TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
by William Albert

On the field and trees a brisk snow was falling that in the late afternoon sun gave an imaginary fantasy atmosphere to the isolated UNIT Headquarters. At the far end of the building in a small laboratory Jo Grant sat alone. Her eyes transfixed on the beautiful December sight outside the window she barely noticed the usual traffic of UNIT personnel as they hurried down the corridor past the room.

In the far corner the Doctor's TARDIS sat silent. The Doctor had unceremoniously left her sitting here some time earlier to work on some important project in the Police Box. She was used to being left out of his technical experiments but this time she was slightly angered that he would give her no hint of what he was doing. There was no present danger that she was aware of. No Daleks, Autons or any of the other strange beasties she had encountered since meeting the Doctor were on the prowl at this time. She wondered briefly if he was working on his new dematerialization circuit.

The door from the corridor opened and Sergeant Benton entered the room quietly. He glanced around for the Doctor but only found Jo sitting alone.

"Miss Grant?" Benton asked quietly.

Jo jumped with a start and pushed the chair she had been sitting on over backwards. Benton's reflexes were quick and he caught her before she could hit the floor.

"I'm sorry, Miss," he said hurriedly.

Jo breathed a sigh and got to her feet more then a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Benton, my fault," she said trying to cover her brightened cheeks. "I'm such a klutz sometimes. Forgive me?"

"Of course, Miss Grant," Benton smiled.

"Please call me Jo, Benton. After all we've seen since we met the Doctor the least you could do is call me that--," she stopped herself short. "I just realized I don't even know your first name. It certainly isn't Sergeant."

"No, Miss Grant," Benton smiled shyly.

They were stopped as the TARDIS door flew open and the Doctor erupted into the room. His usual jacket was missing and his frilly white shirt was colored with various stains that matched the marks on his face. The usually neat and tidy white hair was tossed and ragged.

"Of all the confounded arrogance," the Doctor said as he shook his head in frustration. He went to his work bench and rummaged through the cluttered objects quickly before tossing them aside like disused toys.

"Doctor," Jo called. "What's wrong?"

"Needle nosed pliers," the Doctor said as he moved to a storage locker. "I need needled nosed pliers."

Jo smiled and ran to a desk near the window. From a small drawer she produced a pair and proudly handed them to the Doctor.

"Of course," the Doctor said as he took them and headed back to the TARDIS.

"Well, what are you doing in there?" Jo asked as she ran after him.

"I've travelled to hundreds of different worlds in hundreds of different times but I've never found anything as completely frustrating as this."

"Excuse me, Doc," Benton said. "The Brigadier would like you to see him right away."

"Jehosophat! I haven't the time."

"He said it was urgent that you see him, Doc."

"See him? See him?" The Doctor went back to his work bench and pulled a small photograph from a file folder. The photograph, an old picture of the Brigadier, had been taken some time ago and had ended up in the laboratory by mistake. The Doctor had planned on returning it to the Brigadier but it had been forgotten for some time. "There," the Doctor said as he tossed the image to Benton. "I've seen him. Good day," the Doctor growled and quickly slipped into the TARDIS firmly closing the door behind him.

Jo smiled brightly. She had seen the Doctor's fits of real anger before and knew that this was not one of them.

"What's he up to in there?" Benton asked.

"Some sort of secret. We were here talking about Christmas and suddenly he marched in there and locked it. Had a smile on his face like he'd just been reminded of something funny."

"He doesn't have much of a smile on his face now."

"Oh, he can be pretty insensitive now and then but he doesn't really mean too."

"Well, Miss, I'd best be getting back to the Brigadier," Benton said. As he turned to leave the laboratory the main door opened and Benton saluted his commanding officer.

"I've been waiting, Sergeant," the Brigadier said sternly.

"I'm sorry, sir," Benton said. "He's in there and will hardly even listen."

The Brigadier marched boldly to the TARDIS and began to knock on the Police Box exterior.

"Doctor! Doctor, come out here this instant," the Brigadier called.

To his surprised the TARDIS door flew open and the Doctor walked quickly back to the work bench.

"Good grief," the Doctor said. He went searching through his equipment.

"Now what?" Jo asked.

"Now look here, Doctor," the Brigadier said. "I have to make a report to Geneva about exactly what happened with this Omega chap. They need to know why UNIT Headquarters had completely disappeared for several hours and I've run out of ideas."

"Can't I help, Doctor?" Jo asked.

"We've gone over this once before, Brigadier."

"You and your other self went over it several times but in no way that anybody else could understand," the Brigadier protested.

"It must be here somewhere? There!" The Doctor cheerfully found what he was looking for and grabbed the small wire out of a plastic container.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" Jo pleaded in frustration.

"In all my travels I have never found anything more technically frustrating then this. Not the Cybermen, the Zarbi, nor even the Master could develop such complex trickery as this."

"Where's it from?" Benton asked.

"This planet! I should have examined it much more closely even before I began but it's to late now. I've gone over it inch by inch and it still doesn't work."

"I'm not interested in your technical problems now. I have a report to finish and I need your assistance."

"Follow me," the Doctor said.

Moving quickly they followed the Doctor into the TARDIS. Jo had been inside many times so for her it was easy. For the Brigadier and Benton this was only the second trip inside the Doctor's machine and each still had to pause a moment to comprehend what it was like.

In the center of the large white room the TARDIS console sat quietly. A few of the lights were on but for the most the controls were dark. The newest addition to the console room sat off to the right nearer a second door.

Nearly seven feet tall the beautifully decorated Christmas tree towered above everything else on the room. To Benton and the Brigadier this added another layer of mystery to the man they new as the Doctor but Jo was touched with excitement.

"It's beautiful," Jo said as she gently walked toward it. "Do the Time Lords have Christmas?"

"Everyone has a Christmas, Jo, just under different names and disguises."

"This is what you've been working on, Doc?" Benton asked. "This is what all the fuss was about?"

"Fuss? My dear fellow, I do not "Fuss" as you call it. I was attempting to get the technological side of this contraption to work."

"But I can't see a thing wrong with it," Jo said as she lightly played with some of the gold and silver tinsel.

"Well," the Doctor said as he paused and crossed his arms. Slightly embarrassed he said, "I seem to be having some sort of problem with the lights, Jo. All I should have had to do was throw one small switch on the console and the whole thing should have lighted up. The blasted problem with them is that if one goes out the whole string goes out." The Doctor paused, "I can't seem to find the bad one."

Jo failed badly in trying to hide her smile and Benton immediately wished he was some place else.

"You can fight creatures from other planets, other universes in some cases, and you can't conquer something as simple as this?" the Brigadier said, not even cracking the slightest smile.

The Doctor bit his lip and said challengingly, "I suppose you can?"

The Brigadier proudly cleared his throat and stepped forward only a half step. From the lights on the tree a five foot extension cord reached to the TARDIS console. The plug lay useless on the floor only a few inches from the socket. The Brigadier gently reached down and put the offending stopper in it's rightful place.

Gently the Christmas tree lit up. The multicolored lights danced gracefully across it's branches as each blinked on and off in turn. The reflections on the tinsel and varied colored balls shone brilliantly as the regular TARDIS lights dimmed slightly.

The Brigadier stood tall as he turned to the Doctor.

Jo stood next to the Doctor and became very interested in the floor as a very small tear formed in Benton's right eye.

The Doctor swallowed all his dignity and smiled sheepishly at the Brigadier.

"I believe there was some report you wanted some help on," the Doctor said.

The Brigadier nodded briefly for a moment then finally let a smile cross his face.

Had anyone entered the Doctor's laboratory they would have been amazed at the sounds of laughter coming from the oddly placed Police Box in the corner.