All or Nothing at All

[championoftime]

Hello, I'm the Doctor.

[He pops off his hat in greeting to the camera, eyebrows shooting up with the gesture and then replaces it.]

Yes, another one, I know. But we're really not all the same are we? We have our own ticks and habits above similarities. Sometimes I think we're all squabbling siblings vying for the same body rather than an individual. Something that I occasionally reflect on. [He rolls the "R" in "reflect" thickly.]

Anyway, the Admiral informed me that more of me might be meandering about here, so I'll assume that most of you are at least vaguely acquainted with who I am. Whether you believe me to be an "old geezer" I've gotten that one a few times or the one with the scarf, it is still me. But all of you I haven't had the pleasure of making acquaintances with.

So, introduce yourselves! No time likes to give presents.

Comments

BITTERLY MISSING HIS CODE NAME NOW.

[requiresssacrifice]

Welcome, Doctor. You may find yourself met with some protest, demands for more... specificity in your name. "Doctor" doesn't always stick here.

[championoftime]

I know! [Sounds exhausted in his agreement] Mostly we don't stay in the same proximity for any length of time. See... Has any other version of me gone by 'Dr. Smith' yet? That was always my favorite.

[requiresssacrifice]

Ah... not that I recall. Are you thinking of claiming that one for yourself?

[championoftime]

Yes, actually. I would rather it than numbers. They make you feel a bit like foot soldiers or something else similarly mundane.

[requiresssacrifice]

[He's thinking: YES, NUMBERS ARE BEST RESERVED FOR MINIONS, but that's probably not the best thing to articular right now, so you get a thoughtful "Hmm" at that bit.] They are rather impersonal, I suppose. Although, for a time, we did have two people named after numberswhose names were simply numbers.

Dr. Rex Lewis, by the way. Formerly known as the Doctor.

[championoftime]

Oh! You like the title, too? I enjoy it. Makes tinkering with things seem a bit more special. [Oh, the naive benefit of the doubt...] I'll go for Dr. John Smith if the others haven't claimed it. My granddaughter rather liked a singer who used that as his moniker.

[requiresssacrifice]

Oh, yes, I absolutely agree. Not to mention, it commands quite the air of authority. Here, however, it led others to mistake me for, well, you.

I'm not familiar with that singer, but it's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor.

[championoftime]

And not any one version of me, either. So what sort of Doctoring is it that you do, Dr. Lewis? The sort with bodies, the sort with machines, or the sort with heads.

[requiresssacrifice]

A little bit of all of the above. Science can be so... versatile.

[championoftime]

[You sound very earnest about that versatility sir. Let me counter your dramatics.] Yes, especially with a precise recipe for peanut brittle which is inevitably erred in the making. Even with specifics.