again.

I exchanged a look with Liara. I had a horrible feeling that this might be beyond my competency. All the while, my hearts ached in sympathy with Katara's woes. She had lost everything... as I had. I simply had the benefit that my abductor or benefactor or whatever you wish to call him or her had seen fit to lock away my memories of that stolen life.

It made me wonder... where there any losses for me to mourn? Dead family and friends? Broken homes? If I ever regained my original memories, would I find that I had voluntarily become this being so I could hide from them?

I tried to be supportive of Katara until her crying ceased again. When it did I patted her on the shoulder. I didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.

The TARDIS rumbled slightly. I narrowed my eyes and looked up to the controls.

Just in time to see the TARDIS engine begin to activate. VWORP VWORP VWORP!

I stood and went to the controls. As I did the TARDIS shuddered. I quickly hit a switch. "That was a disruption in the dimensions."

"A Crack?", Liara asked.

"Yes. A Crack," I answered. "I think I got to the systems in time to shield them. Hopefully we didn't make that Crack worse."

"We should check into it." Katara wiped tears from her face. She looked more focused and determined than before. An enjoyable distraction, one surmises.

"Yes we should," I said. I looked to Liara.

Liara folded her arms. "We are finishing the vacation," she insisted. But I could see in her eyes that she knew this was best. "After we check on this."

"Yes, of course," I assured her, smiling a little. I checked my readings. "Looks like we've set down on an Earth. Early 21st Century, it looks like. Come along."




We stepped out of the TARDIS and were greeted by the sight of a small town. The air was sweet with the smell of the ocean. I secured the TARDIS door and we set out to walk down a road lined with houses. I held up the sonic. "No sign of a Crack here," I said. "Some peculiar energy readings though. Let's keep walking."

We did so. Nobody in the town came up to us as we did, but I supposed it wasn't too strange. We were an interesting ensemble I suppose.

A couple of blocks and we were walking along the beachside boardwalk. "Well, definitely a Yank town," I sighed, noticing a place marked as a restaurant for french fries. "A shame, really. I could go for some nice fish and chips at a seaside pub."

Katara stepped up and looked toward me. "Is it just me, or are people avoiding us?"

I blinked and glanced around. The man at the restaurant we'd just passed was eyeing us warily as he shut his window. I noticed the black eye and bruise on his face as he did so. "Huh," I said. "Interesting. Usually small towns like this are friendly to visitors. Tourism trade and such."

"Something doesn't seem right," Liara remarked. "All of these buildings look like they've taken some damage."

I nodded in agreement and scanned around with my sonic screwdriver. "Well now. Those energy readings are quite a bit stronger." I turned toward a geographically peculiar bluff arising on the beach, the town-side of the bluff showing a nice grass field with a lighthouse at the top. "And they're definitely centered over there."

I heard a young lady call out in panic. "Daddy! Gunga! Get in the back, they're back!" I turned to see another restaurant door close with a young lady of dark brown complexion on the inside. She was in casual clothes and had an arm in a sling; broken, I suppose. I heard the click of the door locking after which she ran for the back of the shop.

Liara and I looked at each other. "I get the feeling we're not welcome," she remarked. "What I want to know is..."

"....why do they recognize us?", I finished for her.

"I want to know why they're scared of us," Katara said.

"Quite the mystery." I looked up. "Unlikely to be related to the cuisine. 'Fish Stew Pizza'? That sounds horrid."

Liara smirked. "You did want fish and chips."

"Doctor, Liara?" Katara pointed to something at the side of the building. "Look."

We walked around to her. On the side of the wall was a poster. It was prefaced as an official notice from the office of one Mayor Dewey, alerting the residents to avoid contact with...

...with us.

The images were clear as day, obviously taken from CCTV recordings. The three of us looking rather hostile and in the midst of attacking people.

We all looked at each other. "I think this explains things," Liara remarked. She activated her omni-tool. "Let me see if I can confirm..."

There was a sound in the air and I felt something wrap around my ankles. A pull of force yanked my legs out from under me and I hit the ground with an "oomf". A rather undignified sound, I agree.

And then I was getting pulled, which meant I was being dragged across ground. Instincts took over. My hand pulled out my sonic disruptor and I twisted my body to point it at the dark purple whip wrapped around my ankles. I triggered Setting 14 and a thermal beam superheated the material and caused it to snap just as I landed in the soft white sand of the beach. I scrambled to my feet and heard Liara and Katara run up behind me. "What the bloody...?!" I held my sonic disruptor ready to create a deflector field.

We were confronted with three figures on the beach. The tallest looked like a woman with a rather carefully crafted Afro that made her head look cube-shaped. No eyes could be seen under her shades. She wasn't Human given the deep purplish-red skin color, matched with an outfit that had a five point star design.

To her right was a shorter figure with a thin build, a long pointed nose and feminine facial features with pale white skin and a pearl-like orb set into her forehead. A sleeveless teal blouse with a yellow star on the chest and turquoise ribbon at her waist was joined with pale yellow shorts and teal footwear over salmon-colored socks.

And to the left was my attacker, given the whip in her right hand. She was short enough to be a child, with a lovely purple skin color and white-purple hair, with a sleeveless black top and light pants set with... a couple of five pointed stars. Yes, clearly a uniform motif. I also detected the same from the purple gem set into her sternum.

"Who are they?", Katara asked me.

"I've no clue," I admitted. Indeed, all I knew was that they clearly weren't Human, at least not normal baseline Human, and that given the jewel-encrusted whip, the spear, and the armored gauntlets the three were brandishing, they were ready for a fight.

The three looked at each other after my remark. "Uh, is this for real?", the short purple one asked me, or rather us. "Did you forget how many times we've kicked your butts?"

"We don't know what you're up to," the pearl-headed one said. "But we're not letting you hurt the people in Beach City, no matter how many times you show up."

"Well, this is rather awkward," I remarked, "because we've never been to this town before. Surely we can discuss...?"

The tall one spoke up, her accent sounding British-Caribbean. "Leave. Now. Or we'll put you down again."

I looked to the others. "Whatever's going on, we can get to the bottom of it without getting into a fight," Liara said. "We should probably leave."

I was about to agree when the decision was taken out of my hands.

I felt it go past my head. A burst of invisible kinetic force in a tight form. Before I could react the force hit the tall one and sent her flying into the waves. "Garnet!", the two cried out.

Garnet proved quite powerful, though. She rebounded quickly from the blast, twisting in mid-air and leaping back at us.

And I do mean right at us. The lady could jump.

And with her gauntlets grasped for a two-handed hammer punch.

We scattered and were still knocked over by the shockwave of sand that erupted from where she brought her fists down. Her compatriots brought up their weapons and came for us as well.

I was suddenly missing the vacation.







Our humanoid assailants were fast. No sooner did I roll back to my feet that I took a blast of energy straight to the chest. It might have hurt more if not for the magically-enhanced armored vest I wore, courtesy of Charity and Molly Carpenter. It sent me flying backward and onto the boardwalk. The thin one with the pearl on her forehead lunged at me with a spear. I barely got the sonic disruptor in time to absorb the blow on my deflector shield.

As I did so I noticed the purple one's whip lashing out toward Liara. It was intercepted in mid-air by water from Katara's bottle. That water whip technique of her's, now in play against an actual whip. The purple one pulled her whip back and growled in frustration at Katara before lashing out at her. Katara had to jump out of the way given the speed of the attack, but she kept her water whip solid and used it to deflect several more attacks.

The big one, Garnet, was on the move again, against Liara. Liara's biotics flashed into existence around her, dispersing her Human disguise to no apparent reaction by Garnet. She used a biotic field to defend herself and followed it up with a bolt that threw Garnet backward.

I tried to focus on the fight overall, but my attacker was quick with that spear, moving with swift grace in her attempts to get around my deflector shield. "Listen, this is a misunderstanding!", I shouted. "We...." I was interrupted by the need to focus on a flanking attempt that nearly succeeded. It was odd fighting like this. Like fencing with an open umbrella, in a way.

I heard a cry and turned to see where Katara was trapped by the purple one's whip and had been smacked into the boardwalk. Her attacker laughed and used a yank of her weapon to bring Katara in for what looked to be a punch. I quickly shifted to avoid my attacker and triggered a Setting 4 kinetic blast to strike Katara's opponent, knocking her over. Katara fell into soggy sand at the shoreline and turned until she was in the surf and loose from the whip, which she cut in half with a blade of ice bent up from the ocean. "Hey!" The purple one frowned at me and reached to the gem on her chest. Light appeared there and coalesced into another whip.

"What is it you want?", my own attacker demanded as she pressed her spear against my deflector shield. "Why do you keep attacking Beach City?!"

"We just got here," I retorted.

"Wohhhhh!"

I glanced over and saw that it was the purple attacker crying out as she was swept back by the waves that Katara was generating with her waterbending. Katara breathed out and the water froze into ice, encasing the purple one.

"Amethyst!" My attacker twisted and directed her spear toward the ice. An energy blast fired from the tip of the spear and shattered the ice holding the obviously-named Amethyst prisoner.

Of course, this opened me up to perform a counter-attack, and I sent another kinetic pulse that drove my opponent - going by the other names I imagined the gem on her forehead meant she was named Pearl - back across the sand. She flipped with the blow and landed on her feet.

Before she could resume her attack I found myself hit by something and sent sprawling. I found myself tangled up with Liara on the sand. We both groaned and I tried to get up, allowing me to see Pearl going after Katara as well and being swept aside by a wave of water drawn up by the movement of one of Katara's arms.

I almost asked where Garnet was when I looked over in time to see her rushing at us with her gauntlets coming down. I brought up the sonic disruptor and triggered a protective field in time to hold back the blow. Pain surged through my arms and shoulders from the reactive feedback and I almost dropped the disruptor. "We don't want to fight!", I shouted.

"They're not listening!", Katara shouted. She retreated further into the surf. This gave her more water to bend. That was a good thing. The bad thing was that it further isolated her in the two on one fight she was facing.

Liara was starting to recover as I absorbed another hit from our attacker. Whatever these gem-themed beings were, the power they had was formidable, and Garnet's punches were giving me more trouble than out of control vehicles had before. Or a sliding-on-ice out-of-control polar bear dog. "Liara, I could use some... help!"

Her hand snapped up as a blow finally knocked the disruptor out of my hand. Biotic energy surrounded Garnet and threw her up into the air over our heads. She landed upside down in a boardwalk shop behind us. The big donut sign started to dip low.

....just as the occupants stepped out of the door under it.

My eyes widened and I quickly grabbed my disruptor. "No!", I shouted. I swung the disruptor back up as quickly as I could and used it to generate a deflector screen between the people and the donut sign starting to fall on their heads. At that range and against that amount of mass I couldn't keep the shield active for more than a few seconds though, and the young people that were coming out of the shop were looking up in surprise and not moving at all. "Liara!", I cried.

She was already moving before I finished calling her name. She jumped up onto the boardwalk and arrived just in time. Her biotic field popped into existence before the sign and debris would have crushed the people who had stepped out of the shop. Liara groaned from inside the field and dropped to her knees. It looked like she had been hurt, and the stresses of generating so much dark matter so quickly was burning away at her constitution.

There was a whistling of air. I turned in time to avoid getting run through from behind by the one I presumed to be called Pearl. She made a quick movement with her spear that batted the sonic disruptor from my hand and her foot caught me with a snap kick that felt like a jackhammer had slammed into my rib cage. Without the Carpenters' vest I would have undoubtedly sustained a broken rib or four. As it was, I fell backward into the sand and could do nothing as the light blue tip of her spear came down on me.

"STOP!"

The shout brought everything to a halt. I pondered its source. High, but evidently the high voice of a preadolescent boy. My attacker and I turned our heads up and saw two small figures coming toward us from the boardwalk. The boy cried out "Stop fighting!"; he had bushy, curly black hair and a pinkish-red shirt with a yellow star on the front with blue jeans and sandals rounding out his garb. He looked a tad on the chubby side, although not outright obese or anything like that. The girl beside him had dark brown skin in contrast to his light Caucasian complexion and a thin, lithe figure; going by the complexion and facial structure I figured her to be South Indian. Tamil, probably.

"Steven!" My attacker held off for the moment and looked to the boy and girl as well. "What are you..."

"Look!" The boy pointed to where Liara was struggling to keep the biotic field up so the donut sign didn't crush everyone around her. "They're not here to hurt anyone!"

"Unnnnh." Liara's hand began to fall.

I looked over to where my sonic disruptor had fallen. I doubted I could do more than delay it for a few seconds again, but maybe....

Just as the biotic field faded, Garnet grabbed the donut sign and lifted it away. With a single heave she threw it about fifty yards onto the beach. She turned back to Liara. Her armored gauntlets turned to light and disappeared, revealing normal hands. One hand reached down to Liara, who accepted it and was promptly pulled to her feet. "Well done."

"Thank you." With her biotics no longer active Liara's holobelt restored her Human disguise.

"Ugh, just what this town needs," one of the people she'd rescued grumbled. Given the big donut on his shirt he was obviously an employee of the establishment; the fact that his ear lobes were more open space than lobe was a peculiar thing. "More weirdness." He got elbowed in the ribs by the short blond woman standing beside him.

Garnet looked toward us. "Pearl, Amethyst, stand down. We need to find out what's going on here."

As I suspected, my opponent was named for the gem in her forehead. She sighed and nodded before pulling the spear away. "I thought we had them this time."

I looked toward the beach. Katara was caught up in Amethyst's whip, but her free arm had Amethyst gripped in an icy fist of ocean water. "How about we call it a draw?", she asked Katara.

Katara didn't quite care as much, so she nodded and gave a dismissive reply of, "Yeah, fine."

"Cool." A look came over Amethyst's face. "You're not going to suck away the ocean, are you?"

Katara blinked. "Uh, no."

"Okay, good. Everyone's really sensitive about that since the last time."

I blinked at that. Just where had we come to? "I think some introductions may be in order," I said while clambering back up onto the boardwalk. Katara made an ice slide to maneuver herself and Amethyst up to join us. Liara stumbled up to join us while Amethyst and Pearl joined Garnet and the children, allowing us to face each other across the boardwalk. "Well, now that we've stopped that little fracas... I'm the Doctor, a Time Lord of Gallifrey, and these are my traveling Companions, Dr. Liara T'Soni and Katara." I reached into one of my jacket pockets and mentally cursed. I'd forgotten the packet of M&Ms again.

"Hi." The boy stepped up and offered me his hand. I knelt down and accepted it. "I'm Steven. Steven Universe. Pleased to meet you."

The girl stepped up and offered her hand too. "I'm Connie Maheswaran."

I accepted the other handshake as well. "A pleasure."

With that done, the lad continued his side of the interaction. "And this is my family, the Crystal Gems." The young lad was quite pleasant as he introduced the three formally, although I'd already realized their names from what was said during the fight.

"So, now that you're not trying to pound us into the sand, can you explain that?" Liara pointed to a warning poster with our faces on it.

"People who look like you have been going around hurting people," Steven explained.

"And no matter how many times we kick their butts, they keep coming back!" This was provided by Amethyst.

I frowned. "No coincidence, then. Something else is going on here."

"Could any of your enemies have found a way to travel in six dimensions as well?", Liara asked me.

I shrugged. "Perhaps. But how many would know to fake you and Katara instead of, say, Korra and Asami, or Katherine?" I shook my head. "I think there's another origin here. Whatever it is, I'd like to get to the bottom of it. Especially since..." I looked to the Gems. "Tell me, did you see who was on the boardwalk behind us when our confrontation turned into a fight? I distinctly felt an energy wave go past me before it struck you, Garnet."

"Well, there were only a few who came out of their stores," Pearl said. "Most of the people were staying indoors. I don't think there was anyone outside."

"Steven and I were up by the lighthouse." Connie shook her head. "We didn't see anything."

"Someone provoked the fight. They wanted us to destroy you." Garnet adjusted the opaque shades over her eyes.

I frowned at that. "Given there is a Crack somewhere on this world, I find that concerning." This was especially true for the fact that the only force to come through the Cracks and encounter Katara with me were the Daleks. A scary proposition to be sure, but it didn't feel quite right to my estimation. This didn't feel to me to be the work of Daleks, although they can be crafty buggers if they needed to be. So I could be wrong.

"Um, excuse me?" Pearl raised a finger. "What do you mean by 'crack'? Is it some sort of spatial tear?"

I nodded. "Yes, although that's hardly enough to describe what it is. It's a crack through six dimensions of space-time, to be precise," I explained. "And beings and forces from my home cosmos have been using the Cracks to invade other cosmoses."

The others, save Garnet, started blinking. Well, I suppose she could have been too behind those reflective shades. "So, uh, what's a 'cosmos'?", Amethyst asked. "Isn't that, like, space and stuff?"

Katara and Liara shared bemused looks while I sighed. "I suppose a quick lesson in multi-dimensional mechanics would be necessary," I sighed. "It's just quite hard to get across some of the ideas. But to start...."

"You're talking about sixth-dimensional locations based around fifth-dimensional clusters of localized space-time that share the same general metaphysical attributes and rules," Garnet answered.

At that I blinked in surprise. "Well, yes, that's the best explanation to put into simple vernacular." I raised an eyebrow. "I'm quite astonished, your people are that versed in multi-dimensional theory?"

"Actually, Garnet probably just saw what you were going to say," Steven supplied with a bit of childlike sheepishness. "She has future vision."

I nodded. "Precognition? Indeed? Multiple timeline potentiality?"

"Something like that," Garnet answered.

Well. That was an interesting ability to have. And not always in the good way. Multiple timeline potentiality, seeing multiple possible futures, can drive beings insane after a while. Especially in what appeared to be the Gems' line of work. Consider seeing multiple futures where some or all of the people you care about get wiped out by a foe while trying to see any future potentiality that lets you beat said foe with no serious loss. Now consider this happening repeatedly.

It was no wonder Garnet was so... stoic, I suppose?

I didn't mention that, of course, opting instead for asking, "I suppose you usually use the river metaphor?"

"It works well."

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?" I noticed Liara's look. "Yes, yes, time to focus on business. We need to find out what's going on h-."

A column of light rose over the boardwalk's buildings, coming from inland. The Gems and their young friends stared in shock. "That's not possible," Pearl said. "Where could that Warp beam be coming from?"

A sick feeling came to my gut. I started running toward the source of the light. The others were following, but how closely I couldn't tell. Not when I was focused on getting to my destination and confirming...

....that the TARDIS had been taken.

I pulled out my TARDIS remote and triggered it.

Nothing happened.

Liara and Katara came up beside me. "They took the TARDIS?!", Liara shouted. "How?"

I had my suspicions and looked to see the Gems running up, the children taking up the rear. "What's wrong?", Steven asked.

"They took my TARDIS," I said. "That column of light must have been the teleportation device they used."

"But they shouldn't have been able to!", Pearl protested. She started looking around the alley. "There aren't any Warp Pads here!"

"Um, excuse me?" A hand went up and I looked toward Connie. "What's a TARDIS?", she asked.

"My timeship," I answered. "It currently looks like a London Police Box."

That answer only seemed to confuse the young lady more. "But aren't those just phone booths? How can they be ships?"

"It's bigger on the inside," Katara answered for me. "Much bigger."

Steven and Connie looked like their eyes were ready to light up. "So it's just like the Temple?!", Steven asked.

"Hrm?" I looked back at him. "What temple?"

"It's where we live!", Steven offered enthusiastically. "And it's really big on the inside. Waaay big."

Thoughts started to go through my head. I looked at the Gems. "Your home has a dimensionally transcendental field?"

"Well..." Pearl looked a little nervously toward Garnet, who said nothing. "I guess you could call it that?"

"Hrm." I smiled at that and brought a hand up. My mind started to race. "Well.... I wonder.... that might work, I'll just...." I pointed a finger toward them. "Might I see it?"

"Uh... I guess?", Amethyst offered. She looked to the others. "I mean, they're not normal Humans, what could be the harm?"

"It's a matter of trust," Garnet pointed out. "We don't know much about these people."

"We know they want to protect people, though." Steven stepped between me and Garnet. "Shouldn't we help them?"

"Well..." Pearl looked toward us and back to Garnet. "We should. Because whoever is behind this wanted to turn us against the Doctor, and we don't know why yet. Or why they want his ship."

"True." Garnet nodded to me. "Alright. We'll show you to the temple. This way."




The temple, as it was called, was built into the cliff at the edge of the peninsula facing the Atlantic. It was clearly thousands of years old. If anything it made me think of Hindu sculptures given the multiple arms of the design.

In the belly of the statue was the obvious entrance. Fairly obvious given the small house built there. "A pleasant looking home," I noted as we ascended the stairs.

"It's my room," Steven answered with bubbly enthusiasm. He opened the door for us. "After you."

"Quite courteous of you," I answered. I stepped into what looked like a flat, or studio if you prefer. A kitchen to my right, living area to the left and stairs leading up to a comfortable bed and a small TV and visible video game console. I was quite surprised that the home of a child this age was so spic and span-clean. "You're rather well kept for a lad your age."

"Oh, Pearl keeps it clean. I'm actually sort of messy."

"Such refreshing honesty..." By now I was heading toward the rear of the "house", or rather the non-house portions. The rear of Steven's living space opened into a cave mouth. The walls glittered here and there and a single circular platform was in the center of the room. A door with a five-pointed star emblazoned on it was beyond the platform. I held up the sonic screwdriver toward the door.

"Would anyone like some lemonade?", Steven asked.

Quite the gracious host, this lad.

"I'm good. Your temple door?", I asked Garnet rhetorically.

"Yes." She held up her hands. The red and blue lights on the lower points of the star lit up. "How will you use the temple to track your stolen ship?"

"Oh, a trick with the dimensionally transcendental fields and the resonance from their proximity," I answered. "But first I need to assemble some machinery."

Behind me, spirited conversation was picking up. "So, how were you doing that?", I heard Connie ask. "With that bubble you made to stop the sign? Or moving that water around?"

"Well, Katara is a waterbender from a world where Humans can develop the power to 'bend' the elements," Liara explained. "And as an Asari I am a natural biotic. I can generate and manipulate dark energy."

Her answer more than satisfied the young lady, given her reply of, "That is so cool."

I had finished my own considerations by this point, just as Liara was asking about how the Crystal Gems' powers worked, but I overheard their explanation. It was fairly intriguing. The physical gems on their bodies being the actual core of their beings, projecting physical bodies, providing weapons, that sort of thing. It sounded to me like a Gem was at least in part a matter replicator of some sort. How that worked, well... "Magitech" in metaphysically receptive universes can be rather interesting sometimes. I'd have to find out more later.

"Do you have a quantum field focus controller?", I asked.

Garnet looked at me with that same neutral expression she'd kept for most of the day. "No," she finally said.

"Hrm.... what about a hyper-volume capacitor?"

"No."

"I see." I rubbed at my chin. "So we'll be rigging something up. Right. I'm going to need spare parts. A lot of spare parts."

Garnet nodded and looked toward the front door. "Amethyst? The Doctor is going to need to see your room."

Amethyst seemed quite energized by the prospect. "C'mon, Doc!" Her hand grabbed mine and pulled me to the door.

"Doctor." Liara walked to the edge of the cave mouth. "What do we do about the attacker who started the fight? Whoever is behind this may still be in the town."

I thought on that. "Hrm. Indeed." I looked back. "Does anyone have any of your early 21st Century communications devices?"

"Um. Here?" Steven pulled a smartphone out of his pocket. Connie revealed a flip-open cell phone from hers.

I walked up to them and started running the sonic screwdriver over one and then the other. "Woh, what's this?" Steven seemed intrigued by the new icon that popped up on his phone.

"A sort of app I've created for it," I revealed. "It can pick up levels of the energy that comes from the Cracks in the Multiverse. If anyone or anything has been exposed to such, your phone will go off."

"This is so cool," Connie said yet again as I finished working on her phone.

"It's always cool," I guaranteed her, winking at them both.

"If these beings are dangerous, I should go too," Pearl said. "I don't want Steven and Connie to get hurt."

I nodded. "Yes, of course." I looked to Katara. "Would you mind joining them? I'm going to need Liara to help me build what I need."

Katara nodded. For a moment I was wondering if she was paying much attention given the dull look in her eyes. But she went toward the door without a word.

Steven and Connie looked toward each other and then at me. "Is she okay?", Connie asked.

I shook my head sadly. "She lost everyone she cared for," I said, trying to avoid more complex explanations given the work at hand and not wanting to rub salt on the wound.

Nevertheless, they got the gist of it. And as I looked up, I saw a flicker of... recognition, I suppose, go through Pearl's eyes.

"Maybe we can cheer her up?", Steven suggested.

"Good luck on that," was my reply. "Although it's best if we focus upon the task at hand. Whomever took my TARDIS could cause a lot of trouble."

"Right. Oh!" Connie went over to the small closet built below the stairs to the bed and opened it. After a moment she pulled out a rather large sword set in a pink scabbard.

I admit that my eyes widened as I watched her heft it over her shoulder with ease. "You're awfully young to be running around with something like that," I noted.

"Oh, it'll be fine," Steven assured me. "Connie's great with a sword! Pearl's been training us and everything!"

I blinked and glanced at the aforementioned gem. She blushed blue a little. "They're quite marvelous students."

"Very well," I answered, keeping my tone delicate. It was clear this wasn't new to them, so who was I to judge? I looked back to the temple door, where the other two Gems and Liara were waiting. "We'd best get going. This is a mystery I want to solve immediately."

I was answered by nods. After they all filed out I walked back toward the temple door. "Well, shall we?", I asked.

Garnet nodded at me and looked to Amethyst. She turned toward the door. Her purple gem lit up in time with the purple light on the door. When it opened, it did so with a bizarre purple goo of some sort forming the split in the otherwise-solid door. The goo seemed to disappear as the opening completed; inside was a cavernous space of mostly purple color. Amethyst stepped through first. At Garnet's indication Liara and I went in.

The entire chamber was full of... detritus. Junk. Anything and everything one might find in a hoarder's storage shed or house. The surfaces of the cavern were glittering with what looked to be crystals or gemstones. "Ta-da!" Amethyst held her arms out. "So, what are you looking for?"

I admit I was caught by surprise for the moment at the sheer quantities of junk present. Liara seemed equally surprised by it. "I don't suppose I can complain about your piles anymore," she said.

"No, not really..." I sighed and pulled out the sonic. "Okay, first off I'm going to need...."