Disclaimer: Still don't own 'em, more's the pity. Doctor Who is owned by the BBC. The Museum of Lost Civilizations is mine, influenced slightly by 'The Last Dodo', by Jacqueline Rayner. Anything or anyone else you don't recognize is mine. Probably.

Author's Note: The Time Scoop was used to kidnap various regenerations of the Doctor (plus one Master) in 'The Five Doctors'.

Chapter 1: Alone again, naturally

The Doctor slumped on the jumpseat and stared blankly at the console, lost in misery. Yes, the TARDIS had been kind enough to blow the telatonic linkage and the meso-quadronic circuits to give him a distraction, but now he'd finished the repairs, he was back in the doldrums.

It was all Lady Christina deSouza's fault. He'd finally managed to get his head straight and started working on a possible cure for what he'd done to Donna, and Lady Christina just -had- to go and call him Spaceman. That was Donna's name for him, and Donna's alone, and now he was hit with the loss of her so paralyzingly fresh it was as though he'd just left her with her family instead of it having been eight months, two weeks, five days, ten hours and twenty-seven minutes without her.

The TARDIS missed Donna too, her warmth, her humor, the way she treated her like any other living being...but most especially, right now she missed Donna's ability to distract her Doctor from the very thing he was suffering now - memories. Bad ones, sad ones. And she'd already done what she could on her own to distract him...except run her sensors as far out as she could stretch again, to see if there was another interesting world or time with a problem he could lose himself in. Her Doctor, her beloved Thief wouldn't notice, not lost in himself as he was. So she set to work, humming as she always did when he lost himself in misery. He'd notice eventually and thank her for being there. With luck, she'd have something for him to puzzle over when he finally came back out of his sorrow.

An hour later, something besides his old girl's humming broke into the Doctor's consciousness. A bleep of something on the scanners, and for a long few minutes he didn't move, didn't want to face whatever had shown up now. But the TARDIS nudged him, hard, and he grumbled and stretched, then took the step to the console to look at the monitor.

"All right, all right, I'm looking. So what did you find, old girl?" He peered at the screen, then frowned and took his glasses out, putting them on as he leaned closer for a double-take of the readings. "Oh, that's not right. That almost looks like the signature of...of a time scoop. But that's impossible! Time scoops were outlawed and banned...oh, right. No one around to enforce that anymore. Except me." He eyed the time rotor and shook his head, then set in the coordinates for the locale of the time scoop. Or something disturbingly similar to a time scoop. "Found me another adventure, eh? Hope it's not like the last one."

He pulled down the handbrake unenthusiastically, and the TARDIS set on her way to the trouble she'd found. Hopefully she wasn't wrong, and this would be good for her Doctor.

new touch? old. TARDIS. sane again, it's safe.

what? hope? pfft. none left, no hope for too long. we're stuck forever, seen and not noticed.

yes, forever. it's been forever, it's always forever.

forever had best end soon then. sane only lasts so long.

no. if my sanity departs again, you go too.

stubborn TARDIS. you tried before, it didn't work.

fine. don't say you weren't warned.

The TARDIS landed in a niche at a small spaceport, and the Doctor stepped outside, nose wrinkled at the heavy scent of freshly-landed ship. Close by too, if his nose was any judge. And his ears, sounded like people were disembarking. He ambled closer and managed to insert himself in line without attracting much notice. Except for the person he'd got in front of.

"Hey! You're not supposed to wander around the place, y'know. Could get lost or hurt. Of course, then you could sue for damages, but you'd have to answer to why you went off in the first place."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, yes, yes I knew that. Thought I'd seen a cat though, and cats don't belong in a spaceport."

"Wouldn't be surprised. Cats go anywhere they choose and leave when they want, and there's not a damned thing can be done to stop 'em. Bit like my ex-wife, now I think on it."

"Sorry to hear about that. Funny old things, women. Some of them just keep chasing something that looks better than the good things they already have. Then again, some of them don't think they deserve the best and just...settle for less." He sighed, his expressive face drooping as he thought about Donna again. He'd just gotten her to start believing she was brilliant, and then he'd taken it all away to save her life. And now she was back to just...settling.

"Ouch." The man held out his hand to the Doctor. "Gregory Mansfield, ex-husband, and former CEO of Williston Materiels Recycling, Inc. The former wife went for my replacement."

"Doctor John Smith, ex." He gave a crooked smile and shook Gregory's hand. "So, Gregory, what are you doing here? Bit too much desert for a holiday. Unless you're into that sort of thing."

"Nah, not me. Too used to my creature comforts, I am." The graying man patted his slightly oversized stomach and chuckled. "No, I'm here for the Museum of Lost Civilizations, like most everyone who've arrived today. You seem more like you'd be interested in some of the wildlife around here though. Or maybe the unique geology, or some other -ology." He suddenly looked embarrassed. "Oh and now you're going to tell me you're a medical doctor and not a scientific-minded fellow."

"Nah. Well, I could stand for a medical doctor in a pinch, but it'd have to be a desperate situation. Much more a scientific bent, me. I study everything, geology included. I'll give the Museum a peek in my spare time, though. Sounds fascinating." And, he thought, a likely place that someone might be using a Time Scoop in. Civiliizations that had reached their end could be a figurative and literal gold mine, if unscrupulous parties were scooping people out of the past before their civilizations ended.

"It is, or so I hear. An incredible amount of research has gone into the place, I've heard that the amount of detail is simply unbelievable. I'm a history buff as well, you see, so I've been waiting for a booking for months, now that I've got no ties to hold me back." Gregory smiled wryly and shrugged. "Course, there are some civilizations that even the best can't fully research. Truly ancient races that there are only myths and legends left of to tell less than half the story. They do their best to even represent those here too, though. And they've done all the work collating the tales and stories, as well. Their BookeShoppe is supposed to be enormous, even if they do have to use ridiculous spelling for it."

"Fascinating. I'll definitely be giving it a look-in, then." The Doctor paused, then gave a wan smile of his own. "Should be a good reminder that everything has it's time." And everything dies he finished silently, and sighed.

"Now John, don't let it depress you. In the end, the past is the past. We remember, fondly most of the time, but we have to move on. Or we might as well dig a hole and throw ourselves in, and we're both too young for that, yet." Gregory smiled comfortingly and patted the Doctor on the arm. "Ah! The line's moving again - looks like we won't have to stand about in the heat much longer, eh?"

"Looks like, yeah. Be nice to get out of the heat for a bit." Not that it affected him, really - it actually felt rather nice out. The Doctor craned his neck to read the words on the arch they were all headed toward. 'Welcome to Milthraxis IV! Home of the Museum of Lost Civilizations!' Milthraxis IV...it had an absolutely fascinating desert ecosystem, and was the legendary home of the Singing Stones. Immovable pillars of silicon sentience that sang all through the long nights out in the deep desert surrounded by crystal palisades that conducted the song to other crystal palisades where other Stones lived...and didn't really care what short-lived mobile lives did, so long as they were left in peace and not broken to bits. Oh, he would have loved to bring Donna here to listen to them...no, he couldn't think about her right now. He had a Time Scoop to put out of operation. Now, what year was this...ah, 77,276, good! He could explain he was there to study the Singing Stones, one of the ten scientists per year that was allowed. And when his name wasn't on -that- list, he would fuss a bit if needed, then add his name to the list of Museum-goers. Good thing he had left a cred-stick in one of his pockets that would work here, money would get him in. And then he'd see what there was to see.

Gregory seemed lost in his own thoughts too, so the two men quietly ambled along as the line moved, till it was the Doctor's turn. "Hallo! Doctor John Smith, here to take my turn studying the Singing Stones?" He handed over his psychic paper to the receptionist at the desk just past the arch, who smiled and handed it back after looking at it. "One moment, Doctor Smith." Her fingers moved over the touch-pad, and then she looked up and frowned. "I'm sorry, Doctor Smith. I don't seem to have you in our records. I'm sure it's just a glitch though - sometimes people forget to input the right schedules." She laughed briefly and shook her head. "I hear one time, just before the restriction to ten people a year rather than ten expeditions went through, the paperwork was lost for a graduate class of twenty and their Professor! You wouldn't believe the fuss they say he kicked up! We'll get this cleared up for you within a few days - in the meantime, would you like to register as a guest for the Museum?"

"Sure, won't hurt to have something to do while I wait. Blimey, I hope my luggage didn't get lost in the transfer - had some expensive equipment in there." He waited while the receptionist got him logged in as a Museum guest, and handed over the cred-stick to pay.

"Tough luck, John. Paperwork seems to be getting lost in the shuffle more and more." He snorted in amusement. "Still, you've got the Museum to occupy you until everything's sorted."

"True enough, Gregory." Nice bloke, but he didn't seem like a CEO, really. He'd met plenty of those. Still, the divorce and retirement probably shook him out of the usual behaviours. He was pulled from his thoughts by the receptionist handing him his cred-stick back. "There you go, Doctor Smith, all set. And we'll keep an eye out for your luggage too. In the meantime, your hotel stay will include complimentary laundry services and spare clothes."

"Aww, that's brilliant! Thanks so much...sorry, didn't get your name." The Doctor flashed the receptionist one of his more pleasant smiles, and she blushed as she replied. "Judy. And it's all part of the job, really."

"Doesn't mean I can't thank you for services above and beyond, Judy. Which I do." He ignored Gregory's chuckling as he collected his maps and brochures, then wandered into the entry hall, off to the side out of the way of other people. He was busily looking through the collected information, eyebrow raised on finding out there were over thirty thousand civilizations represented with five hundred more to be added soon, when Gregory joined him.

"Trying a little harmless flirting to get your mind off the past, John? Good for you."

"Was I?" The Doctor gave him a look of baffled surprise. "Didn't think I was, I was just trying to thank a nice girl for doing a nice thing."

"Well, maybe so, but it looked like flirting to me. And to Miss Judy, if I'm not mistaken." Gregory frowned somewhat and changed the subject, much to the Doctor's relief. "Why didn't you say you were here to study the Singing Stones? I've got three books on them, and copies of some of the rare few recordings ever made. Always wanted to go out and see them in person, but rich doesn't get me everywhere, just into most Universities and their libraries...you'll have to tell me all about them when your paperwork shows up and you get back."

"Didn't know you knew about them, really. Should have known, though, you being a history buff, and they being an interesting if slightly obscure bit of history to most of the Federation." He grinned at his inadvertent but pleasant company, then flourished his map. "Well! Since we're getting along so well, what say we explore the Museum together? Or at least as much of it as we can until we get tired."

"Sounds wonderful, John. Just let me know if I start to bore you with my voluminous information - I do love talking about history."

"So do I, Gregory, so do I. I might even know things you don't." The Doctor winked, then looked at the map once more. "Well then, allons-y!"