The Phantom of the TARDIS

  DAAAAAAA-da-da-da-da-daaaaaa, da-da-da-da-daaaaaaa.
  "It's him".
  The dancers - the oldest of which was twenty-one, and the youngest fifteen - froze behind the curtain upon having heard the sounds of organ, which were forming a tune. It was creepy, otherworldly, and hypnotizing: the girls didn't leave until the final accord died. The sounds reached from somewhere above. As in every theater, legends and stories were lurking among everybody connected with this place, but here there was new food for thoughts.
  Some weeks ago two new members joined the motley of those connected with Paris Opera theater: a new singer named Victoria and her friend Jamie, who replaced the groom who had broken his leg. To be honest, they both were most pleasant people, who did their best in what they were doing. But not only that.
  "I told you black cats are bad luck", the youngest dancer whispered. "That beast called for phantoms".
  As if in approval, another melody began flowing from the above. This time it was solemn and hymn-like.
  "Let's get out of here before he musics us to death", another dancer offered.
  The girls sneaked across the scene to the outside, unaware that after they were "at safety", another figure ran from behind the opposite curtain, looked around and darted upstairs.

  "DOCTOR!"
  A girl of about fourteen, dressed in the fashion that would come in at least two hundred centuries, rammed the way into the organ chamber and laughed with relief upon the sight of a little dark-topped man playing the incredibly loud tune. This is why she was noticed only when it was over.
  "My my, Eugenie! Eugenie Stratton!" the Doctor exclaimed, having turned around. But his anxiety quickly changed to worry. "Where did you spring from?"
  Eugenie didn't respond - she suddenly felt light-headed and would have fallen if she didn't lean on the closest wall.
  "I-it was... remember, when we first met, I was stung by a carnivorous plant? You told me that it was..."
  "That it came from another time and space", the Doctor nodded.
  "And I think I did it this time..."
  "That's the problem", the Doctor murmured.
  "And you're the reason, huh?" Eugenie half-approved, when the room stopped swimming in front of her.
  "If you put it strictly, I am. But morally... It's about my DNA pattern. Remember, the TARDIS merged with the abandoned house? Here it's a bit similar, but she got lost in time, not in space. Only its entrance remained here. And I cannot come in and reverse it... You must have contacted with her in your own time and were tossed here, as if through the maze of time".
  "How complicated", Eugenie groaned. "But why can't you come in?"
  "Because, my sweet, I'm only half myself. The one who started this all trapped me twice. See this?" The Doctor undid his shirt collar, lowered it, turned his back to Eugenie, and the girl saw a double spiral pattern on the back of his neck, just below the hairline. "At day - to be specific, at dawn - this makes me turn into a... you'll see. It's like a spacesuit: only on the outside, while inside I remain myself in all senses. And at sunset I'm me again. Remember perception filters?"
  "Sounds like a curse".
  "Yes. I figured out that soundwaves of certain frequency and order are able to break it, but I cannot put them all together... Hypersonic waves. But there's an ambush as well - only a certain amount of filters can be broken every time, so it's to be done step by step".
  "So now I'm stuck here until you're... uncursed?"
  "Sorry, time-travelling without a craft is dangerous. You could be tossed to Stone Age".
  "By the way, about Stone Age. What year is it?"
  "1865".
  "Great. Simply great... And where are your helpers?"
  "Who, Jamie and Victoria? They found a job here, thank goodness. Sleeping now". The Doctor pointed at the door in the corner. "I made it sound-proof. But as about you... Right. As soon as you're the alien here, sorry for the bad pun... Fine. At day stay here, and at night all theater is ours".
  "Sounds like a mix of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera".
  The Doctor turned to the organ and once again began playing the tune which had started his search tonight - that very one which had scared the dancer girls. Eugenie couldn't resist to temptation:
  "In sleep he sang to me,
In dreams he came.
The voice which calls to me
And speaks my name".
  The Doctor glanced at her in a surprised way, but didn't stop playing. Eugenie continued:
  "And do I dream again?
For now I find
The Phantom of the Opera is there,
Inside my mind".

  Whatever thought was dominant in society, Mina Poulen liked this new English singer, Victoria Waterfield. Though most of old-schoolers here didn't like foreigners, particularly the English, this girl had natural sweetness and ability to be herself - thing that lacked among most of the experienced performers and rulers. And her friend Jamie, though he could be rude and often was mockingly offended, was a good man as well. In addition, they both spoke perfect French, especially Victoria - Jamie never resisted putting slang words into his speech.
  "I can't understand how you can dance in such ammunition", Victoria admitted, when she and Mina were making their way to the rehearsal.
  "Oh, Victoria, I'm used to it... Ah!"
  The final exclamation was caused by the beast which had caused whispering and suspecting in all theater. A black cat with blue eyes (some of the crew members couldn't stand looking into them - so human-like they were) scampered close to her feet, stopped and rubbed its forehead against the bottom of Victoria's layered dress. It appeared here together with them two, and none of those who lived in the theater's building could spot it at night, when otherworldly organ music sounded from above.
  "Either this devil is gone or you are", a haughty voice sounded from above. It was Charlotte, the theater's main singer and main gossip maker. Whoever stood in her way, was going to experience triple trouble.
  "It's not bothering her", Victoria whispered, having scooped the cat up, and it leaned on her shoulder, purring. "See?"
  Mina scratched behind the cat's ear, and it rubbed its muzzle against her hand in a delighted way.
  "One day she'll get it all back. Twice". Bellino, the young Italian actor who had joined the scene crew just before Victoria's arrival, caught up with them and crossed his arms. "Yesterday she told me that it was black under my eyes, like in blackface's stomach after black coffee. Ha ha. I'll make her eyes black if she says it once more, and I don't care that I'll be kicked off".
  Victoria preferred to keep it to herself that he would not be the first. Such an offer had been presented by another hot-tempered man.

  Eugenie sneaked past the group of young ballerinas and fixed another round device on the wall, hoping that she found a good place for it. The item was of red and golden colors, like everything here, so it wasn't really seen on such background. But the girl still had to attach a full bag of such devices all around the building. Thank goodness the Doctor had given her a perception filter, so no one paid attention to her thus far, but she still had to be very careful not to bump into anybody - the filter made her unnoticeable and not fleshless, and it could be switched off upon this.
  Good girl Eugenie Stratton. She doesn't get into stories, stories get her.
  "Mrrrreow?"
  A cat with scruffy black fur pulled the hem of her jeans with its teeth. Eugenie covered her mouth with both hands not to snort with laughter, exhaled and remained silent, but the hugest smile remained.
  "Follow you?" she mouthed. The Doctor - recognizable even now, oh dears - purred and darted off, so the girl had to chase him for some time before she reached the gallery circling the above of the main hall. Oh boy. It was so high here that Eugenie felt dizzy at first, but then collected herself.
  "You'll tell me what this is for, won't you?" she asked.
  "Meow!" The Doctor was gone from sight.
  "Guess I'll have to find the way back by myself..." Eugenie muttered and fixed another device on the wall, here painted like clouded sky.

  "Every night I have to break another segment of the scheme with sonic waves", the Doctor was explaining after the out-of-time quartet was together again - himself, Jamie, Victoria and Eugenie. "If 24 hours pass without the breakage, one of them renews itself - I've got this out experimentally. When it's fully broken, I suppose I will be able to get the TARDIS back".
  "How do you know?" Eugenie smirked. "And why did I have to sneak around all the time?"
  "These are elementary dynamics. The final circuit is the hardest to be broken, so a powerful counter-deed is needed".
  "No way, you'll wake all this opera and ballet up!"
  "Who said it's going to be at night?" Jamie interfered. "I'm sick and tired of this Charlotte!"
  "You don't interfere with her too much", Victoria parried. "She always wrinkles her nose when walking past me. I'm not experienced, and I'm English, so what? And everybody is dancing around her like trained dogs".
  "By the way, I heard you singing last night", Jamie noticed. "What was that song?"
  "I thought the room was sound-proof", the Doctor confessed.
  "Doctor, I'm a Highlander, and most of us sleep like weasels... So what was it?"
  "The Phantom of the Opera. Didn't you, Doctor, tell them?"
  "To be honest, I remembered the tune, not the words". The Doctor clicked his tongue, thought for some seconds and then slapped his palms against his lap. "There it is! It may work!"
  "What may work?" Victoria asked.
  "Frequencies! Different tones! It was just what was lacking! Two voices of different heights together with hypersonic waves... Say, does this song have a room for two voices?" The Doctor looked like Victor Frankenstein after famous "IT'S ALIVE!" moment (this was Eugenie's first impression).
  "There are two parts. Male and female. And chorus". Eugenie had to force herself not to burst into laughter upon this "revelation".
  "Perfect!"
  "Whoa-whoa-whoa! Now just a minute!" Jamie put in. "Two voices? Male? Female?"
  "Absolutely! I know you have good Scottish lungs, Jamie, and..."
  "No singing voice. You've always complained that my pipes sounded like nails screeching against glass. My singing will make it the sound of heaven".
  "First try, then judge", the Doctor parried. "Remember, you used to hate rice boiled with milk even before you tried it, and then you ate a potful of it and asked for more?"
  "That's different", Jamie mumbled, scratching his neck.
  "In any ways you'd have to sing", the Doctor continued and played some more accords. "I've checked this version as well, and it's the most fitting... but I didn't remember the words here..."
  "And will there be an outstanding performance?" Eugenie inserted. "God likes the number three, after all".
  "There will be". The Doctor gave her a big wink.

  "Oh man, how do you cope with wearing such huge dresses?"
  "Speak quieter, please", Victoria begged. She and Eugenie, the latter wearing the perception filter again (now turned off), were digging in the stash of costumes while the rehearsal which didn't require Victoria's presence was going on. The Doctor was also here - he was keeping his eyes on the door, though it was locked from the inside. "And I couldn't understand your fashion at first. Half-naked, what a shame".
  She pulled a white puffy dress from the pile and put it away immediately.
  "Yeah, that's some unweddingly stuff", Eugenie muttered. "What about this one?" She showed a silvery grey dress which wasn't as huge as its predecessors.
  "Well, you know better what kind of outfit is needed", Victoria replied.
  "Oh, Victoria, I never understood that posh fashion. Frankenstein's Bride style, eh? It always was quite easy for boys. Fancy a riddle? Its life can be short, but you can find it in rascal's hand and on expert's neck".
  "And what's that?"
  "It's a butterfly. Its life term is short, and there's a kind of knife called this way".
  "What about the expert's neck?"
  "Some experts wear bowties. They're similar to butterflies. Shape, I mean".
  Victoria chuckled. After some more researching she let out a little 'ooh' and pulled two skin-tight outfits from the pile - one black, the other white, as well as two masks.
  "Do you remember them?" she whispered and pretended to be searching again: a group of actors, including Bellino, walked past the open door of the dressing room. "I suppose the TARDIS brought them here. She has her own wishes..."
  "...and wants it all to end as soon as possible", Eugenie replied. "Yes, you're right. I imagine what faces they will make!"

  "No, not like that. Place your fingers like this".
  Eugenie groaned with frustration: she had never studied how to play any musical instrument, no words about organ. And now, to accomplish the grandiose plan of the Doctor's release, she was to learn how to play a very certain tune. And her untrained fingers ached after the first trials.
  After another false sound the Doctor sighed and chuckled:
  "I suppose those who hear us thought that tonight P.T. got sleepy or drunk".
  "P.T.?" Eugenie parroted.
  "The Phantom of the TARDIS", the Doctor replied. "Didn't you read that book? The notes were signed P.O., if I'm not wrong... Hmmmm, I think I could boost you a bit".
  "Boost me? How?"
  The Doctor dug into his pockets and began tossing things out of them right onto the floor. India-rubber balls, chopsticks, pencils, tea-bags, lollipops, paper cylinders filled with some grey powder... Finally he produced a handful of gears and cogs.
  "Stimulate brain zone responsible for this kind of action," he explained.
  "You gonna implant that into me?" Eugenie shivered and backed away - she was sensitive when it came to questions of surgery, implanting and everything like that.
  "No, I'm not. Do you like jewellery?"
  "Sometimes... You mean I'm gonna wear this like a perception filter?"
  "Not this. Patience, girl from Earth."
  The Doctor tinkered with those gears for some time, having eventually made a pendant that looked most like a steampunk-style key. Having twirled it this and that way, he hang it onto Eugenie's neck:
  "Hide it under your clothes. I'm serious, it should touch your skin directly because it needs to adjust to your brainwaves."
  Eugenie did what he said. She was surprised that the key remained cold after some minutes, despite the obvious fact of metal being highly heat-condemning.
  "You'll get used", the Doctor reassured her. "Now recall the tune. As exactly as you can, I mean it".
  Introduction, then words, then interlude... Eugenie's fingers touched the keys, and they started playing the required tune by themselves, as if she had been practicing organ-playing for ages. It was like walking - you don't think how to move your legs and feet when walking, eh?
  "Muscle memory", the Doctor explained, while the girl was staring at her hands, as if they belonged to someone else. "Mind memory can be uploaded, so why muscle memory can't? It's more difficult, but possible."

  "If you spoil my entrance, you wooden puppet, you'll regret that you were born!"
  Victoria only grinned to herself - she knew that Charlotte did it every time before entering the stage, and this time the ending was to be very unexpected, if the plan was going to work. And it was. Tonight it was to work.
  "I would've shown her something, if it was not about the premiere." That was Jean Thomas, one of the French members of the staff, and to be exact, one of the background actors. "Listen, Victoria, have you ever thought what could happen if it was not for us backgrounders?"
  "Failure," Victoria pointed out. "I doubt that anyone would like to watch Charlotte alone for several hours in a row."
  She glanced at Jean Thomas once more and started, having felt a small warm hand touch her elbow.
  "I've placed all the muscle controlling devices on their clothes," Eugenie's voice whispered into her ear.
  Victoria put on a thoughtful expression and nodded for the younger girl to know that she understood it all. The sounds of the organ were not going to be enough, so there just was to be an extra power source. And together with horridly awesome acoustics it would be a storm.
  I don't know what is going to work if this doesn't, Victoria thought, hoping there would be no malfunctions. The device hidden under her left sleeve (not the only one: Jamie had a similar one in his left sleeve) was the final part. For them.

  Charlotte was approaching to the stage - it was almost time of her performance - when a figure in a kilt blocked her way.
  "Go away, granger", Charlotte snapped and attempted to walk on, but Jamie stepped to the side, not letting her go on. "Hey! I told you to go away!"
  "You're not going anywhere", Jamie said softly.
  "Ah, so?! Get lost!"
  Jamie's voice went colder, and he didn't move away.
  "I told you that you're not going anywhere. If you remain stubborn, you will be gone. This whole place may be gone, and you can be patient".
  "Nutcase".
  Charlotte laughed, but this laughter quickly merged into a high-pitched scream: Jamie's clothing changed by itself in a blink. Now he was covered in skin-tight black cloth from toes to neck, and his face was half-covered with a sharp-edged mask. Not only that: before Charlotte's shriek reduced, she found herself on top of the closest sloping beam, falling from which would definitely result in breaking everything possible. And Jamie was soaring in front of her, ten meters above the floor, triumphantly smirking.
  "That's a nutcase to ya", Jamie said and landed back onto the floor, having changed into his usual form. "And be quiet, or I'll get you".
  Charlotte attempted to shout for help, but no sound came from her throat. And for the first time in forever she felt horror. Real and true, freezing, natural horror.
  "Who are you?" She wanted to ask it aloud, but all she managed to press out of herself was a hiss.
  "I am James Robert McCrimmon, the piper of the McLaren clan", Jamie replied. "And you are dead meat. I've got no doubt that you'd sing so that even the chandelier wouldn't stay on its place".

  "Operation: Dumb Diva assembled", Jamie whispered, having leaned against the half-curtained wall behind the decorations.
  "Operation: Sound Web assembled", Eugenie responded from the other side.
  "Entrance in five minutes. Countdown set".
  "I'm on the run!"
  The sounds of steps faded quite quickly. Jamie grinned to himself and prayed that he wouldn't fail his part, brushing his fingers over his left sleeve to check if there was too much warmth.

  The action on the stage was going on without a mistake. The new comic opera was going to have smashing success. Food and sight, that's what always worked! However, when the primadonna was to come out and show all her glory, there appeared to be a little obstacle. Charlotte was missing. And not just missing: she was gone for good, not even showing her presence with any sign.
  Before anybody behind the stage could have found a possible solution, the world had its own.
  Like the sound of thunder, the organ accord sounded through all building, from every corner and corridor, so that hearts of everybody in and out of the stage skipped a beat. It was joined by more, until the unearthly tune which the youngest inhabitants of this place had heard filled the place.
  Only one person didn't lost the mind. Victoria, weakly smiling, walked out onto the stage and began singing to the tune, and no one tried to stop her.
  "In sleep he sang to me,
In dreams he came,
That voice which calls to me
And speaks my name.
And do I dream again?
For now I find
The Phantom of the Opera is there,
Inside my mind..."
  As she was singing, the hall gasped in awe: her feet tore off the floor, and at the end of the stanza she was soaring over the stage. Moreover, her clothes changed as well: now she was all in white and as if wearing a shimmering halo.
  Another voice joined her:
"Sing once again with me,
Our strange duet.
My power over you
Grows stronger yet.
And though you turn from me,
To glance behind,
The Phantom of the Opera is there,
Inside your mind..."
  This was sung by a young masked man all in black - no one had caught where he had come from - now floating next to her. Victoria went on:
  "Those who have seen your face
Draw back in fear."
  The youngling caught up:
  "I am the mask you wear,
It's me they hear".
  Then both sang:
  "Your spirit and my voice
In one combined:
The Phantom of the Opera is there,
Inside my mind".
  And then other voices joined them. All the performers of all kinds that were on stage caught up, not understanding what they were doing, judging by their astonished faces:
  "He's there, the Phantom on the Opera...
Beware the Phantom of the Opera..."
  Another creature appeared in the hall - a black cat running towards the stage. And it wished changes as well. It was a cat only at the beginning of its way, but along the way it started slowly growing. The duo on the stage continued singing.
  "In all your fantasies,
You always knew
That man and mystery
Were both in you.
And in this labyrinth
Where night is blind,
The Phantom of the Opera is there,
Inside your mind!"
  The organ music reached its highest point, and all of a sudden there was a crack. Another one, another one, and not a crack of thunder. Some of the observers, hypnotized by the performance, felt pieces of something white falling onto their heads.
  "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!"
  The grown cat jumped onto the stage, turned around and appeared to be a short man with a shock of dark hair and wearing a long black cape, whose expression was not other than of beginning of despair. And based: the enormous glass chandelier under the ceiling was slowly, but surely falling downwards.
  "RUN!" the little man yelled and threw his hands into the air, his expression changing to concentration. A few moments later there was a collective gasp of awe and horror: the chandelier froze at its midway to the floor, as if it was a very alive painting. "LOUDER! LOUDER! LOUDER!"
  This was not the end: fierce wind filled the spacious place together with repetitive sounds. They were creepy, otherwordly and, together with the organ music getting louder and tenser, enough to make everybody sensible search for the exit. Everybody sensible.
  "Jerk! You spoilt it all!"
  The most devoted friend of Charlotte, unable to accept that the primadonna had not appeared on stage tonight, dashed onto the stage in an attempt to punish the wizard or whoever he was, but the youngster in black was quicker to knock him off his feet.

  "Inattentive bonehead, it's you who's going to bring the disaster!" Jamie hissed, pressing the aggressor to the ground with his own weight. Not knowing if it was necessary, he sorted the worst curses from his stash of Scottish bad language and poured them onto the mad fan's head.
  The crowd next to the exit was still huge (some of its members didn't get that gawping at the unusual sight wasn't really useful now), but the chandelier was much closer to the chair rows now, and it wouldn't kill anybody at least.
  "Water..." the Doctor hissed. The sight was as if he was pushing a large invisible stone: there were tracks from his shoes against the floor now. "Victoria, water! There might be fire!"
  Victoria understood and darted to the backstage:
  "Someone, get water!" Upon having seen that most of the people who stayed on stage (due to awe and all) backed away from her, she sighed and tore the mask off her face: "It's me! Victoria Waterfield! And if you want to save the day, get me water! Or get rid of fire in the chandelier!"
  "LOUDER! LOUDER!" the Doctor yelled once again, and the bells of Notre Dame rang in the heads of everything and everybody.

  Silence was even creepier after all the cacophony. The latter had blocked every outer matter, so when the sight was back, the image in front of everyone's eyes - of everyone who had stayed for any reason - was as follows: the chandelier, which wasn't lighting the hall anymore, was over the chair rows, but none of its glass parts was broken and no chair had traces of burning; the little man was supine on stage, blacked out; the two fighters were catching their breath - more with fear than with fight - and the girl in white together with several actors and singers was at the back of the stage, as if struck with lightning. And there was an addition on the stage: a large blue box which appeared out of nowhere.
  The silence was over when a teenage girl - in trousers - ran from behind the backstage.
  "At least almost nothing's broken", the Doctor groaned and sat up.
  "How d'ya feel?" Eugenie asked.
  "Better than ever". The Doctor pulled his collar down and turned around to show that the double spiral pattern on the back of his neck was gone for good.
  "For the last time I tell ya all: we're NOT wizards!" Jamie shouted, emerging from behind the stage. His holographic shell must've been broken: his top part was still clad in skin-tight black outfit, but waist down was a usual Scottish story. What a combo. "But if you want, the Doctor would show you a couple of things which would shoo you off magic!.."
  "Since when are you making decisions instead of me, Jamie?" the Doctor asked, grinning. Jamie blushed.
  "I had to say something to shoo 'em..."
  "Why wasn't there any rumble?" Eugenie wondered, eying the chandelier. "And nothing's broken. Don't forget, I've been in that room and saw nothing. I only heard ya, Doctor. Louder, louder - I did my best. Just as you've programmed me". She took the 'programmer' off her neck. "Guess I won't need it anymore".
  "Aye, and how did you make that tingly stuff land so smoothly?" Jamie added.
  "Think about the meaning of the word TIME-LORD", the Doctor replied. "In extreme situations Timelords are able to literally stop time. But this requires much energy and cannot cover much space. I haven't practiced this yet, and here... time was vulnerable because of TARDIS pieces being scattered around... and this only helped, I guess. At least we haven't ruined the building to the core... Now I've got to check the TARDIS if everything is on the place".
  "Gotta make it all more grandiose for the movie", Eugenie sighed.
  "At least we haven't made anybody croak", the Doctor chuckled. Jamie and Victoria exchanged looks full of not understanding. "Remind me to take you two to watch The Phantom of the Opera".
  "Without me. No more operas for two weeks!" Eugenie put in.