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It hadn’t been that long since Sarah Jane Smith and her friends Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra watched as Jo Jones and her grandson, Santiago Jones, left Bannerman Road after experiencing a supposed funeral for the Doctor which had turned out to be false and the Doctor, then in his eleventh incarnation, was alive. Once the car was out of sight, Sarah Jane brought her team back inside her house of number 13 where they all made their way to the attic like they usually did. Usually, they would have also been joined by Sarah Jane’s adoptive son, Luke Smith, but he had moved away to attend Oxford University along with K9 at Sarah Jane’s own request and so Luke had last seen the Doctor in his previous incarnation.
“So lemme get this straight, him and the bloke we met at your wedding is actually the same person?” Clyde was the first to ask, though it had all been confirmed during their encounter at the UNIT base by none other than the Doctor himself, it was still a surprise since neither of them looked alike, he heard as Rani threw her jacket over a chair and a laugh from Sarah Jane.
Sarah Jane looked over as she patted Clyde on the arm. “Yep, it’s called regeneration, it’s what allows a Time Lord to change their appearance when their body is dying, I think that’s what was happening to him when Luke and I saw him last…” She realised recalling how she and Luke had seen the Doctor in his final moments just prior to his impending regeneration. “If you think they were different, you should meet the ones I knew back in the seventies or eighties.” She smiled. “He looked way older than that when he was working for UNIT, grey hairs and all.” She explained sitting down. “And then after that, he looked a little younger but nothing like the one we just met.” She quickly confirmed looking back at Clyde and Rani.
Rani looked at her “So he’s changed his face before?”
Sarah Jane nodded remembering how the Doctor had once told her in 2006 that he had regenerated ‘half a dozen times’ since they had last met. “Oh yes, six other times before we saw each other again, would be nice to know how he looked all those other times though.” She said a little sadly.
Clyde and Rani exchange a look as the same idea processed in their minds but it was Rani who spoke up first. “Maybe Mr. Smith knows? If the Doctor’s been to Earth loads of times then surely there has to be some kind of footage with him and Mr. Smith can pinpoint which is the Doctor…” She realised knowing just how smart Mr. Smith, the Xylok supercomputer, was.
“Of course!” Sarah Jane agreed standing up before facing a brick wall “Mr. Smith! I need you!” and at that declaration, the wall opened with smoke pooling out and a short fanfare noise.
“Yes, Sarah Jane?” He asked.
“Mr. Smith, could you show us the Doctor? Like all of his faces so far?” Sarah Jane requested as Mr. Smith began the search for any kind of footage or images of the Time Lord. “Compiling them together now.” Said the supercomputer as images of all eleven incarnations appeared on-screen. Sarah Jane pointed to the Fourth Doctor for a second “That’s the one I left and those two…” She pointed to the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors …”Are the ones you know.” She confirmed backing up to the two to inspect the pictures together.
Rani shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Blimey that’s a lot…” She said in awe at the images which ranged from the very first face of the Doctor who looked the most serious up to the beaming face of the current one. “And is that celery?” She asked, eyeing the small piece that was situated on the Fifth Doctor’s jacket.
Sarah Jane and Clyde also looked at the picture to confirm it for themselves and sure enough, the Fifth Doctor was proudly wearing a stick of celery. “A little weirder than the long scarf the one before him wore, you should have seen the length of that thing., down to his feet it was.”
“His feet?” Clyde laughed.
“Yep, Mr. Smith, could you expand on the fourth image?” Sarah Jane then asked.
“Certainly, Sarah Jane.” Mr. Smith obeyed and did so. Now, the only image on-screen was a full body picture of the Fourth Doctor, a face Sarah Jane knew all too well as well as a very long scarf.
Clyde and Rani looked at each other again before looking back at the screen, Sarah had not lied, the scarf really was that long.
“Him and his jelly babies….” Sarah Jane recalled with laughter as Mr. Smith reverted back to showing all eleven.
“Yeah but check out what he’s wearing…” Clyde laughed pointing to the extravagant and bright outfit worn by the Sixth Doctor, it was such a loud array of colours compared to what the others were wearing that it got an obvious reaction out of the three.
Rani stifled another laugh as another question came to mind “What about their other companions before or after you? We did meet Jo so there has to be something on other people the Doctor travelled with…”
Not needing to be asked, Mr. Smith immediately began searching for all the companions that came before Sarah Jane and those that came after her. Once done, the screen was now filled with pictures of all the Doctor’s known companions ranging from his granddaughter, Susan Foreman, to Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the most recent, there was a picture of Sarah Jane too in her younger days and judging by her attire, it had been around the time she had left the TARDIS.
“Hold on…isn’t that?” Clyde went on recognising a familiar robot dog.
A smile lit up Sarah Jane’s face as well as Rani’s.
“Yes, Clyde, prior to Sarah Jane’s ownership of K9, there were other models of him owned by the Doctor.” Mr. Smith explained.
Clyde grinned at that. “Can bet that’d drive you barmy if more than one K9 was here.” He said thinking about all the times the computer and the robotic dog had not gotten along.
“Thank you, Clyde.” Sarah Jane smiled, patting his shoulder. “I recognise Captain Jack and Rose and of course Jo…” She chuckled pointing to the blonde young woman next to her own picture.
Rani’s attention was now drawn to the picture of Sarah Jane who was smiling at something not in view. In the picture, she still had brown hair which was wavy and she was wearing a set of white dungarees with pink stripes. “That’s…” She went to say but Clyde beat her to it. “That’s Sarah Jane!” He said with a grin.
Sarah Jane nodded her head. “Yes, Clyde, yes it is, but just look at how many people travelled with the Doctor, kept him company, never let him be on his own.” She smiled at all the faces of the people who had agreed to travel throughout all of time and space. “And then some time after I left, he sent K9 to me and he’s been with me ever since and now Luke has him.” She smiled before looking back at the long list of companions, of all the lives he had touched and improved, she had her arms crossed now and quietly but briefly relieving all of her travels before coming back to reality.
“And to think, we could have seen the stars too had we not been grounded by the Judoon.” Rani muttered glancing at Clyde who scoffed in response at the reminder.
“Cheer up, Clyde.” Rani began as she swung an arm around her best friend with a smile. “We can see them plenty of times along with plenty of aliens that want to kill us.”
“Thanks for that lovely reminder, Rani.” Clyde chuckled.
“Just imagine all the things they got to see, all the important people in history and all the different planets that are out there…” Rani went on.
Sarah Jane smiled at her friend’s amazed tone. “How about you two and Mr. Smith go over different planets? I know it’s not the same but it’s something.” She suggested.
“So long as you’re all right with that, Mr. Smith?” Rani asked.
“Of course, Rani.” Mr. Smith replied. “Will that be all?” He asked.
“Yes, Mr. Smith.” Sarah Jane confirmed as the Xylok supercomputer then went back into his place behind the brick wall.
“It was nice…looking at all those faces of the Doctor and those other people knowing they also got to experience such a wonderful thing.” She added turning her attention back to Clyde and Rani.
“And it was nice to experience this with you.” Rani smiled.
“We’ll have to tell Luke the next time we see him.” Clyde nodded.
“He’s due back for Christmas, remember? We can also show him in-person even if we tell him over call.” Sarah Jane agreed. “Now, I’ll see you both tomorrow.” She said gently ushering them out of the attic as they both gave her a wave of goodbye as they exited both the attic and the house before going their separate ways to go back to their respective homes.